1. Praise:

   One of the most encouraging faith-building verses in all of God's Word is found in Shabbat's Torah portion – and it comes from the mouth of that prophet-for-profit. Balaam: God is not a man that He should lie – neither the son of man that He should change His mind. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Has He spoken, and shall He not fulfill it? (Num. 23:19)

   • Thank You Lord that You most assuredly watch over Your Word to fulfill it (Jer. 1:12).

   • Therefore, we do trust that what You have promised, You will accomplish – and it will be fulfilled exactly as You had in mind (Isa. 55:11).

   • What a joy to know that we serve You – the God who is always faithful to Your Word (Psa. 89:1-8).

   • We are so very grateful for Your Word which is our light in the increasingly gross darkness of this present world (Psa. 19:7-11; 119:49-50, 105, 130).

   • We bless You that all of Your promises to Israel and to us in both the Old Testament [Tanach] and in the New Testament – are yes and amen in Messiah Yeshua unto Your glory (2 Cor. 1:20).

   • We trust You, knowing that they will all be fulfilled in Your timing (Hab. 2:3; 2 Pet. 3:9).

   • We praise You that since You have chosen us even before we were created (Jer. 1:5; Eph. 1:4), we have confidence that You will complete that what You have begun in each of us (Phil. 1:6).

   • Hallelujah! Our God and our King does indeed reign over all the earth - today (Psa. 47:7-9)!

   • We believe and rejoice that the best is yet to come (Isa. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9)!

2. Government & society:

   This verse in the prophetic portion is a word that confronts Israel's current leaders – both in the coalition and in the opposition: He has told you what is good, and what YHWH requires of you [+ seeks from you], which is to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk [+ live] humbly with your God? (Mic. 6:8)

   • Lord, we have already praised You that no word of Yours returns to You empty (Isa. 55:11), so we ask that as Israel's politicians read Micah 6:8 this Shabbat it would impact them greatly and move them closer to a lifestyle that You desire for all humanity – and especially for Your chosen nation.

   • We bless You that there are Israeli politicians who actually read Your Word (Psa. 119:11, 18, 105).

   • Use it in their lives as a sharp two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12-13), while You also shield them from all influences that are not of You (Deut. 33:29).

   • Impress upon them the need to glorify and obey You in the eyes of Your nation (Num. 20:12)

   • As You declared through Balaam in the Torah reading, guard the coalition from all manipulation and sorcery against them from both inside and outside of Israel (Num. 23:23).

   • As PM Bibi Netanyahu leads Israel today by Your decree (Dan. 2:21; 4:17b, 25b), use him for Your holy name's sake (Psa. 115:1-3).

   • Show him when it is good to compromise and when it is not (Prov. 26:4-5).

   • God, close all of the court cases against Netanyahu that are being exposed today as having no real evidence to prove him guilty of any criminal activity ((Job 8:3; Isa. 59:4; Ezek. 45:9).

   • Use these court cases to reveal what needs to be changed in Israel's judicial system (Jer. 8:8-9).

   • Abba, again we ask that the judicial reforms would pass with any modifications You desire so that Isaiah 1:25-27 and 60:17b comes to pass as soon as possible.

   • Do not allow the anarchy and rebelliousness of those who are anti-reform to intimidate those who were elected in order to pass them (1 Sam. 15:23; Psa. 11:3; Psa. 58:1-2).

   • Confront Israel's mainstream media who come across as strongly against the electorate's choice of a government and as most of their reporting – especially their headlines – are very slanted against any kind of biblical worldview (Ex. 23:1; Psa. 119:104; Matt. 7:15).

   • Help the coalition members to speak wisely and to temper their frustrations (Prov. 8:6; 16:1; 17:28).

   • Enable the coalition to move forward on all other issues that are close to Your heart (Prov. 16:9).

   • Grant unity of purpose to those who have been tasked with lowering the cost of living and give them creative ways of dealing with this problem (Prov. 19:21).

3. Internal security:

   Throughout the story of Balaam we read of God protecting His nation from its enemies' curses: God said to Balaam, 'You shall not go with them or curse the people, for they are blessed. (Num. 22:12; cp. 23:7-9; 24:9b) While God can discipline or even judge His Son Israel, woe to anyone else who comes against His chosen nation (Deut. 8:5; Psa. 118:18; Prov. 3:11).

   • Lord, as You hear how the Palestinian's political and terrorist leaders curse Your people, respond in a way that honors Your Word and also removes their demonic influence from off of many Palestinian civilians who would be willing to live peacefully in Israel (Job 4:8; Psa. 9:16; Ezek. 35:6; Gal. 6:7).

