בס״ד

By Baruch LoveIsrael.org

Parashat Balak Numbers 22:2-25:9

Haftarah: Micah 5:6-6:8

Although this Shabbat is the 17^th of Tammuz, this fast is postponed until the following day in honor of the Shabbat.

In this week’s Torah reading, one encounters a verse to which Rabbis often refer when Yeshua’s divinity is mentioned. The verse is:

“Not a man is G-d that He will lie or a son of man that He will relent; has He said and will not do and what He has spoken will He not fulfill?” Numbers 23:19

There you have it, the Scripture is clear, G-d is not a man! Does this verse really settle the issue concerning the divinity of Yeshua? Although Yeshua is eternal, He was not always a man. The incarnation speaks of Him becoming a man. The Bible reveals G-d in three Persons, but this fact does not undermine that G-d is One. Yeshua is the eternal Son of G-d, but there was indeed a specific time that the Son of G-d took on human flesh. This is known theologically as the incarnation. Therefore, at the time of Numbers 23:19, the statement that “G-d is not a man…” was true. The verse in question does not state that G-d is unable to become man. Yeshua becoming fully man does not mean He ceased being fully G-d; nor should one confine G-d to merely the human body of Yeshua. The One eternal G-d transcended the human flesh that Yeshua inhabited.

This verse is actually Hebraic poetry. As I have stated numerous times before, the chief characteristic of Hebrew poetry is parallelism. In this verse, “man” is parallel to “son of man” and “He will not lie” is parallel to “He will not relent”. The point that the verse is making is that G-d’s behavior is not like human beings that lie and promise one thing, but in the end do something else.

What is emphasized in the New Covenant is that although G-d became man, Yeshua never sinned in any manner. In other words, during the 33 years of His earthly life, Yeshua was the Perfect Man. Now that Yeshua has ascended into the heavens and He has a resurrected body, when He returns, the world will be shocked at His identity (He will have a name / character that no one will know), His actions (He will come with the wrath of G-d) and His appearance (See Revelation 19).

As I stated, this Shabbat is the 17^th of Tammuz. This day is marked because of several tragic things that happened to Israel on it. Why not read carefully this Shabbat Revelation chapter 19 and focus on the Second Coming, when Yeshua will deliver Israel and those of the nations, who came to faith after the Rapture.

Shabbat Shalom