Blessed
are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, who has made us set apart
through His commandments and commanded us to actively study Torah. Please YHVH,
our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of
all Your people Yisrael. May we and our offspring, and the offspring of Your
people, the House of Yisrael, may we all, together, know Your Name and study
Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your desire. Blessed are You, YHVH, Who
teaches Torah to His people Yisrael. Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of
the universe, Who chose us from all the nations and gave us the Torah. Blessed
are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah.
Only two sins on a national scale are singled out
during Yisraels’ wilderness journey: the sin of the golden calf – Shemot/Ex
32-34 and the rebellion of the scouts sent out to spy the Promised- Land
described in this week’s parashah. In both cases YHVH threatens Yisrael with
annihilation. Mosheh intervenes and pleads for YHVH’s mercy and YHVH withdraws
His Hand of destruction.
1Sa 15:23
“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as
wickedness and idolatry. ..”
Aliyah Rishon 13:1-20
Num 13:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Num
13:2 “Shelach
lecha” – send! You send men to spy out the land of Kenaʽan,(Heb – a place of humiliation, where
one is vanquished) which I am giving to the children of Yisra’ĕl. Send one man
from each tribe of their fathers, everyone a leader among them.”
Our parashah begins by
stating that YHVH commanded Moshe to send out spies. Yet Devarim(Deut) 1:22-23
states that sending out the spies was done by the request of the people.
Deu 1:22 “And all of you came near to me and said,
‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring
back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into
which we would come.’
Deu 1:23 “And the matter was good in my eyes, so I
took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.
Num 13:3
And by the command of יהוה Mosheh sent
them from the Wilderness of Paran, all of them men who were heads of the
children of Yisra’ĕl. (Paran is
believed to be the same place as modern day Petra)
Num 13:16 These are the names of the men whom Mosheh sent
to spy out the land. And Mosheh called Hoshĕa the son of Nun, Yehoshua.
A
“yud” is added to “Yoshua’s” name. His name then becomes “Yehoshua” the same
name Hebrew name was used for our Messiah. This name means that “YHVH” will
save. (Ex 17:9)
Num 13:17 And Mosheh sent them to spy out the land of
Kenaʽan, and said to them, “Go up here into the South, and go up to the
mountains,
Num 13:18 and see what the land is like, and the people
who dwell in it, whether strong or weak, whether few or many,
Num 13:19 and whether the land they dwell in is good or
evil, whether the cities they inhabit are in camps or strongholds,
Num 13:20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are forests there or not. And you shall be strong, and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first-fruits of grapes.
Aliyah Sheni 13:21-14:7
Num 13:21
So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Tsin as
far as Reḥoḇ, near the
entrance of Ḥamath.
Num
13:22 And they went up through the South
and came to Ḥeḇron. And Aḥiman, Shĕshai, and Talmai, the descendants of
Anaq, were there. Now Ḥeḇron had been built seven years before Tsoʽan (built
before Avraham) in Mitsrayim.
Num
13:23 And they came to the wadi Eshkol,
and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes. And they bore it
between two of them on a pole, also of the pomegranates and of the figs.
Num
13:24 That place was called the wadi
Eshkol, because of the cluster which the men of Yisra’ĕl cut down from there.
Num
13:25 And they returned from spying out
the land after forty days.
Num
13:26 And they went and came to Mosheh
and Aharon and all the congregation of the children of Yisra’ĕl in the
Wilderness of Paran, at Qaḏĕsh. And they brought back word to them and to all
the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
Num
13:27 And they reported to him, and
said, “We went to the land where you sent us. And truly, it flows with milk and
honey, and this is its fruit.
Num
13:28 “But the people who dwell in the
land are strong, and the cities are walled, very great. And we saw the
descendants of Anaq there too.
Num
13:29 “The Amalĕqites dwell in the land
of the South, while the Ḥittites and the Yeḇusites and the Amorites dwell in
the mountains. And the Kenaʽanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the
Yardĕn.”
Num 13:30 And
Kalĕḇ silenced the people before Mosheh, and said, “Let us go up at once and
take possession, for we are certainly able to overcome it.”
Num 13:31 But
the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the
people, for they are stronger than we.”
Num 13:32 And
they gave the children of Yisra’ĕl an evil report of the land which they had
spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land
eating up its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of
great size.
What the spies said
was right, however their report is considered evil (Heb – ‘’debbah’’) because
they intended to cause the people to rise up in rebellion against Moshe and
YHVH.
