​Our small community orchestra rehearses on Tuesday night. Tonight we were joined by some other school kids here in the valley. It was a lot of fun.
An orchestra reminds you that you need to do your best but that you must fit in with everyone else and follow the conductor. Each instrument is usually playing different music but quarter notes have the same time value for all players as also do the eighth notes, whole notes, etc. Individual excellence is rewarded but only as it is sublimated to the rest of the orchestra sound. You don't play a solo unless it is called for by the score. You don't get to do your own private interpretation or come up with a novel way to count time or award note values. It is not like Facebook.
And yet, it is wonderful. To hear all the different instruments blending together to produce a harmonic anthem is incredible. An orchestra, even a very amateur one like ours, is a perfect balance of individual excellence and team work.

​Reunion - Update for 2022
As our world moves into a changed new normal, the need to connect with friends and loved ones becomes even more important.  We need each other and we are in the process of planning a modified gathering to spend time reconnecting with friends and loved ones.

Date:
June 24-26, 2022
All times indicated are Utah time

Place:
EskDale Community and Hidden Canyon Retreat

Calendar of Events:
Friday, June 24, 2022
• Travel and settle into Hidden
        Canyon Retreat

Friday evening: 6:00 pm-8:30 pm UT time
• BBQ, meet and greet at Hidden
        Canyon Retreat

Saturday, June 25, 2022
• Breakfast will be where you are
        staying

Saturday will include unscheduled activities:  horseshoe pits, hiking, visiting, swimming at Hidden Canyon Retreat
(no lifeguard on duty)

• Lunch – EskDale dining hall 12:00
        pm UT time

• Dinner – EskDale lawn and
        amphitheater area 6:00 pm UT time

• Socializing event

Sunday, June 26, 2022
• Breakfast and travel

Lodging:
The planning committee has made arrangements with Hidden Canyon Retreat for lodging on a first
Reserved, first served basis.  Their block of rooms will be held and reservations must be made by calling them at 775-234-7172 or by email at;
hcrreservations@gmail.com before May 1, 2022.

Other lodging options at your own expense are Rental houses in Baker through Airbnb. Gateway
Accommodations (435) 979-2029, Stargazer Inn (775) 234-7323, Whispering Elms (775) 234-9900 or The Border Inn (775) 234-7300.

An all-inclusive registration fee of $25.00/adult, $50.00/couple or $75.00/family will be charged.
This registration fee will include lodging at Hidden Canyon Retreat and meals.  Please send your reservation and payments to; Anita Hansen, PO Box 67,
Garrison, UT  84728.

Hospitality considerations:
No smoking, alcohol, pets or firearms in buildings.

Volunteers are welcome for preparing, presenting and cleanup for Saturday lunch and dinner.  Please contact Kenneth Conrad if you are willing to help. (801) 361-1074.

February 15 is an important date in the House of Aaron, and we usually try to commemorate it in someway each year. This year on Sabbath we pulled out the catskin, marble tablet, and copper boxes as some of the young people had never seen them (or remember seeing them) and Doug Childs told a little bit of the history about them.

The House of Aaron participated in the Snake Valley Multi-Church Christmas Celebration this year. There were special numbers, a few speakers, and it was a great time of fellowship!

Ruminations on Numbers 35.

On the set of the western movie “Rust” on Thursday, October 21, Alec Baldwin was practicing removing his gun from the holster and pointing it at the camera in preparation for a scene in the movie. Suddenly the gun discharged, killing the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and wounding the director Joel Souza who was directly behind her. The gun had been certified as “cold” i.e. not containing real ammunition before being given to Mr. Baldwin. Horrifying, apparently accidental, but a wife and mother lost her life.

In the Torah in B’midbar (Numbers) 35 God gave explicit instructions on how Israel was to respond to accidental killing. The Levites were allotted 48 cities spread throughout the land of Israel with some in each tribe as they were not given a tribal territory of their own. Six of these Levitical cities were specially designated as cities of refuge. Three of these were on the west side of the Jordan and three were on the east. This was to allow easy access for anyone who might need to flee to their protection.

