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CHAPTER 13
1. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
2. "Send [sh'lakh] men for yourself, and they shall explore the land of Kanaan, which I am giving to the descendants of Israel. You shall send one man for each tribe of their ancestors, each one [being] a leader among them."
Explore: search out, spy out, or just meander about—to see what the Land itself says to you. Deuteronomy's recounting, which gives additional details, suggests that it was the people's idea to send the "spies". (1:20ff) So “you shall” may be better translated, “you may”, and might tell us that YHWH responded by giving them the option of doing so if they felt they needed to. YHWH had already told them not to fear anything they might find there, but they may have thought they would have less to fear if they could see what was around the corner. Sometimes, though, knowing too much in advance can be just enough to discourage us—the very thing he wanted to avoid. Moshe’s idea was more logistical—which roads would be best to take millions of people down, where there was the most shade, where to attack first, etc. The Hebrew word is tur, and it indeed means much the same as the English word “tour”. They were to learn as much about the Land as possible, and bring that experience back to the rest of the nation. But as used in 15:39, tur means to “follow after” with one’s heart. I.e., they were meant to "fall in love with" the Land, let it capture their hearts, and let that motivate them to take all the risks that they would need to overcome the obstacles. Kanaan: a son of Kham who molested his grandfather Noakh (Gen. 9:24ff), and was therefore cursed with having to be a slave to both Shem and Yafeth about 1,000 years before this. From the time Avraham and Shem himself (known then as Melkhitzedeq) were in the Land, giving them the open door to learn better ways, until Israel finally entered the Land was 490 years—70 times 7—yet they did not change their ways. Therefore time was up for them; their cup was full. The “iniquity of the Emorites”, which was not yet at the breaking point in Avraham’s time (Gen. 15:16), now was. Their Land would be given to less-corrupt tenants.
3. So according to the command of YHWH, Moshe sent them off from the Desert of Pa'aran; all of them were men, heads of the descendants of Israel,
4. and these are their names:
Each one’s name and often his father’s name equipped him for his calling. It was the perfect set-up for them all to be in the heroes’ hall of fame, for their names to be loved as well as Y’hoshua’s and Kalev’s. But each one’s name has a negative side as well. The outcome would depend on which side of their name they chose to give weight to. It is up to these tribes to again use our names wisely.
From the branch [tribe] of Reuven, Shammua [renowned] the son of Zakkur [mindful];
Shammua could be renowned if he was mindful of the right things. But his name can also mean “stunned, deserted, shocked, desolate, appalled”, and indeed YHWH would abandon him if he misrepresented His Land.
5. From the branch of Shim'on, Shafat [he has judged] the son of Chori [cave dweller];
He could have judged rightly, had he only realized that the kings of some of these peoples would one day be holed up in a cave and unable to escape. (Y’hoshua 10:16ff) But his name can also mean “he has condemned”, and if he doubted, he could condemn all of Israel to missing its inheritance.
6. From the branch of Y'hudah, Kalev the son of Y'funeh [he will turn and face];
Kalev: If he turned away from acting like a dog (kelev, which he was probably nicknamed since Y’funeh was a Kenizzite, a descendant of Esau, and therefore not originally an Israelite) he could be “ka-lev” (“like the heart”, i.e., like-hearted). He would receive the same commendation David did—that he was a man after YHWH’s own heart. He confirmed YHWH’s choice of Yehudah as a leader among the tribes. Like the “sent one” that he was (see note on v. 2), he refused to trust his own heart or his own eyes, but saw through YHWH’s eyes instead. He took his job seriously as representative of a people who were yearning for a Land. Does YHWH’s heart go with us when and where we venture forth? (Compare 2 Kings 5:26.)
7. From the branch of Issachar, Yig'al [he redeems] the son of Yosef [YHWH has added];
He had the potential to act as a kinsman-redeemer and bring the rest of his fellows back around if they started to look at the dangerous aspects of the Land.
8. From the branch of Efrayim, Hoshea [salvation] the son of Nun [fish];
He could indeed be Israel’s savior if he did the right thing. Nun means fish, but the root word means "increase", "posterity" or "progeny". Sea creatures were the first commanded to "be fruitful and multiply." (Gen. 1:20ff) Yaaqov prophesied that the tribe of Efrayim would literally "proliferate like fish". (Gen. 48:16; see note on Matithyahu 14:20.)
9. From the branch of Binyamin, Palti [my deliverance] the son of Rafu [healed];
Palti could indeed heal the land of its corruption and bring deliverance to the people if he would have confidence in YHWH and not consider it more important to deliver himself from danger than to help the whole nation fulfill its calling.
10. From the branch of Z'vulun, Gaddiel [Elohim is my attack troop] the son of Sodi [my intimate acquaintance/secret council];
Gaddiel was well-equipped with a name like this, and could know YHWH's provision if he made room for it. But his name can also mean "my good fortune is elohim". If he would not know YHWH intimately, he would be left only to his chancy "luck".
11. From the branch of Yosef, that is, the tribe of M’nasheh, Gaddi [my attack troop] the son of Sussi [my horse];
He could attack as swiftly as a horse, but Yosef’s name can also mean “to do again”, and Gaddi’s, “my luck”. If he looked at troops and horses—or luck—rather than YHWH (contrary to Deut. 20:1), all of Israel would have to “add” many instances of “do it over” until it wore them out. In Revelation 7:6-8, Efrayim is counted as the tribe of Yosef, because M’nasheh is mentioned in addition to Yosef. One gives us Yosef’s viewpoint (Gen. 48:18), and the other Yaaqov’s, for Yaaqov counted Efrayim as his firstborn. (48:19-20) Although Efrayim’s name was sullied by the evil king who came from that tribe and led the northern ten tribes astray, Yosef had another son to preserve his reputation.
12. From the branch of Dan, Ammiel [Elohim is my kinsman] the son of G'mali [camel driver];
Ammiel’s name can also mean “my people is judge”, and indeed Israel was sent to judge Kanaan. But if he were to let the people judge whether or not they wanted to do their job rather than simply obeying orders, instead of using the maturity represented by the root meaning of his father’s name, YHWH would recognize him as a kinsman as well.
13. From the branch of Asher, S'thur [concealed] the son of Mikhael [Who is like Elohim?];
If he remembered his father’s name, he would realize that they were indeed traveling through the Land unnoticed (concealed by YHWH), despite the presence of giants. But S’thur can also mean to hide away, and if he chose to be fearful, this is all his name would mean.
14. From the branch of Nafthali, Nakhbi [withdrawn, hidden] the son of Waufsi [wealthy];
If he did not realize the wealth he had in being part of YHWH’s people, he would be tempted to withdraw from this challenge and lead Israel to do the same.
15. From the branch of Gad, Ge'uEl [majesty/exaltation of Elohim] the son of Makhi [decrease].
His name means what Moshe said in his song at the Red Sea: “YHWH …has triumphed valiantly!” He could have demonstrated YHWH’s triumph in an even bigger way if he had not gone the way of his father.
16. These were the names of the men Moshe sent to search out the land, and Moshe [re]named Hoshea the son of Nun Y'hoshua.
Note that no one was chosen from Levi; that tribe was distinct from all the others, belonging directly to YHWH. It is the tribe of YHWH rather than being one of the tribes of Israel as such. Moshe changed Hoshea’s name from merely “the one who delivers" (a strong name in itself) to the more specific "YHWH is the one who delivers”. His parents gave him a wonderful name, which already had much expectation attached to it. In a way he was a savior. But Moshe was not satisfied, because this did not reflect the fullness of the attitude Hoshea already lived by, so he added the numerical value of 10 (for the letter "yod") to his name. 10 is the number of a complete congregation, so we can say that to salvation he added a "people" for YHWH as well. Our Messiah’s name is also a shortened form of Y’hoshua. So there is a significance for us in this change of names. Y’hoshua’s father’s name meant “fish”, and the fish has been the symbol of Yeshua since the time the Romans were oppressing his followers, as a roundabout way of referring to him when persecution was rampant. It mau have been a code-name alluding to the first Y’hoshua or as an abbreviation, since Netzarim (as his followers were called) begins with the letter “nun”. The “fish” gave Yeshua a reputation that obscured the Father’s role. Yeshua emphasized his subordination and inferiority to the Father (Yochanan 14:28) It is YHWH who raised him from the dead. (Acts 13:30) In this day of re-taking His Land, again Moshe (who represents the Torah) is restoring the right perspective on who Yeshua is. Only in the context of the Torah can Yeshua be properly comprehended. He made a way for us to return to his Father, and thus made YHWH the real focus, whereas the Church put all the focus on “Jesus saves.” But while our agenda is very definitely to enthrone him, he cannot replace YHWH. (Compare 1 Cor. 15:24) Moshe emphasizes that YHWH is the one who saves; He “owns the company”, and though He hires whomever He wants to do the job, the credit is ultimately His. YHWH has brought salvation to Israel many times, and He chose both men named Y’hoshua as His representatives, but Yeshua is only the Father’s “deputy”, enforcing His will. And if you do not know the Torah, there is no way you can even have the right idea of what salvation is. It is not about going to “heaven”. Salvation is part of our national covenant, and is very much tied to the Land that is being explored here. And salvation is not a personal matter; it is ultimately about all the lost sheep of the House of Israel being gathered back together with Yehudah to form a Kingdom for him to rule over under the direction of the Torah, with YHWH’s presence again in our midst. If we do not have that, we are not yet “saved”. Nothing else will take men’s chains off of us.
17. When Moshe sent them to search out the land of Kanaan, he told them, "Go up this way into the Negev; then you can ascend to the hill country,
Go up: The Negev (the southern desert) was high ground only if they were in the Aravah (and they were, v. 21), but any time we enter YHWH’s Land from outside, it is an ascent. Hill country: They followed the ridge that runs the length of most of Israel like a backbone. From such a vantage point they could see the breadth of the Land quite well on a clear day, so this was the most strategic and efficient way to see it all. They were to go through both the hot and dry and the high, cool territory. We need to get the big picture and get a feel for the whole Land—the valleys as well as the peaks. Until it is time to physically live there and implement the fullness of the covenant, we need to “bring back” all the aspects of the Torah and look at it from all angles so that we will be able to live there in the right context. It is important that we explore every aspect of what it means to be Israel. There is Yom Kippur as well as Sukkoth. While there are many blessings in YHWH’s covenant, it includes many responsibilities as well. We do not want to be just tourists, but at home there. If we stay focused on a personal relationship with YHWH, we will never see it all.
18. "and inspect the land--what it is [like], whether the people living in it are firm or slack, and whether [they are] few or numerous.
Living in it: temporarily, for it is a living Land that spits out inhabitants that defile it. Slack: or disheartened, in the sense of having lost their former strength or let their defenses down. (Compare Y’hoshua 5:1)
19. "[See] whether the land in which they live is appropriate or disagreeable, and what the cities they live in are like: [are they] like [open] camps or walled fortifications?
20. "And [see] what the land is like--whether it is robust or lean, and whether or not there are trees in it. And you may be bold and take [some] of the fruit of the Land." (Now [at] the time [it] was the season of the first-ripening grapes.)
