Nadene Goldfoot  |
| Exodus-Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and to the Promised Land |
I am always inspired by this website's awesome finds in our Torah that ring true in today's world. Here's one that sure fits today's position of Israel. To think that this was written down almost 4,000 years ago is amazing! It's earth-shaking!
It says that the Jewish people
shall not be reckoned among the nations. In other words, the Great Plan for us was already known that we were a stiff-necked people and that others would react as they do. They were to remain as independent thinkers. Webster's dictionary tells us that reckon means: count, estimate, compute, to determine by reference to a fixed basis, to regard, consider, think, to settle accounts, judge, suppose, depend, calculate, rely.
The result is that Israelis are to live alone. They cannot be counted as part of a pack. Israel is not to be swayed by others. Jews have the Mosaic LAW and that is what they judge themselves with.
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The biblical story of Balaam's old she donkey scolding Balaam for hitting her is interpreted by
Maimonides as a vision that he had. Balaam thought his donkey was mocking him
with her braying and he hit her 3 times at which she asked him why? |
Balaam was a heathen prophet who was invited by
Balak, the king of Moab (Ruth's home of Southern Transjordan) , to curse the Israelites when they neared his country during their walking of the Exodus from Egypt to their Promised Land. Instead, when he opened his mouth, out came Blessings instead of Curses. Numbers 33-1:16 tells of Balaam's following advice to the Midianites to invite the Israelites to worship
Baal Peor-the local Canaanite deity, worshipped with sexual orgies on Mt. Peor in Moab. Of course, being men, the Israelites were temporarily attracted to this cult during the time of traveling through the land. The result of this instigating was
of being killed by the Israelites on the battlefield. Balaam was not an Israelite prophet but was a Mesopotamian priest and soothsayer. Even so, he was a faithful servant of G-d as well. He was among the 7 prophets who spoke to heathen nations of that day with success. Evidently he was tuned into the the creator but wasn't capable of understanding the full message.
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Today's verse describes an attempt by the wicked Balaam to curse the Jewish people. His plan was foiled by God, and instead he utters a reluctant compliment, “Indeed this is a people that dwells alone and is not counted among the nations.” For better and for worse, the Jews have always been set aside from among the nations and singled out for special treatment. Israel receives an utterly disproportionate amount of coverage by the media, most of it negative, yet there is an inherently positive lesson in this solitude: the people of Israel are singled out for a holy purpose. They are chosen by God to remain faithful to Him and to fulfill the Biblical mandate of teaching His truths to the world.
Resource: Israel365 Tanakh, The Stone Edition, Numbers: 23-9. The new Standard Jewish Encyclopedia Webster's Dictionary, 7th new collegiate edition |
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