Num 13:33 “And
we saw there the Nephilim, sons of Anaq, of the Nephilim. And we were like
grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes.”
1Co 10:11
And all these came upon them as examples, and they were written as a
warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come,
1Co 10:12
so that he who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall.
For centuries the sages
have pondered what would cause the Yisraelites to behave in such perilous ways.
Have things really changed in our days? These tragic events happened on the
ninth day of the fifth month.
“Thus
it came to pass that on the Ninth of Av
-- a day which was to bode many tragedies for the people of Yisrael YHVH
informed Moshe that the generation that received the Torah at Sinai was not fit
to enter the Land of Canaan. He decreed that they shall live out their lives as
wanderers in the desert until a new generation would take up the challenge of
conquering the land of Canaan and developing it as a "Set Apart land”
Virtually
all the commentaries pose the question: What happened? Where did they go wrong?
The
spies dispatched by Moshe were no ordinary individuals: "They were all men
of distinction, leaders of the children of Yisrael" (Bemidbar/Numbers
13:3). Furthermore, in all of history, it would be difficult to find a
generation whose lives were more saturated with miracles than theirs.
Mitsrayim/ Egypt, the most powerful nation on earth at the time, was forced to
free them from slavery when "the mighty hand" of YHVH inflicted ten
supernatural plagues. When Pharaoh's armies pursued them, the sea split to let
them pass and then drowned their pursuers. In the desert, miracles were the
stuff of their daily lives: manna from heaven was their daily bread, sheltered
from the desert heat and cold, clothed and shod, destroyed the snakes and
scorpions in their path, and flattened the terrain before them to ease their
way.
For
these people to doubt YHVH's ability to conquer the "mighty
inhabitants" of Canaan seems nothing less than ludicrous. Yet these were
the people whose leaders said, "We cannot go up against these people, for
they are mightier than we" and even He!
Where did they go wrong?
Chassidic
master Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains that the problem was one of excess spirituality.
The
daily miracles experienced by the generation of the Exodus did more than
provide them with sustenance and protection -- they shielded them from any and
all involvement with the material world. For the first generation of our
existence as a people, they lived a wholly spiritual life, free of all material
concerns; the very food which nourished them was "bread from heaven."
Indeed,
it could not have been any other way. Our sages have said that, "The Torah
could have been given only to the eaters of the manna." To properly
receive and assimilate the divine wisdom, one must be utterly free of the responsibilities
and frustrations of physical life -- something that is possible only in the
kind of environment which our ancestors enjoyed during their sojourn in the
Sinai Desert.
This
is why, says Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the Spies and their generation were loath to
enter the land. Becoming a people with a land would entail plowing, sowing and
harvesting; it would mean engaging in commerce and levying taxes; it would
require a bureaucracy to run the land and an army to defend it. Their
underlying problem with the land was, as the spies expressed it, that "it
is a land that consumes its inhabitants" -- it consumes one's time and
energy with its corporeal demands and infringes on one's capacity to study the
divine wisdom of Torah and meditate upon its truths. They were unwilling to relinquish their spiritual utopia for the
entanglements of an earth-bound life.”
The
generation of the desert failed to actualize the unique opportunity which
presented itself at that particular juncture of our history: for there to be a
single generation which straddled both worlds, a single generation which first
inhabited a world of utter spirituality and then proceeded to apply it to a
life on the land. Instead, they fell prey to the tendency of man to
"compartmentalize" his life, to label his experiences and attainments
as "material," "spiritual," "sacred,"
"mundane," "natural" and "supernatural," thereby
delegating and confining them to their respective domains.
But
Yehoshua/Joshua and Calev/Caleb said, "The Land is very, very good."
It is specifically in the Land of Yisrael down below, and specifically by means
of the mitzvot implemented by physical action, that the truly infinite light of
YHVH is drawn down--a light that includes both the spiritual and the material,
which is why it is "very, very" good. (Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi)
Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Further Midrash – it has been speculated that the spies (prominent leaders) were sent out to see how desperately overwhelming the circumstances were in the land. The implication is that only a series of major miraculous interventions from YHVH would be able to save them from being destroyed by the inhabitants of the land. Today present day Israel needs another great miracle to save them from the descendants of these same Kanaanites – the Palestians.
When the pharaohs ruled Egypt and the ancient Greeks built their first
cities, a mysterious people called the Canaanites dominated the Near
East. Around 4000 years ago, they built cities across the Levant, which
includes present-day Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and part of Syria
Who did the Canaanites worship?