Whether or not there are trees: Today this is a real question, but then this was just a setup for them not to expect much, so they would be pleasantly surprised. Contrast those modern Zionists who went back to the Land with a whole heart even when it was still nothing but desert and malarial swamp. Most of the trees had been cut down by the Romans or by those who were taxed by the Ottoman Turks based on how many trees were on their property. Because these brave, hardy souls brought out its potential, it is easier for the rest of us to see how beneficent the Land really is. The first grapes would be ripe in the late summer, which is also when the pomegranates and figs are ripe. (v. 23) The grape harvest should have reminded them from the start that YHWH promised safety in the Land to those who would trust Him and follow His orders, for a grape harvest is part of this blessing. (Lev. 26:3-7) They were eating the food of the Land that belonged to YHWH, not the inhabitants of the Land. “We are what we eat”, and they were taking what grew from that Land into themselves and making it part of them. This is like "tasting the powers of the world to come", from which some shrank back (Hebrews 10). These men were already leaders (v. 2), and they all "ascended" (v. 21, 22, 30, 31), and thus were held responsible for what they knew. If they are to take on this challenge, they know they will have to draw closer to YHWH, or they will fail.
21. So they went up and searched out the Land, from the Desert of Tzin to Rechov [a wide open place] at the entrance of Hamath.
Desert of Tzin: southwest of the Dead Sea, in the Aravah, very close to Tamar, which would later be the southeastern corner of the Land. Hamath: Close to Damascus, it is also Kanaanite (Gen. 10:18). Its “entrance” (Levo-Hamath), thought to be modern Lebweh, NNE of Baalbek, Lebanon, is beyond the pass that begins just north of the city of Dan and leads through the otherwise difficult-to-traverse mountains of Levanon. Thus they went all the way to the northernmost border of the Land, and even a bit further. Rekhov was an Aramean center that supplied the Ammonites with troops in David’s time.
22. Now they went up into the Negev, and when they had come as far as Hevron, Achiman, Sheshai, and Thalmai (the sons of Anak) were there. (Now Hevron had been founded seven years before Tzo’an in Egypt.)
The Negev was the Land’s southernmost limit except under King Shlomo, when it extended all the way to the tip of the Red Sea as it does today. Sons of Anak: very tall and thus far undefeated (Deut. 9:2). Hevron has the highest elevation of any city in Israel. David began his reign there. When they arrived, they noticed (giants). Moshe focused on the fact that it was a very old place—even more ancient than the Egypt they had just departed. Tzo’an (“place of departure”, more commonly known as “Tanis”), was founded around 1720 B.C.E. They had just come out of Egypt and thus were more familiar with it. When they came as far as Hevron (which means “close association” or “great friendship”) they should have been strengthened by the fact that Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov were buried here—this was indeed their own heritage. They do not seem to even have noticed the huge ancient terebinth trees under which Avraham had pitched his tent or the altar he had built there. They looked only at the danger! Contrast the “settlers” today who stay where terrorists fire on them daily, though they have no government protection.
23. When they came to the flood-valley of Eshkol, they cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes from there, and they carried it on a pole between two [of them], along with [some of] the pomegranates and figs.
Could these two have been Y’hoshua and Kalev? They came from the only two tribes whose blessings from Yaaqov related to grapes, vines, and fruitful branches. (Gen. 49:11-12, 22) The Valley of Eshkol is in the southern Sh’felah, near Lakhish and Tziqlag. They must have descended partway from the mountains to have a closer look. The only other mentions of this type of pole are in reference to carrying the menorah and the bronze altar, so these grapes bear some relation to them. A vineyard is a picture of the holy community. A "Nazirite" is an "untrimmed vine". Grapes are necessary for YHWH’s Dwelling Place, since there is a wine libation brought with every sacrifice (ch. 15). Wine is tied to everything Hebraic. Along with pomegranates and figs, it tells the whole story of the Land: the vine and fig tree speak of the Kingdom (Micha 4:4), the pomegranate of royalty, fruitful posterity (since it is full of seeds), and priesthood, since pomegranates decorated both the Temple and the hem of the priest's garments. The only artifact that is undeniably from Solomon's Temple is an ivory pomegranate from a priest's scepter. The two who were enthusiastic about the Land used these things as a pep rally; the other ten only saw them as something to eat in order to stay alive, for their focus was merely on survival. All of these products are sweet, whereas the things they complained about having had in Egypt were all savory or salty: leeks, onions, etc. They all came out of Egypt, but not all came out of bondage. They were liberated--given the freedom to choose. But many chose to remain in slavery to the "elemental principles of this world" (Colossians 2) rather than being excited about the limitless possibilities of what they had seen YHWH could do. Like Adam and Chavvah, they chose predictable knowledge rather than an ongoing relationship that could surprise them with joy at every turn. Where these men may have gone wrong was that the first territory they passed through was that of Amaleq--and the spirit of doubt, chance, and mere coincidence took hold of them, so that, after all the miracles they had seen, they still thought, "How do we know what YHWH did for us wasn't just a fluke? How do we know He will deliver us again?" Because they did not have faith, they could not enter His rest. (Psalm 95:11)
24. So they gave that place the name the Valley of Eshkol, because of the cluster [eshkol] which the sons of Israel had cut from there.
The obedient were allowed to name it.
25. When they returned from searching out the Land at the end of forty days,
Forty days: always a time of testing and transition in Scripture. Something is about to change. Now they have seen the Land; now they must make their choice of whether they are on YHWH’s side or not.
26. they proceeded to come to Moshe and Aharon and the whole congregation of the descendants of Israel in the Desert of Pa'aran, at Qadesh. And they brought word [back] to them and to the whole congregation, and showed them the fruit of the Land.
To the whole congregation: Moshe let them give their report in front of all of the people before he screened their message. Y’hoshua learned from this, and when he sent out spies later, he told them to come directly back to him first, and we will soon see why.
27. Thus they reported [recounted] to them, "We went to the Land where you sent us, and indeed it does gush with milk and honey, and this is its fruit!
28. "However, the people who live in the Land are fierce and its cities are fortified with walls and [they're] huge! And we also saw the children of Anak [the giant] there!
"However": the sense is much like, "It is no use; we should forget it", being rooted in a word meaning "end" or "brought to nothing". It has a note of finality and irreversibility—that everything they had said before was pointless, because they were giving up and going no further. If they had given the bad news first, then stated their “however”—“but look at the food!”, they might have come out right. After all, it was the memory of the fruits and vegetables in Egypt that had made them want to go back there, and this should have shown them that what awaited them was better still. But instead they saw the food as having to be big to feed those huge men! But gigantism is not always an advantage; it is actually a genetic defect which weakens the giant overall rather than strengthening him. They took their eyes off the best news about the Land and the fruit which was supposed to be their focus, and usurped Moshe's position by changing the decision that he had already made. They were hoping for reassurance before they got there that everything would be easy when they arrived. But what is too easy is too often treated as of little value, and YHWH hates it if we go to fortune-tellers to learn about the future, because this seems to remove the need to trust Him. And they were not willing to take their children where it was not guaranteed to be safe. (14:31)
29. "Amaleq lives in the land of the Negev; the Hittite, Y'vusite, and Emorite dwell in the mountains; and the Kanaanite lives by the sea and near the Yarden."
Thus far they had said nothing untrue, but they should have stopped with verse 27. Giving all the information is not always helpful. Moshe was the only one who needed to hear this part of the report, because YHWH had already promised to go with them and that they would overcome their enemies. He only needed reconnaissance. There was no profit in telling it to anyone else, for the smallest seed of fear can grow into a great tree, so YHWH hates pessimism, since it dampens the inclination toward faith. In fact, Hamath (v. 21) and Hevron (Gen. 23) were two of only seven Hittite strongholds that remained; the Hittite empire had long since declined. They had promised to listen to YHWH’s words and obey, and He held them to this. As men disappoint us, it looks less possible for the lost sheep of the House of Israel to be unified than when we first realized this was the agenda of the day, but YHWH has promised it will take place, so if we are faithful (full of faith) no matter how things appear, we will see His arm bring the victory again. One thing they did not report on was which paths to take—the primary mission Moshe had given in Deut. 1—because most of them no longer intended to return to the Land. Could Moshe have at least said, “Go see how weak the people are” to influence them to have a more positive outlook? The Y’vusites were specifically at Yerushalayim and had little other territory that we know of. Y’hezq’el 16:3 says that Yerushalayim was inhabited by the offspring of the Hittites and Emorites. The Emorites (known in Akkadian as Amurru) are described in contemporary writings found at Mari (in which their name means “western”) as having their headquarters near Tadmor or Palmyra. Hammurabi was an Emorite. So were Sikhon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan, and they inhabited the cities of Ay, Yarmuth, Lakhish, and Eglon in the Land. The not-otherwise-specified Kanaanites lived in the low-lying regions, like Amaleq, as fits the meaning of their name also.
30. But Kalev quieted the people in Moshe's presence, and said, "We should indeed go up [at once] and take possession of the Land, because we're able to overcome it easily!"
Kalev’s father was a Kenizzite, a descendant of Esau. But those who choose to be part of Israel are often more zealous than those born into it. YHWH had only told them the Land flowed with milk and honey, and he now knew that was an understatement that did not do the Land justice. The prospect of losing the Land they hoped for may have made him courageous enough to defend it, but even more important to him was loyalty to Moshe, the visible leader who, under YHWH, had brought them thus far.
31. But the men who had gone up with him said, "[No], we can't go up against the nation, because it is stronger than we [are].
It is almost as if the spies had gone to two different places, for how you perceive it depends on your point of view. Our words can strengthen. (Just watch a sports coach at half-time.) But we can also talk people out of their confidence. Courage can be contagious too, but people have fewer immunities to fear, so it is the easier path to take. Fear is what sells everything from insurance to Catholicism. It is a leader’s responsibility to put the right “spin” on things. These “leaders” may only have been celebrities (who do not always make the best role models), as the term means “those who are lifted up” for any reason, not necessarily because they were already leaders. And they are still treated as the heroes, though they are the ones lacking courage, as if they had helped them barely dodge a bullet! Fear was the first "sieve" Gide'on used to narrow down his army to the few whom YHWH could use. But if we make YHWH’s point of view our own, it will become our reality. Yes, they are stronger than we are, but they are not stronger than YHWH! And He said He would be with us, so they will only overpower us if we allow them to. It is His problem, not ours. They are only a threat if we take Him out of the equation. Doubt is like a corrosive acid in the spirit world, rendering us unusable. It was bad enough that they themselves were fearful, but they went on to instill the same fear in the whole congregation:
32. And they caused a bad report to go out to the descendants of Israel about the Land that they had searched out, saying, "The Land which we traversed to search it out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw are [woeful] men of [great] size!
Though the Land was a sweet, loving mother that nourishes its children, they gave it a bad name. Now they were stretching the truth with a political agenda, which is only a form of lying. Though Kalev had tried to nip it in the bud, they now let it out where no one could control it any longer. YHWH had provided the remedy in advance by giving commands that would demonstrate that this assessment was not true, because His Land is generous not only to the poor, widows, and orphans who live there, but even to foreigners passing through it. All the people? Actually, only a few were giants, and Kalev would single-handedly challenge them all! They had the wrong point of view, and therefore saw the wrong things. How did they ever survive for 40 days and make it out alive, if the Land devoured people?
33. "Moreover, we saw some of the Nefilim [fallen ones] there (since the sons of Anak come from the Nefilim), and in our own eyes we were like grasshoppers, and that is how we appeared to them."
Nefilim: the unnatural offspring of the unions of "sons of the elohim and the daughters of men" in Gen. 6:2ff, which multiple ancient cultures seem to refer to in their stories of the “demi-gods”. Their proliferation at the expense of humans was a major catalyst for the Great Deluge of Noakh. (The book of Hanokh/Enoch tells more about them.) Apparently this had occurred again on a small scale after the Flood. But, looking through the grid of how they saw themselves, they assumed everyone else saw them the same way. But if their enemies had really noticed them, would they have even made it out of the country with that huge bunch of grapes? In actual fact, the people of the Land were terrified of Israel, as we see in ch. 24 and in the account of Rahav and the spies in Y'hoshua. They “blew it” by actually becoming the cowering “grasshoppers” they at first had only let themselves think they were—as if they only came up to the big toes of the Anaqim when they were actually only half again as tall as normal men! (1 Shmu’el 17:4) They still saw themselves as slaves, and therefore had low expectations of themselves. If we do not think we can do it, who will? Soon YHWH will again give us the occasion to be what Israel is meant to be, but we must stop being both slack and stiff-necked, or the outcome could again be the same.
