In Parasha Chukat we are going to see Elohim’s great love and continuing steadfast commitment to us. We are going to see that Elohim made this steadfast commitment with our ancestors some 3,500 years ago at the first Pesach. And He has remained committed to us ever since. After some 3,500 years of special treatment are we perhaps finally ready to commit back to Him?

The Hebrew term chukat is H2708. And it refers to ordinances or statutes. These are laws that basically do not go away.

H2708 “chukat” חֻקַּת Feminine of H2706, and meaning substantially the same: – appointed, custom, manner, ordinance, site, statue.

And in the Torah portion of Parasha Chukat we begin with the ordinances or the statutes (or we could say the torah) of the red heifer.

We covered the instructions and the statutes regarding the red heifer in the study on how ““Yeshua Cleanses an Unclean World” in Nazarene Scripture Studies Volume Four. And in that study, we showed two special rituals that pertain to what might be called ritual cleansing in a cleansed altar environment. And the red heifer is the second of those two special rituals. And we hope you will enjoy that study. Perhaps it will give you some insight regarding what is the meaning of the various offerings and rituals that we go through in the temple.

But then after the statutes of the red heifer we come to chapter 20. And we come to the waters of Meribah. We could hope for some improvement, but it is the same thing all over again. Every week it is the same thing.

And brothers, sisters! If everything is all right, why is it this way with us? You know, Yahweh committed to our ancestors, way, way back at the original marriage deal some 3,500 years ago. And He is still waiting for His war bride to make good on her pledge. To make good on her vow and her commitment to purify herself and to become His helper bride. To listen to His voice. To do everything that He says. Including all of His written commandments, because those are just things the Spirit said in the past.

But as we show in our study on the Ancient Hebrew Marriage, and we also talked about earlier in this parashah series, (just to recap briefly), the Pesach (or Passover) was an agreement to marry. And this agreement was between Elohim and us (our forefathers). In Hebrew culture an agreement to get married is first celebrated by a private shared meal. And that is basically what the Pesach is.

The public announcement and the betrothal then comes at Shavuot (or Pentecost). And in Hebraic culture once a wedding is announced, it is official! You are married! Even though the consummation and the wedding week normally may not come for another several months.

Now we cannot really do much (and this is sad), but we cannot do much for brother Judah. Because even though we know he is listening to our broadcast, he is just not getting it. He is not listening for understanding. He is listening to dispute, and for argumentation, and to undermine. So we are not going to get very far with him.

So just talking between us Ephraimites, brothers and sisters, what is our problem? What is wrong with us? How can it be that Elohim gives us everything we have, gives us our breath, our heart beats, everything we have. How can it be that He made a marriage commitment to us some 3,500 years ago and He has been steadfast ever since. But we are not yet ready to make a commitment back to Him? How can that be?

We also saw earlier in this parasha series that Yeshua was the Malak (or the angel) that Yahweh sent with us, that Elohim told us we need to be careful and diligent to obey Him and to do the things that He said. We need to hear His voice and do everything that He instructs us, including the statutes and ordinances of the red heifer and all the rest of the Torah.

Shemote (Exodus) 23:20-21
20 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
21 “Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.”

H4397 mal’âk מַלְאָךְ From an unused root meaning to despatch as a deputy; a messenger; specifically of Elohim, that is, an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher): – ambassador, angel, king, messenger.

So how can it be that Yeshua first gave us the Torah some 3,500 years ago, and then He died for our Torah-breaking some 2,000 years ago, and we are supposed to have His Spirit now for some two millennia. And yet do not we know, brothers and sisters in Ephraim who are not yet ready to make a commitment back to their Elohim?

Brothers, sisters how can this be? Why is this? How can Elohim give everything to us and be full of steadfast, loyal love toward us? Kindness, mercy, forgiveness?

We need to talk about some very real things here. Because what we keep seeing is that our ancestors are basically related to us. Because we see that our ancestors have the exact same problems in the past as the majority of us in Ephraim are suffering from today. And that is that they are not looking to do Elohim’s will. They are not looking to go out to war for Elohim.

