PARASHAH: “Shelach’l’ha” (send for yourself) NUMBERS 13:1-15:41…
Most of us know the story of the 12 spies that were sent to spy out the land of Canaan, sent by Moshe by the word of YHVH. But let’s look at the story carefully and see what we can dig out of the sand pile, we might find some valuable stuff hidden in the sand.
The word of Moshe to the 12 tribes was that they might select from each tribe a leader to represent that tribe, so the list is read. Among those selected, we are going to concentrate on two of the leaders;
“Kaleb” son of “Yephuneh” from the tribe of Y’hudah, and “Hoshea” son of “Nun” from the tribe of Ephrayim”.
The story goes as follows as we read the Torah. The 12 are sent out on a “reconnaissance” mission to “spy out” the land. What do we mean by that? Any time an army is going to invade a territory, the army needs to know how many men the enemy has, what they have, where they live, their fortresses, etc. This is a common battle strategy, nothing new. Adonai has already “promised” them the land, done deal! Yet they still have to go into battle, but the battle already has the outcome, Israelites win! This is what Adonai sees looking up the “finite” timeline in the “finite” dimension” and we must remember that HE sees ALL THINGS from the “infinite” timeline, the things that have already come to pass, even before they “pass”
But, whose idea was it to "spy out the land?" We see that Adonai tells Moshe those same words; "Send for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan which I am giving "B'nei Yisrael" So, did the idea come from God, or did someone else think of it first? If we look at Deuteronomy 1:22 we read that the idea came from the people: Moses said;
"And you came near to me and said: 'let us send men before us to spy out the land and bring back word...."
So, the idea came from the people, and it seems that God seconded the idea. "Yes, it is OK, send out men to spy out the land. It would be a military mission to observe the details; the strengths, the weaknesses, food supplies, etc...which is SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) in any conquest or invasion of an enemy territory.
The spies travel throughout the land of Canaan for 40 days, they see many things, the fruit of the land, grapes, pomegranates, figs, date palms, etc. It is indeed a land flowing with “milk and honey” (figs and dates). Yet the beginning of verse 28 starts with BUT! And then follows all the negativity, the people are strong, the cities are walled, the “giants” (and not the team from New York) I mean “the big tall guys” It is very easy to spread discouragement among the people, (vs 32) “and they gave the children of Israel an evil report of the land”. They decided NOT to trust the promises of God, and to keep their eyes on the "visual" not the "spiritual." So, it was the lack of faith in the promises of God, which led to fear of the circumstances around them! Only 2 out of the 12 held on to faith and trusted in the promises of God.
The only ones who saw the promise of YHVH were Kaleb and Hoshea, they looked to the promise, but the rest of the leaders set their eyes on the “circumstances”. Going back to verse 16, it points out something interesting; Moshe changes the name of “Hoshea” to “Yehoshua” This is very interesting and sheds light on internal symbolism. The name “Yehoshua” contains two names in the Hebrew language “YH” (Yah) and YESHUA! When we look at the full name “Yehoshua Ben Nun” from the ancient paleo-Hebrew letters and their symbolism, one could get the following message; “Behold and let the eye see (that God, the All-consuming fire) extends the hand to receive the nail, to give (BEN) life to the house (to families) and by the nail, (His) life was given up so that (we) might have life!” (NUN)
When we look at the name “Kaleb Ben Yephuneh” from the ancient Hebrew symbolism, we could get this message: “The house is anointed for instruction” (Kaleb) and “behold let it be made that from the mouth comes forth instruction” (Yephuneh). I guess it depends on how one looks at the letters, perhaps another rabbi would come up with something different, but this is just one view from the ancient perspective.
The result was that panic and discouragement spread throughout the camp, and it wasn’t just a few thousand Israelites, but rather a few million, discouraged by 10 negative leaders. And 10 out-vote 2! Even though Kaleb and Yehoshua tried to encourage the people, the negatives won over. As the saying goes, you can put a few rotten apples in a barrel of good apples, and the good ones will never correct the rotten ones, but the rotten ones will infect the good ones with rottenness.
The result, the Israelites had to stay in the desert wilderness for 40 years, 1 year for each day the spies were in Canaan. Then, to make matters worse, they tried to go into the land without the blessing of Adonai, and they were beaten back. YHVH wants to destroy them all, yet Moshe intercedes for them, and Adonai listens to Moshe. This is the same way Yeshua intercedes for us to the Father, on our behalf when we “get rotten” (miracle we’re still in the land of the living?
What does this teach us today? We have the promises of God in HIS WORD. Are we going to place our trust in them? or, look at the circumstances around us, and let fear and distrust take hold of our hearts and minds?
Going to chapter 15, we read something interesting from verses 38 to 41, about the commandment of making and wearing “Tzitziot” or “fringes” on our garments. There are many “traditions” in Judaism, such as the wearing of “Yarmulkes” (head coverings) and Ashkenazim dressing in black and white with black hats, even the lighting of two candles comes from “tradition” Tradition isn’t bad, as long as we understand the meaning behind the tradition. But one should NEVER teach “tradition” as “commandments” rather that many traditions STEM from commandments.
Many Jewish people, including Messianic believers, wear the fringes on special 4-cornered undershirts. These remind the wearer that the commandments of God should be in our minds and hearts. But we should also realize that Salvation comes by FAITH and FAITH alone in Jesus/Yeshua and NOT obedience to the commandments. Obedience to the commandments reminds us of our love towards God. As Jesus said:
"If ye love me, Obey/keep/Guard my commandments" (John 14:15)
Have a blessed week.
