I know we ought not obsess on the physical to the detriment of the spiritual, but at fifty pounds overweight, it’s time for me to start putting enough energy into improving my physical self that I can have better health and life expectancy. I was hoping to try something light and easy, like a Kettlebell system, but so far it’s just thoughts, which doesn’t exactly help one lose weight. Anyway, here’s my Sh’lach L’cha commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Sh’lach L’cha or “Send for yourself” and covers Numbers chapters 13 through 15. This week’s reading covers the entire episode when Moses and Aaron send spies into the promised land, the report of the spies, and the L-RD’s reaction to their report. Next to the episode of the Golden Calf, this ranks as one of the most disappointing episodes in all of Israel’s history, and quite often the true cause of this episode is either overlooked completely, or minimized.

For the past couple weeks, Rabbi Stan has taught on the dangers of lashon horah – evil speech – and the destruction it can bring upon any individual or community of people. Also, in last week’s Torah commentary, we looked at how evil speech affected the community of Israel when they grumbled about the manna the L-RD provided, as well as how the grumbling of Miriam – the sister of Moses – was also dealt with harshly by the L-RD.

We’ve learned that committing evil speech does not require the telling of a lie. Often, those who commit lashon horah are telling the truth about another person. But it doesn’t matter. The problem is not the truthfulness of the speech, but the intent of the speaker. So, even if one speaks the truth, if the intent of one’s heart in sharing something about another person is to damage their reputation in the eyes of others, the result is considered evil speech.

This week’s portion reveals yet another aspect to how evil speech can be manifested. Moses and Aaron send a group of twelve spies into the land promised to them by the L-RD. What was the purpose of their mission?

We find this in:

Numbers 13:17-20
When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

So, this is the mission of the spies. To simply gather intelligence on the conditions in the Land, and bring back some fruit of the land if they are able. That’s it. That’s all. Just gather information and fruit, and report back to Moses and Aaron.

Is that what happened? We find this in:

Numbers 13:27-29
They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
Now, to this point, those reporting back to Moses and Aaron have lived up to their responsibilities. They have stuck to the parameters given to them by Moses. They have gathered information and reported it, but they have not gone beyond that specific mission. Yet things are about to take a turn for the worse. After this, Caleb speaks up and offers a faithful conclusion to the report, saying, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Caleb’s summary comes through the eyes of faith. Faith in the ability of the L-RD to deliver on His promises. Yet not everyone who went with him to spy out the Land agree. Instead of trusting the L-RD to make good on His promises, they instead respond out of fear, in the flesh. We read this in:

Numbers 13:31-33
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

This is where the behavior of the spies sent into the Land veers off-course from their mission. After delivering an accurate initial report, they allow fear to rule over them, rather than faith in the L-RD who brought them up out of Egypt and rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Instead of trusting in the L-RD as Caleb had suggested, they choose to fear the odds against them and the forces that will oppose them, and they go a step further by spreading that fear to others throughout the camp.

This is important to understand; it is their words and the intent behind their words that get them into trouble here. Are some of their claims honest? It would appear so. After all, we know that in time, in the generation of David, David will battle a giant from Gath named Goliath – or Golyat, if you prefer the Hebrew version of his name. So is it true that there are giants in the Land? Certainly. But again, when it comes to lashon hora, the truth of what is said is not at issue; what is at issue is the intent of the speech, which here, very clearly, is to cause fear and sew division among the people.

This is important to notice: Caleb and Joshua did not go on a separate mission from the other ten spies! They traveled together. They witnesses the same things. They had the same facts at their disposal. So what is the difference?

The difference is how they reacted to what they saw and what they knew. Ten of them give into fear; fear is a lack of trust, which is the same thing as a lack of faith. Only two – Caleb and Joshua – look at the same information, the odds stacked against them, and say, “The L-RD is able. He can give us the victory.”

Yet their voices were hard to hear over the din of complaints and fear. We read this in:

Numbers 14:1-4
That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the L-RD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Notice how lashon hora has taken deep root in the community of the Israelites at this time. It grows and grows as time goes on, the complaints growing louder and spiraling out of control. In the last parashah, we saw how thousands died because of evil speech over the manna the L-RD provided the people to eat; we read about Miriam’s punishment for speaking against the leadership of her brother, Moses. While corrective actions were taken on each occasion, the habit of evil speech is now so deeply ingrained in the people that the problem continues even though those who were guilty of it before had been severely punished by The L-RD. Now, they are at the point of outright mutiny, making plans to return to Egypt as soon as they can find a willing leader to challenge and replace Moses.

So, what is the solution to this explosive situation? We read this in:

Numbers 14:5-10a
Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the L-RD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the L-RD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the L-RD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

Moses and Aaron respond with prayer; Caleb and Joshua respond by speaking a better truth – a truth based in trusting The L-RD – to the people, urging them not to rebel. Yet it doesn’t work, does it? By this time, the people have become fatally infected by the sin of lashon hora, to the point that none of them can pull back from their urge to rebel against the L-RD. From Mount Sinai, when they changed the terms of the agreement, telling Moses to be their mediator and not have the L-RD speak to them anymore lest they die, to complaints about food, until now where an evil report about the land causes them to want to strike down Moses and Aaron and return to slavery in Egypt, this is a group of people who have been saying, “No,” to the L-RD for so long, they simply can’t stop saying, “No,” to Him.

Finally, the L-RD has had enough. Once again, the L-RD declares His desire to strike them all down and build a new nation out of Moses himself. Once again, Moses intercedes for Israel, begging the L-RD to show mercy. Once again, the L-RD agrees to forgive them for Moses’ sake. He won’t wipe them out all at once and thus given the Egyptians a reason to speak of the L-RD with contempt. But this time the L-RD does not back down so completely. Let’s listen in to this passage in:

Numbers 14:20-24
The L-RD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the L-RD fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times–not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

And the L-RD is not light in his punishment of this rebellion, either. As He revealed of Himself to Moses, the L-RD does not leave the guilty unpunished, but he punished the children for the sins of their fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. He is about to illustrate this literally and directly, as we read in:

Numbers 14:28-35
So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the L-RD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall–every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you–your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years–one year for each of the forty days you explored the land–you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the L-RD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”

Why is the L-RD so harsh with the Israelites here? I would suggest that what we see here is a rejection of even the amended covenant the L-RD had made with Israel at Sinai. Remember, the original terms were that the people would hear the voice of the L-RD. That was all they had to do. Instead, they asked for a mediator – Moses. And God gave them what they asked for! He amended the covenant and as a result they were no longer called “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Now, they want to reject the mediator of their own choosing, Moses, going so far as to plot his overthrow. And yes, that means they were planning to kill him.

So the L-RD decides what their punishment must be; none of them who rejected him so thoroughly and continuously will live to see the promised land themselves. That will be left to their children, who will be put to hard labor in the wilderness for their survival there as a punishment for the sins of their parents. Their parents had not had to struggle to survive in the desert; they will be made to. So, except for Joshua and Caleb, the entire generation of the exodus from Egypt will perish in the desert and never see the land promised to them.

And why? Because of a lack of trust, a root of bitterness, and most importantly, because of careless talk, evil speech, lashon hora. Unkind words and evil speech led to the destruction of an entire generation, over 600,000 men of military age, and perhaps as many as 1.5 million people overall. Only two survive. So, the next time someone tells you that words are not important, can’t hurt you or that God doesn’t care about it… point them to these last two Torah portions. The truth is exactly the opposite of the wisdom of this world.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Kettlebell, Sh'lach L'cha, Torah