http://www.HoshanaRabbah.org Page 1 of 5

O n w a rd & U p w a rd a s Yo u E x p l o r e Y H V H ’s Wo rd ! L e t t h e A d v e n t u r e B e g i n !

A Torah Study Guide for the Young

& Young at Heart

by Ya’acov Natan Lawrence

& his kids

Note to the adult teacher: It will be necessary for you to give the scriptural context and background for each of the points listed below.

Great Discoveries in This Week’s Parashah (Torah Portion)—33:1 SummaryofIsrael’sWildernessJourney—34:1 The Boundaries of the Land of Israel—34:16 TheLeadersoftheTribesWhoWillLeadtheIsraelitesintoTheirPromisedLand

Possession—35:1 Cities for the Levites—35:9 CitiesofRefugeforOneWhoKillsAnotherbyAccident—36:1 Laws Concerning Tribal Intermarriage—32:20 In Light of These New Conditions Moses Changes His Mind

Exploring This Week’s Parashah:

1 Drive Out Evil! (Numbers 33:51–53)Let’sexploretheconceptoftemptationtodoevil.Temptationisthedesiretodosomethingthat is wrong or unwise. Temptation is also something that attracts us do something that is wrongornotgoodforus.Thinkaboutit:Areyouever“tempted”toobeyYHVH’slaws,tokeephisShabbat,toloveyourneighborasyourself,tocontrolyourtongueandtonotspeakevilagainstsomeone,tonotgetangry,tonotlie?Ofcoursenot.Weareonlytemptedtodowrongthings.Therefore,temptationisNOTagoodthing!

d (a) Whataresomethingsthatcauseustobetempted?Whydoyouthinkitissoeasyforustobetemptedtosin?Whatisinsideofourheartsandmindsthatcauseustonaturallyfallintotemptation?(ReadJeremiah17:9;Psalms51:5;52:2–3;Mat-thew15:19;Romans8:7.)

d (b) Doyoueverstrugglebetweendoingwhatisrightandwhatiswrong?Listfiveweakareasoftemptationinyourlifewhereyoustrugglethemostnottosin.Putthislistin your Bible and then pray over it each day asking your Father in heaven for help and strength to resist the temptation to sin.

Parashat Masei

HGXN ,ARPNumbers 33:1-36:13

http://www.HoshanaRabbah.org Page 2 of 5

Tor a h Ex p lor E rs — pa r as haT Mas E i

Haveyoueverseenthecartoonfigureofapersontryingtodecidewhethertodotherightthingorthewrongthing?Partofhimwantstodorightandanoth-er part of him wants to do evil. The evil temptation is likened to atinydevil-lookingfigurethat’shoveringovertheperson’shead,whilethegooddesireislikeaangelhoveringovertheperson’shead. The angel and demon are each trying to sway the person in hisdirection.TheApostlePauldescribesthisstruggleinRomans7:14–25.(Readit.)InJewishthought,thatthinginsideofustry-ingtogetustodoeviliscalledtheevilinclination(yetzerra),andthe good part of us trying to get us to do the right thing is called thegoodinclination(yetzertov).Thisbattletakesplaceinourmindsandheartsfirst,andthentheoutcome—whetherweyieldto the good or evil side—will determine the words that come out ofourmouths,howwethink,andhowweactorwhatwedo.

d (c) Howdotemptationsstart?Thinkofthetimesyouhavebeentemptedtodosome-thingwrong.Whatcausedyoutostartgoingdownthepaththatledyoutocommitasin?Onapieceofpaper,makeapoint-by-pointlistofhowtemptationstartsforyou and the steps that occur that lead you to acting on that temptation so that you commitasin.PutthatlistwiththelistinyourBibleofthesinsyoustruggleagainst.PraytoYHVHforstrengthtoresistandtoovercomethesinfulinclinations.

