PARASHAH: “Shelach’l’ha” (send for yourself) NUMBERS 13:1-15:41:
Most of us know the story of the 12 spies who 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 sandpile; we might find some valuable stuff hidden in it.
First of all, the title of the Parasha: "Shelach-Lecha" (send for yourself) is very interesting. If we read in Deuteronomy 1:22, it says that the Israelites approached Moses first, asking him to "Send spies or rather Explorers to explore the land of Canaan." Moshe says it was a good idea. So, the request came from the people, and not directly from God himself, yet God approved. So, what he is saying here is:
"Go send for your own satisfaction, men to explore the land which I am giving you." (in so many words) Had it been a direct command from God, the title might have read: "Shelach Et Anashim" (send men), yet the extra word "Lecha" means (for yourself) or for your own satisfaction.
This was a military mission of reconnaissance, a fact-gathering mission to see how Israel could plan the invasion and tactical "attack" plans, not to see "if" they could conquer the peoples of that land, since God had already "Given" the land to them. All they had to do was enter and fight; victory was already assured.
The word of Moses to the 12 tribes was that they might select from each tribe a leader to represent that tribe, so the list is read. These would be "generals" of "11" armies, not Levi, since Levi would be the "priests and chaplains," non-combatants. 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: the 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”
They 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) (agricultural and livestock prosperity). 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”(nephalim) are in the land!.” Wow! so, the bigger they are, the harder we will fall! 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”. 10 leading generals were looking at the "circumstances" and not "the promises" of God.
The only ones that 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,” We see "Yeshua (Jesus), the author of Life" The letter "N" in Hebrew is called "Nun," and it symbolizes "life." Yeshua, through his sacrifice on Calvary, has given us "Life" eternal. , When we look at the name “Kaleb ” we see two Hebrew words; Kol + Lev" (All heart). So, Kaleb was a soldier whose heart was pure and whole towards God and towards His promises. The Hebrew word for "dog" in Hebrew is "Kelev," which is almost the same, since a dog is "all heart" and extremely faithful towards its master.
10 spies saw the giants and the fortified cities and were discouraged. They quickly spread discontent throughout the camp. The Israelites became discouraged as a result instead of looking towards the "Promises of God." Another way of saying it is, "Don't follow the crowd," and "swim upstream against the current. We see that Yehoshua and Kaleb did NOT follow the crowd, and DID go the opposite direction.
They remained faithful and optimistic to the promises of God, and they tried to convince the people to "Go Forward" and "Let's take the land." 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. Result? All 10 spies/explorers were struck down by God! Their negative report and rebellion brought about their death sentence by a plague (whatever that was)
Now, we must realize that there were probably between 2 and 3 million people in those 12 tribes, including other ex-slaves from Nubia and Ethiopia, including Egyptians too. Probably not all of them were discouraged; some might have had their hopes set on entering the land, yet many "innocent" people had to pay the price of 10 negative explorers. The ones under 20 years old had to roam the desert for 40 years. Yes, the sins of the elders affected the younger ones. 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.
Now, God is so angry that he wants to destroy the whole population and start over with Moses. Moses, however, intervenes. In so many words, he says: "Not so, LORD; are you going to wipe out ALL your people? What are the Egyptians going to say? What are the Canaanites going to say? That you couldn't bring your people into the land, so you killed them off?" Aren't you slow to anger (longsuffering) and ..."
Moses reminds God of His statement and attributes in Exodus 34: 6,7
; And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, YHVH, YHVH, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, ; Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
I am sure that God, at times, would like to wipe us all out because of our rebellion and sin. Yet Yeshua is our advocate with the Father in Heaven and intercedes for us before our Heavenly Father, so we are still alive on this Earth and have forgiveness from above.
Yet the children of the rebels DID reap the results of their fathers' rebellion. They had to wander the desert for 40 years, even though many might not have followed the rebellion with grumbling. That is true today. Many children suffer because of the sins of their parents ye the generational curses can be broken by the power of the Holy Spirit of Yeshua
Going to chapter 15, we read about the good will offerings (Shelamim) that the people would offer up once they are in the land (40 years later). We may think that all these sacrifices have been done with, what with the one-time atonement of Yeshua on Calvary, yet we still have "good will" offerings today. We may not refer to them as such, but when we go to the park and fire up the BBQ pit and roast steaks, chickens, sausage, tostadas, etc.. for a special celebration, like a graduation, promotion, birthday, etc... we are indeed "thanking God" for that blessing by offering food to celebrate (with others).
The Israelites would offer, besides the animal offerings/sacrifices, fine flour with olive oil and wine. The Passover lambs were "shelamim" Peace offerings, since the people ate them in one evening. So, how do these offerings symbolize Yeshua in our lives? The lamb (Yeshua, the Lamb of God), the flour (Yeshua, the Bread of Life), the olive oil (The Holy Spirit ), and the wine (The blood of Yeshua). Imagine that BBQ at the park; roasted leg of lamb! (yeah buddy) tostadas! (bread, flour) salad with olive oil dressing, and some wine or grape juice.
What can we learn from all of this? We need to look at the promises of God in our lives. We need not worry about "negative circumstances" and not follow the negative crowd. "Go against the flow!" swim upstream instead! God might send these as tests or trials, to see how we will react. We have eternity to look forward to. A few "Giant" problems will "shrink" when we look at the promises of God for ALL his children. Life everlasting in HIS Kingdom. No tears, no pain, just joy and happiness forever.
