Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 66 (The Revenge of the Hens) for week of May 21, 2023

In last week's lesson, we learned how the Temple was no place for chickens, but "O, Jerusalem," is the very place where the little chicks will come home to roost. (Mt 23:37) Blessed is he who comes in the Name of YHVH.

 

This week, our Torah portion Bamidbar includes a census of the tribes for war. The army of Israel is not like other armies. Israel must first “pass muster” with Adonai Tzvaot, the Lord of Armies. When Israel falls into idolatry and other serious sins, their army is usually defeated, even routed shamefully. Israelite soldiers must pass a test of courage even before they are admitted to the ranks:

 

• Have you betrothed a wife, but not married her? Go home.
• Have you built a house, but not lived in it? Go home.
• Have you planted a vineyard, but not consumed its fruit? Go home. (Dt 20:3-8)

 

Such a person is planning to fail! He started with good plans, then at some point, he could not envision a successful outcome, one of the jobs we accomplish in prayer-work. If he fell in battle, then someone else would marry his wife, live in his house, and tend his vineyard. In fact, both the “house” and the “vineyard” are sometimes used as euphemisms for a wife, the wise woman and the Proverbs 31 woman who builds the house and is the fruitful vine. The wife, in turn, symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit in his life (see Workbook Four). The Ruach (Spirit) is what implants successful vision within a believer.

 

Relating this to the No Place for Chickens Part Two last week, the spiritually deficient soldier did well at first, planning and imagining his life in the future, but when the enemy approached, he was unable to also plan and envision a victorious outcome to his prayer. This cowardice would become a cancerous discouragement to his fellow soldiers. A soldier planning a desolate house will be rewarded with a desolate house, for he does not remember the exhortation of the war priest:

 

• “Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” (Dt 20:3-4)

 

If the soldier cannot go forward with confidence after that reminder, he’s hopeless in battle!

 

In the following lament over Jerusalem, Yeshua evokes two important passages in the Torah:

 

1) the Ruach Adonai hovering over the surface of the waters at Creation and (Ge 1:2)

 

2) the torah of the hen and chicks, which assures the chicks’ safety if they will stay under their mother’s wings or in the nest with her. (Dt 22:6)

 

The Jewish sages say that the Ruach hovering over the Creation waters was Messiah, whose obedience would bring order out of chaos, light out of darkness. The verb used for “hovering” is merachefet, which describes how a mother bird beats her wings violently to call her chicks. Also in the tradition, the palace of King Messiah is located in the Garden of Eden. It is called Kan Tzippor, or “The Bird Nest.” King Messiah’s job is to gather the Father’s chicks back into the Garden, to minister the Word to them so that they can be restored to their original habitat. Frequently, the chicks are obstinate:

 

• “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’” (Mt 23:37-39)

 

What can be derived from Yeshua’s lament? 

 

 

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