Haftorah Reading: Joshua 2:1-24 Messianic Scripture: Hebrews 3:7-19
1.What was missing in the ten leaders report?
The 10 leaders of the tribes said:
Numbers 13:26-33, “‘They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 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.”
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
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.”
Joshua and Caleb said:
Numbers 14:6-9, “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 devour them. Their protection is gone, but the L-rd is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
Look for the difference in the two reports.
What was different in the report of Caleb and Joshua and the ten spies?
What was missing in the ten leaders report?
There is only one thing missing,
G-d was missing from the report of the ten men.
Nowhere in their report did they mention the name of G-d,
They did not mention the power of G-d
They did not mention G-d’s promises He had already made to them.
Joshua and Caleb tried to remind them that G-d was with them
That G-d had already given them the land.
But they refused to change their opinion.
When G-d is missing from our thoughts, plans and activities we are in trouble.
We are no longer on solid ground.
The ten spies failed not because they were cautious, but because they lost sight of G-d’s promises and their faith in G-d. Their focus was on what they could see with their eyes.
2.What do you think was so bad about the report of the ten that G-d would say no one over the age of 20 would enter the Promise Land. G-d said all these people would die in the wilderness!
The children of Israel worshipped the golden calf there was a plague and people died.
Here, after the bad report, they were told no one above the age of 20 would enter the Promised Land. Why do you think the punishment was so much more here than when they sinned with the golden calf?
Their biggest sin was not their lack of faith or giving a bad report.
Their biggest sin was turning the people away from G-d’s path,
They diminished G-d’s glory in front of them.
These people looked to them for spiritual leadership
They led them into rebellion and it cost them dearly.
It is a serious thing if you are leading, teaching or training believers.
We cannot be too careful of our words and actions.
We are continually influencing others either to move closer to the Father or move into rebellion.
What does the Messianic Scripture say about causing someone to stumble?
Luke 17:1-3, “Yeshua said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves.”
3.Numbers 14:40-45 In this passage the Israelites decide they can do this task, they can take the land and they decide to go up. Moses warns them not to go up that G-d was not with them. They went anyway and we can read the result. What is scripture teaching us in this incident?
First the Israelites felt, with G-d’s help, they could not conquer the land
Then, they decided they could accomplish this without G-d’s help.
Does this sound like us sometimes?
Their attempt to conquer the Land in their own strength quickly failed.
They made a futile attempt in the flesh to accomplish what they had refused to accomplish by faith with G-d’s direction, and it ended in defeat.
Sometimes the consequences of sin and rebellion are irreversible
we must endure the experience of God’s judgment
before we can move on in our relationship with Him.
We may need to come to a full stop, ask for forgiveness, learn from our mistake before we can move on.
Too many times we try to forget the sin we’ve committed, even sometimes attempting to cover it up without sincere repentance and we attempt to jump back in to “serving G-d” in our flesh.
4.Why, as Maimonides once asked, did G-d not simply give the Israelites in the desert the strength or self-confidence they needed to cross the Jordan and enter the Land thus saving them from all the sorrow in this Torah portion?
It would have meant saying goodbye to human freedom, free will.
They would no longer be making choices and taking responsibility for themselves.
It is not that G-d cannot change people:
of course He can.
He created us. But G-d chooses not to.
There are some things a parent may not do for a child
if he or she wants the child to become an adult.
Likewise, there are some things even G-d must choose not to do for His people
if He wants us to grow to spiritually mature individuals.
Mark 10:17-22 is a good example of the free will G-d gives us even when our decisions grieve Him.
“As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life?”18 But Yeshua said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except G-d alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.” 21 Looking at him, Yeshua showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.
QUESTION: Are all sins the same? Are some sins worse than others? When the children of Israel sinned in the Golden Calf story in Exodus 32, 3,000 people died. In the bad report of the spies G-d told them that no one over the age of 20 would enter the Promised Land. Why did they receive a more severe punishment after the report of the spies? For sure all sin separates us from G-d but are they all the same in G-d’s eyes?
Punishment for the golden calf sin:
Exodus 32:28 “The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.”
Exodus 32:33-35 “The L-rd replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
And the L-rd struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
Punishment for the bad report:
Numbers 14:20-35, 20 The L-rd replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the L-rd fills the whole earth, 22 not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— 23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24 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. 25 Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.[a]”
26 The L-rd said to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the L-rd, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29 In this wilderness 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. 30 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.31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 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.’ 35 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 wilderness; here they will die.”
If you look at the verses in Numbers 14 where G-d lays out their sins you can see it was not a one-time only sin. G-d said they had disobeyed and tested Him 10 times. He said the Israelites had treated Him with contempt. How do we treat G-d with contempt? G-d said they had rejected the promises He had blessed them with. Also, very important, God said He would do to them the very thing He heard them saying.
So, continuing to sin over and over is a very serious issue with G-d. If we repent and then turn around and do the same sin again was our repentance real?