BenAvraham
Active member
PARASHAH: “Shlach’L’kha” (send for yourself) NUMBERS 13:1-14:44
Most of us know the story of the 12 spies that were sent to spy out the land of Canaan, sent by Moshe, by the word of YHVH. But let’s look at the story carefully and see what we can dig out of the sand pile. We might find some valuable stuff hidden in the sand.
The word of Moses to the 12 tribes was that they might select a leader from each tribe to represent that tribe, so the list was read. Among those selected, we are going to concentrate on two of the leaders: Kaleb, son of Yephuneh, from the tribe of Y’hudah, and Hoshea, son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephrayim. Now, the idea of spying out or "reconnaissance" the land came from the people in the first place and Moses approved the idea. He mentioned that in Deuteronomy chapter 1. So...
The 12 are sent out on a “reconnaissance” mission to “spy out” the land. What do we mean by that? Any time an army is going to invade a territory, the army needs to know how many men the enemy has, what they have, where they live, their fortresses, etc. This is a common battle strategy, nothing new. Adonai has already “promised” them the land, done deal! Yet they still have to go into battle, but the battle already has the outcome: Israelites win! This is what Adonai sees looking up the “finite” time line in the “finite” dimension, and we must remember that HE sees ALL THINGS from the “infinite” time line, the things that have already come to pass, even before they “pass”
They travel throughout the land of Canaan for 40 days, and they see many things, the fruit of the land, grapes, pomegranates, figs, date palms, etc. It is indeed a land flowing with “milk and honey” (figs and dates). Yet the beginning of verse 28 starts with BUT! And then follows all the negativity, the people are strong, the cities are walled, the “giants” (and not the team from New York) I mean “the big tall guys” It is very easy to spread discouragement among the people, (vs 32) “and they gave the children of Israel an evil report of the land”. (Yet the bigger they are, the harder they will fall). So, how would you "knock down" the giants? Well, Israel has artillery; Spears, bows and arrows, and slingshots! The soldiers can defeat them from a distance.
Imagine that your father promises to give you a brand-new Mercedes Benz for your birthday, and he says; “go to the Mercedes dealer and check it out son!” so you go and look at it, you look into motor, inside, then come back and say; “Hey pop, this is going to eat up a ton of gas, the insurance is going to be high, it might get stolen… Well, dad might say, “OK, son, forget it then, if you feel that way!”
The only ones that saw the promise of YHVH were Kaleb and Hoshea; they looked to the promise, but the rest of the leaders set their eyes on the “circumstances”. Going back to verse 16, it points out something interesting; Moses changes the name of “Hoshea” to “Yehoshua”; this is very interesting and sheds light on internal symbolism. The name “Yehoshua” contains two names in the Hebrew language, “YH” (Yah) and YESHUA! When we look at the full name “Yehoshua Ben Nun” from the ancient paleo-Hebrew letters and their symbolism, one could get the following message; “Behold and let the eye see (that God, the All-consuming fire) extends the hand to receive the nail, to give (BEN) life to the house (to families) and by the nail, (His) life was given up so that (we) might have life!” (NUN)
When we look at the name “Kaleb Ben Yephuneh” from the ancient Hebrew symbolism, we could get this message: “The house is anointed for instruction” (Kaleb) and “behold let it be made that from the mouth comes forth instruction” (Yephuneh). I guess it depends on how one looks at the letters; perhaps another rabbi would come up with something different, but this is one way we can look at the names from the ancient Hebraic perspective.
The result was that panic and discouragement spread throughout the camp, and it wasn’t just a few thousand Israelites, but rather a few million, discouraged by 10 negative leaders. And 10 out-vote 2! Even though Kaleb and Yehoshua tried to encourage the people, the negatives won over. As the saying goes, you can put a few rotten apples in a barrel of good apples, and the good ones will never correct the rotten ones, but the rotten ones will infect the good ones with rottenness.
The result, the Israelites had to stay in the desert wilderness for 40 years, 1 year for each day the spies were in Canaan. Then, to make matters worse, they tried to go into the land without the blessing of Adonai, and they were beaten back. YHVH wanted to destroy them all, yet Moshe intercedes for them, and Adonai listened to Moshe. This is the same way Yeshua intercedes for us to the Father, on our behalf.
We deserve death, yet we are given life. We have the promises of God through His WORD. We can either believe them and accept them, even though some we can't see yet, or we can have disbelief, and call God a liar. In 1 Samuel 15:23, the prophet says that "Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft," and "disbelief" is a form of rebellion.
Disbelief can spread to others. It is like a cancer. Many find it easier to say, "This can't happen" than "Yes, it is possible through God's will."
The rebellion of the 10 spies affected 2 or 3 million people (the ones over 20 years old). So, let's try and have positive mindsets towards God's promises. Even though many have not come into being yet, let us not lose faith in our "waiting" for the completion of the promises. God has proven Himself trustworthy in the past, and He is trustworthy still for the World to Come.