Are not most of us looking for a broad, easy kind of a lazy-boy way straight to the Wedding Feast? Yeah, sure. We want to be married to the Son of the King of the Universe! Who would not? Oh, but not if there is any work required. Not if there is any steadfast commitment required.

You know, to make a marriage work, do not both parties have to be committed? Do not both parties have to give 100 percent? Even if the other party is not doing their part? So why is it that Elohim is the only one who has to be committed? Why is it that we are not required to be committed back?

Oh, oh! Is it because He has such steadfast, loyal love and He is an Elohim patient, and merciful, and kind, and forgiving that we believe we can abuse His faith? We believe we can abuse His trust? Is that why we do it? Because with most of us, are not we still sitting on our throne and letting Yeshua wash our feet? Are not we still calling the shots and expecting Elohim to run our errands for us? Instead of showing up for duty and becoming His errand voice?

Well, we are told to love Yahweh our Elohim with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength. Are we doing that? If we are going to do that, are not we supposed to be most committed of all to our Elohim? Is not that where our loyalty and our allegiance should truly lie? But how many of us are truly loyal to Elohim like that?

Let me ask you a personal question. Are we more committed to Elohim than we are to our spouse? Or for how many of us is pleasing our spouse more important than pleasing Elohim? To be honest about these things, just looking from the way things went, does not it kind of seem like most of our forefathers thought they were just going to leave Egypt and just stroll to the Promised Land? Kind of like a waltzing, or a walk through the park? And everything was going to be the red-carpet treatment, little rose petals sprinkled out for us?

Or better yet, maybe we would be carried aloft! And whisked to our new house, as a bride is traditionally carried aloft during the day of the consummation and the start of the wedding feast. She is carried aloft from her biological father’s house to her new husband’s father’s house! Would not that be so nice to be carried aloft? Just like people dream of flying back to the land in the rapture?

The only problem with that is that is not Elohim’s plan. Elohim tells us He is a Man of War. He is a war Elohim!

Shemote (Exodus) 15:3
3 Yahweh is a man of war; Yahweh is His name.

And back in ancient times, when the commanding general went out on an extended war campaign, quite often times they would bring their wives and their families with them. Just to mention it, we saw the same kind of thing in the Crusades. The poor could not usually afford to bring their wives and families with them, but the kings and nobles often did. And they especially did if it was going to be an extended war campaign, kind of like the conquest of the land of Canaan. You know, that took a long time!

But here is the thing. Maybe our forefathers, maybe they did not know at the time of the first Pesach. Maybe they did not even know when they said their ‘I dos’ at Mount Sinai, either. Maybe they did not know they were getting married.

Maybe all they knew was that they were cutting a covenant with their Elohim. So that He would pass over them with the Death Angel. Maybe that is all they knew.

Maybe they did not know what they were getting into. Perhaps, maybe they did not know what the relationship would entail.

Is not that sometimes the same way with us, brothers and sisters? Maybe we do not know everything we are getting into at the time we first accept Yeshua? Like did anyone know they were signing up for marriage when they first got struck in the heart and said that John 3:16 sinners’ prayer? Did you? I did not!

But the question is, brothers and sisters, now that we know these things, what do we do now? How many of us truly want to be pleasing to Him? How many of us truly want to help Him get the kingdom He so richly deserves? How many of us appreciate His steadfast, loyal love and commitment to us?

And if we truly do appreciate these things then are we behaving as if we are already committed? How many of us commit to Elohim at least as much as we commit to our spouse? How many of us commit to Elohim more than we commit to our spouse? Like we are supposed to?

Because let us be frank. Elohim commits to us long before we ever even think to commit to Him. And that fact seems to be what trips a lot of people up. Because people tend to abuse His kindness, they take His kindness for blindness!

Maybe our forefathers thought they were ready for the honeymoon. Maybe they thought they were ready for the wedding feast. And what Elohim had in mind first was a war campaign? Maybe the bride was going to come along with Him on the war campaign and together they were going to conquer the Promised Land?

Maybe our forefathers were not thinking about a long war campaign. But it does not matter! We signed up as slaves. We do not make the decisions here. So can we imagine our ancestors’ surprise when our forefathers came to the wilderness of Zin and there was not even any water for the congregation? Forget turning the water into wine, they just plain was not any water to begin with!

