BamidbarIn the Wilderness Commonly called Numbers: Bamidbar 30:21 32:42 Torah Portion Mattot TribesS

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Bamidbar/In the Wilderness Commonly called
NumbersBamidbar 302(1)- 3242 Torah Portion
Mattot (Tribes/Staffs)
Wayne Ingalls J.D. Kimbrell
http//www.BeitTefillah.org
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Outline

• Mattot
• Neder
• Yeshua and Vows/Oaths
• Vengeance on Midian
• The Captives
• Purification
• Gad and Reuben
• Mitzvot in the Torah Portion
• Questions

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The Traditional Blessing Before Reading the Torah
Portion
Baruch atah Adonay Eloheynu melech ha'olam,
asher bachar banu mikol-ha'amim, venatan lanu
et-torato Blessed are You Adonai our Elohim,
King of the Universe, who has chosen us from all
peoples and has given us His Torah.
Baruch atah Adonay, noten hatorah Blessed are
You - Adonai, Giver of the Torah.
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Read the Torah Portion
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Mattot
Bamidbar/Numbers 302(1)
Vayedaber Mosheh el-rashey hamattot livney
Yisrael lemor zah haddavar asher tzivah YHWH
Bamidbar/Numbers 302 (CJB) Then Moshe spoke to
the heads of the tribes of the people of Isra'el.
He said, "Here is what ADONAI has ordered
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Mattot
Some Key Words/Names in the Portion
Mattot Plural or mattah/matteh. Staff,
rod,branch, tribe. The staff is the symbol of
authority. Usually translated as tribe. Neder
Plural Nedarim/Nadarim. There is no true
English equivalent usually translated as vow. 2
categories Prohibit something Torah permits
Make an optional offering obligatory. A neder
essentially makes something the equivalent of a
Torah commandment to the person making it. Also
used as if Elohim does this...then I neder to do
that. See next slide. Shevuah Oath. Places
an obligation on an individual. Issar
Pledge. Yazer Helped. Gilead Rocky region.
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Mattot
Some Key Words/Names in the Portion
The first Biblical use of neder
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Mattot
Some Key Words/Names in the Portion
Hertz The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, p.702)
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Vows Oaths

• Numbers 302-3 (CJB) 2 Then Moshe spoke to the
  heads of the tribes of the people of Isra'el. He
  said, "Here is what ADONAI has ordered 3 when a
  man makes a vow to ADONAI or formally obligates
  himself by swearing an oath, he is not to break
  his word but is to do everything he said he would
  do.
• Questions/Comments
• It doesnt appear that there is a way out for
  a man.
• When these nedarim are made in haste, and/or the
  the critical situation has passed, how often do
  we forget all that came out of our mouths?

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Vows Oaths
Numbers 306-10 (CJB) 6 But if on the day her
father hears it, he expresses his disapproval,
then none of her vows or obligations she has
bound herself to will stand and ADONAI will
forgive her, because her father expressed his
disapproval. 7 "If, having made vows or rashly
committed herself to an obligation, she gets
married 8 and her husband hears but holds his
peace with her on the day he learns of it, then
her vows and obligations she has bound herself to
will stand. 9 But if her husband expresses his
disapproval on the day he hears it, he will void
the vow which is on her and the obligation to
which she has bound herself and ADONAI will
forgive her. 10 "The vow of a widow, however, or
of a divorcee, including everything to which she
has obligated herself, will stand against
her. Questions/Comments Is there a double
standard here???
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Vows Oaths

• Numbers 3013-15 (NASB) 13 "Every vow and every
  binding oath to humble herself, her husband may
  confirm it or her husband may annul it. 14 "But
  if her husband indeed says nothing to her from
  day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all
  her obligations which are on her he has
  confirmed them, because he said nothing to her on
  the day he heard them. 15 "But if he indeed
  annuls them after he has heard them, then he
  shall bear her guilt."
• Questions/Comments
• How long does the husband or father have to
  annul the vow?
• What if the wife or daughter is intent on
  keeping the vow her husband or father has
  annuled?

