This week the regular annual cycle is a double-parsha (Chukat, Numbers chapters 19 through 21), and then parsha Balak, chapters 22 through 24\u2026and a bit more. Admittedly, Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa thinks that’s a bit much for one week’s study, but at least it’s an interesting combination, for reason’s we’ll explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parsha ‘Balak,’ in particular, and the lesson that follows, is perhaps one of the most “problematic,” and no doubt confusing to some, in all of Scripture. How can a man who appears to commit a violent act, some might even say murder, be given a ‘Covenant of Peace,’ and Eternal Priesthood, by Yahuah? And, yet, the parallels in the cycle today should — at the very least — outright shock us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, the story itself, in the Erev Shabbat overview and reading:<\/p>\n\n\n\n