TORAH: Numbers 13:1-15:41
HAFTARAH: Joshua 2:1-24
GOSPEL: Matthew 10:1-14
Portion Summary
The thirty-seventh reading from the Torah is called Shelach (שלח), an imperative verb that means “send out.” The portion is so named from the first few words of the second verse: “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan” (Numbers 13:2). The Torah reading tells the tragic story of how the spies returned with a bad report about the Land of Promise and influenced the congregation of Israel to rebel against the LORD. Thus God consigned the generation of Moses to wander in the wilderness for forty years.
Portion Outline:
Torah
Numbers 13:1 | Spies Sent into Canaan
Numbers 13:25 | The Report of the Spies
Numbers 14:1 | The People Rebel
Numbers 14:13 | Moses Intercedes for the People
Numbers 14:26 | An Attempted Invasion is Repulsed
Numbers 15:1 | Various Offerings
Numbers 15:32 | Penalty for Violating the Sabbath
Numbers 15:37 | Fringes on Garments
Prophets
Joshua 2:1 | Spies Sent to Jericho
Portion Commentary:
A Different Spirit
Is the cup half full, or is it half empty? Do you see dark clouds or silver linings? The life of faith has no room for pessimism and cynicism.
The LORD spared the children of Israel, but He punished them by consigning them to forty years of wandering in the wilderness. He declared that they would never see the Promised Land that they had rejected. Instead their bodies would be buried in the wilderness. Their children, however, would be privileged to enter the land.
Even Moses, Miriam and Aaron were included in the doom. Only Joshua and Caleb were given permission to enter the land. The LORD said that Caleb would be allowed to enter the land because he had “a different spirit” (Numbers 14:24).
The different spirit of Caleb is evident from his report about the land. He and Joshua had seen the same Canaanites, the same fortifications and the same difficulties as the other spies but had come to a completely different conclusion. The other spies saw those things as obstacles. Caleb and Joshua saw them as opportunities for God to demonstrate His glory.
You may have heard someone say, “I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist.” The inference is that an optimistic person is not realistic. Accordingly, the only honest and correct way to view the world is to point out the deficiencies, difficulties and inevitable failures. For the “realist,” that is the real world.
There is nothing special about having a realist-attitude. Anyone can point out problems. Everyone can criticize. It takes no talent to be a naysayer. Maybe you know someone who is a rigid realist. Such a person is usually not very realistic at all. Instead a person like that demonstrates a marked tendency to emphasize the negative, ignore the positive and disregard miracles. To that person, answers to prayer are mere coincidences. Words of encouragement are irritating. Behind the veneer of cynicism is a life of dark self-absorption and self-pity.
Read complete commentary at First Fruits of Zion.