   • We bless those who curse Israel by asking for multitudes of them to be saved (Luke 6:28).

   • Also we bless them by asking You to cause all of their evil plans against Israel to fail, and to use that open failure to so shame them that they end up seeking You (Josh. 2:9-11; Psa. 68:1; 83:16).

   • Strengthen the true Church among the Palestinians to be Your light (Matt. 16:18).

   • Lord, let the IDF and Israel's other security forces deal in such a way with Palestinian terrorists and their supporters that Israeli civilians do not feel unprotected and do not feel like they need to take the law into their own hands to defend themselves and their families (Eccl. 8:11; Rom. 13:3-4).

   • Restore security and a sense of security to all Israelis living in Judea and Samaria (Psa. 59:1-3).

   • Protect the IDF and Israel's other security forces who have been given the responsibility of guarding the lives of Israelis from terrorism (Psa. 121:3-4; Rom. 13:3-4).

   • Apply this word from the prophetic portion to Israel's war against the current tsunami of terrorist attacks, as You say to the remnant of Jacob (Mic. 5:8), Your hand shall be lifted up upon your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off. (Mic. 5:9)

   • Give the IDF Your strategy to stop the terrorists who are trying to turn Jenin in northern Samaria into a mini-Gaza (Judg. 7:14; 2 Sam. 5:17-25; Psa. 129:5).

   • Rebuke the world's harsh criticism of Israel whenever it fights against terrorism and end up killing terrorists and at times some possibly innocent civilians and journalists (Isa. 8:9-10).

   • Thank You for the government approving the building of over 13,000+ homes in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem since it has come into office (Neh. 2:20; Psa. 51:18; Isa. 44:26; Jer. 31:3-5).

   • Let these approvals be acted on and let these structures be built today (Isa. 49:19-23; 52:9; 54:2-3).

   • Rebuke the world's harsh criticism of Israel building and living in its God-given land (Joel 3:1-2).

4. External security:

   As Balaam prophesies, Israel will never be accepted as one of the nations – so any effort on its part to be liked by the world is mostly wasted energy. Instead, Israel needs to work at being obedient to God – and let Him deal with any nation or person who tries to stop Israel from fulfilling His revealed Word and will for them.

   • From the Torah reading: How shall I curse, whom God had not cursed, or how shall I defy, whom YHWH has not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: see, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be counted among the nations. (Num. 23:8-9)

   • In Your timing show Israel when to leave the UN and wipe the filth from off its feet (Ex. 33:15-16).

   • Until then anoint mightily Israel's current UN Ambassador – Gilad Erdan (Prov. 13:17).

   • Let Israel see that only You can protect them from the wicked schemes of the nations (Psa. 124:1-8).

   • Meanwhile, Lord God Almighty, please bless those nations who do stand with Israel both in the UN and in other world forums (Gen. 12:3a).

   • As Israel watches US President Biden and his administration, along with the EU, begging Iran to agree to another worthless deal, let it disabuse Israel of looking to any aid from any nation when it comes to defending itself against the wicked Iranian regime, or any of its proxies (Psa. 118:9; 146:3).

   • Lord, fulfill this word from the prophetic portion – especially against Iran and all of its anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist proxies: I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations such as they have not heard. (Mic. 5:15; cp. Isa. 34:1-8)

   • As You are setting Your throne in Iran through the church, so fulfill the next part of Your promise and quickly destroy their king and his princes (Jer. 49:38).

   • Show Israel how to destroy as soon as possible that outpost Hizbullah set up in Israeli sovereign territory on the Lebanese border on Mount Dov (Jer. 22:23; Zech. 11:1).

   • Prepare Bibi for any upcoming international diplomatic visits, and prevent any that are not in line with Your will – specifically to China and/or Ukraine (Prov. 16:9; Jer. 10:23).

   • Arise YHWH, let not man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, YHWH that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.Psa. 9:19-20

5. Aliyah:

   The captivity of the Jewish people is over. Most Jews who choose to live in the nations are doing so by their own choice and not because they are under God's judgment.

   • Lord God, speak to Your people in dreams and visions and through Your Word, showing them that You named what You did when You scattered Your nation as sending them into captivity – and that they can live freely as Jews in their own land today (Deut. 30:3; Psa. 53:6; 85:1).