CHAPTER 14
1. Then the whole congregation lifted up and prolonged their voice, and the people wailed that night,
Mourned: as if there was a death—and in a way there was. They let someone’s mere words take the wind out of the sails when YHWH had already told them they were on the verge of seeing His promise of a home. Kalev and Y’hoshua (who supported His position) were outvoted by ten men--a symbol of the entire congregation, and indeed the rest did go their way. But later the two kingdoms of Israel; were named after their two tribes (Yehudah and Ephraim), apparently because only they were counted worthy of this honor. Fear and panic are always contagious, but removing someone’s courage is a grievous sin in Israel. There are still those who say keeping the Torah is too heavy an obligation to take on, but Yeshua said the mountain (Sinai that hung over the nation while the covenant was being ratified) can be removed simply by faith. (Mat. 21:21) It can become a wedding canopy instead!
2. and all the descendants of Israel grumbled about Moshe and Aharon. And the whole congregation told them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this uncultivated place!
“Our fear was all their fault!” How dramatic! They would not have had to be eaten slowly by cruel giants if they had died in Egypt! Those who had died in the wilderness were the rebellious, so those who are left are those who had been obedient up to this point. Now they are saying, “We’re the righteous ones! Why do we now have to face this threat? The others had it easier; at least they are dead! It seems we just can’t please this YHWH.” From a distance, it is easy to make claims of holiness: “We did not worship the golden calf!” But how we respond to the tough times will demonstrate whether we are really committed to YHWH or still allied with the Egyptians.
3. "So why is YHWH bringing us into this Land? To fall by the sword? For our wives and toddlers to become plundered spoils? Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"
YHWH had never said any of them would die if they followed His directions. He promised to clear the way for them. They had seen Him defeat the greatest military power in the world without them ever picking up a sword, so they should have known this was another test and another occasion to see His power. It should have seemed like an adventure, not a threat. But once we experience YHWH’s blessing, if we then turn back to whatever He brought us out of, it would have been better for us to never have known the truth. (1 Kefa/Peter 2:20ff) They had already been out of Egypt for nearly two years; it should never even have come to mind anymore. But while it is easy in retrospect to ask why they didn’t simply trust YHWH, do we trust Him in equivalent situations?
4. So [each] man told his brother, "Let's appoint a head, and go back to Egypt!"
The same spirit that had affected Miryam now reared its head again: "Your leader doesn't know what's best; you do!" They were not satisfied with the one YHWH had chosen. The Church did the very same thing--appointed a "vicar" in place of the Messiah, the "Head" who was "like Moshe" (Deut. 18:18). They needed someone who knows the ways of Egypt better than he knows the Torah. But they were not really appointing a leader, because they had already decided where they wanted to go; they were just choosing a figurehead whom they could tell what to do, someone they could control—or fire. They needed a scapegoat they could blame it all on when it fell apart. But going back to Egypt would have been foolish for another reason. Historians had great difficulty synchronizing the events of the many nations that archaeology was bringing to light until Immanuel Velikovsky recognized that the chronology of Egypt, which was traditionally used as an orientation point for other histories, was off the mark by about 600 years at some places! The conventional system made it sound like Egypt was very prosperous right after the Exodus! When Velikovsky noticed that the Ipuwer Papyrus contained an Egyptian view of the plagues of Moshe’s day, and that what was thought to be an unbroken series of dynasties actually involved some duplication told in different ways, he was able to realign the rest of the chronology with the records of the other ancient nations. (Ages in Chaos) The Hyksos, previously only known to be Semitic “shepherd-kings” were often even confused with the Hebrews. Velikovsky noticed that what was known about them lined up very nicely with the Arabian accounts of the Amaleqites, who left Mecca amidst catastrophic floods and plagues, and invaded the Negev (see v. 25, 43) as well as Egypt just after the Israelites escaped, and ruled there with great cruelty for 500 years until they were finally expelled just before the time of King Sha’ul, at which time they moved back into the Negev area and began making raids on Israel again. (This allowed David, the “man after YHWH’s own heart” to keep trying to finish what Y’hoshua could not.)They were on their way into Egypt when Israel encountered them “accidentally”. (Opportunists, they invaded Egypt as soon as they had heard it was weakened.) Psalm 78:49 seems to speak of a band of “evil angels” punishing Israel in the wilderness. That phrase is mal’akhey ra-im; should it be read malakhey-ro’im —“shepherd-kings”? In Egypt they were called the Amu, and they enslaved the Egyptians in a most barbarous manner (in Manetho’s terms). They were buried with their weapons. Ipuwer, an Egyptian, chronicles their atrocities, as they overran Egypt without any resistance(there being no army left), burnt down the cities, and demolished their temples. The names of their first and last kings were read as Apop. Based on a theory about how the hieroglyphics should really have been pronounced, Velikovsky suspected they could be identified with the two kings named Agag (24:7; 1 Shm. 15:8). So if the Israelites had gone back to Egypt as they wanted to, they would have gone “from the frying pan into the fire”—right into the merciless hands of the Amaleqites, and they most certainly would have gotten their wish and “died in Egypt”.
5. Then Moshe and Aharon fell on their faces in front of the whole assembly of the congregation of the descendants of Israel,
Fell: as as if ducking to avoid the judgment they by now knew would follow! Or they were doing their utmost to plead with the people to repent of such foolishness?
6. and Y'hoshua the son of Nun and Kalev the son of Y'funeh, from [those] who had explored the Land, tore their clothes,
While Moshe and Aharon act as if they may feel they are too old to deal with such constant whining, the next generation stands up in a way Moshe rarely did. The prototype of Yeshua and the “like-hearted one” are the heroes. They remained standing, yet carried out a ritual that signified mourning. For whom? Moshe and Aharon, whom the congregation had as much as “killed” with their complaining words and lack of trust. Moshe symbolizes the Torah, and Aharon symbolizes YHWH’s proper order. Yeshua chided the P’rushim for “killing Moshe and Aharon” by putting their traditions ahead of Torah and doing things their own way. How much more when the Church said both were done away with? How do we know if our heart is like Yeshua’s? We stand up for “law and order”.
7. and told the whole congregation of the descendants of Israel, "The Land into which we passed through to explore is a very, very excellent Land!
Like Yeshua, they are begging the people to stick with YHWH’s original plan, not an alternative, and hoping the people will recognize that they are not very pleasing to YHWH at this point. Y’hoshua and Kalev are the only ones who really explored the Land, because they did fall in love with it. They knew an excellent thing when they saw it, and it must have far surpassed even Egypt’s greenery at that time. But democracy took its toll. There was no reason to believe the ten other than that there were more of them than the two who had confidence in YHWH. Usually more people are fearful than are not. But that is all the more reason to doubt the majority’s opinion, especially at such times.
8. "If YHWH is pleased with us, then He will bring us into that Land and give it to us--a Land that gushes with milk and honey!
It hardly mattered how well-armed or muscular the soldiers were; the deciding factor is whether YHWH is pleased with us. Many tell us there are no more “ifs” in our relationship with YHWH, but though we cannot leave Egypt without His hand, since He has provided us with the resources, it is up to us to make ourselves pleasing to Him. He is under no obligation to take us into His Home if we do not act appropriately there. Psalm 51 says that what pleases Him is truthfulness in our innermost being, and a broken and contrite spirit—recognizing our shortcomings and giving up our own ways so He can give us His.
9. "Don't [you dare] rebel against YHWH! You [of all people] should not be afraid of the people of the Land, because they are bread for us! Their overshadowing [protection] has been taken away, and YHWH is with us! Don't be afraid of them!"
Mark Twain wrote, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” And Ambrose Redmoon said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” Getting to the Promised Land requires us to follow the leader YHWH has put in place; to rebel against Moshe is to rebel against YHWH, who chose him. Fear is what drives rebellion, so as soon as they finish correcting the lies that the other ten told, the faithful two bring words of encouragement. Don't be afraid: literally, neither be inspired to awe nor have any respect for them. Bread: a play on words, for the root word in Hebrew means to consume in a battle context. These people had been put there to give Israel something to fight against, for if there is no resistance, we cannot become strong, as any body-builder knows. Once it begins to attack, we should run toward it, looking forward to the end result. Will our enemies—depression, fear, discouragement—be our food, or will they devour us? We are permitted to eat grasshoppers (Deut. 11:22), so we should not look at ourselves as such. They are to be our grasshoppers, so we can get nourishment from them. YHWH had said He was with Israel, and He couldn’t be fighting for both sides. Thus we deduce that it was YHWH Himself that covered them previously, since the cup of the Emorites’ perversion was not yet filled up. (Gen. 15:13) They were not quite evil enough for YHWH to have a “rock-solid case in court”. But now, though they appeared intimidating, they had no true advantage except the Israelites’ fears. Y’hoshua and Kalev knew based on what YHWH told Avraham that the covering would only last some 400-odd years, which was now up, and this gave them confidence. One can never make it Home if he insists on security, for there are battles to get there. YHWH could just kill our enemies with a plague, but He puts a sword in our hand because He wants us to trust Him. What are we not doing because we are afraid?
10. But the whole congregation said to pelt them with stones. But [then] the [full] weight of YHWH appeared to all the descendants of Israel, in the Tent of Appointment.
What possessed the people to prefer the pessimistic view and not even want to hear the positive report? Though it would simplify things immensely, they’d rather have the contradictions if that seems to let them off the hook. Did they just not want to fight? Had they become so flabby from not being enslaved for over a year? Or do people just tend to have a morbid hunger for bad news, because it gives them an excuse to complain? People still try to silence those who recognize that the Torah is about liberty, not bondage. But at that crucial moment, YHWH made His presence tangible to strike terror in the hearts of those who would destroy His chosen.
11. And YHWH said to Moshe, "How long will this people spurn Me? Will they never trust Me, even with all the signs I have performed right in their midst?!
Spurn: He is a scorned lover, for His wife wants to go back to her former lover, though he used to beat her and would leave her empty-handed. He takes it personally; it is not Moshe they do not trust, but Him! Why do some people who hover around their Israelite heritage still work on the Sabbath? So many people have their eyes partly open, but they’re not all on the same page! Will it take a plague—an economic collapse, maybe?--to make them finally decide which side to be on? Why aren’t more people eager for the Land?
12. "Let Me strike them with a plague and retract their inheritance, and make of you a greater and more numerous nation than they!"
YHWH essentially wants to divorce them and get remarried! This must have been a tempting offer to Moshe. Yet we hear no more about the sons Moshe already has. A mighty nation must be based on the Torah, but all YHWH needs is one obedient man. He knew YHWH could do this. His wife must have been old, but not as old as Sarah when she bore Yitzhaq. Since the whole nation had failed the test, He now tested its leader, saying, “This could all be yours”, but he gave it all back to YHWH instead:
13. But Moshe told YHWH, "But the Egyptians will hear [of it]! Because You've brought this nation up out from among them by Your power,
14. "and they will inform the inhabitants of this Land, who have heard that You are in the very midst of this nation--that You are seen eye to eye! You are YHWH, and Your cloud remains over them, and You go ahead of them in a pillar of cloud in the daytime, and a pillar of fire by night.
