9 Tamuz 5781
June 19, 2021

Parashat Chukat
“Statute of”

Here are the Torah, Haftarah and suggested Brit Chadasha (New Testament) and Tehillim (Psalms) readings for this week.

• Numbers 19:1-22:1
• Judges 11:1-33
• John 3:1-21
• Psalm 95

O come, let us sing for joy to Adonai.
Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving.
Let us shout joyfully to Him with songs.
For Adonai is a great God and a great King above all gods.
(Psalm 95:1-3 TLV)

The seven aliyot readings from the Torah begin at these verses:

1. Numbers 19:1
2. Numbers 19:18
3. Numbers 20:7
4. Numbers 20:14
5. Numbers 20:22
6. Numbers 21:6
7. Numbers 21:21

Maftir: Numbers 21:34

In Chukat

The Key People include Moshe (Moses), Aharon (Aaron), El’azar (Eleazar), Miryam (Miriam); kings of Edom, Arad, Amorites, and Bashan; and Yisra’el (Israel).

The Scenes include the Tent of Meeting, Midbar-Tsin (Desert of Zin), Kadesh, M’rivah (Meribah), Edom, Hor haHar (Mount Hor), Negev, Chormah (Hormah), various stops on the way to Mo’av, Yahtsah (Jahaz), Amorite territories and capital Cheshbon (Heshbon), Bashan, and Edrei.

The Main Events include the statute of the red cow for purification; Miryam’s death; Moshe striking the rock, which later bars his entrance to the land; detour around Edom; Aharon’s death; more complaints, fiery serpent bites, and the bronze serpent lifted up; and more travelling, with defeats of Amorites and Bashan.

Adonai said to Moses, “Make yourself a fiery snake and put it on a pole. Whenever anyone who has been bitten will look at it, he will live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and it happened that whenever a snake bit anyone and he looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
(Numbers 21:8-9 TLV)

The Haftarah

Thus says Jephthah, “Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the children of Ammon… But Adonai God of Israel gave Sihon and all his troops into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.”
(Judges 11:15,21 TLV)

The Brit Chadasha

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life! For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:14-16 TLV)

Torah Portion readings and the associated Haftarah readings generally follow the Stone Edition Chumash and/or the Complete Jewish Bible. Verse numbering generally follows the Hebrew tradition, and where modern Christian traditions differ those verse numbers are shown in parentheses (). Haftarah readings generally follow the Ashkenazi tradition. Where the Sephardic tradition differs, the Haftarah portions are designated as (A) and (S). Suggested New Testament readings are taken from various sources. Suggested Psalm readings are from the Messianic Siddur for Shabbat by Daniel Perek. The Key People, The Scenes, and The Main Events are taken from the Walk! series of Messianic Devotion Commentaries by Dr. Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg. Scripture taken from the Tree of Life Version (TLV) © 2015 by the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society. Used by permission of the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.