12 Tamuz 5780
July 4, 2020

Parashat Chukat
“Statute of”

Parashat Balak
“Balak”

Here are the Torah, Haftarah and suggested Brit Chadasha (New Testament) readings for this week. Listen to the current Portion readings from the Tree of Life Version here.

Chukat

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

Balak

• Numbers 22:2-25:9
• Micah 5:6(7)-6:8
• Romans 11:25-32

The seven aliyot readings from the Torah for the combined portions Chukat and Balak begin at these verses:

1. Numbers 19:1
2. Numbers 20:7
3. Numbers 20:22
4. Numbers 21:21
5. Numbers 22:13
6. Numbers 22:39
7. Numbers 23:27

Maftir: Numbers 25:7

In Chukat and Balak

The Key People include Moshe (Moses), Aharon (Aaron), El’azar (Eleazar), Miryam (Miriam); kings of Edom, Arad, Amorites, and Bashan; Yisra’el (Israel); Balak, messengers, Bil’am (Balaam), ziknei Mo’av v’Midyan (elders of Moab and Midian), the donkey, the angel, Amalekites, Kenites, Moabite women, and Pinchas (Phinehas).

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, Edrei; Mo’av (Moab), P’tor (Pethor), the Arnon border, Kiryat Chutsot (Kiriath Huzoth), Bamot Ba’al (Bamoth Baal), s’deh Tsofim al-rosh haPisgah (field of Zophim on top of Pisgah), rosh haP’or (top of Peor), and Shittim..

The Main Events in Chukat 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.

The Main Events in Balak include Balak buying curses; Bil’am’s donkey balking and talking; permission to speak only God’s words; three high places visited, altars built; Bil’am blessing Yisra’el, saying Ma Tovu, and prophesying enemies’ destruction; Yisra’el joining with Moabite women and gods at covenant feast, even in the camp; plague; and Pinchas spearing couple to stop plague.

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

With what shall I come before Adonai? With what shall I bow myself before God on high? Shall I present Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Will Adonai be pleased with thousands of rams, with hordes of rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my belly for the sin of my soul? He has told you, humanity, what is good, and what Adonai is seeking from you: Only to practice justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah 6:6-8 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. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
(John 3:14-17 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 the Walk! series of Messianic Devotion Commentaries by Dr. Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg. 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.