   • Thank You that the captivity is over and the aliyah is for Israel's physically and eventual spiritual salvation (Psa. 14:7; 53:6; Zech. 12:10).

   • Demolish the gates of any nation that refuses to release their Jewish populations (Ex. 5:1).

   • Do not allow a fear of making aliyah which is based on evil and distorted media reports prevent Your people from returning home at this crucial time in history (Num. 13:30-33; 14:8-9; 2 Tim. 1:7).

   • Speak to many more rabbis and other Jewish leaders to return to Israel bringing their congregations or communities with them (Jer. 51:6-10).

   • Remove all obstacles and bureaucracy in Israel that in any way hinder the aliyah (Isa. 57:14).

   • Concerning Israel's Law of Return, Abba if there are to be any changes, please make sure that they bring this law more in line with Your will and Your Word (Psa. 19:7-11).

   • Open the eyes of many more believers to see their biblical responsibility to pray for and to help in various ways to bring Your people home from their captivity (Isa. 49:22; 60:8-11).

6. Salvation:

   Balaam prophesies of Israel's coming Messiah and uses unique titles for Him: I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not near; there shall march a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel… A Ruler shall come out of Jacob… (Num. 24:17a, 19a)

   • Lord, as Your people read this, let them ask You concerning to whom this is referring (Mat. 2:22; Luke 1:32-33, 78; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:19).

   • Thank You for the reports that millions of Muslims in the Middle East are being saved (1 Pet. 2:9).

   • Give many of them opportunities to provoke unsaved Jews to jealousy (Rom. 11:11; Eph. 5:8).

   • Bring forth a harvest of salvations among the Jewish people, using all the seeds that believers, both inside and outside of Israel, have recently sowed (1 Cor. 3:6).

   • Reveal to Your people that Messiah will indeed come – back (Isa. 52:8; Zech. 14:3-4)!

   • In obedience to Your Word, we pray, Lord, save Your people, the remnant of Israel (Jer. 31:7).

   • Move mightily, revealing Your Son, Israel's King Messiah to many Haredi [ultra-Orthodox] and their spiritual and political leaders; many from the Jewish anti-missionary groups; Jews living in Judea and Samaria; Jews living in the captivity; Israeli politicians and their families; Jewish judges and lawyers in and outside of Israel; many in Israel's gay communities; Israeli influencers on social media; Israel's security forces and the men and women in the IDF, the Air Force and Navy; unsaved loved ones of Messianic Jews and many others (Rom. 11:26; cp. Isa. 59:20; Jer. 31:31-34).

   • Use the recent increase of Haredi persecution against the Messianic Jews in Israel to cause Israelis who are anti-Haredi to become extremely curious as to what exactly these Jewish believers believe that has the Haredi so upset - and through this save many (Rom. 8:28).

7. Body of Messiah:

   Believers are often told that they are the "spiritual" people of God, while Jews and the nation of Israel are His "earthly" people. This unbiblical teaching blinds them to their oneness with Israel as revealed both in the Tanach and in the New Testament. An example is this verse from the Torah portion: He that gathers the heifer's ashes shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening, and it [the cleansing by the red heifer's solution] shall be for the children of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them [that is the ger – a gentile who trusts in Israel's God like Jethro, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah, etc.], as a statute forever. (Num. 19:10)

   • Lord Yeshua, reveal to many more of our brothers and sisters in Your Body that they are grafted into Israel's cultivated olive tree – among the Jews and not instead of them (Rom. 11:17).

   • Teach them what it means that the root – that is, Your promises to Israel's forefathers (Rom. 15:8; cp. Gen 12:3b with Gal. 3:8) – supports them and not the other way around (Rom. 11:15-18).

   • Help believers to fully accept that You were incarnated as a Jew, had Jewish mother, lived and died as a Jew, rose from the dead as a Jew and are still seen as a Jew in glory (Rev. 5:5-6; 22:16).

   • Open their minds to see the wonderful things You have revealed in the Tanach (Psa. 119:18).

   • Abba, answer Your Son's prayer and sanctify us all in Your truth – Your Word (John 17:17).

8. IFI:

   We believe that Messiah Yeshua was speaking truth when He said, My sheep hear My voice (John 10:27a). This is why we often ask Him to lead us as we intercede especially about any issues that are not clearly laid out in His Word. Please pray for and with us so that we can all hear His voice and then pray in line with His will. We thank you for your prayer and financial support and for your gracious words of encouragement.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Israel

Chuck Cohen, for the IFI team

1 John 5:14-15