Shelakh-Lekha
Send on your behalf
“Faithful Few”
Numbers 13:1-15:41
Joshua 2:1-24
excerpted from TorahScope, Volume III
After our previous Torah portion, B’ha’alotkha (Numbers 8:1-12:16), where the Lord instructed Moses how to deal with some recalcitrant Israelites—and even a challenge by his siblings Miriam and Aaron—the people were positioned to move forward into the Promised Land. However, as readers will see this week in Shelakh-Lekha, trust in the Lord’s promises was limited to only Joshua and Caleb—despite the requirement that all have faith in Him. By choosing one leader from each of the Twelve Tribes to spy out Canaan, the Lord communicated that for future generations, regardless of family heritage, it would be incumbent on everyone to trust in Him and His word:
“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them’” (Numbers 13:1-2, WMB).
The memorable selection of the twelve spies by Moses, was highlighted by Moses uniquely calling out Joshua, as the preeminent leader among the group. Joshua had been faithfully serving Moses as a military leader (Exodus 17:9-16) and general aide throughout the early stages of the sojourn (Exodus 24:13; 32:17; 33:11; Numbers 11:28). So it was appropriate for Moses to call or proclaim Joshua’s unique status among his peers. Certainly this exemplified the principle that God-ordained leaders, such as Moses, should be able to discern who was truly serving Him, and verbally express such recognition to others, in order to establish and solidify future succession in leadership:
“These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua. Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, ‘Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country. See the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds; and what the land is, whether it is fertile or poor, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be courageous, and bring some of the fruit of the land.’ Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes. So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there. They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. They went and came to Moses, to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them and to all the congregation. They showed them the fruit of the land” (Numbers 13:16-26, WMB).
After receiving a series of instructions on what to observe in Canaan, the Lord allowed the spies to spend forty days scouting out the territory. Readers might wish to note potential connections between this forty-day mission, and the forty-day flooding rain (Genesis 7:4), the forty days Moses twice spent on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:18; 34:28), and even the forty-day fast Yeshua had in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2-11). It is not difficult to deduce how such forty-day experiences, connote an important time of action or transition in the plan of God. Paradoxically, as is later described, the punishment for lacking the faith to enter into the Promised Land, regardless of the obstacles—turned the forty days into forty years of wandering! And yet, despite the bad report of the ten spies, another faithful one emerged, as Caleb boldly expressed his trust in the Lord to enter and secure the Land of Promise:
“They told him, and said, ‘We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwells in the land of the South. The Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country. The Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along the side of the Jordan.’ Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, ‘Let’s go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!’ But the men who went up with him said, ‘We aren’t able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.’ They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, ‘The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight’” (Numbers 13:27-33, WMB).
Lamentably, because the majority report likened the Israelites to a weak horde of grasshoppers, their influence on the entire congregation was weeping, for their perceived predicament and grumbling against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. What is instructive to note, is just how Moses and Aaron handled the disappointment of the faithless Israelites:
“All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ‘We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! Why does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?’ They said to one another, ‘Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.’ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes. They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, ‘The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey. Only don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them.’ But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel. The LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them? I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.’ Moses said to the LORD, ‘Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them. They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you LORD are among this people; for you LORD are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, “Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.” Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, “The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.” Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.’ The LORD said, ‘I have pardoned according to your word; but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the LORD’s glory—because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it’” (Numbers 14:1-24, WMB).
It is highly important to recognize that upon hearing the complaints of the congregation, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the Lord to intercede for the people, and to appeal to Him for mercy and guidance on how to proceed. While Joshua and Caleb tore their garments, in support of Moses and Aaron’s visible appeal to the Lord, Moses began to argue a case pleading with the Lord for mercy. It was in the Lord’s response to Moses, that a description of a most merciful Creator God completely dispels any modern-day notion that the so-called “Old Testament God” is an angry, vindictive, and punishing tyrant. However, as was known then by the sacrificial system established—and even more so now that the ultimate sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah has taken place—God provided a means to avoid the consequences of sin. Even in our Torah portion, one finds the great example of the contrast between those who chose to follow the will of God like Caleb, versus his faithless contemporaries.
