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SHELACH: “Send”
18 June 2011
Numbers 13:1-15:41
Joshua 2:1-24
Heb.3:7-19
Abbreviated Summary:
The command to send spies to Eretz Israel. Moses prays
for Joshua. The spies report. Caleb is shouted down. National hysteria
breaks out where the people could not be placated. Israel is threatened
with extermination, but Moses’ successful plea brings forgiveness from
GOD, but forty years of wandering is decreed. A chastened nation
realizes too late. The instructions for libations, making Challah. The
atonement for public unintentional idol worship. Individual idol
worship, intentional idolatry. Sabbath desecration in the wilderness,
then finally ending with the command for the Tzitzis so that all the
commandments will be remembered.
GOD spoke to Moshe saying, “Send forth men, if you
please, and let them spy out the land of Canaan that I give the children
of Israel; one man each from his father’s tribe shall you send, everyone
a leader among them.”
This portion starts with the command to send spies into
the land. At the onset it seems that GOD wants the people to be assured
that the land ahead of them was just as He had spoken, a land flowing
with milk and honey. As we look ahead in Deuteronomy 1:22, however, the
people were fearful, having no trust in GOD’s Word. They asked GOD to
allow them to search, spy out, the land to bring word again of what way
they should go. In the verse just before (21) GOD tells the people that
the land is ahead of them and they need to go up and possess it.
Further, He stated, “Fear not, neither be dismayed.”
Seeing what HaShem has done for them and before them, the
children of Israel seem to always miss an opportunity in trusting GOD.
They are often fearful of what lies ahead, rather than trusting GOD and
following Him to the Promised Land. They look at the obstacles
(v26-33), powerful people, fortified cities, giants in the land, etc.
These people walked by sight and not by faith. Their unbelief blinded
them to GOD’s greatness. They forgot that He said, “Go in and possess
what already is yours.” If they would have walked by faith and entered
in, they would have, should have, known that no weapon formed against
them would prosper (Isaiah 54:17).
As GOD’s people, we need to know that whatever promises
have been given to us, we need to have faith, just like Caleb and
Joshua. As 2Tim.3:16 tells us, all this was written down so we would
learn from the past. We need to be a minority like Caleb and Joshua,
not to give in, even when the entire nation does. We must have emuna,
“trust”, and know that when GOD tells us to trust and walk with Him, we
must steadfastly remain GOD- pleasers and not man-pleasers.
Shavua Tov
Rabbi Z
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