Shelach (Send )
This parashah speaks so clearly about Jew and Ger being one people under the G-d of Israel. If we truly understood this teaching there would be no Rabbinic Judaism and no Christianity today; there would only be a relationship with the G-d of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. There is only one Word of G-d for all humanity but both religions have marked their territories and filled them with man-made rules and regulations which they will defend to the death if need be.When you try to present the truth people simply say, things have changed; you need to adapt with the times or it has been misinterpreted. We would be surprised how much we believe because we heard it from someone we respect but is not in G-d’s Word.
This parashah is filled with so much sod, so many cryptic messages pointing to Messiah it is hard to know where to begin. Allow me to point out a few in this short time. For example, in chapter 13 our sages say that the names of the leading men who were dispatched as scouts were not their actual names but represented an important cryptic message that G-d was trying to show us such as from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur. Shammua comes from to hear or listen and Zaccur comes from to remember.
Of the 12 princes who were sent out to scout the land and bring Moshe back a report, only two gave a favorable one, Yehoshua and Calev. Both have a very important role to play and both point to our Messiah. Hoshea ben Nun was second in command after Moshe, the lieutenant commander of the army, he went everywhere with Moshe. By changing Hoshea’s name to Yehoshua (he added a yud heh hy which represents the Presence of G-d), Moshe was appointing to him a special role of leadership. Yehoshua would represent Moshe as the leader of the people of Israel. By doing this, Moshe was sending an important message to the people—not only is Yehoshua (whose name means “G-d who saves”) number two in command but he would be used to save G-d’s people. Does this give you a hint, a picture of the Messiah to come? Yeshua said, if you believe in Moshe you would also believe in me since he spoke about me. Hoshea was from the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph pointing to Yeshua ben Joseph, the suffering servant sent to save our people.
Among the 12 princes are two who are gentiles, Shafat ben Hori (Gen 36:30) and Calev son of Yefunneh, a Kenizzite. Israel has always had gentiles with us from the beginning who followed the G-d of Israel. Caleb whose name in Hebrew means “dog”, was from the tribe of tribes, Judah, the tribe of King David from which the Messiah ben David, son of David would come. Another picture is developing as we remember that Joseph’s tribe was given a double portion through Ephraim and Manasseh and Joseph was made prince over his brothers, head of a powerful kingdom when he rose from being a slave in Egypt to second in command after Pharaoh.
Ephraim and Judah were divided kingdoms, north and south. The two tribes are represented here by Calev, a gentile and Yehoshua, a Jew. From Ephraim came Mashiach ben Yosef and from Judah would come Mashiach ben David. Both kingdoms, Ephraim and Judah would be reunited one day (Ezekiel 37:15-17), both peoples would be united one day (Romans 11:16-17) and both Messiahs would be revealed as the only one and true Messiah, Yeshua. One Messiah would come twice— each time with a different purpose.
Numbers 15: 13-16 is extremely important for our grafted in gentile brethren. In chapter 14, there is no word “if” in the Hebrew…it is “and” the foreigner living with you ….through all your generations….vs.16. “the same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.” We have been deceived for the past 2000 years. There are not two different sets of rules, different Holy Days…and the gerim are obligated to do the same as we the Jews are!
In chapter 15: verses 29-31 we read about the regulations for unintentional and intentional sin which applies also to the native-born Israelite and the Israelite ger. The consequences for a person not keeping G-d’s commandments was trk to be “caret”, to be cut off from the people, the community of Israel! His sin would be upon him.
Immediately following these passages and what seems to be out of context, is the incident of the man being stoned to death for gathering wood on Shabbat. Let’s examine this story according to our sages: If this man broke the Shabbat he deserves to die. Was there no wood gathered on Shabbat? The Levites gathered a lot of wood in order to do the offerings. They had to keep the fires burning. Did he intentionally break the Shabbat by doing something that he was not supposed to do? Can we compare what he did with the two sons of Aaron who offered fire that G-d had not requested them to do or with Uzah who reached out to steady the falling ark? Was he trying to take the place of one of the Levites? We are not given an answer yet his crime was severe enough that this would be the 3rd out of 4 times that Moshe would go to G-d for direction since humans cannot judge the intentions of another man’s heart, only G-d can. Was the wood gatherer being rebellious thinking that since he would not enter the Promised Land he could do whatever he wanted to?
Our sages say that he was a righteous man even comparing him to Messiah. They write that he saw that the people were discouraged so he carried the wood, being an example of what not to do as if he were taking on the sins of the people like the azazel and even though he was innocent, he carried the penalty to teach the next generation who would enter the land that disobedience to G-d whether inside or outside the land produced a death sentence. One man would die for the whole nation (John 11:49). He never opened his mouth to complain about the sentence placed upon him. (Targum Yonathan, Tosefta Baba Batra 8; Ramban & Abarbanel) What a beautiful picture of Yeshua. May those who have ears hear and those who have eyes see!
May G-d add blessings to His Word!
Beha'alotecha (When you set up)
This parashah Beha’alotecha which literally means “to ascend” (from the word ola hli) begins with the lighting of the menorah. The Cohen Gadol (High Priest) would prepare the menorah for the people of Israel to light. This immediately brings to mind Yeshua’s words that we are to be a light to the world as G-d called Israel to be light to the nations. Yeshua told us not to hide our light under a bushel but to shine it from the mountain tops.