Shalom, have a blessed week.
Most of us know the story of the 12 spies that were sent to spy out the land of Canaan, sent by Moshe, by the word of YHVH. But let’s look at the story carefully and see what we can dig out of the sand pile. We might find some valuable stuff hidden in the sand.
The word of Moses to the 12 tribes was that they might select a leader from each tribe to represent that tribe, so the list was read. Among those selected, we are going to concentrate on two of the leaders: Kaleb, son of Yephuneh, from the tribe of Y’hudah, and Hoshea, son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephrayim. Now, the idea of spying out or "reconnaissance" the land came from the people in the first place and Moses approved the idea. He mentioned that in Deuteronomy chapter 1. So...
The 12 are sent out on a “reconnaissance” mission to “spy out” the land. What do we mean by that? Any time an army is going to invade a territory, the army needs to know how many men the enemy has, what they have, where they live, their fortresses, etc. This is a common battle strategy, nothing new. Adonai has already “promised” them the land, done deal! Yet they still have to go into battle, but the battle already has the outcome: Israelites win! This is what Adonai sees looking up the “finite” time line in the “finite” dimension, and we must remember that HE sees ALL THINGS from the “infinite” time line, the things that have already come to pass, even before they “pass”
They travel throughout the land of Canaan for 40 days, and they see many things, the fruit of the land, grapes, pomegranates, figs, date palms, etc. It is indeed a land flowing with “milk and honey” (figs and dates). Yet the beginning of verse 28 starts with BUT! And then follows all the negativity, the people are strong, the cities are walled, the “giants” (and not the team from New York) I mean “the big tall guys” It is very easy to spread discouragement among the people, (vs 32) “and they gave the children of Israel an evil report of the land”. (Yet the bigger they are, the harder they will fall). So, how would you "knock down" the giants? Well, Israel has artillery; Spears, bows and arrows, and slingshots! The soldiers can defeat them from a distance.
Imagine that your father promises to give you a brand-new Mercedes Benz for your birthday, and he says; “go to the Mercedes dealer and check it out son!” so you go and look at it, you look into motor, inside, then come back and say; “Hey pop, this is going to eat up a ton of gas, the insurance is going to be high, it might get stolen… Well, dad might say, “OK, son, forget it then, if you feel that way!”
The only ones that saw the promise of YHVH were Kaleb and Hoshea; they looked to the promise, but the rest of the leaders set their eyes on the “circumstances”. Going back to verse 16, it points out something interesting; Moses changes the name of “Hoshea” to “Yehoshua”; this is very interesting and sheds light on internal symbolism. The name “Yehoshua” contains two names in the Hebrew language, “YH” (Yah) and YESHUA! When we look at the full name “Yehoshua Ben Nun” from the ancient paleo-Hebrew letters and their symbolism, one could get the following message; “Behold and let the eye see (that God, the All-consuming fire) extends the hand to receive the nail, to give (BEN) life to the house (to families) and by the nail, (His) life was given up so that (we) might have life!” (NUN)
When we look at the name “Kaleb Ben Yephuneh” from the ancient Hebrew symbolism, we could get this message: “The house is anointed for instruction” (Kaleb) and “behold let it be made that from the mouth comes forth instruction” (Yephuneh). I guess it depends on how one looks at the letters; perhaps another rabbi would come up with something different, but this is one way we can look at the names from the ancient Hebraic perspective.
The result was that panic and discouragement spread throughout the camp, and it wasn’t just a few thousand Israelites, but rather a few million, discouraged by 10 negative leaders. And 10 out-vote 2! Even though Kaleb and Yehoshua tried to encourage the people, the negatives won over. As the saying goes, you can put a few rotten apples in a barrel of good apples, and the good ones will never correct the rotten ones, but the rotten ones will infect the good ones with rottenness.
The result, the Israelites had to stay in the desert wilderness for 40 years, 1 year for each day the spies were in Canaan. Then, to make matters worse, they tried to go into the land without the blessing of Adonai, and they were beaten back. YHVH wanted to destroy them all, yet Moshe intercedes for them, and Adonai listened to Moshe. This is the same way Yeshua intercedes for us to the Father, on our behalf.
We deserve death, yet we are given life. We have the promises of God through His WORD. We can either believe them and accept them, even though some we can't see yet, or we can have disbelief, and call God a liar. In 1 Samuel 15:23, the prophet says that "Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft," and "disbelief" is a form of rebellion.
Disbelief can spread to others. It is like a cancer. Many find it easier to say, "This can't happen" than "Yes, it is possible through God's will."
The rebellion of the 10 spies affected 2 or 3 million people (the ones over 20 years old). So, let's try and have positive mindsets towards God's promises. Even though many have not come into being yet, let us not lose faith in our "waiting" for the completion of the promises. God has proven Himself trustworthy in the past, and He is trustworthy still for the World to Come.
Shalom, have a blessed week.