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This week’s parasha is entitled Sh’lach L’cha, meaning “Send Out”, and covers Numbers 13:1 – 15:41.

As our passage opens, the Lord instructs Moses to send men ahead to spy out the Promised Land.  As the title of our parasha indicates, these were not men that the Lord chose, but were selected by the people themselves.  Each tribe sends forth one of their leaders as listed in chapter 13, verses 4-15.  Well, as we all know, this scouting trip did not go very well.  While the land they were to receive from the Lord was exceedingly abundant, flowing with milk and honey, its current inhabitants were not only powerful, living in cities that were fortified and very large, but there were also certain peoples that are described as giants.  As noted in verse 25, this was not a 2 or 3 day look-see.  The spies were gone 40 days, which means that they would have had an opportunity to travel all over the land, “…from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, at Lebo-hamath (verse 21).”  According to biblical scholars, Lebo-hamath is most likely the Beqaa Valley area, located in modern Lebanon, so this demonstrates that the spies got a look at nations surrounding the Promised Land as well.  The ancient records of our Bible also demonstrate modern day realities.  In ancient days, not only was Israel inhabited by powerful people that would need to be subdued before the Israelis could conquer the land, but beyond that, it was also surrounded by other hostiles, in much the same way as modern day Israel is surrounded by those seeking to destroy her.

The spies return and danger outweighs abundance and 10 of the 12 report that its inhabitants are too powerful to subdue.  This stirs up the people in chapter 14, and they start requesting that someone lead them back to Egypt.  Moses, Aaron and Joshua plead with the people saying that if the Lord is pleased with them, He will lead them into the land so just trust in the Lord for this to be accomplished.

The Lord has had enough, and tells Moses that He will just start over with him and make him into a mighty nation, but Moses pleads with the Lord to pardon their iniquity. The Lord does pardon the people, but the consequence of this forgiveness is that all the people who rebelled against proceeding to the Promised Land would end up dying in the wilderness.  None of that generation, except Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to enter the land.  And, the 10 spies who stirred up this rebellion with their bad report were struck by a plague and died.

The people now decide that they can change Adonai’s mind and at the end of chapter 14, launch an attack on the Amalekites and Canaanites, on their own, and are soundly defeated.

In chapter 15, the narrative shifts gears and the Lord gives Moses instructions for certain laws for when the Israelis enter the Promised Land.

These laws include different types of sacrifices and how they should be offered; laws concerning foreigners in the land who also desire to make an offering to the Lord and laws concerning atonement for the people when a sin is committed unintentionally, which can be atoned for.  However, if a sin is committed intentionally, no atonement can be provided.  To reinforce this point, at the end of chapter 15, we have the situation of a man who is gathering wood on the Sabbath, an intentional sin of working on the day of rest.  The judgement of the Lord in this case is that the man must be put to death for his intentional sin.  Our parasha closes with Adonai commanding that the Israelis put tassels on the corner of their garments as reminders to remember the commandments of the Lord.

What lessons can we learn from today’s parasha.

1.  Certainly, we can see from the spies’ journey into the land that often, things in this world can seem insurmountable.  We can get so caught up in our own perception of what things look like that we forget to call upon the Name of the Lord.  Sometimes we need to be reminded of the words of Jesus, in Matthew 19:26:  “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
2. Intentional sins have consequences.  When we are deliberately doing something against Adonai, those consequences are often brought to our attention through fractured relationships:  With our wives, our children, our parents or others.  We need to be aware of these consequences and make amends, turn from our sinful behavior, restore our relationship first with Adonai and heal the fractures that have occurred with the ones around us.
3. In the giving of laws concerning offerings and atonement for unintentional sins, we can see the certainty of the Lord.  From these simple words in chapter 15, verse 2, comes a great truth.  In verse 2, the Lord says, “When you enter the land where you are to live…”  Not, “if you enter the land,” or “when you try to enter the land,” but “when you enter the land.”  God’s Will is going to be done.  This means that we can hold fast to the major truth which is the greatest blessing to us:  The sending of the Messiah to restore our relationship with God and to live with Him forever:  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)