Baal, god worshipped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities,
especially among the Canaanites, who apparently considered him a fertility
deity and one of the most important gods in the pantheon.
What are the 7 Canaanite
nations?
When enumerated separately, one
of the seven nations is called Canaanites, while the others are called
the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hittites, the Hivites,
the Jebusites and the Perizzites.
What is Canaan called today?
The land known as Canaan was
situated in the territory of the southern Levant, which today
encompasses Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and the
southern portions of Syria and Lebanon.
Deu 7:1 “When יהוה your Elohim brings you into
the land which you go to possess, He shall also clear away many nations before
you: the Ḥittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Kena‛anites and
the Perizzites and the Ḥiwwites and the Yeḇusites, seven nations greater and
mightier than you.
Deu 7:2 “And when יהוה your Elohim gives them over to
you, you shall strike them and put them under the ban, completely. Make no
covenant with them, and show them no favour.
Deu 7:3 “And do not intermarry with them – you do not give your
daughter to his son, and you do not take his daughter for your son,
Deu 7:4 for he turns your sons away from following Me, to serve other mighty ones. Then the displeasure of יהוה shall burn against you and promptly destroy you.
Even Palestians can be saved.
Mat 8:28 And when He came to the other side, to the country of the Girgashites, two demon-possessed ones met Him, coming out of the tombs, very fierce, so that no one was able to pass that way.
Mat 8:29 And see, they
cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, יהושע, Son of
Elohim? Have You come here to torture us, before the appointed time?”
Mat 8:30 And at a
distance from them there was a herd of many pigs feeding,
Mat 8:31 and the demons
begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
Mat 8:32 And He said to
them, “Go.” And they, coming out, went into the herd of pigs. And see, the
entire herd of pigs rushed down the steep place into the sea, and died in the
water.
Mat 8:33 And the herdsmen
fled, and went away into the city and reported all this, and about those
possessed by demons.
Mat 8:34 And see, all the
city came out to meet יהושע. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to
leave their borders.
Joe 3:1 “For look, in those days and at that time, when I turn back
the captivity of Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim,
Joe 3:2 then I shall gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Yehoshaphat. And I shall enter into judgment with them there for My people, My inheritance Yisra’ěl, whom they have scattered among the nations, and they have divided up My land.
Vs 4-15 give the names of the leaders of the tribes. The tribe of Levi is excluded because YHVH was their inheritance. We must remember that these leaders did not bring back false reports, what they saw was real, they failed however to believe that YHVH would be able to deliver them, despite all the miracles they had witnessed in the wilderness.
We need to be in the land so
that He can conquer our enemies.
We need to be in the land so
that the world can see a generation of set apart people who know how to
function spiritually and physically in a way that honours YHVH.
The world is yet to see a people who genuinely enjoy the blessing and protection of YHVH. This may initially only be an exceedingly small remnant.
It is clear from the prophets that there will one
day in the future be a greater exodus to land of Yisrael of all the house of
Yisrael.
Jer 23:7
“Therefore, see, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when they
shall say no more, ‘As יהוה lives who
brought up the children of Yisra’ĕl out of the land of Mitsrayim,’
Jer 23:8 but, ‘As יהוה lives who
brought up and led the seed of the house of Yisra’ĕl out of the land of the
north and from all the lands where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell on
their own soil.”
When will
those waiting to return to the land know when it is time to go? I believe there
is a key for us to understand when and how we must return to the Promised Land.
When we realize as you look back over our lives and see that everything
significant that has happened to us has all happened to us to prepare you for
the greatest moment of our lives– the return along with an exceedingly small
remnant to the land of Yisrael.
The
physical and spiritual world must both be submitted to the spiritual pattern and
authority of the Torah – the mundane affairs of this life must be elevated to
the set apart.
I have found nothing better for the body than silence. The essential thing is not study, but deed. And one who speaks excessively brings on sin. Pirkei Avot 1:17
(Blessed are you Yahveh, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn
Further Midrash as to why the 10 spies brought back a negative report.
Giants and evil spirits – an end time preparation for an end time remnant.
Deu 3:1 “Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Oḡ sovereign of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Eḏre‛i.
Deu 3:2 “And יהוה said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, who dwelt at Ḥeshbon.’
Deu 3:11 “For only Oḡ
sovereign of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Repha’ites. See, his
bedstead was an iron bedstead. Is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon?
Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the cubit of
a man.
In the Hebrew Bible, "Rephaites" or "Rephaim" can describe an ancient race of giants in Iron Age Israel.
