Rabbi's Drash

Shelach

b

5769

Bamidbar 13:1-15:41
 

Before I begin to develop today's message, as matter of introduction, I call this the parashah for the Righteous Gentiles. It paints a wonderful picture of the man, Calev ben Nun son of Yefunneh from the descendants of K'naz, a son of Esau (Gen 36: 12-12; Joshua 14:6). He was a gentile. Our sages try by all means to discredit this statement looking for ways to make him a Jew. They don't want Calev to be gentile. Yet here we find him from the tribe of Yehudah (Judah), a representative of the Yehudim (Joshua 15:13; I Chr. 2:1 ff; I Chr. 4:11 ff). The two men to show great trust in G-d were Joshua and Calev. They were the only ones out of all those who left Egypt including Moses himself, who entered the Promised Land. Joshua represented the Ephraimites. Why is it so hard for the rabbis to accept that Calev was a gentile? When the Israelites left Egypt, the "erev rav" or the mixed multitude left with them. From that time on all our misdeeds were blamed on the erev rav-the sin of the golden calf, Korach etc were their fault. As a point of interest, Joshua's name was Hoshea and Moses changed it to Y'hoshua or Yeshua. He would have been called Jesus today in the Greek form. Calev means dog in Hebrew. It also is derived from K'lev or from the heart. Calev is a name never given to a Jewish child. Even Yeshua called the gentiles "dogs" but not in a derogatory way. It simply meant that they were not equal due to their pagan ways. This portion clearly shows us that from the beginning, Jews and gentiles were meant to walk hand in hand entering the Promised Land together. The two great religions today, Judaism and Christianity have both destroyed this message and have become partisan defending their sides instead of looking at G-d's Word. Eretz Israel was to be maintained by two peoples who represent all the nations and the Jews. Let's continue with the message for this parashah: "Human Endeavour vs. Faith in G-d". The portion that I am going to use today is Numbers 14: 39 to the end. This takes place between the return of the spies and the battle with the Amalekites. Let's jump ahead to a portion in the Messianic Writings which I would like to compare with this story. In Matthew 27: 3-10, we read the account of Judas Iscariot or Judah Ish Kriot who betrays Yeshua and ends with him repenting and hanging himself. What was really going on in the mind of Judas? Let's go back for a moment to the spies. The problem with them was a lack of faith coupled with pride creating a state of confusion. The spies exhibited a lack of faith when they complained about not being able to take the land. The moment they received the verdict that they would all die in the desert, pride took over and suddenly they had a change of heart. They would go up and take the land on their own. Have you ever heard a two year old say "I do it myself!" Israel had been, interestingly enough, two years in the desert. They went up and were whipped. They came back with their pride very hurt. G-d did not however say to them, "I told you so." So what does Judas have to do with this? He walked with Yeshua for several years. He knew who Yeshua was and what he could do. He saw the miracles. He knew he was the Messiah. Judas was a freedom fighter who was tired of Roman oppression and felt it was about time that G-d had come down to destroy the enemies of Israel. When Yeshua told his talmidim that he came to die, this was too much for Judas. He then tried to force the Hand of G-d to do what he thought needed to be done. He completely misunderstood what Yeshua had come to earth to do at that time. Yeshua did not come to set up a worldly empire but a spiritual one, the Malchut ha Elohim, the Presence of G-d in our midst. This is exactly what Israel tried to do with G-d in Numbers…force G-d's Hand. After they were whipped they repented. Judas repented when he went to the Priests to confess to them and threw back the silver coins they had taken given him as blood money. For years we have been teaching that Judas could never be in G-d's Presence because he never went back to Yeshua to ask for forgiveness and on top of that he committed suicide. Sometimes the Bible doesn't spell everything out for us but if we look at the whole picture from the Hebraic perspective, we can see it in a different way. Remorse is more that feeling guilty. Judas did everything he could to show that he had made a huge mistake, one he could not live with. He betrayed the master. Was he not chosen for this task? In John 6:70 we read "Yeshua answered them, "Did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" These words are similar to the words he spoke to Peter when he said right after Peter admitted that he was the Messiah, "Get away from me Satan." Obviously Peter was not Satan but all of us as believers can sometimes do the work of Satan with or without realizing it. It is important to see that G-d's forgiveness is not based on what we do but upon His love for and mercy upon us. His Redemption is unconditional and given freely. There is nothing we can to do buy it. Judas taking his own life could never have paid for what he did. However it doesn't mean that he was not forgiven by and in the Presence of G-d now. Suicide is not the unforgiveable sin. Our greatest obstacle today is our own religion. We try to reach G-d on our own terms, like Israel did in trying to reach the Promised Land. Our G-d has so much mercy. He keeps forgiving us in spite of ourselves. Our religious pride is the obstacle for getting closer to Him. You would be surprised at how often we try to solve problems our own way. We can't wait for G-d thinking that we know better and we get into deeper trouble. Pride keeps us from humbling ourselves before G-d where we need to ask Him to cleanse our hearts. Can you in anyway identify with Judas? He took matters into his own hands right to the death. He knew exactly what Yeshua could do but he didn't have the patience to wait. In the same way, do you try to push Messiah to do things for you in your own way, in your own time? Israel's ego was badly bruised. They didn't think that they needed faith but they could accomplish their goal through human strength. How many of us are still doing the same with G-d? If you can't identify with Judas, perhaps you can with Israel's lack of faith, Remember, the spies only saw the obstacles. They were drowning in fear, defeat. Are you in that situation today where you only see obstacles, problems in your life? You think that you can't go on, can't do it, it's impossible. Why doesn't G-d do anything about this? Has G-d forgotten me? All these things are happening to bring you closer to G-d. Instead of trying to look like everything is fine where you are living by appearances instead of faith, humble yourself. Go before Him and surrender to Him in everything that is happening. Know that He is in control and in His time He will work things out for the better of all concerned. Let us learn from their lack of trust. When someone hurts us, forgive them. Don't treat harshness with harshness. Don't allow Satan to win in your life. Allow G-d to show us that His promises are greater than any obstacle. If you are truly a child of G-d, the battle is not yours, it's His. We are only His soldiers.    May G-d add blessings to His Word!      Rabbi Percy Johnson      Netanel ben Yochanan      [nxy [b lantn      © 2008 Use by Permission      Kehilat She’ar Yashuv

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