15. "If You put this whole people to death as [if they were] one man, then the nations who have heard of Your renown will say,
16. "'[It's] because it is beyond YHWH's capability to bring this people into the Land which He promised to them [with an oath] that He has slaughtered them in the wilderness!'
Many say this proves how much Moshe loved Israel. He certainly does, or he would not have put up with so much. But his chief concern is for YHWH's reputation to be upheld. The King's will may be to execute the rebels, but Moshe appeals to His "Father heart". Because one man did show concern for His Name, He relented.
17. "So now, I beg You, let my Master's power be enlarged, as You mentioned [when You] said,
18. "'YHWH is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, lifting away crookedness and trespassing, though certainly not acquitting [the guilty], bringing punishment for the ancestors' sins upon their descendants to the third and fourth [generation].'
When Moshe went up the mountain, YHWH told him that He was slow to anger. Now he reminds YHWH: “Didn’t You tell me You were slow to anger?”
19. "I beg You, forgive the crookedness of this people with the magnitude of Your mercy, just as You have borne with this people since Egypt thus far!"
20. So YHWH said, "I have pardoned, as you have said.
21. "However, as I live, the whole world will be filled with the weightiness of YHWH,
22. "because all the people who are witnesses to My authority and the signs which I have exhibited in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the proof-test--this is ten times--and have not listened to My voice,
It is frightening that we can get to the point where YHWH has had enough. But how much proof do they need? Ten righteous people is enough to prevent a city from being destroyed, so ten times is enough to seal the fact that this people's heart was unchanging. He had kept count, and they could not be left unpunished even if He did not rescind His covenant. But there were also ten spies. They all became vessels of dishonor that YHWH could pour all ten of these times into and destroy them:
23. "if they see the Land which I promised to their ancestors [with an oath]--no, none of those who spurned Me will see it!
This was the last straw, but Moshe’s political maneuvering (possibly even in the very fact of his sending them into the Land, knowing how likely they were to give a bad report) allowed YHWH to save face, but still accomplish what He wanted—to be rid of those who were cowards. Rather than destroying them out of anger, it was now a matter of justice, with which no one could argue.
24. "But My servant Kalev--since there has been a different spirit with him, and he is following Me to the fullest--him I will bring into the Land into which he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it
The one they call a dog is the one who will inherit the Land while they do not. Spirit: i.e., attitude, but literally, breath. He does not believe the situation in front of him, but breathes the air of the Land to which he is going; the words of YHWH are his only reality. Kalev was rewarded in that his ambition did not wane for the next 40 years. (Y’hoshua 14:6-14)
25. "and [dispossess] the Amaleqite and Kanaanite living in the valley. Tomorrow, turn yourselves toward the uncultivated land by [the] Way of the Sea of Reeds."
I.e., turn off the intended path and into the period of wanderings which is their punishment. He again takes them another way so they will not see war, since they are afraid of it. But this time it was to their shame.
26. Then YHWH said to Moshe and Aharon,
27. "How long [is there] for this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints which the descendants of Israel are lodging against Me.
He reiterates His displeasure, for He is still annoyed by His people’s penchant for complaining.
28. "Tell them, '"As I live", says YHWH, "if I don't do to you just as you've said in My hearing...!
29. "'"Your corpses will [indeed] fall in this uncultivated land. As many of you as were mustered, up to the full count, from twenty years and up, who have grumbled against Me.
They had asked to die in the wilderness. (v. 2) We must be careful what we ask for. Twenty years and up: those YHWH considered accountable for their lack of faith. They had signed up to be in the army, yet are showing that they had only joined the army to see the world! Though the children were not punished for their parents’ sins, though, they would bear the consequence of having to wait until their parents died off. We, too, inherited the exile our ancestors got us into, and like them, we are being called to renounce our ancestors’ lack of faith. (Yirmeyahu 16:19.)
30. "'"[I swear,] if you enter the Land about which I raised My hand [in oath] to bring you into it...! --with the exception of Kalev, the son of Y'funeh, and Y'hoshua, the son of Nun.
Yet these two could not go home until the rest had paid the price; no matter how “gung-ho” they were, they were part of this nation and had to carry all the dead weight of those of whom they were a part. Psalm 95, which is about the Sabbath, compares the Land to this day of rest, and reminds us that in His wrath He swore that those who harden their hearts will not taste of this reward that comes to those who do not trust Him to provide even though they cease to work, but demand that He prove Himself before they will believe. (Compare Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, which are built around this psalm.)
31. "'"As for your toddlers, about which you have said, 'They will be plundered spoils!', they [are the ones] I will bring in, and they shall know [very personally] the Land which you have refused.
Refused: despised, rejected, loathed, or let flow right by you (forfeited). He took seriously their initial revulsion at His costly gift, which merely needed cleaning up in order to show its full worth. He would save those they said would die, and let those who were trying to save their lives die. (Mat. 16:25) Fear is not natural in a child; we must teach them to fear nothing but YHWH. That is the purpose of our exile.
32. "'"But [as for] you, your corpses will fall in this uncultivated land.
33. "'"And your children will be shepherded through this wilderness for forty years and bear [the weight of] your harlotries until your corpses are [totally] spent in the wilderness--
Harlotries: strayings or defections from their Husband by virtue of fearing other things. Spent: wasted away, wholly used up. Shepherded: under His watchful protection, for they were meant to be raised in the Land, and would be preserved until they arrived. Their children would also have 38 years to be trained to be pleasing to YHWH (v. 8). The exile would bring them to maturity.
34. "'"according to the number of days you explored the Land--forty days, each day corresponding to a year--you will bear [the weight of] your crookednesses for forty years, and you will be well aware of My alienation.
My alienation: from a root meaning "frustrating" or "hindering" (keeping them deliberately back from entering the Land). All He wants is the respect and commitment of a mate who will take Him into consideration in every decision. When she does not, it is “measure for measure”—but it takes a whole year to balance out a day of fear! It costs far too much to do things our own way.
35. "'"I am YHWH; I have spoken. I am going to carry it out for this whole evil congregation who are assembled [by appointment] against Me; in this wilderness they will meet their end, and there they will die."'"
Today, when the Land is being offered to us again in a way it has not been offered since the return from the first exile, we must be especially alert to the danger of repeating their error. (Compare Hebrews 3:13.)
36. But the men whom Moshe had sent to explore the Land, who, when they returned, had caused the whole congregation to grumble against YHWH by causing a bad report to go forth about the Land--
He promised not to destroy them all at once, but would destroy the whole rebellious generation gradually, but the perpetrators at once:
37. those men who had brought a bad report about the Land died by the plague in YHWH's presence.
Though He forgave the congregation as a whole, part of His mercy on the rest of Israel was to stop the debilitating influence of these men from going any further, especially to the next generation.
38. Only Y'hoshua the son of Nun and Kalev, the son of Y'funeh, remained alive of those who had gone to explore the Land.
If any had silently disagreed with the majority and favored Y’hoshua and Kalev, they still had to die, because they did not speak up.
39. So Moshe relayed all these sayings to the descendants of Israel, and the nation lamented deeply.
40. They even got up early in the morning and came up to the top of the mountain [ridge], saying, "Here we are! We will go [ahead] up to the place which YHWH told [us about], because we have gotten off track!"
It appears that they were at the last ridge before the entrance to the Land and it lay open before them. It is amazing how “You will all die” can change someone’s mind! But did they really become brave overnight?
41. But Moshe said, "Why do you now overstep YHWH's mouth? It won't accomplish anything!
After seeing fresh evidence of YHWH's power in the plague, they have a burst of energy early in the morning before doubt could settle in. Now they were optimistic: "We can do it!" Though YHWH had spoken with a grave finality (v. 35), they still tried to get around it. But it was too late. They should have thought about this before opening their mouths. They had missed their one open window. Now their cup was full (v. 22), and nothing could turn back the effects of their ill-chosen words. They were willing to admit their sin, but only after the punishment was revealed. This is not genuine loyalty; that is only established when there is room to love without guarantee, and to believe while we still cannot see.
42. "Do not go up, [so] you won't be struck down in the face of your enemies-- because YHWH is not in your midst,
Waiting on YHWH is not the same as hesitation; the latter originates from fear, and a mere day cost them the Kingdom. The decree has been laid down and there is no higher court to overturn it. He forgave them, but took repentance off the table. This one they cannot fix, and that is really something to be afraid of! Moshe hardly writes anything about them for the next 37 years, because there is nothing worth writing about; YHWH is not with them. Acting too early puts us just as much out of YHWH’s time as acting too late—and they were doing both.
43. "and the Amaleqite and the Kanaanite are there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, because you have turned away from following YHWH, and YHWH will not be with you."
The spies’ prophecy proved self-fulfilling, for without YHWH’s presence, their enemies were indeed more powerful than they. They thus had no protection, just like the people of the Land. There was no miraculous power to ride on. Now it was natural strength against natural strength, and the Israelites were no match for giants. They had minimized the weight of this one critical factor, and so do we every time we worry.
44. But they would not listen, but rather proceeded up to the top of the ridge, while the Ark of YHWH's covenant did not depart from the midst of the camp.
Proceeded: went defiantly anyway, asserting their own might. The cloud did not move ahead of them this time. The Torah did not accompany them, but like many today, they believe they do not need it; this “new arrangement” is, contrary to YHWH’s words, based on mere confession and forgiveness; after all, they had said they were sorry!
45. So the Amaleqite and the Kanaanite who were living among those mountains came down and struck them, scattering them as far away as Hormah.
Hormah: between Arad and Be'ersheva in the southern desert several miles into the Land from the mountains that rim what constituted the southeastern border at that time. They had gone from Qadesh (13:26), which means nearly the same as Hormah—“set apart”, based on the same word as the Arabic “harem” (to be closed off or secluded). But in Hebrew it denotes being set apart unto destruction. The difference is immense. Will we be set apart to YHWH, or set apart from Him?
CHAPTER 15
1. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
2. "Speak to the descendants of Israel, and tell them, 'When you come into the Land where you will settle, which I am giving to you,
After emphasizing that this generation would not enter the Land, He immediately speaks of what those who do enter it will do when they get there, so that they do not begin to interpret the delay as a permanent denial. This would give hope to those who did care about the Land and were confident that YHWH would keep His word about it when we presented Him with the right conditions. This chapter tells us what we as a people must do when we enter the Land, but as we learn the lessons it teaches now, we can actually help bring our exile to an end. We will not automatically change into different kind of people when we arrive there; the present is our training ground, and some of these things are challenging, so we must begin now to learn how to do them so we will be ready when we are in a position to do them in their fullness. This is so important that YHWH gave orders that could not be carried out for 38 years. Their children had to be trained to be fit inhabitants of His Land. If they would see to it that their children would do things rightly when they arrived, then it would still be as if their children took them into the Land with them. We, the descendants of another generation who forsook YHWH, are also getting back to the business of preparation to enter the Land, and it is up to us to show Him that we are not like our rebellious ancestors. So though this was written over 3,000 years ago, it is still very much alive and instructive to us as well. Our exile is not chiefly for the sake of punishment, but to allow us a safer place to learn and practice what He really wants so that we will not be hurt by doing it wrongly again.
