| Torah Portion | Haftarah Portion(s) | B'rit Chadashah Portion(s) |
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Numbers 13.1–15.41 | Joshua 2.1–24 | Matthew 10.1-14 |
| | Hebrews 3.7–4.1 |
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Portion Outline
Torah
Numbers 13:1 Spies Sent into Canaan
Numbers 13:25 The Report of the Spies
Numbers 14:1 The People Rebel
Numbers 14:13 Moses Intercedes for the People
Numbers 14:26 An Attempted Invasion is Repulsed
Numbers 15:1 Various Offerings
Numbers 15:32 Penalty for Violating the Sabbath
Numbers 15:37 Fringes on Garments
Prophets
Joshua 2:1 Spies Sent to Jericho
B'rit Chadashah
Matthew 10:1 Yeshua sends out his twelve apostles with power to do miracles
Matthew 10:5 Giving them their charge and instructions
Hebrews 3:7 Warning against unbelief
Commentary
Bonus material
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Torah Portion Summary
The thirty-seventh reading from the Torah is called Shelach, an imperative verb that means "send out." The portion is so named from the first few words of the second verse: "Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan" (Numbers 13:2). The Torah reading tells the tragic story of how the spies 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.
Haftarah 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 Talmud describes Rachav as one of the four most beautiful women in the history of the world: Sarah, Rachav, Abigail and Esther).
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.
They gave their report to Yehoshua saying "Truly the LORD has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us."
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.