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Vows Oaths
A husband and a father and annul a vow of a wife
or unmarried daughter. Is this still in effect?
Is it fair? Does it stand opposed by the new
light of this verse? Galatians 328 (CJB)
there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave
nor freeman, neither male nor female for in
union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.
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Vows Oaths Rabbinic Interpretations
Questions/Comments Nevertheless, the Torah
chose to mention the leaders here because they
had a special role to play in the matter of vows,
for an individual expert, such as a tribal
leader, has the authority to annul a vow or
oath.In the absence of such an expert, an ad hoc
court of three laymen may make such a ruling
(Rashi Nedarim 78a). That a tribunal of three
may annul a vow is only alluded to in Scripture
it is a provision of the Oral Law transmitted to
Moses at Sinai (Chagigah 18). (Artscroll
Commentary) .
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Vows Oaths Rabbinic Interpretations
Questions/Comments The second topic of this
passage is an oath. By means of an oath, one
may either prohibit oneself or require oneself to
perform an act. Conceptually, there is a great
difference between a neder and an oath. A neder
changes the status of the object for example, if
I have made an apple forbidden to myself, the
apple has the status of a forbidden food to me,
and therefore I may not enjoy the apple. In
contrast, an oath places an obligation only on
the person for example, if I have sworn to eat
an apple, there is a new obligation upon me, but
the halachic status of the apple itself is
unchanged. (Artscroll Commentary)
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A Famous Vow
Judges 1130-31 (CJB) 30 Yiftach made a vow to
ADONAI "If you will hand the people of 'Amon
over to me, 31 then whatever comes out the doors
of my house to meet me when I return in peace
from the people of 'Amon will belong to ADONAI I
will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." Judges
1134-35 (CJB) 34 As Yiftach was returning to
his house in Mitzpah, his daughter came dancing
out to meet him with tambourines. She was his
only child he had no other son or daughter. 35
When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said,
"Oh, no, my daughter! You're breaking my heart!
Why must you be the cause of such pain to me? I
made a vow to ADONAI, and I can't go back on my
word." Questions/Comments Was this vow valid?
Can someone make a vow for something forbidden to
become permitted?
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(No Transcript)
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A Famous Vow
Questions/Comments Was this vow valid? Can
someone make a vow for something forbidden to
become permitted? Artscroll Commentary Under
no circumstances was Jephtah permitted to
sacrifice his daughter, nor could he obligate her
to a course of behavior. Jephthah should have
gone to Phinehas to have his vow annulled.
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Yeshua on Vows and Oaths
Matthew 533-37 (CJB) 33 "Again, you have heard
that our fathers were told, 'Do not break your
oath,' and 'Keep your vows to ADONAI.' 34 But I
tell you not to swear at all- not 'by heaven,'
because it is God's throne 35 not 'by the
earth,' because it is his footstool and not 'by
Yerushalayim,' because it is the city of the
Great King. 36 And don't swear by your head,
because you can't make a single hair white or
black. 37 Just let your 'Yes' be a simple 'Yes,'
and your 'No' a simple 'No' anything more than
this has its origin in evil. Questions/Comments
Since Torah allows vows and oaths, is Yeshua now
annuling the Torah?
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Yeshua on Vows and Oaths
Questions/Comments How is this different than
the Greek version?
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Kol Nidrei Prayer Aramaic All Vows, c. 9th
Century CE
All vows, prohibitions, oaths, consecrations,
konam-vows, konas-vows, or equivalent terms that
we may vow, swear, consecrate, or prohibit upon
ourselves - from the last Yom Kippur until this
Yom Kippur, and from this Yom Kippur until the
next Yom Kippur, may it come upon us for good -
regarding them all, we regret them henceforth.
They all will be permitted, abandoned, cancelled,
null and void, without power and without
standing. Our vows shall not be valid vows our
prohibitions shall not be valid prohibitions and
our oaths shall not be valid oaths. (Artscroll
Translation)
The principal form of a vow to abstain from
anything is This shall be to me as a korban
(Heb. sacrifice) korban was sometimes
substituted by konam or konas. (Commentary on
Nedarim 2a)
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Kol Nidrei Prayer Aramaic All Vows, c. 9th
Century CE
Some traditions say that Kol Nidrei was first
recited by the Marranos (pigs) in Spain and
Portugal during the Inquisition. The Marranos
were Jews forced to convert to Catholicism and
used this prayer to renounce their forced
conversion, their forced vow to eat pork, etc.
While they surely recited Kol Nidrei, the prayer
predates the Inquisition by centuries.
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Totally Unexpected, Not Just By the Marranos
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Oaths in the Talmud
What sort of oath do we impose upon him? Said R.
Judah said Rab, We impose upon him the oath that
is specified in the Torah, for it is written, I
will make you swear by the Lord, the God of
heaven (Gen. 24 3). (Talmud Bavli, Shebuot
38B) They say to him, Know that the whole world
trembled on the day on which it was said, You
shall not take the name of the Lord your God in
vain (Exo. 20 7). And with reference to all
transgressions that are listed in the Torah, it
is written, And he shall be acquitted, but with
reference to this one it is written, And he
shall not be acquitted. (Talmud Bavli, Shebuot
38B-39A) As part of the Oral Law we have a
tradition that oaths can be nullified by a court
Talmud Chagigah 10a Maimonides, Mishneh Torah,
Hilchot Shevuot 61. When a person regrets
having ever taken an oath a court can declare his
oath to be null and void. However, and this is
crucial, there are severe limitations regarding
which oaths a court is empowered to nullify. A
somewhat similar notion to the above can be found
regarding a woman's oath in Numbers 304-10
although there are very big differences between
that and a court's nullification. Anyone who is a
biblical literalist will reject the concept of
annulment of oaths. However, Jews accept this
tradition as having been given to Moses on Mount
Sinai.
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Annulment of Vows from Sinai?
As part of the Oral Law we have a tradition that
oaths can be nullified by a court Talmud
Chagigah 10a Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot
Shevuot 61. When a person regrets having ever
taken an oath a court can declare his oath to be
null and void. However, and this is crucial,
there are severe limitations regarding which
oaths a court is empowered to nullify. (from
http//talmud.faithweb.com/articles/kolnidre.html,
a defense of Talmud site)
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Annulment of Vows from Sinai?
A somewhat similar notion to the above can be
found regarding a woman's oath in Numbers 304-10
although there are very big differences between
that and a court's nullification. Anyone who is a
biblical literalist will reject the concept of
annulment of oaths. However, Jews accept this
tradition as having been given to Moses on Mount
Sinai. (from http//talmud.faithweb.com/articl
es/kolnidre.html, a defense of Talmud site)
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Vengeance on Midian
Bamidbar 311-5 (ISR Scriptures) And ???? 
spoke to Mosheh, saying, 2 Take vengeance for
the children of Yisrael on the Mid_yanites.
After that you are to be gathered to your
people. 3 And Mosheh spoke to the people,
saying, Arm some of yourselves for the campaign,
and let them go against the Mid_yanites to take
vengeance for ????  on Mid_yan. 4 Send a
thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of
Yisrael for the campaign. 5 So there were
supplied from the tribes of Yisrael one thousand
from each tribe, twelve thousand armed ones for
the campaign.
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Vengeance on Midian
Bamidbar 316-8 (ISR Scriptures)And Mosheh sent
them on the campaign, one thousand from each
tribe, them and Pineh?as son of Elazar the
priest on the campaign, with the set-apart
utensils and the trumpets for sounding in his
hand. 7 And they fought against the Mid_yanites,
as ????  commanded Mosheh, and slew all the
males. 8 And they slew the sovereigns of Mid_yan
with the rest of those who were pierced Ewi, and
Reqem, and Tsur, and H?ur, and Reb_a, the five
sovereigns of Mid_yan. And they slew Bilam son
of Beor with the sword.

