Musing – Why does God want to bless your home?

Hebraic Musing – Why does God want to bless your home?

One of my favorite songs in Hebrew is ♫“Mah Tovu  ohaleicha Yaakov, mishk'notecha Yisrael”♫ which is right from Numbers 24:5 -- How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, and your dwelling places, Israel!”

Confucius said, “The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” Does a group of individuals make a home? Or, does a home make the individual? Homes mold and shape beliefs, values, and character of individuals. The world’s morality, mores and politics take various shapes, but it is the cumulative impact of our homes that ultimately decide the direction this world has taken and will take.

Balaam was a seer hired by King Balak three times to curse the children of Israel, but on the third try, after two failed attempts, Balaam couldn’t help himself.  He blessed the nation of Israel instead.  Why? As Balaam stood on a mountain overlooking the entire nation of Israel in their respective tents encamped below him he opened his mouth in an attempt to curse them.  Instead, this came out: “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel!”

Sages teach that Balaam noticed how the tents of the Jews in the desert were carefully aligned so that no one could see into anyone else’s home. Balaam could not curse the Israelites because of their modesty and morality. We use words and examples in our homes to teach values, kindness, and morality. These values taught in our homes extend beyond their four walls and into the four corners of the earth!  On the other hand, may I contend that any breakdown in societal behavior started in homes.

Notice that Balaam’s view was overlooking a Torah observant people. They had learned to obey the Torah after 40 years in the desert being taught by God. But what did Balaam see as he looked out over the Israelite encampment?  How was he impacted by these observations?

·         Families honoring God by gathering weekly as a family for the Sabbath meal in their home tent

·         A people learning the value of honoring God, listening to and obeying His Words

·         Orderly arrangement of tents, prophetically laid out as a cross (Number 2)

·         Protected people - no walls – trusting their God

·         Clouds by day and fire by night confirming Almighty God’s protection and guidance

·         Healthy people with “none of those diseases of Egypt” (Deut.7:15)

·         People prospering, yet sacrificing the firstfruits of land and animals to their God

Rabbi Eckstein summarized it this way – “Make your home a place where God’s Word is studied and honored, a space where the culture is kindness. Make your home warm, inviting, and comforting. Let prayers be heard throughout our homes, day and night. When we create homes that are filled with godliness and goodness, eventually the world will be that way, too.”

Points to ponder

Do we take the values, kindness and morality we’ve learned at home
to a lost and dying world outside out home?

Does our home display the orderliness of God’s Torah teachings in such a way
that the Balaams of the world will accept our God as their God? 

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                                   May 20, 2014

Author of two books “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”
And weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings” 
Yosef1@cox.net  or  www.InsightsByYosef.com