3. "'when you prepare a fire offering to YHWH, an ascending offering, or slaughter to make an extraordinary vow, or as a freewill offering in your appointed seasons, to produce a soothing aroma for YHWH from the cattle or the flocks,
The Hebrew word for fire offering can, without vowel points, also read “wife”, for the purpose of all of these procedures is indeed to prepare a bride to ascend to YHWH. (Unlike Greek logic, if it can be read both ways in Hebrew, it should be. We do not need to choose one or the other, tough sometimes one level will apply better than another, and we must discern which.) This is how He expects it to be accomplished, both through the offerings and their broader application. An ascending offering is one that all goes up in smoke, but as we rise higher in any way, this is also an offering to YHWH. His ways are higher than ours. (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 55:9) He has high standards, but ascending is how we can move closer to Him. An extraordinary vow is a form of thanks offering, in response to something awesome that YHWH has done. Part of it is, as always, given to the priest, but he also cooks part of it for the offerer to eat, but he may only eat it in YHWH’s presence, though it will be too much to eat by himself. So he must share it with others who are willing to listen to him recount the reason he is thanking YHWH. A freewill offering is one compelled by a volunteering heart, even if we do not yet know specifically why we are bringing it. It is given spontaneously just because we feel that we need to give back to YHWH. Act on it when you are inspired, for the longer you hesitate, the more likely you are to diminish what you planned to give. How do we do this now, while we do not have a Temple to bring these slaughterings to? Any time we are generous in serving His people, we are being trained for this. But though the offerings are voluntary, YHWH still prescribes the “how”. The appointed seasons are times specifically set apart to Him so we can get to know our Husband better, when none of our other responsibilities are required of us. He will naturally take care of our needs if our desire is toward Him, but a husband who was always greeted with nothing but demands when he arrived home would start preferring to go to the bar after a hard day rather than coming home to more demands. Any decent husband wants to please his wife too, but since He initiated the relationship, the ball is in our court first. Greet your “Husband” with the things that you love about Him, talk about the things He wants to hear, and do not serve Him excellent wine in a dirty cup. “Come before Him with thanksgiving” first, trusting Him to take care of the other things.
4. "'then whoever brings his offering near to YHWH shall bring [along] a grain offering of [fine] flour: one tenth [of an eyfah] mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil,
No matter how expensive the offering, it is not acceptable without the tenth of the eyfah, which is used by the priests to make bread. Bread represents community, and when drawing near, we must come as one part of the whole congregation, not as a lone individual. If your intimacy with YHWH is only for your own sake, it will not be accepted. It must be done for the sake of all Israel. Only in the whole can He again fellowship with Avraham, His friend. An eyfah is about a bushel (36.4 liters), a dry measure that corresponds to the liquid measure “bath”. Hin: approximately one gallon, so this would be approximately one quart or one liter, and would make a substantial amount of bread.
5. "'along with wine to be a drink offering; you shall prepare a quarter of a hin to [go with] the ascending offering or the slaughter of each lamb.
Drink offering: often a libation to be poured out, but some of these offerings were eaten by the priests, and they needed the carbohydrates and the medicinal value of the wine to complement the protein of the meat. Wine is a picture of joy, and YHWH wants us to be cheerful givers. He does not accept what is given grudgingly, but we also do not have the choice not to bring it. He does not want our gift if we are going to complain about having to bring it. If we do not do it with a positive attitude, all we are doing is murdering an animal. But if we are in fact drawing near to YHWH, no matter what we leave behind, we have lost nothing.
6. "'Or for a ram, you shall prepare a grain offering of [fine] flour: two tenths [of an eyfah] mixed with a third of a hin of oil
Two tenths: thus a ram counts for twice what a lamb does. The more it costs us to draw near, the more of ourselves we still need to give as well, for the more we draw near, the more we are required to be part of the “bread” that is being made to be served up to Him.
7. "'along with a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. You shall bring it near [as] an aroma [that is] soothing to YHWH.
8. "'Now when you prepare a bull as an ascending offering or as a slaughter to render a vow distinct, or peace offerings to YHWH,
9. "'then he shall bring near to [go with] son of the herd, three tenths mixed with half a hin of oil,
Son of the herd: a young bull, specifically in its first year. (Rashi) Three tenths: thus a bull is three times the value of a lamb.
10. "'and bring wine near to [serve as] a drink offering--half a hin [as] an offering by fire--an aroma soothing to YHWH.
In the Song of Songs, Shlomoh and his beloved speak of one another in terms of their fragrance eight times. There was a specific fragrance He wanted in His innermost chamber—the bridal chamber indeed.
11. "'The same shall be done for each bull, for each ram, for each young flock animal from the sheep or goats.
12. "'However many you prepare, you shall do the same for each one, according to their count.
We cannot remain where we are and still get closer to YHWH. Though we may become more efficient at drawing near to YHWH, there are still things He requires each time—and Mikhah suggests that the least common denominator for what it takes to draw near to YHWH at any time or in any place is that we be operating with justice and mercy, and have an attitude of humility in His presence, yet still walking with Him with confidence, because He has invited us to. (Mikhah 6:8)
13. "'All who spring up from the native soil shall do these things in this way to bring near a fire offering soothing to YHWH in its aroma.
14. "'Also, if a sojourner staying among you, or whomever may be among you in [any of] your generations, prepares a fire offering as a soothing fragrance to YHWH, whatever you do, he must do [it] in the same way.
15. "'The assembly [has] one prescribed custom for [both] for you and for the sojourner staying among you [as] an eternal enactment throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be, before YHWH.
There are no second-class citizens in Israel, but we are also all held to the same standard of responsibility. No one has an extra tax imposed on him just because he is a foreigner, but neither is he given a special dispensation to leave out part of the offering because he is a guest in the Land. If you want to approach YHWH, you must do it as Israel does. Nothing here about telling non-Jews who are interested in knowing YHWH that they need not—or worse, have no right to—keep the Sabbath, etc. (Today many of these “sojourners” may very well be from other tribes of Israel.) This is not a private club. Anyone is allowed to join in, but he must abide by the rules. Legal procedure: or ruling—i.e., a decision enacted by the community that goes beyond the generalities of Torah to uphold it and fit it to a specific situation.
16. "'There shall be a single instruction and a single legal procedure for you and for the sojourner who stays among you.'"
Instruction: Hebrew "Torah"; there are not different rules for those who are just here to learn. If you are in the camp of Israel, you will abide by these, or be punished as any Israelite would be. It may not seem fair, but it actually could not be more fair. At some point one is no longer a sojourner among Israel, but must decide if he wants to be a part of Israel or not. Once one decides to make an offering to YHWH, as Cornelius did through his alms to the Jews, he is counted as Israel because he is acting as Israel. It goes the other way as well, for those who join the community after others have done the hardest work are still rewarded if they work. (Mat. 20)
17. Then YHWH told Moshe,
18. "Speak to the descendants of Israel and tell them, 'When you enter the Land to which I am bringing you,
When you enter: Every other place it says “when you come”, it refers to after we inherit the Land and settle in it. The particular form of the term here means “as you are coming into…”, i.e., begin as soon as you arrive there.
19. "'this is how it shall be when you eat of the bread of the Land: you shall lift off [and present] a contribution to YHWH:
I.e., “before you take any of its bread for yourself, bring the priest his portion, for he is eating on behalf of YHWH, and this is the only way we can actually give back to YHWH. To make dough we need not just flour, but water, salt, and yeast at the very minimum; if you want it to be special, it requires even more ingredients, and who would want to bring YHWH something that is not special? This is in addition to having already left the corners of our field for the stranger and widow, and offered the tithe and firstfruits of the grain. We give some to the priests again when the grain is in the state from which it can actually be made into bread. As we partake of and benefit from the community life of Israel, we must also make our contribution by offering ourselves and our resources back to it as raw material for further community.
20. "'The first of your dough you shall lift off [in the form of] a loaf as a contribution; you shall lift it off like the contribution of a threshing-floor.
First: can also mean "best". Lift off: right from the top of the full sack; "set aside" the firstfruits at the beginning of the harvest; it is related to the word here for "contribution". Until the grain is on the threshing floor, we have nothing to eat. The tithe of the threshing-floor is given before one takes the grain home, so it can never be considered our own. The same applies for the firstfruits of every part of ourselves that we offer to YHWH. Since we do not have an altar at present, the only way we can bring things to YHWH is by bringing them to the rest of YHWH’s people, especially in our local congregation. We cannot say we are putting YHWH first if we do not put His people and His work first in regard to our time, energy, talents, knowledge, finances, and loyalty, especially toward those who teach and serve us for YHWH’s sake, as the priests did.
21. "'From the first of your dough you shall give a contribution to YHWH throughout your generations.
Contribution: from the word for raising up, for it will raise us up if we give it with the proper attitude. It is a “required gift”, but we must see it not as a tax but as something we lift from being merely mundane produce to being something belonging to YHWH. It is thus elevated to a higher plane. Whether we can bring little or much, everyone must bring something.
22. "'Now if, by mistake, you do not perform all of these commands that YHWH has declared to Moshe--
23. "'that is, all that YHWH has commanded you under the direction of Moshe, from the day when YHWH gave the command onward throughout your generations--
24. "'then, if it has been done inadvertently, away from the eyes of the community, then the whole congregation shall prepare one son of the herd as an ascending [offering] as a soothing aroma for YHWH, along with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the legal ordinance, as well as one kid of the goats as an offering for the guilt incurred.
One [bull]: not one for each person, but one for the whole congregation. This is a corporate error. Away from the eyes: i.e., if no one else noticed to warn him of what he was doing wrongly. An alternate reading is, “due to the eyes of the community”—that is, a wrong ruling is made that affects many, and the elders later realize it interfered with the keeping of another commandment in an unforeseen way. (Rashi)
25. "'Thus the cohen shall effect a covering over the whole community of the descendants of Israel, and it shall be excused for them, because it was unintentional and they have brought their drawing-near--a fire offering--to YHWH, along with their offering for the guilt incurred before YHWH by mistake.
This refers to the offering brought every Yom Kippur “just in case”, whether we need it or not—though there has probably never been a time we did not. It is not certain whether it could be brought more often if something was so serious it could not wait until Yom Kippur; some things can only be properly done in certain seasons, even if the willingness to repent is present in one’s heart the moment one recognizes his error.
26. "'Then the whole congregation of the descendants of Israel shall be forgiven, as well as the sojourner who is staying among them, because the whole population was in error.
"A little leaven leavens the whole lump." If one part of the community is not right, it affects the whole.
27. "'But if a single individual goes off track by 'accident', he shall bring near a she-goat a year old as a sin offering,
Had one been thinking, he could have avoided this. But mistakes will sometimes occur. Still, this is no excuse; there is still a price to pay, because missing the target is missing the target, no matter what the reason. Though he sinned alone in this case, every wrongdoing still somehow affects the whole community, so he must bring a tangible token of his repentance.
28. "'and the priest shall atone over the soul that goes astray, when he sins inadvertantly before YHWH, in order to effect a covering over him, and it shall be forgiven him,
29. "'whether [he is] native-born among the descendants of Israel or a sojourner staying among them; you shall have one instruction for the one who acts in ignorance.
This is the rule for when one has done something he did not know was a sin, and later finds out it was. He is responsible at that point to make amends for it.
30. "'But the individual who acts with a high hand, whether native-born or from among the sojourners, that one is being a reproach to YHWH, and that person must be cut off from the midst of his people.
High hand: in intentional defiance, i.e., when he knows better, having been taught, but still does what is wrong. Reproach: literally, "cutting into", so he will be "cut off". We who were in exile already were granted initial amnesty due to where we had to start out, but the rules have not changed and we must take them on as soon as we are in a position to do so. (Compare Acts chapter 5.)
31. "'Since he has been in contempt of YHWH's word, and broke His commandment, that soul shall be completely cut off, and [the consequence for] his perversity is his responsibility.'"