So then our ancestors in Ephraim prayed to Yahweh and trusted that He would provide for them. And they never complained about anything! That is just how much trust they had in Him!

Oh, wait! Sorry, oh! It says our forefathers quarreled with Moshe and said, “Oh, would that we had perished! Oh, when our brothers perished before Yahweh!”

Bemidbar (Numbers) 20:3
3 And the people contended with Moshe and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren!”

(Really!? Really!?)

“Why have you brought the Assembly of Yahweh out into this horrible wilderness place? That we should die of thirst here, both we and our cattle!?”

Bemidbar (Numbers) 20:4
4 Why have you brought up the assembly of Yahweh into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here?”

“Oh! And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil, awful, horrible place!? This is no place for a bride! It is no place for grapes, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates! There is no fruit punch fountain!”

Bemidbar (Numbers) 20:5
5 “And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.”

“There is just no way we could just pray and then trust our all-powerful Father to provide for our needs! Even though we have seen miracle, after miracle, after miracle, after miracle!! Because there is no water to drink here at this exact moment!!”

“We were looking forward to the honeymoon! We were looking forward to the Wedding Feast! We were looking forward to being taken to the bridal suite! We did not think that our war Elohim Husband was going to take us out to take the land of milk and honey as part of His war campaign! No! We thought You were taking us straight to the land filled with tables full of milk and honey!”

“We did not think we had to do any work, we just thought that being this bride of the Son of the King of the universe meant we were just going to sit around doing our hair and nails and having a good old time (lah di dah!) watching TV shows. We had no idea you were calling us to a narrow and afflicted pathway! We had no idea we would have to do anything for You!!”

Is this not our forefathers? And if we think about it, is not this us? We also think we are getting everything correct.

Well, you know, as they say in the land of Israel, mah la’asot (what to do)? Knowing these things now how shall we live?

So, we found ourselves in a situation. We did not know what to do with it. We were not expecting it. But were we good sports about it? Because to be good sports about it and to be good slaves for our Husband and King does it really matter what we want? Does it really matter that we do not like the trial that is set before us? And maybe, just maybe, is this perhaps like it is with some of us in Ephraim today?

Yochanan (John) 3:30
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

Maybe we just thought we were going to say the John 3:16 prayer and have lunch at our friend’s houses on Shabbat, watch Saturday Night Live together. Oh, and now we are all disciples on our way to being the bride, right? We are going to get whisked back to the land of Israel in a cloud, right? Or we think we are already qualified as His bride before we have even lifted a finger to help Him! We think we are qualified to be His perfect set-apart helpmeet even though we are not helping Him actively?

Maybe we did not know when we said the John 3:16 prayer or when we repented. Maybe we did not know that Scripture calls for tithing and organization, congregational discipline. Surprise!!

But the question is now that we know, now what do we do with what we know? So now we can ask this question: “Mah la’asot?” Now what do we do if we truly want to be faithful and keep our commitment to our love? He is committed to us. He is steadfast to us. Are we committed to Him? Are we steadfast toward Him?

Perhaps an analogy might help. Well, the Father has plans to make us into set-apart wine and sometimes we end up getting poured out as a drink offering. Just as shaliach (apostle) Shaul was also poured out.

Qorintim Bet (2 Corinthians) 11:23
23 Are they ministers of Mashiach? I speak as a fool – I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.

The drink offering represents sacrifice. And that is a good thing! We want that level of sacrifice! Because Elohim loves it! That is what He is looking for is the kind of commitment and the kind of dedication that wants to make a sacrifice to Him, to become His set-apart helper bride! He is looking for us to pour ourselves out as a drink offering of wine! (Rather than whining about every little thing as we go through the wilderness.)

Timotheus Bet (2 Timothy) 2:3-4
3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Yeshua HaMashiach.
4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.

But if you think about it, how do you get wine? Well, first we have to crush the grapes. And we are the grapes. It does not feel good! Any more probably than it feels good to wander through the Midian the rest of our lives. No one likes to be crushed. But grapes have to be crushed if they are to give their blood that then gets turned into wine.

