Rico Cortes of Wisdom in Torah Ministries

Most people read the Torah every week, but how many of us actually stop and ask what commandments are inside the Torah portion? Who do they apply to? Where do they apply? Are they connected to the home, the land, the Temple, the priesthood, the Levites, or all Israel?

That question changes everything, because the Torah is not just a religious book full of inspirational ideas. The Torah is covenant law. It is the constitution of the Kingdom. It is the legal treaty of the King with His people. And when we forget that, we start using the right verses with the wrong categories.

That is exactly what happens with topics like tithing, giving, priesthood, ministry, leadership, and service in the Kingdom. In Numbers 18, the Torah is very clear that the biblical tithe was given to the Levites because of their service connected to the Tabernacle and later the Temple. But this is where people usually run to one of two extremes.

One side says, “See? Tithing does not apply today, so I do not need to give anything.” The other side says, “If you do not tithe to my ministry, you are robbing God.” But both miss the legal context.

We need to be honest with the text. We cannot take something that belonged to the Levites in the Temple system and casually rename it so we can manipulate people. But at the same time, we cannot use that as an excuse to stop supporting the work of the Kingdom.

There is a difference between a biblical tithe connected to the Levitical system and a freewill offering, donation, or support given to those who labor to teach, serve, and build up the people of God. Language matters. Context matters. Integrity matters.

And let me say this plainly: do not let anyone manipulate you with guilt. Give because you understand the work. Give because you trust the fruit. Give because you want to participate in advancing the Kingdom. Give because you recognize that teaching Torah, serving the people, and keeping the work moving takes labor, time, and sacrifice. But do not give because somebody twisted the text and made you afraid.

That is not covenant loyalty. That is religious manipulation.

This is why studying the commandments in their proper context is so important. In this Torah portion, we also see the role of the Levites and the priests in guarding the holy things. Everyone had a role. Everyone had boundaries. Everyone had a service. The singer did not take the job of the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper did not take the job of the priest. The priest did not take the job of the Levite.

Why? Because in the Kingdom, order matters.

Encroachment was a serious issue in the Temple, and maybe that is something we need to recover today. Not everybody has the same assignment. Not everybody carries the same function. Not everybody is called to do everything.

A healthy congregation is not built by one person doing all the teaching, singing, cleaning, cooking, organizing, leading, praying, and serving. A healthy Kingdom community is built when gifts are recognized, people are trained, roles are honored, and everyone serves without trying to take over someone else’s assignment.

That is order. That is maturity. That is how the Kingdom functions.

And this is where Torah challenges us. It is easy to talk about commandments. It is another thing to let those commandments expose the areas where we need realignment. Circumcision of the heart begins when we stop defending our traditions and start submitting to the words, decrees, statutes, and judgments of our King.

Yeshua did not restore us so we could treat God’s holy things casually. He restored us so we could draw near properly.

So the question is not only, “Do I know the commandments?” The real question is, “Am I willing to be corrected by them?”

In this full teaching, we go deeper into Numbers 18, the commandments in Parashat Korach, the role of the Levites, Temple guarding, tithing, giving, ministry support, and why proper categories protect us from both neglect and manipulation.

Watch the full teaching here:
https://wisdomintorah.com/korach-2022-mitzvot/

HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD BE INTERESTED IN A YOUTUBE LIVE !!!

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE RED HEIFER?

THAT WAY YOU ALL CAN ASKED ALL QUESTIONS RELATED TO YESHUA, THE RED HEIFER AND TOPICS PEOPLE BRING UP WHEN OFFERINGS AND THE TEMPLE ARE MENTIONED.

What if Leviticus 5 is not about strange rituals… but about God dismantling ancient fear?

Most believers read Leviticus 5 and see a list of strange commandments about hidden sin, impurity, oaths, confession, and sacrifices. But what if Leviticus 5 is doing something far deeper than we realize?

In my discussion with Dr. Mark Chavalas, we looked at how the Torah speaks into the world of the Ancient Near East — a world filled with incantations, curses, taboos, fear of demons, and ritual systems meant to deal with guilt, impurity, and unknown offenses.

And here is what really stood out to me: the Torah is not copying the nations. The Torah is correcting the nations.

The commandments of God take the very things the ancient world feared — impurity, oaths, curses, hidden guilt, and contact with death — and bring them under the authority of the one true God.

No magic. No manipulation. No fear-based ritual system. No trying to appease unknown spirits.

Instead, the Torah gives Israel a covenantal way to deal with guilt: realization, confession, repentance, and atonement before the Lord.

That is powerful.

When you understand the world Israel lived in, Leviticus stops looking like a strange book of rituals and starts looking like divine wisdom. God was demystifying His people. He was teaching Israel not to think like Egypt, Babylon, Canaan, or the nations around them.

He was training them to become true image bearers — a people who understood holiness, loyalty, sacred space, justice, and life.

And this is why context matters so much.

If we keep reading the Bible as if it was written in a vacuum, we will miss the depth of what God was doing. But when we understand the Ancient Near Eastern world, suddenly the commandments come alive.

Leviticus 5 is not boring.

It is covenant theology. It is temple theology. It is God teaching His people how to leave the realm of death and live in the realm of life.

Watch my full discussion with Dr. Mark Chavalas here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/M0ysT3WkwqQ

Yesterday’s teaching from last week’s Torah portion, Shelach, really brings out something many people miss.

The sin of the spies was not simply that they were afraid of the giants in the land. Fear was part of it, but the deeper issue was that Israel stood at the border of the promise and rejected the gift God had already given.

The land was not a prize Israel earned by military strength, perfect obedience, or political power. It was a royal grant from the King of the universe. God swore by His own name that He would give the land to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants. Once the King gives a gift by oath, no generation, government, empire, theology, or political movement has the authority to revoke what He has spoken.

That is what makes Shelach so serious. Israel was not just questioning whether they could defeat the giants. They were questioning whether the gift of the King was worth receiving and whether the God who promised it was faithful enough to bring them in.

That same lesson still matters today.

We can recognize corruption. We can acknowledge failure. We can admit that people and governments are not perfect. But we must be very careful not to attack what God has sworn by His own name. The issue is not whether people are always worthy. The issue is whether God is faithful to His oath.

The land is good. The promise is still standing. The King is still faithful.

May we not be like the generation that stood at the border and said no to God’s gift. May we be like Joshua and Caleb, who trusted the word of the King and stood for His honor, His covenant, and His faithfulness.

Watch yesterday’s full teaching here:
https://youtube.com/live/UHpII2nKiPg?feature=share

🔴 BREAKING FROM JERUSALEM — MEET TEMIMA

The Mikdash Educational Center in Jerusalem broke this news from Israel, and I was honored to be the first voice in the Diaspora to hear it.

A completely red calf — named Temima (תְּמִימָה, "without blemish") — was born in Israel just two weeks ago.
We are living in prophetic times.

The National Red Heifer Institute has brought together Israel's leading experts on the parah adumah (פָּרָה אֲדֻמָּה), working collaboratively toward what they describe as a national event: the restoration of ritual purity to the entire Jewish people.

The red heifer of Numbers 19 is one of the most profound and mysterious commandments of the Torah. The rabbinical tradition records that only nine were prepared throughout all of Israel's history. The birth of a qualifying red calf is considered one of the most significant prophetic markers in Jewish and Messianic expectation.
Stay tuned for more from Wisdom in Torah Ministries.

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