When a person killed someone they had to flee to a city of refuge where the congregation would be called to determine if the killing were intentional thus murder or accidental in what we might term manslaughter. If the congregation found the killer guilty of murder—intentional, planned and malicious—he was turned over to the avenger of blood who would kill him. If he was found innocent of intentional malfeasance he was sent back to the city of refuge where he would be safe. The killer was required to live in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest. If he ever ventured outside the city the avenger of blood could slay him with no repercussions. The killer could not pay a ransom to shorten his stay—for safety he had to live in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest.

The killer, if designated a murderer, had to die, there was no recourse nor forgiveness. 35: 33 ‘So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.’ The only justice for murder is the slaying of the one who committed murder. We find this idea also in Genesis 9: 6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.
God makes plain in the text that this is a perpetual obligation. Numbers 35: 29 These things shall be for a statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Today, if the killing of Halyna Hutchins had taken place in ancient Israel Mr Baldwin would have been compelled to flee to a city of refuge. If found innocent of intentional harm he would then live in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest.
It is pretty easy to read this passage and pass it off as irrelevant. For at least two reasons: 1- most Christians don’t believe Yeshua (Jesus) when he said he didn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets 2- none of us would ever kill anyone and if we did accidentally, our culture assures us we did nothing wrong and deserve no punishment.

The Bible does not hold to the view that intent determines guilt. Halyna Hutchins is dead regardless of Alec Baldwin’s intent. She is made in the image of her creator and her death carries vast importance with that creator.

For those who follow Yeshua (Jesus) and accept him as their Redeemer and Savior this passage carries great weight. One of the things Yeshua did (any in many ways the ancient sages agree with him) was dig deep into the intent of the law (Torah) and how our behavior relates to it. In Matthew 5 he reminds his listeners that the Torah tells us that those who murder are subject to judgment. But, he goes on to say, that anyone who is angry with his brother is subject to judgment. Those who call their brother a fool are in danger of the fires of hell. In other words, Yeshua is linking anger, slander and hatred to murder. In 1 John 3:15 the apostle corroborates Yeshua’s point by affirming that whoever hates his brother is a murderer. In rabbinical tradition one who indulges in lashon hara (evil speech) murders three people—himself, his listener and the one being spoken of.

We probably have all said something inadvertently that really injured someone. Off-the-cuff criticism, snide insults, angry retaliation often lead to angry words and damaged feelings that in Yeshua’s description render us subject to judgment.

How do we run to the city of refuge? What does that mean today? Psalm 91 One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust!” Yeshua promises in John 6:37 “whoever comes to me I will never cast out!”
So we come to the shelter of the “Most High” and surrender to his provision and enter His city. Hebrews 12: 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Yeshua, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

We discover two powerful truths as we enter our “city of refuge.” First our high priest has died. By coming to the city and accepting his sacrifice and atoning death we are set free to return home. Second the sprinkled blood does speak better than the blood of Abel. Abel’s blood cried out for justice. Justice can only come for Abel with the shedding of the blood of Cain, his murderer. The sprinkled blood of Yeshua satisfies our bloodguiltiness before the law. By shedding his blood he meets the demand of the law for the shedding of blood of the guilty party. When we accept his sacrifice in our behalf his blood purchases our freedom as expiation for the land has been made “by the blood of him who shed it.” Isaiah 53: 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

Thus we find that for the person who comes to the Lord with a truly repentant heart, provision has been made for the unintentional damage we do to each other and forgiveness when the hurt is intentional and malicious. Psalm 46: 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

May we all find our way to the city of refuge.

We have started livestreaming the Shiloah Valley branch Sabbath morning worship on Facebook. So check out the House of Aaron on Facebook to catch those.
The Torah Portion is the same as usual, livestreamed on Facebook, but also uploaded to YouTube (and on the House of Aaron website).