So, brothers, sisters, when we are crushed, what comes out? Is it blood of grapes making wine fit for a King? Or is it whining that we have to obey His Torah and put His will and His desires over our own? Well, we can almost hear the crying.

“Oh! We have to decrease so that He might increase!”

Yochanan (John) 3:30
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

No kidding! Brothers, why were our ancestors whining when Yahweh crushed their hopes of a broad, easy road going straight to the Wedding Feast? And He decided to make them into new crushed wine instead? Maybe they were whining because they had a little false hopes and little false expectations? Maybe believing some of the devil’s lies? Or did they perhaps think it was going to be much easier than it was? Just like many of us think that the narrow, inflicted path ought to be much broader and easier than it really is?

Mattityahu (Matthew) 7:13-14
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Well, let us remember that these are our ancestors. And Genesis 1 tells us that living beings reproduce after their own kinds. Meaning sometimes the apple does not fall very far from the tree, if you know what I am saying.

But if our forefathers represented the unwillingness to live up to the wedding vows without whining then what about us? Are we willing to do everything in the Torah without whining, making a commitment?

Chapter 20 and starting at verse 7. “Then Yahweh spoke to Moshe saying, “take the rod; you and your brother Aharon and gather the congregation together. And then I want you to speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water. Thus you shall bring the waters of the Spirit for the children of Israel out of the rock (symbolic of Yeshua) and give drink to all the congregation and their animals.” So then Moshe took the rod from before Yahweh as He had commanded him.”

Bemidbar (Numbers) 20:7-9
7 Then Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying,
8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aharon gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.”
9 So Moshe took the rod from before Yahweh as He commanded him.

“But then Moshe and Aharon gathered the assembly together before the rock and Moshe said to them, “Here now you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?”

Then Moshe lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out abundantly. And the congregation and their animals all drank.

But then Yahweh spoke to Moshe and Aharon saying, “Because you did not believe Me to obey Me, this did not set Me apart in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given to them.”

Bemidbar (Numbers) 20:12
12 Then Yahweh spoke to Moshe and Aharon, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

We could talk all day on this point. But the big problem here is that Yahweh told Moshe to speak to the Rock so that it might bring forth its waters. That way Yahweh would be set-apart for performing His miracle before the people took credit for bringing water out of the rock for themselves.

Well also, to use an analogy, if we can think of Moshe as being symbolic of the Torah at some point, then the point is that we can use the rod of Torah to strike the rock (meaning Yeshua) when we should be speaking to the Rock. We could also comment that brother Judah struck the Rock once already in the first century. And according to both pattern and prophecy, he is getting ready to strike the Rock’s body a second time in these End Times.

That is another reason to form set-apart communities is that this kind of persecution is prophesied. And therefore it is coming. You can read all about that in the study on Revelation and the End Times, or Revelation Simplified on YouTube.

But then, after that, Edom (or Esau) refuse to let our forefathers pass through their borders. We will see this again in our Haftarah prophetic portion. But then the king of Arad who lived in the Negeb (or the south) heard that Israel was coming. So the king of Arad fought against our forefathers and took some of them captive.

Bemidbar (Numbers) 21:1
1 The king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.

And drum-roll please! Our forefathers actually asked Yahweh first! And then our forefathers vowed a vow that if Yahweh would deliver Arad into their hand, they would devote all of Arad’s cities to destruction. (Probably including all of the goods.)

Bemidbar (Numbers) 21:2
2 So Israel made a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

Now, earlier in this series in “Parasha Tetzaveh”, we saw how Yahweh told our forefathers to wipe out the children of Amalek because they had ambushed Israel on the way. Only our forefathers saw the good livestock. It seemed good in their eyes to ask King Shaul if they could please keep all the livestock alive so they could use them to make free sacrifices for Yahweh.

And Shaul said yes in order to please the people, even though it was the opposite of what Yahweh said to do. So Shaul was pleasing the people, but he was not pleasing to Yahweh.

Shemuel Aleph (1 Samuel) 15:21
21 “But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim in Gilgal.”