The earlier sins were “by accident”—not due to stubbornness, laziness, or even lack of training. They are simply things that a person with some level of maturity knows are wrong, but he slips up and does them due to an old habit or ignorance of a particular factor. He simply misses the target. Rebellion means he does not even acknowledge that there is a target that he is required to hit. If it is done on purpose, there is no remedy, no way to fix what one broke. “Cut off”: maybe in a permanent way, maybe only temporarily. It may mean one is executed or just put outside the protection of the camp, depending on how the court rules. Or, as the rabbis say, YHWH may ensure that one’s children die before he does, so he has no posterity and his name does not continue. His responsibility: This appears to mean that any expenses incurred in carrying out his sentence will be charged to him also.
32. Now while the descendants of Israel were in the wilderness, they discovered a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.
The very first test YHWH gave in the wilderness before the Torah was given was also about the Sabbath. It is often the litmus test for who gets to remain in YHWH’s camp. Day: If it were at night, he might be able to argue that he needed to start a fire because he was cold or could not find his way, but in the daytime, clearly no excuse held up. He never even got to the point of disobeying the command to not kindle a fire on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:3), but that had to be his intention. Even if he was not going to light it until sunset, his mind was on what came after the Sabbath rather than giving YHWH the day that is His due. The Sabbath is a set-apart time, and not the time to make preparations for what is outside of it.
33. So those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moshe and Aharon and the whole congregation,
Tradition says he was warned to stop but did not. This is a reasonable assumption.
34. and they made him wait under guard, because it had not been clearly stated what should be done to him.
What he had been told was to do no ordinary work and not to start a fire. It was wise that they did not simply jump to a conclusion, but brought him to those whom YHWH had constituted as authorities for a ruling. This is an important precedent for any time we are unsure how to interpret a Scripture. They may have felt that they could not be absolutely sure of his intentions. They were not sure which way YHWH would want him cut off. However, in this case YHWH confirmed their initial impression—that he did mean to start a fire:
35. And YHWH told Moshe, "The man must indeed be put to death; the whole congregation shall pelt him with stones outside the camp."
He had stood at Sinai and had noble examples, so he was responsible for the truth he had heard. It had to be seen as acting with a high hand. Stones: from the word for "building materials ", which represent the components of the House YHWH is building (1 Kefa/Peter 2:5). Those who are building up His house had to destroy the one who was tearing it down through his disobedience. This was not just a matter of working on the Sabbath. He ruined a picture YHWH wanted intact. In Psalm 1:3; 92:12; Yirmiyahu (Jer.) 17:8; Daniel 4; Matt. 3:10; 7:17, and many other scriptures, men are compared to trees—the same word for sticks, which are particularly used as a picture of the two kingdoms of Israel (Y’hezq’el/Ezek. 37:16-19), which Y’shua was sent to gather. (Yeshayahu 49:6; 56:8; Mat. 15:24). So gathering sticks is the right thing to do—in the right season. But the Sabbath is a picture of the Kingdom. Going out to gather men into the Kingdom after it has already begun might seem easier, but we have had six "days" to do that; everyone's position in the Kingdom will be sealed when it begins. (Rev. 22:11) Then, it is too late; the opening to be rulers rather than subjects will not be offered again. The nations will have no choice but to obey His rod of iron. (Zecharyah 14) The day of willing obedience is now, while it is still a true test of our loyalty. Only the Counterfeit Messiah--and, at its end, haSatan (Rev. 20:8)--will be gathering men (“sticks”) "in that day". Idolaters are also stoned to death (Deut. 17:5), and indeed breaking the Sabbath means we are giving something else—probably security—more importance than YHWH. Yeshua said, "He who does not gather with me scatters." If we gather people unto Sunday worship (gathering sticks out of season), Christmas, or steepled buildings (Deut. 12:3), we are preparing a sacrifice for someone other than YHWH.
36. So the whole congregation took him outside the camp and pelted him with stones, so that he died, just as YHWH had commanded Moshe.
No one knew which stone killed him. Everyone participated, even the wrongdoer’s family, so no one could come back later and say, “You all killed my brother!” At least a representative from each household had to throw a stone. Whether they liked it or not, we are all responsible for each other’s obedience to Torah. This must have been very traumatic, and it may have been done away from the camp partly so that the children would not have to watch (but also not to defile the camp). But it worked, for it is extremely rare to read of this occurring again anywhere in Scripture. The memory of having seen it once was a deterrent for the rest. The stones were not boulders, but stones of a size that would be used to build a house. After first knocking him unconscious, the community piled the stones up over him to make of these building materials a huge "witness heap" that looked like a ruined house. In case this was not enough, YHWH institutes another reminder while the memory of having to kill someone for ignoring the commandments was fresh in mind:
37. Then YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying,
38. "Speak to the descendants of Israel, and tell them that they are to make for themselves braided tassels on the extremities of their garments throughout their generations, and place in the tassel at [each] corner a twisted thread of [wool dyed] sky-blue.
Braided tassels: or "fringes". The Hebrew word is tzitzith. (See note on v. 39.) Extremities: or "corners"; literally "wings", because the garment spoken of here is a square outer garment that fits over the other clothing so that the tassels hang conspicuously below it. Twisted thread: tied in with other threads. Sky blue: to remind one of YHWH's heavenly throne, and identify us as belonging to Him. Yet this very command was set aside. Rabbinic rulers decided that if the ancient source of the dye was not known, it was better to wear only white tzitziyoth! Now, though two sources have been found, the excuse is that they are not sure which one is correct--but any blue is closer than white, which was never commanded.
39. "It shall serve as your reminder, so that you may notice it, and remember all the commandments of YHWH, and carry them out, so that you will not explore after your own heart or your own eyes, after which you [habitually] go astray.
Reminder: the same word as "braided tassel" in v. 38; it is the doubled form of the word tzitz, which means "to shine brightly, gleam, or stand out", hence an eye-catching ornament that would remind him of who he was every time he looked down, and especially in times of temptation. We cannot be reminded of what we never learned; we need to hide His Word in our heart to give the Him raw materials to bring it back to mind. Explore: the same word used in 13:2 for exploring the Land, and it carries the connotation of being drawn in by and following what one sees--which was what YHWH intended by showing them how excellent the Land was, despite its challenges. (Compare 13:25.) Linked with one's own heart or eyes, it connotes learning or finding out how to do something, and our heart is not the correct source for that (since it is deceitful, Yirmiyahu 17:9) nor are our eyes, which can find new objects of lust (Mat. 5:28); YHWH's commandments are. Your eyes will lie to you; what seems obvious may not actually be in line with Torah. Compromise merely puts off the inevitable; Torah must ultimately prevail. Following one’s own heart is why Christianity is in the lawless state it is in today. Go astray: the word usually has the connotation of committing harlotry, i.e., cheating on YHWH. They were "hooked" by the wrong thing. The "way that seems right to a man" ends in death. (Prov. 14:12; 16:25) To give us an advantage, YHWH tells us how to feel; if your emotions dictate your actions, you are in trouble. The only way to learn how YHWH sees things is through intimate knowledge of the Torah. He made us, so He knows how we work best, and this is the owner’s manual.
40. "This is so that you will remember and carry out all My orders, and be set apart to your Elohim.
He is saying, “Do these things and you will experience My wedding chamber.” And once you do, nothing else will matter. Orders: not the words of a cruel dictator, but the only way that a chaotic, corrupted world can be properly set in order so life can function properly.
41. "I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be an Elohim for you. I am YHWH your Elohim."
He repeats the last phrase because it is by obeying His Torah that we really come to know who He is.
TORAH PORTION
Sh'lakh L'kha
(Numbers 13:1-15:41)
INTRODUCTION: We begin with what turned out to be a “hall of shame”—a list of names which went down in our nation’s history for what they could have and should have done, but did not. There were two notable exceptions, and they were greatly rewarded, but also had to bear the weight of their counterparts’ error for a large portion of their lives, since Israel is one nation and we were in it together, for better or for worse. It is easy to judge them in retrospect, but Paul tells us that these things are “written for our instruction, that we through patience and exhortation of the Scriptures might have confident expectation”. (Romans 15:4) Much has been made of the allegorical parallels in our modern lives: conquering “lands” and “giants” that we encounter throughout life by YHWH’s help. The book of Hebrews gives a long list of those who, unlike the ten spies, accomplished much by faith—as Kalev and Y’hoshua eventually were allowed to do when the consequences of this dark day’s democratic decision had run their course.
And the parallels are very valid. But it appears there may be a much more literal repetition of these circumstances, except with the roles reversed. There is a re-entry into the Land foretold—again with all of Israel together, not just one tribe. (This Torah portion includes reminders that those coming back into covenant are counted as just as much part of Israel as those who stuck with Torah all along, and the same rules—and privileges—apply to both.) But prophecy tells us that before that, a time will come when all nations gang up against Israel, but, like the 6-Day War (a dry run?), Israel ends up the victor by far. But these “birthpangs” will not be without YHWH’s common method of making it look impossible first before He steps in. It will not be a shoe-in; faith will be required then possibly more than ever before, but that is thus our greatest occasion to be overcomers: “Though an army encamps against me, still will not my heart be afraid.” (Psalm 27) Tradition says this was written for the “time of Yaaqov’s Trouble”. (Yirmeyahu 30:7) But He will save us out of it. We are forearmed, but His soul will find no pleasure in those who shrink back. (Yeshayahu 8:17) Even though victory ultimately did come to the nation (see note on 15:2), those who rejected His offer were not given a second shot at it; it was too late when they tried to change their minds—a sobering warning for us.
The other “book-end” of this Torah portion (15:37-41) gives us a weapon—one made of thread! But the same terminology is used for the Land that was meant to make us “follow after it” and the tzitziyoth that are meant to catch our eye so we will not be led astray and “follow after” our own eyes and hearts, as the man who put his own goals ahead of YHWH’s day of rest seems to have been doing. (15:32-36) Rather, we are to be reminded of YHWH, who has delivered in eth past and can just as easily deliver again, even when the stakes are higher and the opposition fiercer.
Which Will You Follow?
What should have been the most joyful of times for our ancestors turned out to be one of the most tragic because of fear. They misunderstood the command to go look at the Land as a call to determine if it was conquerable, but that was already a given; they were supposed to strategize (Num. 13:17-20) to find the most efficient ways to claim the Land. This was not an ordinary decision; victory was promised. But because they did not really believe YHWH was a factor (Num. 14:7-9), this beautiful gift was scorned as if it was something repulsive—as if He was mocking them by tantalizing them with something that was really out of reach.
Thus the deeper cause for their unbelief was resentment. Their expectations of the shape freedom would take made them unable to appreciate what they actually were being given. Look how quickly they gave in to majority opinion and started mourning their loss, when they had not actually lost it; it was still there for the taking, but they assumed the decision had already been made just because there were more men painting it in a negative light than not. And once YHWH did with-draw the offer—when He had enough proof that they were not going to believe Him, no matter how much proof He gave (14:22)—look how ready they were to make alter-nate plans, no matter how poorly thought through they were (14:2-4), for people do the strangest things when trying not to admit what they know to be true. (14:10)
So He did not allow them to repent. It was too late; they had missed the only window during which everything was lined up for this to work. (14:8-9) YHWH took it personally, because it was ultimately not really Moshe they did not trust, but Him, though He had more than proven Himself (14:11-12). They are served notice that despising YHWH’s word has a severe penalty, for it can no longer be a characteristic of this people (15:30-31, with an example following).
Though Moshe persuaded Him to show His strength through patience and kindness instead (14:14-15), forgiveness this time was defined as letting them live (except the instigators of discouragement, 14:36-37), not by spoiling them with a reward they would only have abused; thereafter, forgiveness came with a price (15:22-29). Even their children had to pay for the parents’ mistrust by having to waste half of their lives doing next to nothing in the wilderness.
