Parsha #37 Shelach Lekha
We are starting in the middle of the year, but I think it’s worth starting here. I’m using the popular one-year schedule to begin with. We’ll see how that goes, and if it’s too much, we may switch to the triennial schedule later. So, without further ado, here are my notes and thoughts on today’s parsha.
Parsha # 37 Shelach Lekha - Send on your Behalf
Torah - Numbers 14:1 - 15:41
Haftarah - Joshua 2:1-24
B’rit Chadasha - Hebrews 3:7-19
This portion starts with a man being selected from each of the 12 tribes to go into Canaan to spy out the land. It’s a familiar story: they go and they come back with reports that the land was ‘flowing with milk and honey’,
fruit so good and heavy it needed to be carried by 2 men (13:23), and yet despite the voices of Joshua and Caleb that the LORD was on their side, the people listened to the 10 spies who were too fearful to go into the land because the people were too strong.
This is one of the remarkable occasions when the LORD threatens to destroy the people, and Moses has to negotiate on their behalf and the LORD relents from His anger. Nevertheless, Israel is punished with one year in the Wilderness for every day that the spies were in Canaan, and the 10 spies who brought the ‘evil report’ die by the plague.
When the people hear the verdict, they are remorseful but rather than learning the lesson of obedience, they decide to go up into the land to fight the Amalekites in their own strength and are of course defeated.
The next section is all about sacrifices, from 15:1-31. The verse which caught my eye was 15:31 - it’s one thing to sin out of ignorance, “But the soul that doeth aught presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” That verse has serious and scary implications! I’ve sat under years of teaching to the effect that, as Christians, we can’t help ourselves, and we’ll never completely stop sinning ‘this side of heaven’, but it doesn’t matter because we’re ‘covered’. Well, yes, but we’re not meant to use Yeshua’s blood as some kind of holy life insurance! Certainly we stumble, but we should be doing everything in our power to obey the mitzvot, with the empowering and enabling of the Ruach haKodesh. If not, we are reproaching the LORD! (I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty convicted right now!)
In the next section, from 15:32-36 the implication of sinning despite knowing the mitzvah is played out for real - a man is caught ‘red-handed’ gathering sticks for firewood on the sabbath, and is stoned to death. I had previously thought that the phrase ‘cut off from among his people’ merely meant being put out of the congregation, but it would appear that it’s actually a euphemism for being executed. Again, harsh! But our perspective as 21st century westerners is probably not in line with the LORD’s perspective on the seriousness of sin. Clearly, it’s a really big deal! I will admit that I don’t find this easy to accept - it’s problematic on many levels, and I am very glad that I’m living int he 21st century West! But it does drive home the point that what may seem to us a trivial matter is one of the sins considered worthy of death. I don’t honestly understand just why it is so serious, but clearly the way we treat the sabbath is representative of how much we respect the LORD.
Finally, Israel is given a help to remember the mitzvot - a visual reminder: the tzitzit - fringes to go on the corners of the garments “that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them”. I can tell you from experience, that this really does work! It’s kind of like a little external conscience - you catch sight of them, and they say “no, stay away from that chocolate!” (well, that’s just one of my own personal challenges! but the principle is the same for whatever your temptations may be.) I have in the past cut mine short, or stopped wearing them, or been embarassed by them in the light of Yeshua’s words at Matthew 23:5, but the point there really is the fact that wearing tzitit doesn’t make you holy! They’re a reminder to you that you are already holy (set apart) and to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
Shavua tov!