Overview of Shelach Lecha (“Send for Yourself”) Numbers 13:1 – 15:41
Israel had been camped at Sinai for 347 days (arrived on the 3rd day of the 3rd month (Exodus 19:1) and departed on the 20th day of the 2nd month (Numbers 10:11)). During that time they had agreed to Yehovah’s covenant in the form of a marriage proposal; they then broke that marriage covenant with the Sin of the Golden Calf. They then built the entire Tabernacle and all of its furnishings; and all the while Yehovah was teaching them how to get rid of the Egyptian ways that were still within them.
When Yehovah had finished His instructions they departed to enter the Promised Land at Kadesh Barnea. Scripture doesn’t say how long the journey took, but we can calculate this number. Scripture says that the spies were in the Land for 40 days; and the oral tradition says they returned on the 9th of Av (5th month). From the day they departed (20th day of 2nd month) to the spies’ return was 79 days. Subtracting the 40 days the spies were in the Land leaves 39 days travel time. We know it took them 48 days to travel from Goshen to Sinai (departed on the 15th day of the 1st month and arrived on the 3rd day of the 3rd month), so 39 days to travel to Kadesh Barnea (somewhere just south of the Dead Sea) seems reasonable. So…enough with the math! This week, we see that they are at Kadesh Barnea and are preparing to enter the Promised Land.
Chapter 13 Entering The Land
The Portion starts with: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan,” which gives us the impression that it was Yehovah’s idea to send spies into The Land. He didn’t need men to tell Him what The Promised Land was like…He already know what (and who) awaited them there. He had promised that land to Israel yet they doubted that He could deliver on that promise. So they wanted to “shelach lecha” (“send for yourself”) spies to convince themselves that He could deliver.
So Moses chose 12 men – one from each of the 12 Tribes (excluding Levi but including both Manasseh and Ephraim) – to spy out The Land. Their purpose was to:
See the People: Are they strong or weak?
Are they few or many?
See the Land: Is it good or bad?
Are there walled cities or tents?
Are the people fat or lean?
Is it wooded or not?
And they were to bring back some fruit
During those 40 days they traveled from the Negev Desert in the south all the way to Mt Hermon in the north, and returned (according to the Rabbis) on the 9th of Av. This day is considered a day of fasting in Judaism because of the horrendous events that have occurred on that date throughout Jewish history. Some of these events include:
1st Temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC
2nd Temple destroyed by Titus in 70 AD
Destruction of Bar Kochva’s army in 135 AD
1st Crusade (Pope Urban II) started in 1095
England expelled all Jews in 1290
Spain expelled all Jews in 1492 (thus hastening Columbus’ departure)
World War I started in 1914
Hitler’s “Final Solution” started in 1942
Gaza turned over to Palestinians at the end of the 9th of Av in 2005
All 12 men saw the same things: The Land flowed with milk and honey and it bore fruit so bountiful that one cluster of grapes was so large that it had to be suspended from a pole carried by two men. Incidentally, this image of two men carrying that enormous cluster of grapes is used today as the logo for the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. All 12 men saw strong people living in walled cities, and they saw the giants – the Nephilim of Genesis 6. Ten of the spies were looking through their natural eyes. But two (Joshua and Caleb) saw those same things through their spiritual eyes and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
Chapter 14 Israel’s Refusal to Enter
The ten who were looking through their natural eyes convinced the people that they shouldn’t enter The Land and they cried to Moses and Aaron:
“If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”
Joshua and Caleb tried to reason with them by saying:
“The land we passed through to spy 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 do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
Yehovah was enraged with the peoples’ unbelief and told Moses He wanted to kill them all and start over with Moses…exactly as He had said after the Golden Calf episode. Moses interceded for the people and Yehovah modified His punishment for Israel’s unbelief: the generation that departed Egypt would all die (except for Joshua and Caleb) in the Wilderness; it would be their children (whom they had said would die in the Wilderness) that would live to enter into The Land. They would wander in the Wilderness for 40 years – the same number of days that the spies were in The Land. A year for a day would be their punishment. But the ten who brought the bad report were struck dead that very day.
When the people heard and saw Yehovah’s judgment upon them, then they decided it would be OK to enter…just as though nothing had happened. Moses told them it was too late; if they tried to enter now, Yehovah’s protection would not be upon them, and they would fail. But they went ahead and entered and, sure enough, they were driven back out of The Land by the inhabitants.
Chapter 15 Time for Instructions…Again!
So Israel was now camped at Kadesh Barnea and it was time for more instructions from Yehovah … they had not learned what Yehovah taught them earlier, so it was time to remind them that they should obey Him and not listen to their natural feelings. So Yehovah amplified the instructions He had already given them concerning the offerings: more details for the Drink Offering (what it is and when to apply it); and for the grain offering.
He then amplified His instructions concerning unintentional sins:
When the Nation of Israel commits an unintentional sin, a bull is offered
If an individual sins, then he is to offer a female goat
But, if a person sins intentionally, he us cut off from the camp…which always leads to death!
Yehovah gave the command to stone to death the Shabbat-breaker; and the chapter and Portion end with the commandment to wear tzit-zit – fringes on the four corners of your garment. They are to have a blue thread so that, when you look at them, you will remember the Word of Yehovah.
So…should Believers wear tzi-tzit? The answer to that question is: Yes…if you need to be visually reminded of Yehovah’s commandments. But, if you truly have His “Law” written on your heart and mind, then you do not need to rely upon your eyes to remind you of His commandments!
The Haftarah Reading (Joshua 2:1-24)
The Haftarah tells another spy story, this time after the end of the Exodus journey. Here Joshua sends a spy party into the Land, this time only two men; it only takes two to give a good report (he learned his lesson from the events of 39 years earlier recorded in this week’s Torah Portion). In Jericho, they encounter Rechab, who shelters them from the men who were searching for them; and because of her faith and obedience we see her name listed in the lineage of Messiah. We read the second chapter of the Book of Joshua:
“Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.” So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.” Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.) Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.” So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.” So the men said to her: “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.” Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window. They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”’
The Brit Chadashah reading (Revelation 11:1-3)
Because of Israel’s failure to trust God, He sent judgment on them. In the Brit Chadashah, we read of God’s future judgment upon Israel. We read from Revelation 11:1-3:
“Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
This prophecy of giving Jerusalem over to the Nations may not be of the same magnitude as the death of the Exodus generation, but it is judgment for unbelief just the same. We see the events leading up to its unfolding in today’s news. With the increasing likelihood that the “Two-State Solution” will divide Jerusalem, with increasing talk in the United Nations of Jerusalem becoming an ”international city”, and with the Vatican establishing its presence there, this prophecy could be fulfilled shortly – certainly in our lifetimes. While that is certainly not good news, we rejoice, knowing that it all must come to pass before the Return of Messiah Yeshua!