Yousee,beingawareofthesinsandthenknowingthestepsthatleadtoyourgivingintothetemptationisimportant.Ifyouknowthesethings,thenyoucantellwhenyou’regoingdownthe path of sin and you can stop the process before youactuallysin.YoucanpraytoYHVHforstrengthand then determine in your heart and mind not to sin.Temptations start the same way that a huge tree gotitsstart.First,itwasatinyseedplantedintheground.Sinstartsasalittlethought,animpulseoranurge that suddenly appears in your mind to do some-thing or say something wrong. It could be something weseethatwestarttolustafter.(Lustisstronglydesiringsomethingthatiswrongtohaveortodo.)The world around us is full of much sin and evil. It is full of things that try to get people to sin.

d (d) Once the Israelites had come into the land of Canaan—a land that was full of godless andwickedheathens,whatdidYHVHtellhispeopletodo?(ReadNumbers33:51–53.)WhatcanwelearnfromYHVH’sinstruc-tionstotheIsraelites,andhowarewetodealwiththeevilaroundustoday?

Here are some pointers to help us deal with the temptation to sin: 1. OneofthewaystheIsraelitesdealtwiththetemptationtosinwas

bygettingridofheathenpeopleswholivedinthePromisedLandbeforetheIsraelitesgot there. It is not our job today to remove the heathen around us by killing them or by drivingthemoutoftheland,butwecanremoveourselvesfromtheheathenbynothang-ingoutwiththemandbynotlettingtheminfluenceus.Wecanchoosewhoareandwhoarenotourfriends,forexample.Wecanevenchoosewhoweworkwithandwherewelive.

http://www.HoshanaRabbah.org Page 3 of 5

Tor a h Ex p lor E rs — pa r as haT Mas E i

2. Wecanremoveevilinfluencesfromourhomes.Thingsthatmaytemptustodoevilsuchasbadmusic,books,pictures,magazinesandvid-eos.Wecanstopwatchingevilthingsontelevi-sion and remove any pagan and evil objects from our homes.

3. Wecanlearntodressmodestly(inawaythatcovers our bodies so that others cannot see our nakednessorseeourbodycurves)sothatotherswon’tbetemptedtohavelustfulthoughts.

4. Whenevilthoughts,lustsorimpulsescomeintoourminds,whiletheyarestillonlyasmallseed,wemustpraytoYeshuaforhelpandstrength.WemusttakethatthoughtcaptiveandchoosetodowhatisrightandtofollowYeshuainsteadofthepathoftemptationthatleadstosin.(Lookat2Corinthians10:3–5.)

5. Whentemptationstodoevilcome,wemustfleeorrunfromthem.(Read2Timothy2:22.)

6. Wemustresistevil.(SeeJames4:7.) 7. WemustuseorquotetheWordofElohim(Bible

Scriptures)tofightagainsttemptationstosinasYeshuadidwhenresistingthedevil.(NoteMatthew4:1–11.)ThismeansthatweneedtobestudyingtheBibledailyandfindspecificverses that we can use against the temptation when it comes.

8. Wemustresolve,determineormakeupourmindaheadoftimethatwearenotgoingtofalltothetemptationtosin,andwemustprayforYHVH’sstrengthtonotgiveinwhenthetempta-tion comes.

9. WecanfillourmindswithgoodthingsbyconstantlyprayingtoYHVH,studyinghisWord,theBible,andthinkingabouthisways.Inthisway,ourmindsarewashedofevil thoughts and our hearts and minds are renewed or changed to want to do what is right.(ReadRomans12:2;Ephesians5:26;Hebrews10:22;Titus3:5.)

10. Wemusthangoutwithpeoplewhobelieveas we do—who have the same standards of righteousness and who do not want to sin. Wemustnothangoutwithpeoplewhogiveintolustandtemptation,sincetheywillbeabadinfluenceonus.(See2Corinthians6:14–18;James4:4;1John2:15–17;1Corin-thians15:33.)