How many of us in congregation leadership positions are doing things that are pleasing the people but we are not pleasing Yahweh our Elohim? How many husbands are pleasing their wives, but they are not pleasing Yahweh Elohim?

Well, here our forefathers actually did good. They vowed to devote to destruction all of Arad’s cities, and probably all of the goods.

Bemidbar (Numbers) 21:2
2 So Israel made a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

What that means is there was not any profit motive. There was not any incentive based on mammon. So because they asked first and because their motivation was clean, Elohim blessed their request.

And in Parasha Balak we will see what happens when we do the opposite, when we do have a profit motive. And we will see it is not good.

So returning to the history. Now, great grandpa and grandma have to backtrack. Chapter 21 and verse 4 tells us that our ancestors had to journey from Mount Hor by way of the Yam Suph (or the Sea of Reeds). And you go all the way around the land of Eden. And the soul of our forefathers became very discouraged on the way.

Somebody ever have a family outing or a camping trip like this? You thought you had a plan to get to your destination. But the bridge is out, or the road is closed, or you cannot go through that border. So now you end up backtracking. And so what do the children say? “I am tired!” “Are we there yet?” “Are you lost?” “Who put you in charge of this outing, anyway?”

Verse 5. “The people spoke against Elohim and against Moshe saying, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no food and there is no water. Nothing is fit for a queen. And our soul loathes this worthless miracle bread that Yahweh rains for us out of the heavens every single day!”

Bemidbar (Numbers) 21:5
5 And the people spoke against Elohim and against Moshe: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

“We are tired of seeing miracles daily! We are tired of seeing the call of a fiery cloud! Where is the wedding buffet already? Is it going to be catered?”

Can we imagine how much Elohim likes this? His war bride will not commit and she will not stop complaining!! He is committed to us. Have we committed to Him?

So Elohim sent fiery serpents among our people, and they bit our forefathers. And many of our ancestors died.

Bemidbar (Numbers) 21:6
6 So Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

So, one more for the history books. Our forefathers got rebuked and our forefathers repented. And repentance is good. But where is our constancy? Where is our steadfastness? Brothers and sisters, where is our commitment? And perhaps for some this might be how we treat our earthly leaders. Or perhaps our earthly husbands or our congregation leaders. If things do not go perfectly smooth does not the criticism start to come out?

Well, we do not like how the Creator is running the show so we become contentious? Maybe a little contentious? You know, brothers and sisters, how would we like to be married to us? I mean how do Yahweh’s ears ever heal? And why do we always seem to forget all the good stuff that Yahweh has done for us all along? Why do we forget His character? Why do we always seem to forget all of His benefits even though we are told to remember all of His benefits?

We are talking about how Yahweh keeps His commitments to us. His faithfulness is great! No matter what we do He is going to do the right thing. In fact, after all of our complaining, and our whining, and our rebellions, Yahweh still helped us defeat king Sihon of the Amorites.

And after that, He also helped us to defeat King Og of the Amorites. And then our forefathers set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Yarden (Jordan) by Yeriycho (Jericho).

And in Parasha Barak we are going to see that Moab was in great dread of our forefathers because we were many! Because of Yahweh’s great favor! Moab was overcome with fear of our fathers. We will talk about what happens in “Parasha Balak” where we see what happens when people mix business and ministry together. It is not good.

Now let us come to our Haftarah prophetic portion. So we come to Shophetim (or Judges) chapter 11. And here we read about Yiphthah (or Jephthah), the Gileadite. He is east of the Jordan. He was a mighty man of valor. The only problem is that he was the son of a whore (harlot).

Shophetim (Judges) 11:1
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.

So when Gilead’s wife bore sons, the legitimate sons drove Yiphthah out. Well, reversals do not always take so long in Scripture. By the time we hit verse 4 the people of Ammon were turning the world upside down. The people of Ammon made war against our forefathers in Israel just like we read about with Kings. But this time the Ammonites falsely claimed Israel had stolen their land.

Shophetim (Judges) 11:4
4 It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel.

Well, Yiphthah’s answer is epic! Because he gets it! So basically he says to them, “You know what, you keep what your god Chemosh gave you. We are going to keep what our Yahweh Elohim gave us.”

