Last week’s Torah portion (Shelach Lekha) told the tragic story about the “sin of the spies” and the divine decree that the generation rescued from Egypt was sentenced to die in the exile of the desert. In this week’s portion (Korach), the hard truth of their condition began to sink in, and the people bemoaned their fate and rebelled further by attempting to overthrow God’s designated leadership and return to Egypt. This rebellion was instigated and organized by Moses’ cousin Korach, who – along with a band of co-conspirators – was swiftly judged and put to death, thereby vindicating the Aaronic priesthood and Moses’ leadership of Israel.
In this Shavuah Tov broadcast, I survey the grand narrative of the Torah and discuss the issue of faith and why it is essential to believe the truth as our duty before God…
Korach Podcast:
Ultimately we must make the choice whether we will respect life or not (see Deut. 10:12). In this present world, God “hides” so that people may seek him (Isa. 45:15; Matt. 13:10-15). The voice of conscience may be suppressed and the revelation of nature ignored; moreover, some things are perceived only if they are looked for in the right way, and the Divine Presence is not apprehended apart from humility and reverence. We must “make room” for wonder; we must open the “eye of the heart” to see what is greater than our everyday vision. “It is good to look at the sky often, as this helps develop the awe of God.” Indeed the word for fear, yirah (יִרְאָה), is connected with the word for seeing, ra’ah (רָאָה). When we really see life as it is, we will be filled with wonder over the glory of it all. Every bush will be aflame with the Presence of God and the ground we walk upon shall suddenly be perceived as holy (Exod. 3:2-5). Nothing will seem small, trivial, or insignificant. In this sense, “fear and trembling” (φόβοv καὶ τρόμοv) before the LORD is a description of the inner awareness of the sanctity of life itself (Psalm 2:11, Phil. 2:12).
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matt. 9:12). Even though we are weak, sickly, broken, and sinful people, we must never lose hope and begin to fear that we are worthless in the eyes of heaven… Indeed, our infirmities are often a blessing in disguise, a gift that reveals our need…
The Apostle Paul said we were to both “test ourselves” with regard to the intellectual content of our faith and also to “prove ourselves” with regard to the veracity of our spiritual life: “Put yourselves to the test (ἑαυτοὺς πειράζετε) to see if you are in the faith; prove yourselves (ἑαυτοὺς δοκιμάζετε) to see whether Yeshua the Messiah lives within you – lest you fail the test and be disapproved (ἀδόκιμος)” (1 Cor. 13:5). Notice that the verb “to prove” (i.e., dokimadzo: δοκιμάζω) means to test something by fire (like a precious metal) to discover its quality and purity. The analogy here is straightforward. The quality of our faith will be revealed during times of testing and hard circumstance. Do we walk in love, joy, and peace – despite the testing of this life? If our faith regularly fails in the crucible of testing, we may need to reexamine its authenticity (Prov. 24:10).
Ultimately we are living in the midst of a great spiritual war — the war for truth. This has been the battle from the beginning. The very first recorded words of Satan (הַנָּחָשׁ) questioned God’s truth: “Did God really say…?” (Gen. 3:1). In the end there will be found two types of people: those who love the truth and those who love the lie. These are the children of light (בְּנֵי הָאוֹר) and the children of darkness (בְּנֵי הַחשֶׁךְ), respectively. Followers of Yeshua the Messiah are told to “walk as children of light” / ὡς τέκνα φωτὸς περιπατεῖτε (Eph. 5:8). The children of light are called to be am kadosh – a holy people – separate from the evil engendered by the fallen world and its forces, just as the very first creative expression of God was the separation of light from darkness (Gen. 1:3-4). The children of light “hate evil and love the good,” and conversely, the children of darkness “hate the good and love evil” (Psalm 34:21, Prov. 8:13, Amos 5:15, John 3:20-21). Regarding the heavenly Zion to come, it is written: “nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood (lit. “makes a lie”), but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:27).
Our Torah portion for this week, 
There is a “transposition” of values, a “holy irony,” in the realm of the Spirit. From God’s perspective that which considered great in the eyes of men is considered of little account, and that which is considered insignificant in the eyes of men is considered of great importance (Luke 9:48). The wisdom of this world (i.e., pragmatic, self-promoting egotism, etc.) is regarded as folly before God (1 Cor. 1:20, 3:19). Therefore Yeshua “made himself nothing” and disguised himself in the form of a lowly servant (ἀλλὰ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών). Unlike various systems of religion that attach merit and status to those who have attained “respectable levels” of personal sanctity, those who are called “great” in the Kingdom of Heaven will be identified as the servants of all (Mark 9:35; 10:44). Like the hidden light of the menorah in the Tabernacle, the deeds of the humble are beheld inwardly, where the Heavenly Father sees in secret (Matt. 6:4). As Yeshua Himself said, כִּי מַלְכוּת הָאֱלהִים בְּקִרְבְּכֶם / “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
Shavuah Tov, chaverim! The next two weeks we will read the last two portions of the great Book of Leviticus (ספר ויקרא), namely, 
Our Torah portion for this week (