Most of us know the story of the 12 spies that were sent to spy out the land of Canaan, sent by Moshe by the word of YHVH. But let’s look at the story carefully and see what we can dig out of the sand pile, we might find some valuable stuff hidden in the sand.
The word of Moshe to the 12 tribes was that they might select from each tribe a leader to represent that tribe, so the list is read. Among those selected, we are going to concentrate on two of the leaders;
“Kaleb” son of “Yephuneh” from the tribe of Y’hudah, and “Hoshea” son of “Nun” from the tribe of Ephrayim”.
The story goes as follows as we read the Torah. The 12 are sent out on a “reconnaissance” mission to “spy out” the land. What do we mean by that? Any time an army is going to invade a territory, the army needs to know how many men the enemy has, what they have, where they live, their fortresses, etc. This is a common battle strategy, nothing new. Adonai has already “promised” them the land, done deal! Yet they still have to go into battle, but the battle already has the outcome, Israelites win! This is what Adonai sees looking up the “finite” timeline in the “finite” dimension” and we must remember that HE sees ALL THINGS from the “infinite” timeline, the things that have already come to pass, even before they “pass”
But, whose idea was it to "spy out the land?" We see that Adonai tells Moshe those same words; "Send for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan which I am giving "B'nei Yisrael" So, did the idea come from God, or did someone else think of it first? If we look at Deuteronomy 1:22 we read that the idea came from the people: Moses said;
"And you came near to me and said: 'let us send men before us to spy out the land and bring back word...."
So, the idea came from the people, and it seems that God seconded the idea. "Yes, it is OK, send out men to spy out the land. It would be a military mission to observe the details; the strengths, the weaknesses, food supplies, etc...which is SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) in any conquest or invasion of an enemy territory.
The spies travel throughout the land of Canaan for 40 days, they see many things, the fruit of the land, grapes, pomegranates, figs, date palms, etc. It is indeed a land flowing with “milk and honey” (figs and dates). Yet the beginning of verse 28 starts with BUT! And then follows all the negativity, the people are strong, the cities are walled, the “giants” (and not the team from New York) I mean “the big tall guys” It is very easy to spread discouragement among the people, (vs 32) “and they gave the children of Israel an evil report of the land”. They decided NOT to trust the promises of God, and to keep their eyes on the "visual" not the "spiritual." So, it was the lack of faith in the promises of God, which led to fear of the circumstances around them! Only 2 out of the 12 held on to faith and trusted in the promises of God.
The only ones who saw the promise of YHVH were Kaleb and Hoshea, they looked to the promise, but the rest of the leaders set their eyes on the “circumstances”. Going back to verse 16, it points out something interesting; Moshe changes the name of “Hoshea” to “Yehoshua” This is very interesting and sheds light on internal symbolism. The name “Yehoshua” contains two names in the Hebrew language “YH” (Yah) and YESHUA! When we look at the full name “Yehoshua Ben Nun” from the ancient paleo-Hebrew letters and their symbolism, one could get the following message; “Behold and let the eye see (that God, the All-consuming fire) extends the hand to receive the nail, to give (BEN) life to the house (to families) and by the nail, (His) life was given up so that (we) might have life!” (NUN)
When we look at the name “Kaleb Ben Yephuneh” from the ancient Hebrew symbolism, we could get this message: “The house is anointed for instruction” (Kaleb) and “behold let it be made that from the mouth comes forth instruction” (Yephuneh). I guess it depends on how one looks at the letters, perhaps another rabbi would come up with something different, but this is just one view from the ancient perspective.
The result was that panic and discouragement spread throughout the camp, and it wasn’t just a few thousand Israelites, but rather a few million, discouraged by 10 negative leaders. And 10 out-vote 2! Even though Kaleb and Yehoshua tried to encourage the people, the negatives won over. As the saying goes, you can put a few rotten apples in a barrel of good apples, and the good ones will never correct the rotten ones, but the rotten ones will infect the good ones with rottenness.
The result, the Israelites had to stay in the desert wilderness for 40 years, 1 year for each day the spies were in Canaan. Then, to make matters worse, they tried to go into the land without the blessing of Adonai, and they were beaten back. YHVH wants to destroy them all, yet Moshe intercedes for them, and Adonai listens to Moshe. This is the same way Yeshua intercedes for us to the Father, on our behalf when we “get rotten” (miracle we’re still in the land of the living?
What does this teach us today? We have the promises of God in HIS WORD. Are we going to place our trust in them? or, look at the circumstances around us, and let fear and distrust take hold of our hearts and minds?
Going to chapter 15, we read something interesting from verses 38 to 41, about the commandment of making and wearing “Tzitziot” or “fringes” on our garments. There are many “traditions” in Judaism, such as the wearing of “Yarmulkes” (head coverings) and Ashkenazim dressing in black and white with black hats, even the lighting of two candles comes from “tradition” Tradition isn’t bad, as long as we understand the meaning behind the tradition. But one should NEVER teach “tradition” as “commandments” rather that many traditions STEM from commandments.
Many Jewish people, including Messianic believers, wear the fringes on special 4-cornered undershirts. These remind the wearer that the commandments of God should be in our minds and hearts. But we should also realize that Salvation comes by FAITH and FAITH alone in Jesus/Yeshua and NOT obedience to the commandments. Obedience to the commandments reminds us of our love towards God. As Jesus said:
"If ye love me, Obey/keep/Guard my commandments" (John 14:15)
Have a blessed week.