Torah Portion Summary
The thirty-seventh reading from the Torah is called Shelach, an imperative verb that means "send out." The Israelites had been through a lot after their miraculous deliverance from Egypt by the Hand of the LORD. First they were led to Mount Sinai, where Moses was given the Torah and the people were ratified as God's covenant children. Next, the Levitical priesthood was established and the tribes of Israel were meticulously arranged into military camp formation around the Mishkan - the dwelling place of the LORD. All these events happened during the first 13 months after leaving Egypt!
After camping at Sinai for nearly a year, the Israelites were led by the Shekhinah cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night en route to the Promised Land - the land of Canaan - which the LORD swore to give to Abraham and his descendants forever. This Torah reading tells the tragic story of how the spies who were sent out (Numbers 13:2) returned with a bad report about the land of promise and influenced the congregation of Israel to rebel against the LORD. Thus God consigned the generation of Moses to wander in the wilderness for forty years.
Haftarh Portion Summary
The Haftarah for Shelach is a study of contrast with the parashah reading. Here we fast-forward some 40 years to the time when the second generation of Israel was about to enter the land, now under the leadership of Yehoshua ben Nun, Moses' successor. This time, the delegation of spies consisted of just two members: Kalev and Phineas, sent in secret to gather information about the city of Jericho. According to Jewish tradition, Kalev was the same man who (along with Yehoshua) was a faithful spy during the first spying mission, some 40 years before, and Phineas was the priest who had saved the people from a disastrous plague (Numbers 25:7-8).
At the beginning of the reading, the two spies arrive at the "house of Rachav" (Rahab), embedded in the thick wall of the city. Rachav is said to be ishah zonah - or a prostitute, and her house might have been some sort of inn for travelers. The King of Jericho heard that spies were in the city - at the house of Rachav - but she quickly hid them among the flax mats on her roof. Troops were dispatched to her house who ordered her to turn them over, but Rachav lied to them and told them they had left, thereby sending them on a false pursuit.
After misleading the troops of the king, Rachav went back to the spies and obtained promise for her family's protection when Israel came to take the city. For she had heard of the glory of Israel and believed in the LORD's deliverance. The spies agreed, and Rachav lowered them by a rope over the walls. She further instructed the spies to hide in the mountains for three days, until the soldiers pursuing them have given up their search. The two spies then added the special instruction that Rahav put a scarlet cord in the window to mark the location as a place of refuge from the coming battle. They could not secure the safety of Rahav or her family if they were to leave the place. Rachav agreed to these conditions and the two spies successfully escaped.
When the city of Jericho later fell (Numbers 6:17-25), Rachav and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies, and were incorporated among the Jewish people. She afterwards became the wife of Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah (Ruth 4:21; 1 Chr. 2:11; Matt. 1:5, though some believe this was none other than Yehoshua ben Nun himself). According to the genealogy of Matthew, Rachav was the mother of Boaz (who married Ruth), and was therefore the great great grandmother of King David. Our Mashiach Yeshua Himself descended from David's line, so Rachav is in the lineage of the Messiah Himself! Truly a remarkable eshet chayil (woman of valor).
B'rit Chadashah Portion Summary
The Brit Chadashah portion warns those who are followers of the Mashiach Yeshua to exercise faith and not lapse into unbelief, as did the desert generation of Israelites who failed to enter into the promises of the LORD. After pointing out the superiority of the LORD Yeshua to the service of Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6), the writer of the book quotes from Psalm 95 and admonishes:
For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. (Hebrews 3:16-4:1)
Yehoshua ben Nun was a type of Mashiach, the successor to Moses who went over the Jordan - into the place where Moses could not go - i.e., the land of promise. In the same way, those who are called to follow Yeshua must enter into the kingdom by faith and not by relying on the "spying eyes" of the flesh.