PropheticPitfalls

     The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is Sh'lach L'cha, meaning "Send for yourself". This title comes from the Hebrew word salah, which we find in Num. 13:2. It is part of a command which the LORD gave to Moses: "Send (salah - send out, stretch out, depart, loose, soweth, extend, let go, set free, reach forth) men to spy out/search (tur - search, seek, spy out, explore, make reconnaissance, send to catch sight of and describe/proclaim, to lead one about as the righteous shows the way to his friend) the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader (nasi/nasa - one lifted up, chief, prince, captain, rising vapors, clouds, rising mist, king, ruler, a chief prince/bare or lift up, forgive, regard, exalted, support, aid, assist) among them." As we can see, salah used above means much more than "to send". There is a greater accompanying purpose that goes with being "sent" according to the Hebrew meaning. The same is true with that activity of "spying out" or tur. There is a proclamation to be made based upon what is seen prophetically. These "leaders" that were sent were not ordinary, but they were associated with the authority found in ascendance (nasi/nasa). The previous two Sabbath reading portions also dealt in some way with being or coming to an ascended position. In verse 3, these leaders were also described as "heads" (ros - chief, top, principal, head, summit, height, beginning, top, choicest, best, foremost, highest and supreme), again referring to a position of great height. The leaders' names as recorded in v. 4-15, reflect the character of the LORD as well as the hidden Messiah. These name meanings include: "renowned"; "he hath judged and punished"; "forcible"; "he redeems/kinsman redeemer/avenger"; "salvation/savior"; "my deliverance/save/escape"; "God is my fortune/troop"; "my fortune"; "my kinsman is God/the people of God"; "hidden one/love fervently/cherish"; "the majesty of God/to rise up/exalted in triumph/be lifted up/be raised up/be risen/to increase". The assignment of the leaders/heads was to see prophetically from the place of ascension, establish a prophetic foothold in Canaan, and to bring back that description/proclamation to God's people. It is also noted that these leaders/heads were sent from the Wilderness of Paran/pa'ar (caverns/to glorify, beautify, adorn, honored, glory, vaunt, be glorified, to gleam, to make clear in explanation, to examine the boughs in order to glean them). In the natural, Paran was a place of caverns, but spiritually, it was a place of glory, beauty, honor and height. Moses told them: "Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like...be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land." (v. 17-20). "So they went up (ala -see above)..And they ascended (ala - see above)..." (v. 21-22). God's command to Moses tells us that the LORD wanted His people to see something for themselves, and to see it from an ascended position.

     Those who were sent to spy saw two different things. They saw a land flowing with milk and honey, full of fruit, large samples of which they brought back with them (v. v. 23, 27). They also saw the descendants of Anak (tribe of giant statured people) dwelling there and reported to Moses and the people: "Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there." (v. 22, 28). Caleb, one of the spies, tried to give the true prophetic report: "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." (v. 30). Most of the other returned spies then contradicted Caleb with a bad/evil report (diba/dabab - whispering, defamation, evil report, slander, as that which glides stealthily, one who spreads false or slanderous statements/move, glide over, an animal that creeps, to creep about): "We are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we...The land...is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw giants...and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." (v. 31-33). Those other spies were reporting what they had seen and their resulting conclusions, but the LORD called it a slanderously false evil report. They had slandered God who had promised the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) land to them as descendants of Abraham (see Gen. 12:1, 5-7, Gen. 13:14-18, Gen. 15:18-21, Gen. 17:7-8). In His command to Moses above the LORD stated clearly the He was giving the land of Canaan to the children of Israel. Most of the leaders/heads therefore who had spied the land were in effect calling God a liar, and counseling Moses and the people not to believe Him.

     This report from the leaders/heads of the tribes so affected all of the congregation that they lifted their (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) voices (qol - voice, thunder, proclamation, send out, fame, bleating, cracking) and cried (natan - give, bestow, ascribe, report, utter, stretch out, extend, be published, send). As we can see from the Hebrew meanings of the words used here, the cries of the people of God have a prophetic power, extending out and being sent further than their place of origin. They are prophetic words because God's people are a prophetic people (see Prov. 18:21, Mk. 11:22-23, Deut. 30:14, Rom. 10:8-10). The prophetic mantle is not shed because God's prophetic people decide to believe and speak the evil report. The words cannot be called back nor changed once they are believed and spoken as we will see.

     The congregation wanted to make for themselves a leader to bring them back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb, who had been among those who had spied out the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) land, spoke to all of the congregation: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good (tob - good, goodly, best, fair, precious, wealth, beautiful, favor, welfare, happiness) land. If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them."  (Num. 14:1-10). Hearing these words, the congregation wanted to stone them until the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of meeting and halted this.

     The spies were to bring back the report from an ascended spiritual position, yet most of them brought back what the LORD said was an evil, slanderous report. The people of God, when they heard the evil report, cried out in bitterness and anger. They even cried: "Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims?" (Num. 14:3). Their prophetic voices and tears "thundered" in the LORD's ears. The evil report produced an "evil congregation" who complained against the LORD (Num. 14:26-27). Finally the LORD swore regarding this evil congregation: "As I live...just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness...Except for Caleb...and Joshua...you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in." (v. 28-30). Their own proclaimed, published, thundered fears and words would come to pass. The LORD did promise, however, that He would bring their little ones, whom the people had claimed would be destroyed (see Num. 14:3 above), into the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) land. (v. 31). When the LORD commands us to go and see for ourselves, what report do we bring back and proclaim far and wide?