But He doesn’t let it become a total loss; though He has postponed the inheritance for 40 years, right away He starts telling them what to do when they enter the Land. (15:1, 18, etc.) They are not to lose sight of the goal; they are to start making preparations now, or the vision is likely to fade, for the main thing is to prepare their hearts. Already they are to see it as their home, and though not all of these commands were in effect yet, He provided them with a reminder so they would not be so easily forgotten. (15:37-41) That is something we can identify with as we await our full inheritance, so tzitziyoth (the memory aids) are like the down payment He gives us as a guarantee of the rest.
The key is in a term that shows up as a bookend at the beginning and once again at the end of the Torah portion: the Hebrew word tur. You can pronounce it like “tour”, for in a sense, that is what it is. He tells us to go “tour” the Land (13:2), then tells us not to go “touring” after what our eyes see or our hearts imagine (this is not Disneyland, after all), because then we will stray. (15:39) That term for straying is strong enough to sometimes mean how a man is led away by a prostitute.
That gives us a better handle on what He was telling the “spies” to do: let the Land take hold of them, fall deeply in love with it, for that would inform their hearts and give them the courage to overcome those obstacles and those three giants (13:22) who somehow got turned into “all the people of the Land” (13:32)!
What will your heart follow? Don’t believe everything you see; build your view of reality around what YHWH says will be, and soon it really will be that way if you line your vision and your heart up with what He has already put in place.
Study questions:
1. What can you see in the names of the spies that should have prepared them for the task they were given? (Numbers 13:4-16)
2. What was the purpose of this “tour”? (13:17-20) Was “whether we should go in” one of the questions they were asked to answer?
3. How does 13:23 answer the questions in verses 19 and 20?
4. What one word in 13:28 repeated in 13:31 changed the entire course of history?
5. What was YHWH’s response to this attitude? (14:11-12)
6. Although they did not deserve his defense, what was Moshe’s approach to YHWH’s anger? (14:13-19)
7. Why would the Egyptians not simply conclude that the Israelites’ own strength had enabled them to leave Egypt? (14:13-16) What might this tell you about why YHWH sometimes allows us to feel inadequate for the tasks that are before us?
8. What did YHWH’s pardon (14:20) include? What did it not include? (14:21-23, and especially verse 37) Does this at all change your ideas about what forgiveness is? How does 15:22-28 further clarify what forgiveness is, and what else is required in order for there to be full satisfaction of justice and full reconciliation?
9. What different attitude did Kalev have from the other spies? (14:24) How might we cultivate such an attitude? Who else, though unmentioned here, shared this attitude? (v. 30) Why do you think YHWH did not mention him to Moshe at first?
10. Their own words are what YHWH judged them by. (14:28; compare Matithyahu 12:37) How will this knowledge affect what you allow yourself or do not allow yourself to say?
11. How will YHWH’s mathematics (14:34) affect the way you live your life?
12. What changed from 14:9 to 14:43? Why were the people who had no protection now a real threat? What key element of why Kalev and Y’hoshua were confident was now missing? (14:8, 14:42) Based on this, if we deliberately neglect a door YHWH opens, should we expect Him to allow us another try and let us change our minds?
13. How does YHWH preface His very next two instructions? (15:2, 18) Why do you think He changes the subject like this? Or is He actually changing the subject? How would this preamble affect the outlook of the generation that was spared? With a long haul of 40 years now ahead of them, how might they have felt if He had not shifted their sights back to where they were indeed still headed?
14. Lest a double standard might be misconstrued from 15:13, how does YHWH “nip it in the bud” through 15:14-16? Are there any second-class citizens in Israel? (See also 15:29.)
15. Why do you think we are told to dedicate a portion of what YHWH provides back to Him? (15:18-21) What does this represent? What will it remind us to do in regard to the part we keep for our own use?
16. How does the immediate context for YHWH’s introduction of tzitziyoth (blue threads on the corners of our garments) tell you why He instituted this command? (15:38-40) What are some examples of how they might accomplish their purpose?
Companion Passage:
The Sidewalk
for Kids
When Moshe first heard that he should send scouts to the Land of Kanaan, he told them, “Go see if it’s a good land or not. See if the people and the cities are strong or weak.” He was confident that they would find it such an awesome place that their answer would be nothing but positive. I don’t think he ever imagined the kind of report they would bring back, or he would probably not have put the challenge the way he did.
Sometimes when we hear about the amazing things YHWH did for our ancestors—miracles like freeing us from slavery, parting the sea, giving us manna when there was nothing to eat, not letting our shoes wear out for 40 years—we get really excited about His great power.
But then we meet big challenges in our own lives and we get worried and scared, and aren’t sure we can handle them. But why? Don’t we think YHWH can still do the same things now that He did then? Or do we really, deep down, think those are only fairy tales or something that might only be possible on TV where they can do special effects—or like unrealistic cartoons where the characters keep getting blown up but never die?
But these people had actually been through all of these miracles, yet they still didn’t think YHWH was big enough to make it possible for them to defeat giants. They even exaggerated, making it sound like everybody there was huge—100 feet tall—when in fact they were about 9 or 10 feet tall and we only read of 3 or at most 4 or 5 people at that time who were even that big.
And they said their fortress walls went as high as the sky, when archaeology shows that, if you count the hills some of them were built on, they reached about 9 stories higher than the low land around them. And they thought they would have to scale the walls; they didn’t even take into account that it was possible to make the ground unstable by something as simple as a few million people marching in rhythm so that when there was a sudden loud noise, it would make the walls just fall down!
YHWH has ways. We might not under-stand how they work, but we have seen enough of what He can do to be able to trust Him to do what He says He will do.
And you know, He says exactly the same thing is going to occur again—only this time with a lot more people, and we won’t come just from one country, but every part of the earth! He won’t just make one pathway through the sea, but many! And He says He will bring us back to the same Land our ancestors were afraid to go into, but eventually did conquer.
Yes, there are things that stand in the way. But it’s already occurred for the Jews—one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Who would have thought that people who just three years earlier had nearly starved to death in concentration camps would successfully fight off armies that were trying to once again destroy them? Can’t he do that for the rest of Israel?
Yes, there are enemies in and all around the Land. There are political and religious reasons that we still aren’t allowed to stay there and live. But we can go there and scout it out and fall in love with the Land—which was supposed to be what those 12 “spies” did. Only two of them actually did, but theirs are the names we remember. The other names are listed, but who can name them without looking back at the list? Is that how you want history to remember you? Or do you want to be remembered the way Y’hoshua and Kalev are? The choice is yours.
Vineyards today in the Eshkol Valley
Hevron
Negev
Modern fruit of the Land of Israel
Arad
The Renewal of
SH'LAKH L'KHA
This portion starts with the familiar story of the twelve spies and how, while they admitted the land of Kanaan was very good and very fruitful, looked at the obstacles in the way as the bigger consideration. But “Kalev stilled the people toward Moshe, and said: 'We should go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.'” (Numbers 13:30)
The Renewed Covenant really elaborates on this concept of faith, which, simply put, is just trusting YHWH—taking Him at His word. One of the most salient chapters about this is Hebrews 11:
“Trust is the principle underlying the things we are confident about and the proof of the illuminated things that are not visible, by the service of which the ancients found a testimony…For whoever desires to come to Elohim needs to be confident that Elohim exists and that He will reward all who seek Him.”
He was offering a very great reward—something unimaginable to those who just a year before had been slaves in a land not their own. Now there was freedom and sovereignty over a home where they could settle and which would respond to their work with abundant fruit. There was just one thing to get past—some very big people with well-built fortifications.
Y‘hoshua joined in with Kalev in pointing out, though, that this was in fact a minor detail, when looking at the big picture. They both would later find that there were indeed ways to overcome even those well-built walls. It wouldn’t just be up to their own ingenuity; YHWH would give them instructions about what would work. (Y’hoshua 6:2-5) If only they trusted that He would not give them an order without providing a means to carry it out, they could have spared the loss of a whole generation. (Num. 14:22-24)
The real issue was not how strong the other nations were. They saw through to the heart of the matter: “If YHWH is pleased with us, then He will bring us into that Land and give it to us…Just don’t rebel against YHWH!” (14:8-9)
So to overcome obstacles, our main focus should not be on building up our arsenal of assault weapons, but on making sure we are pleasing to YHWH. Again, Hebrews 11 gives us the key: “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” (verse 6)
With great insight, Y’hoshua and Kalev perceived and declared that the occupying nations’ “overshadowing [protection] has been taken away, and YHWH is with us!” The logical conclusion? “Don't be afraid of them!" (Num. 14:9)
Late in life, one who had followed Yeshua more closely than most for many years, even when facing the ultimate aspect of what it means to be his witness (to which the Greek word for witness--“martyr”—points vividly), summarized his experience this way: “Who is there to harm you, if you are followers of what is good?” (1 Kefa/Peter 3:13) Yet these ancestors of ours thought it better to go back to slavery!
Look what our lack of trust does to YHWH Himself: “YHWH said to Moshe, ‘How long will this people despise Me? Will they never trust Me, even with all the signs I have performed right in their midst?’” (Num. 14:11) He was insulted, grieved, and ready to destroy them all and start over with Moshe. (v. 12)
Yeshua felt the same sentiment: “O faithless generation! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you?” (Mark 9:19) Yet he still showed them compassion, because he knew that this time YHWH could truly start all over with himself—the “second Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45-47)—without having to destroy those who would be transformed through that very same trust that they could experience when they would say, to the fullest extent they knew how, “Master, I believe”, and follow up by pleading, “Help [me overcome] my unbelief!” (9:24)
Apparently that tiny, mustard-seed-sized grain of faith (Mat. 17:20)—coupled with the desire to have it increased—is all it takes to start that path of “pleasing YHWH”. “A little faith” is not the same as being “without faith”, if you are aiming to let it grow.
But this really good news, when it met with unbelief in the hearers, would not motivate them to seize upon the “gold-mine” He was offering them. So He retracted the offer. They weren’t allowed to change their minds (14:40-43), for they spoke out of the abundance of their hearts the first time, showing how they really felt, before they were threatened. That is why Yeshua could say, “To him who has will more be given…, and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mat. 13:12)
“According to the number of days you explored the Land--40 days, each day corresponding to a year--you will bear [the weight of] your crookednesses for 40 years, and you will be well aware of My displeasure.” (Num. 14:34) Did you catch that? YHWH was NOT pleased—because they were indeed without faith. He started with the immediate death of all who gave a bad report about His good gift. (14:37)
But as soon as He had passed the sentence, the very next thing He said was “Tell the descendants of Israel, ‘When you come into the Land where you will settle, which I am giving to you…” (15:2) Right away He rekindled the hope in those who had not refused. Despite the long wait they had before them, He told them to start thinking about what they would need to do when they got there.