11. Wemustattendaweeklyfellowshiporgathering of believers where we can be strengthenedbyBibleteaching,praiseandworship and be in fellowship with others who want to do what is right by resisting sin andobeyingtheWordandcommandmentsofElohim.(ReadHebrews10:24–25.)

We strengthen ourselves to resist sin by studying

the Word of Elohim!

We must fight against sin!

http://www.HoshanaRabbah.org Page 4 of 5

Tor a h Ex p lor E rs — pa r as haT Mas E i

Ifwefollowthesepointers,itwillbelikehangingonourheartsandmindsa“No Trespassing”signtotemptation!

d (e) Inconclusion,exploreJames1:12–15anddiscuss.

2 What Happens If We Don’t Drive Out Evil (Numbers 33:55–56)WhenthechildrenofIsraelwentintotakethePromisedLand,YHVHcommandedthemtokillordriveouttheheatheninhabitants,anddestroyalltheirpaganinfluences.

d (f) WhywasYHVHsofirmabouttheIsraelitesdrivingouttheheathens?(ReadNumbers33:55–56.)

Yousee,ifweallowevilinfluencestoremaininourlivesorinourhomes,eventuallytheywillcomebacktotemptusinamomentofweakness.Everyonegoesthroughmomentsofweaknesswhentheirspiritualguardisdown.Wemaybeweakwhenwearephysicallytired,whenwegetdiscouragedorupset,whenwebecomeweary,whensomeonehastreatedusunkindlyorwhenthingsjustdon’tgorightandwehaveabadday.Itisduringthesetimeswhen we are most likely to listen to that little evil voiceinsideofus(ourfallennatureorwickedcarnalmancalledtheevilinclination)andyieldtotemptationand sin.

d (g) Read2Corinthians10:3–5;James4:7-8andEphesians6:10–18.WhatdotheseScripturesteachusaboutresistingtemptationtosin?WhatisPauldescribinginEphesians6:10–18?

When it comes to fighting temptation and sin, are you the victor or the victim? The winner or the loser?

http://www.HoshanaRabbah.org Page 5 of 5

Tor a h Ex p lor E rs — pa r as haT Mas E i

S O M O R L I V E I N I T S E B I R T T T AE N I D O L N M O U N T H O R S E I D M H OE L O U S L C I T I E S O F R E F U G E A IT D A U G H T E R S R E R S E I L I M A F IE A O S S B A O M F O S N I A L P Y A O M VB L O O D P O L L U T E S T H E L A N D R RE M C N N E P U L Y T R I H T L E N S S T OU E O A A E H T L T B A N S A V V R L T A RL S F D L O P S I I R N Y N O R I V A A O SE S U R E G N E V A D O O L B N T D Y R O UT I R O R F I Y E L U I U I G D E A E T L ST S H J U E O A U R T S R B T G S H R I T LT L D E T A L R L N S S S E L R R E U N G JE D N H S I L A E T E E I A D E O H A G D SI P E T A O N T P D I S D H L A Y P T P E PL H S Y P D N O R N R S E S U T H O P L O ES T L B E I I I R A P O S T Y S S L U A N EL N L P N N V E T Y H P B E O E O E E C S TA O M U D E R E D R G E A R S A S Z A E I ON A U Y O C E U T I I K O T U S E H Y S N AC L S U U D N D O P H A V I R O O T U S E ON N T O H C I R E J R T L L R H Y P L A U G

Apportion By Lot Drive Out Manslayer Take PossessionBlood Avenger Families Mount Hor Thorns In Your SidesBlood Pollutes The Land Great Sea Pasture Lands TrialBorder Of Edom High Priest Plains Of Moab TribesBy The Jordan Jericho Possess It UnintentionallyCamped Journeyed Salt Sea Your BorderCities Of Refuge Levites Shall Trouble You Your LandDaughters Live In It Starting Places Zelophehad

AnswerkeyforthisTorahExplorerswordsearchcanbefoundathttp://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/te/te_masei_ans.pdf