Shophetim (Judges) 11:24
24 Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever Yahweh our Elohim takes possession of before us, we will possess.

What a great answer! Because Yiphthah gets it! He understands it is our job to build Elohim’s Kingdom. That is what He wants. He wants us to build a kingdom for Him. But how many of us know that? And yet still, we shy away from the work. Still, we withhold our sword from the battle.

What are we going to do in the future? Not only when we stand before the Great White Throne in the Judgment. But let us just take a closer example. What are we going to do when we get all back safely home in the land of Israel after Armageddon and after the ingathering? And our children ask us, “What did you do in the spiritual war, daddy?” What are we going to say? I am just going to have to say, “I did not do anything. I was a spiritual draft-dodger. I withheld my sword from blood.” How is that going to feel knowing we ignored our commitment to our Elohim? If we even, make it back to the land like that at all!

Let us close by seeing what the Renewed Covenant has to say about these things. Let us go first to Kepha Aleph (or First Peter) and the stop briefly in chapter one and verse one. And here Kepha tells us he is writing his epistle to the pilgrims of the Assyrian dispersion.

Kepha Aleph (First Kepha) 1:1
1 Kepha, an apostle of Yeshua HaMashiach, To the pilgrims of the [Assyrian] Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

As we explained in the Nazarene Israel study, that is us. That is the northern House of Ephraim, or the northern House of Israel. So what does Kepha say to us? Well, sometimes I kind of halfway wonder if Kepha maybe was reading this parasha when he wrote this epistle. Because everything in their lines up.

But verse 13 says, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, and be sober.” Meaning be ready for battle! Because we are in a battle. We are trying to build our Elohim a kingdom. He says, “And rest your hope fully upon the favor that has been brought to you at the revelation of Yeshua Messiah.”

Kepha Aleph (1 Peter) 1:13
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Yeshua HaMashiach.

If we are obedient children! Keeping our commitments. Doing everything the Torah says to do. Hearing His voice and obeying it. Not conforming ourselves to our former lusts and the desires of our heart as in our former days of ignorance.

Kepha Aleph (1 Peter) 1:14
14 As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance.

But as He who called us is set-apart, we also should be set-apart in all our conduct. Because it is written, be set-apart, for I am set-apart.

Kepha Aleph (1 Peter) 1:15-16
15 But as He who called you is set-apart, you also be set-apart in all your conduct.
16 Because it is written, “Be set-apart, for I am set-apart.”

And is not that what our ancestors should have been doing in the wilderness? And is not that what we also should be doing right now is to making sure that we are set-apart as He is set-apart? By hearing His voice and obeying it?

Well, the whole book is fabulous. There is wonderful material in there. But right now let us jump to chapter 4 and verse 12 where Kepha could also be talking about what happened with our forefathers in the wilderness.

Kepha Aleph (1 Kepha) 4:12
12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.

It is not. It is normal. The reason these things are happening is because Elohim needs to test us. He needs to know if we are going to quit on Him or we are going to keep our marriage vows. Are we going to be faithful and keep our commitments with Him?

He says, “And rejoice! To the extent that we partake of Messiah’s sufferings! That when His glory is revealed we also may be glad with exceedingly great joy! Because to partake of Messiah’s sufferings is to be good soldiers of Yeshua Messiah and to fight His battles for Him.”

Kepha Aleph (1 Peter) 4:13
13 But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Mashiach’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

We are no longer sitting on the throne; He is the one sitting on the throne. And we are the armies out in the field. Is not that basically what our forefathers did not understand? Perhaps they were in such a hurry to get to the bridal buffet that they forgot all about serving their Husband? Taking care of the needs of their war Elohim Husband?

So the helpmeet did not help the Husband. Did not help Him build His kingdom. It is kind of a Little Red Hen scenario.

However much we help Yeshua build His unified, global kingdom for His Father, that is how much we are going to benefit when we go stand before the Great White Throne Judgment. Because Yeshua promises plainly to reward all those who have served Him both in Spirit and in truth. Meaning keeping all the Commandments we are told to keep.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 25:23
23 His Master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful Servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Master.’

And He promises to punish those who will not keep their commitments to Him.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

Which choice will we make?