YHWH is again offering us that land—this time with a king worthy of his crown in it and no enemy to tempt us (Rev. 20:2-6)—if we choose it over this “present evil age” (Galatians 1:4), despite harassment or worse from those who consider this age their home, and having to choose between obeying YHWH and obeying the men who rule this age (Acts 5:29) under the spirit of this age. (Yochanan 12:31; 1 Cor. 2:12) Though we are not yet walking out the door to start our journey there, we too would do well to start shaping our thoughts to fit the realities we will find there so that we will be ready and armed against the things that will try to rise up and make us doubt. For though He says He will bring Israelites of every tribe back to this our Homeland, again, not all who start the journey will get all the way there:
“‘I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands among which you are scattered with a firm hand and with an outstretched arm…Just as I entered into legal controversy with your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, even so I will be judging you,’ declares the Master YHWH….‘And I will purge out from among you the rebels and those who revolt against Me. I will bring them out from the lands where they live as foreigners, but they will not arrive in the Land of Israel. Then you will know that I am YHWH.’” (Y’hezq’El/ Ezekiel 20:34-38)
So just because you are called out into the second and greater Exodus (Jer. 16:14-15) does not guarantee you will see the Promised Land this time either. (Mat. 22:14) We still have to please Him:
“Those who [having given witness that they were pilgrims and sojourners] say, ‘That is His city’ [show] by this [that] they are seeking a Land that is [yet] coming. Now if they had been remembering the one from which they had come out, there would have been occasion to turn around and go back to the same one they had come out of. But, look indeed! They chose what is better and more excellent and set-apart and heavenly. On account of this, Elohim is not ashamed to be called their Elohim...” (Hebrews 11:13-16)
Not hesitant to claim us as His own--that is the ultimate compliment, bar none! Will we stake our present for such a future, selling all we have to buy the field with that treasure in it? (Mat. 13:44)
Notice What He Does,
and Don't Forget
The spies were misleading when they said they saw giants. (Num. 13:33) Later we read (in Y’hoshua 15:14) that there were 3 giants in Hevron. One other was found on the other side of the Yarden River in territory that ended up being a bonus to Israel (Deut. 3:11), but was not officially “the Holy Land”.
So… four giants! Is that a match for a whole nation whose side the Almighty is on? David and his servants alone killed that many giants because he believed YHWH could enable him. (1 Sam. 17; 1 Chron. 20:4-8)
They certainly jumped to conclusions about what they saw (14:3), but there were two who dissented from their extreme pessimism. These two certainly had “a different spirit” (14:24), and YHWH noticed.
What was the key to their confidence? There is a clue in the text as to how they could see what the others could not. They had been paying attention to what was going on just before that: We were told in the previous Torah portion that “YHWH’s cloud was over them by day whenever they set out to travel from the [place they had] camp[ed].” (10:34)
One of the benefits of this is that it would have provided shade for them from the sun. Y’hoshua and Kalev noticed that there was no such “shade” (literal translation) over the peoples they were ordained to conquer, no matter how big and tough they appeared. (14:9) They seem to be taking it to the next level and saying that their covering of protection has gone away.
Some have even reported that Global Positioning System satellite tracking can be seriously disturbed by heavy cloud cover. (Here's some of the science behind it.) That might be one way in which YHWH’s cloud over us during the Second Exodus (Jeremiah 16:14-15) will shield us from our enemies if the “Pharaoh” of that day is trying to chase us down again. He also calls on a related nation to shelter us with a “shadow” (same word). (Isaiah 16:1-5)
Like Y’hoshua and Kalev, we can derive our confidence in YHWH from what He has previously done. It may be our personal experience of Him or it may be someone else’s testimony of what He has done.
They certainly remembered how He saved them from Pharaoh, how He had fed them and provided water all along the way, how their shoes had not worn out, etc.—“all the signs that He had wrought among them” (14:11); just how did the others forget? Maybe they didn’t even notice the cloud.
He is patient if we just aren’t sure about some things, or need more clarity, and may let us “retake” some tests. But ten times of demanding that He prove Himself when He has already done so is just too much. He turned their excuse against them (14:31) and would not give them their wish to return to Egypt, nor would He give them an 11th try. (14:40-44) They were stuck with their self-imposed sentence.
But right after He condemns this generation to perish before they reach the Land, He still gives Israel instructions for what to do when they enter the Land—40 years hence! (15:2) It must have kept hope alive for the children that they would indeed still get there one day—and it most certainly did for Y’hoshua and Kalev! The latter would say at 83 years of age that his strength had not diminished from where it was at this time, when he was about 43. (Y’hoshua 14:11) YHWH “restored the years that the locust had eaten” (Yo’el 2:25) since it was no fault of his that he had to wait so long for his inheritance.
This may be what David was thinking about when he reminded himself (with trembling?): “Bless YHWH, my soul, and don’t forget any of the ways He has compensated [you]: … Who heals all your diseases; Who saves your life from destruction; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s…” (Psalm 103:2-5)
When is it Faith and
When is it Presumption?
“If YHWH is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us!” (Num. 14:8) That was Kalev’s great affirmation of faith that, sadly, went unheeded.
Of course we don’t want to be like the other ten spies. But how can we be sure that what we are putting our faith in is really YHWH, and not merely wishful thinking? We know He can; but does He plan to? How can we know?
One of the ways we can know is if He promised: All the way back in Avraham’s time, over 400 years before this, YHWH had told our patriarch that his descendants would have this land. (Gen. 15:7-16) He even told us in which generation we would leave Egypt. But He’d also told Moshe, much more recently, that He would fight for Israel and drive out the Canaanites before them if they obeyed His voice. (Exodus 23:20ff; 34:10ff) So they could be confident that this was indeed the time He wanted to do so.
Another way we can know He will act is if He gave instructions: YHWH told Moshe to send the men to do reconnaissance (Num. 13:1-2), so Y’hoshua and Kalev rightly could infer that He intended for them to simply gather information that would help with strategy. Moshe might have unnecessarily injected some uncertainty by what he told them to look for: “whether the people of the land are strong or weak… whether the land is good or bad…” That wording could have introduced doubt into the spies’ minds. We have to be supremely careful that our words do not discourage others from trusting in YHWH.
Y’hoshua added his voice to Kalev’s: “Don’t rebel against YHWH, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land; for they are bread for us; their defense is removed from over them, and YHWH is with us!” (14:9)
Possibly because these two did “get it”, YHWH knew He had communicated clearly enough to hold the rest of them accountable, based on all the signs and wonders they had already seen Him do (14:22-23), to believe He could do this thing that seemed even bigger to them—though for Him it was no harder.
They spoke their own condemnation: “It would be better to die in this wilderness.” (14:2) For that attitude, YHWH took them up on their wish—or the first reaction that they were not careful to stifle, saying, “As you have spoken in my ears, I will do to you: your corpses will fall in this wilderness…” (14:28-29) Be ever so careful what you say! Be painstakingly watchful to express no fear or doubt, even if you feel it, except to say, only to YHWH, “Master, I believe; help [me overcome] my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
Instead, they incurred a debt with massive interest: the promise withheld from a whole generation, and a fearsome balance sheet: “According to the number of the days you spied out the land--40 days, that is —for every day a year, you’ll bear your iniquities: 40 years, and you will know My displeasure.” (14:34)
Some died right away, including the 10 who gave the bad report (14:36-37); their influence could not be allowed to continue to infect the younger generation who had to be groomed to do what their parents refused. It is significant that He immediately speaks to that generation in terms of “when you come into the land”—when, not if; He doesn’t wait to start building their confidence (15:2, 18) so they can work up to the expectation of what Y’hoshua and Kalev rightly assumed, in their “different spirit”. (14:24) Always pray that He’ll give you that spirit too!
In this land, the same rules apply for both native-born and guests who want to approach YHWH. (15:13-16) No double standard; no limiting the latter to “Noachide laws”.
It does no good to try to backpedal after YHWH has already given our sentence; it is too late. (14:40-43) There was a time to act. To try to do what only He can do when He has withdrawn His hand from us truly is presumption. It is no longer the kind of faith He wants.
We were right that we could not stand against these enemies, but He can, and He must be counted as the primary factor in all of our decisions.
Faith or Faithfulness?
We start with a list of men who could have gone down in history, but most of whom ended in infamy and disgrace. In retrospect it is easy to denigrate them for their failure. But “no temptation has taken you but such as is common to humanity.” (1 Cor. 1:13) That means not only that what these men faced was no greater than what you or I are likely to encounter, but, conversely, that someday we may very well face a decision that is as much of a watershed as theirs was.
After speaking of this very context, the writer to the Hebrews warns, “Watch out, my brothers, so there will not be [in you] an evil heart in which there is no trustfulness—the kind that turns away from the living Elohim.” (Heb. 3:12) The next chapter tells us, “For the same reason, we must be diligent about entering into the resting-place so that not one of us falls into becoming like those who did not trust Him.” (Heb. 4:11) Then it builds to a crescendo ominous enough to send chills through our bones: “‘The righteous will live through faithfulness’, but ‘if he shrinks back, My soul will not be pleased with him’”. (Heb. 10:38, quoting Havaqquq 2:4 as it appears in the LXX, but in reverse order)
I can’t think of anything worse than for YHWH to not be pleased with me. But you’ve heard it quoted as “The just shall live by faith” rather than “faithfulness”? Indeed, wouldn’t that make this point better? Well, let’s look at it in detail. It is the same term (emunah) that David, throughout the psalms, often uses of YHWH’s faithfulness, and Jeremiah uses it in his well-known phrase, “Great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:23) But it is also used of humans in a variety of ways.
There are many shades of meaning in this versatile Hebrew word. It is emunah that describes how Aharon and Hur held Moshe’s hands firm or “steady” while Y’hoshua was fighting Amaleq. (Ex. 17:12) The sense there is that they “supported” his arms. The term “amen” is a related word, which we do indeed use to mean “I support that!” It is often rendered “fidelity” or even “truth”, in the sense of “being true to one’s word”. In Psalm 33:4, it is paralleled poetically with YHWH’s own word being “straight”, “correct”, or “upright”.
What is aman is something verified, sure, solid like a rock (Deut. 32:4), and certain--so “guaranteed” that one is secure when placing one’s confidence in Him. (Psalm 37:3) He is “worthy of your trust”, which brings us back to the idea of “faith”. It was used of men who were given a permanent position of fiscal responsibility (1 Chron. 9:26) or who had proven so trustworthy with money donated to the repair of the Temple, they were not even asked for an accounting of how they used it. (2 Kings 12:15; 22:7) That may be the ultimate compliment!
The root idea in emunah is that of steadfastness—something you can rely on, as best exemplified in YHWH’s “everlasting arms” that undergird us. (Deut. 33:27) So that is the core issue: Having seen YHWH work and having made a commitment to “do and listen” like these people had so recently (Ex. 24:7), will we still be faithful—that is, keep on trusting Him when the evidence seems to say the odds are insurmountable, whether this “giant” is a life-or-death one like doing what’s right though men forbid it, or just the ever-present wondering if we can make ends meet this week?
It’s easy to have faith in a vacuum, when it’s a philosophical exercise. But if you have to stake your life on it, as those who went to fight the giants they had seen would have had to do, will you remain steadfast? He did not ask them to have blind faith in someone they’d never seen in action. They had seen Him free them from Pharaoh, part the sea, provide food where there was none, and bring water from a rock. They had even seen how bountiful the land He was giving them was. (Num. 13:23-26)
What irritated Him is that they seem to have assumed His power had run out—or, as He put it, that His “arm had gotten shorter”! That contradicts the revelation we saw above that His “arm” is “everlasting”! That was accusing Him of not being faithful or reliable—projecting on Him the very thing that was true of them, thus “making Him in their image” in a most uncomplimentary way. No wonder He was “not pleased”.
But Y’hoshua was loyal to not only the man he’d shadowed even during his 40 days on the mountain, but to the Elohim whose powerful presence he too had survived. He and Kalev got to the point: “If YHWH is pleased with us, He will…” (14:8) So…what did He say pleases Him? That we don’t shrink back, but are faithful. “Without faith, it is impossible to please Him.” (Heb. 11:6)
That matters much more than any obstacles; if He is with us, we can take them in stride. YHWH, recognizing Kalev’s attitude, said there was a “different spirit” in him! (v. 24) That too is in the running for “the ultimate compliment”! So let’s aspire (yes, pun intended) to have that kind of faithfulness—or, if you prefer, faith. The world’s original language (thus the one with the clearest explanation of reality) tells us that they really are the same thing.