    

     Joshua and Caleb had also seen the giants, but they saw from their ascended position that with the LORD among His people, those giants were "bread" to be devoured by the people of God. Caleb and Joshua saw that the spiritual protection that had once covered those Canaanite people had been removed, and they were now vulnerable. Unless this were true, why would the LORD have said to His people to go and sh'lach l'cha, "send for yourself", to see the promised land? Why is He having us read this Sh'lach L'cha Sabbath portion at this time? What does He want us to see regarding our current "giants", and the great, fruitful reward waiting for us if His favor is with us? What report are we hearing and believing? Are we of a "different spirit" who follows the LORD fully, as the LORD said of Caleb (Num. 14:24)? 

     In another reading portion from this Sabbath, forty years later, after the evil congregation had died in the wilderness, two more spies would be sent (salah - see above) by Joshua to enter the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) land to spy out the mighty walled city of Jericho in Canaan (Josh. 2:1). The true, powerful report of the LORD wouldn't come from the spies, however. It would come through a Canaanite harlot (prostitute) living on the wall of the city. This was her report to the two spies whom she hid from capture on her roof: "I know that the LORD has given you the land...the terror of you has fallen on us...all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you...we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea...and what you did to the two kings...whom you utterly destroyed. As soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain anymore courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." (v. 9-11). The harlot's name was Rahab, which means "extending widely every way, long and broad when spoken of land, signifies wideness, height and depth, a wide cup, be enlarged, make room, extending borders of a kingdom." While the evil report of most of the first spies above slandered and belittled God in the eyes of His people and beyond, Rahab's report exalted God and His works which He also did through His people. Her report prophetically extended the borders of His kingdom.

     Rahab asked the spies to spare her family when the Israelites took Jericho. The spies told her that her family would only be spared if they stayed within her house. No doubt her family had shame for this prostitute daughter. They did not live in her house because they were not present when Rahab hid the spies. Yet it is her house that God would designate as a sanctuary. Only her house would carry the true token of His salvation: a (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) cord/line (tiava/qava - hope expectation, thing I long for, expected, cord, rope, things hoped for [see Heb. 11:1-2], live/wait for, look for, expect, hope, bind together, be collected) made out of scarlet or crimson (dye made from a worm or insect that sacrifices its life for its children) thread: "...give me a true (emet - true, faithful (see Rev. 19:11-14), sure, continuous, of divine instruction, perpetuity, consistent in performing promises, constant and perpetual favor of the Lord, the truth of the Lord) token (ot - אוֹת: alpha, vaw, tav [meaning the Lord Adonai, nailed to the cross], miraculous sign, token, mark, signal, proof, flag, beacon, evidence), and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) lives from death." (Josh. 2:12-13, 18-19). We know the miraculous account of the defeat of Jericho by the Israelites. The mighty walls that protected that city fell straight down into the ground. Does this mean that the small section of wall upon which Rahab's house sat did not fall in this manner? Picture that! Would we have discerned that the LORD would prophesy His greatness and victory by a prostitute, or would we have looked for another type altogether to prophesy the Word of the LORD to us? The spies thought they were "sent" to "spy out" Jericho, but they were really sent to meet a prostitute and hear the Word of the LORD. The LORD would say at a later time as He corrected His prophet, that He does not look upon the outward appearance, but He looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). Do we? 

     From this Sabbath reading portion, Sh'lach L'cha, "Send for yourself", we find another example of the prophetic report. After the Israelites conquered the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) land of Canaan, Joshua began to distribute territories to the eleven various tribes. Caleb, Joshua's fellow spy now so many years before, came to him with a request based upon the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) word that the LORD had spoken to him by Moses forty-five years earlier: "And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive...these forty-five years...and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent (salah - see above) me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out, and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day...the Anakim (descendants of giants) were there, and...the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said.' And Joshua blessed him, and gave (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Hebron to Caleb...as an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb....the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel." (Josh. 14:10-14). Caleb, who was not an Israelite by birth but by heart and faith, believed and spoke the good report of the LORD and believed and spoke the Word of the LORD given to him by Moses even many years later. Others may have looked at Caleb and said that he was too old to take that mountain of giants, but Caleb "wholly followed the LORD." In fact, after Caleb was given the mountain, "the land had rest from war." (v. 15).

     In these challenging and dangerous times, by assigning this Sabbath's reading portion, perhaps the LORD is saying to us: sh'lach l'cha: "send for yourselves". What does He expect us to prophetically see and report? Are we giving a report that makes the giants in the land that the LORD has given us to become fainthearted like the inhabitants of Jericho? Has the LORD already removed their protective covering so that they have become bread for us? From another reading portion of this Sabbath we see: "Remember to magnify His (the LORD's) work, of which men have sung. Everyone has seen it; Man looks on it from afar." (Job. 36:24-25). Daniel prophesied about the work of the righteous that is to take place in the last days, when ungodly powers openly challenge the LORD and His people: "...but the people who know (yada - know, perceive, show, tell, understand, certainly, acknowledge, declare, teach, know by experience, confess, be skillful in, be revealed, be perceived, be diligent) their God shall be strong, and do/carry out great exploits."  (Dan. 11:32).

     If you would like to know more about what it means to be "sent" by the LORD, you can pray with me: "Lord, as you send me to go up and see, help my eyes to see Your greatness rather than the false greatness of the darkness. Help my mouth that I will show the true token, and speak the true report to Your people, extending it far and wide. Let the report sent forth of our God cause the spiritual giants on the mountains to tremble, and those who are to be spiritually dispossessed and disinherited from Your land to become fainthearted. Help me by Your Holy Spirit to do the great exploits in Your name of which Your prophet spoke. I ask these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus. AMEN."

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.