In spite of Moses and Aaron’s intercession, the Lord meted out His immediate punishment for the ten faithless spies who died in a plague, and then the lengthy forty-year demise of those twenty years and older, who believed their bad report and grumbled to the Lord. However, trusting Caleb and Joshua were rewarded for their insistence that the Lord’s word to Israel was sufficient, to overcome the challenges of entering the hostile territory. But note that after the word of the Lord came forth proclaiming His edict, and after the plague took the lives of the ten spies with a bad report—there was a change of heart attempting to get back in line with what the Lord had declared:
“The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ‘How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me. Tell them, “As I live, says the LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me, surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.” I, the LORD, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’ The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land, even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, ‘Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised; for we have sinned.’ Moses said, ‘Why now do you disobey the commandment of the LORD, since it shall not prosper? Don’t go up, for the LORD isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you.’ But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of the LORD’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah” (Numbers 14:26-45, WMB).
Despite confessing to the Lord that they had sinned against His promises, the Ancient Israelites attempted to regain His favor, by trying to enter the Promised Land without His protection. Moses warned them that because of what had just transpired, it was not time to march into the Canaan, and consequently, those who attempted to enter the hill country did not have the Ark of the Covenant and were roundly defeated. The great lesson to take from this, is that after one has clearly sinned and come against the will of the Maker, it is much more prudent to wait upon Him for further guidance—rather than strike out in the flesh to try and make restitution. Clearly, the Lord wanted His people to be dependent upon Him, and if they moved forward in their own strength apart from His blessing—the consequences can be extremely painful.
After the rout of Israel by the Amalekites and Canaanites, the Lord reminded the Ancient Israelites of the need to make sacrificial offerings to Him, upon entering the Promised Land. This is one of the several places within the Torah, where the same instructions were to be followed by both the native of Israel and the sojourner who entered in. This would have been especially important to emphasize, given the possibility of a non-native sojourner being treated a bit differently than a native Israelite:
“All who are native-born shall do these things in this way, in offering an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD. If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD, as you do, so he shall do. For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner, a statute forever throughout your generations. As you are, so the foreigner shall be before the LORD. One law and one ordinance shall be for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you” (Numbers 15:13-16, WMB).
This instruction continues, as the first of one’s dough was to be offered before the Lord. Provisions are seen for unintentionally omitting this practice by congregational sacrifices—and the principle extended out to all unintentional offenses against Moses’ Teaching. Such sacrifices were to be applicable to both the native Israelites and sojourners, and with them receiving forgiveness via the same animal sacrifice, there is definitely the impetus that all within the community of Israel were to learn from and follow the Torah:
“Of the first of your dough, you shall give to the LORD a wave offering throughout your generations. When you err, and don’t observe all these commandments which the LORD has spoken to Moses—even all that the LORD has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the LORD gave commandment and onward throughout your generations—then it shall be, if it was done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma to the LORD, with its meal offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their error. All the congregation of the children of Israel shall be forgiven, as well as the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them; for with regard to all the people, it was done unwittingly. If a person sins unwittingly, then he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs when he sins unwittingly before the LORD. He shall make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them. But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the LORD’s word, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall be utterly cut off. His iniquity shall be on him” (Numbers 15:21-31, WMB).
The challenge, in this part of the Torah, is not in encountering how there was a sacrifice for unintentional sin available for the native and sojourner; the challenge is how there was no sacrifice for intentional sin for anyone. An example which immediately followed, was when someone was caught gathering wood on Shabbat, and was stoned to death. Following this is an injunction that the people were to wear tassels or tzitzit (singular), so that they might not forget the need to observe God’s commandments:
“While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. The LORD said to Moses, ‘The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.’ All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they should make themselves fringes on the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue. It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all the LORD’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute; so that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God’” (Numbers 15:32-41, WB).
Serious defiance demands serious consequences. In this case, the entire congregation participated in the capital punishment of the transgressor. One can certainly understand the need for those of the community of Israel, to have a physical reminder on their clothing, to direct their attention to keep commandments.
In the post-resurrection era, each Believer of the Messiah Yeshua should be immensely thankful that the Torah’s capital penalties were absorbed onto Himself at Golgotha (Colossians 2:14). As those who have been decisively born from above, the indwelling Spirit of God is to supernaturally transcribe His commandments onto our hearts and minds (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27; cf. Hebrews 8:8-12; 10:16-17). While the discipline of wearing tassels on one’s garments is something which can be greatly beneficial for Messiah’s followers, at best it is a human reminder of the need to obey God—but it cannot at all replace the supernatural compulsion of the Spirit to obey—and especially the circumcision of a new heart of flesh, required for eternal redemption.
With examples like Joshua and Caleb, who we are considering this week—not to mention all of the other faithful holy ones or saints, who have preceded us down through the centuries—modern-day followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have much to not only live for, but to live up to. May we be among those who possess the strongest trust in Him!