• Questions/Comments
• Who ordered the vengeance?
• Anything unusual about the leadership of the
  campaign?
• The significance of those who were slain?

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Vengeance on Midian The Captives
Bamidbar 3111-14 (CJB) 11 They took all the
booty, all the people and animals they had
captured, 12 and brought the captives, booty and
spoil to Moshe, El'azar the cohen and the
community of Isra'el in the camp on the plains of
Mo'av by the Yarden across from Yericho. 13
Moshe, El'azar the cohen and all the community
leaders went to meet them outside the camp. 14
But Moshe was angry with the army officers, the
commanders of thousands and the commanders of
hundreds coming in from the battlefield.
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Vengeance on Midian The Captives
Bamidbar 3115-18 (CJB) 15 Moshe asked them, "You
let the women live? 16 Why, these are the ones
who- because of Bil'am's advice- caused the
people of Isra'el to rebel, breaking faith with
ADONAI in the P'or incident, so that the plague
broke out among ADONAI's community! 17 Now kill
every male among the little ones, and kill every
woman who has ever slept with a man. 18 But the
young girls who have never slept with a man, keep
alive for yourselves.

• Questions/Comments
• Much of the rabbinic and Apostolic teaching
  concerning Balaam comes from verse 16 above.
• Is the treatment of the Midianite captives harsh?
  What is the purpose of Moshes instructions?

