Nasso נָשֹׂא - Elevate!
Torah Portion: Numbers 4:21-7:89
Numbers 5:1–10
5:1 Hashem spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse. 3 You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”
4 The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as Hashem spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
5 Hashem spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Hashem, and that soul is guilty, 7 then he shall confess his sin which he has done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty. 8 But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to Hashem shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him. 9 Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his. 10 Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”
Today’s Meditation:
Hashem does not want His Tabernacle or the camp in which He dwells to become defiled with people who have leprosy. So, if someone does have it, they have to go outside the camp (verse 3). We really have no concept of Hashem's holiness. He is so holy that you cannot get anyone or anything near Him that is contaminated. That makes me think about our own lives. When we disobey Hashem and His commandments, we are, in a sense, defiled. In this state, we cannot be in the presence of Hashem. For us, that would be during prayer, praise, or our daily walk with Him. If you want this special time to be filled with Hashem’s power and glory, you must stay clean, and that means to be holy. Repent today so that you can be clean before Hashem.
Today’s Challenge:
Again, the Torah teaches us to make restitution when we sin (verse 7). It provides details on whom to give the restitution to and how to add a fifth and a sacrifice. Torah is teaching me a lot about this. The other day, I did something foolish and immediately felt remorse. I repented, but I felt horrible. It was then that I remembered Torah and the commandment to make restitution. So, to make a long story short, I did something for someone that I really did not want to do, but it could be a part of making restitution. It would have been impossible to do something for the person I offended, so instead, I feel Hashem directed me to someone who really needed some help. And if I were to help out that person, it would be the same as making restitution to the person I harmed. So, a little reluctantly, I did just that. I helped the person who needed it. And I had to make an attitude adjustment. I had to remember that I was doing this “unto the L-rd.” That really helped. I did my task unto Hashem. And honestly, it made me feel so wonderful. Sin is wrong, but doing something sacrificial will help you find freedom sooner.