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Purification

• Numbers 3119-24 (CJB) 19 Pitch your tents
  outside the camp for seven days. Whoever has
  killed a person or touched the corpse of someone
  slain, purify yourselves on the third and seventh
  days, you and your captives. 20 Also purify
  every garment, whether of skin or goat's hair,
  and everything made of wood." 21 El'azar the
  cohen said to the soldiers who had gone to the
  front, "This is the regulation from the Torah
  which ADONAI has ordered Moshe. 22 Even though
  gold, silver, brass, iron, tin and lead 23 can
  all withstand fire, so that you are indeed to
  purify everything made of these materials by
  having them pass through fire nevertheless they
  must also be purified with the water for
  purification. Everything that can't withstand
  fire you are to have go through the water. 24 On
  the seventh day you are to wash your clothes, and
  you will be clean after that you may enter the
  camp."

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Purification

• Interestingly.according to the sages, in his
  anger Moshe was mistaken concerning the
  instructions for purification, confusing the
  instructions for purifying utensils according to
  the instructions for things contacted by corpses
  with the more stringent rules for contact with
  forbidden food and the impurity the utensils
  possessed by virtue of them belonging to a
  non-Jew. The commentary does say that the
  waters of purification are that of the red
  heifer.
• Read Chumash Bemidbar, pp. 214-215. (published
  by Kehot with Chabad commentary based on the
  works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe).
• Yeshuas comment regarding Moshe recorded in John
  546-47 may be applicable here.

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No Casualties, Sir!

• Numbers 3148-52 (CJB) 48 The officers in charge
  of the thousands who fought, the commanders of
  thousands and the commanders of hundreds,
  approached Moshe 49 and said to him, "Your
  servants have counted all the soldiers under our
  command, and not one of us is missing. 50 We
  have brought an offering for ADONAI, what every
  man has obtained in the way of gold jewelry-
  armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and
  belts- to make atonement for ourselves before
  ADONAI." 51 Moshe and El'azar the cohen accepted
  their gold, all the jewelry. 52 All the gold in
  this gift which the commanders of thousands and
  the commanders of hundreds set apart for ADONAI
  weighed 420 pounds.

Questions/Comments With gold currently
at 928/oz, this is a contribution of more than
6.2M!
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Gad and Reuben Petition Moses

• Gad and Reuben
• Numbers 3216 (NASB) Then they came near to him
  and said, "We will build here sheepfolds for our
  livestock and cities for our little ones.
• Moses
• Numbers 3224 (NASB) "Build yourselves cities for
  your little ones, and sheepfolds for your sheep,
  and do what you have promised."

Questions/Comments Note the difference in
emphasis. According to Joshua 22, it took seven
years to conquer the Land and seven more to
divide it up. The warriors from Gad and Reuben
did not return to the easter side of the River
Jordan until the end of the 14 years.
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But They Were Treacherous

• 1 Chronicles 525-26 (NASB) 25 But they acted
  treacherously against the God of their fathers
  and played the harlot after the gods of the
  peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed
  before them. 26 So the God of Israel stirred up
  the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, even the
  spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and
  he carried them away into exile, namely the
  Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of
  Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara
  and to the river of Gozan, to this day.

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Three Mitzvot in Matot

• 215-Do not break an oath or a  vow
• Bmidbar 303 Negative Mitzvah 157
• 216-Torah of the Annulment of Vows
• Bmidbar 303-16 Positive Mitzvah 95
• 298-The Levi shall not take a share in the spoils
  of war
• Bmidbar 3125-30 Negative Mitzvah 170
• These mitzvot copied straight from Yavoh
  Ministries website
• http//members.cox.net/heiscoming3/Mitzvot20in20
  the20Parshiyot.htmParsha20Mattot

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The Traditional Blessing After Reading the Torah
Portion
Baruch atah Adonay, Eloheynu melech ha'olam,
asher natan lanu torat emet, vechayey olam nata
betochenu. Blessed are You Adonai our Elohim,
King of the universe, who has given us the Torah
of truth, and has planted everlasting life in our
midst.
Baruch atah Adonay, noten hatorah Blessed are
You - Adonai, Giver of the Torah.
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Any Questions???
Next Week Masei (Journeys/Marches/Stages) Bamid
bar/Numbers 331-3613
http//www.BeitTefillah.org
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The Aharonic Blessing
"Speak to Aharon and his sons, and tell them that
this is how you are to bless the people of
Isra'el you are to say to them, 'Y'varekh'kha
ADONAI v'yishmerekha. Ya'er ADONAI panav
eleikha vichunekka. Yissa ADONAI panav eleikha
v'yasem l'kha shalom. May ADONAI bless you and
keep you. May ADONAI make his face shine on you
and show you his favor. May ADONAI lift up his
face toward you and give you peace.' "In this
way they are to put my Name on the people of
Isra'el, so that I will bless them."
Hebrew ????