Parashat Shelach
Topic : Faith,
hope and hopelessness !!!!
SEEING OR LOOKING
– Out of all the organs in the body it is only the eyes which are the
window to the soul both divine and Earthly (Neshemah & Nefesh) each
of us are using this gateway to empower or corrupt our divine image which we
are created in. There is a great difference between Seeing (Perceiving)
the word RE’EH and the word looking (Teviat) in Hebrew means to look –
the difference is that we all see things during the day and this seeing is a
spontaneous connection to the soul, it is a RECEIVING INTO THE EYE –
whereas to LOOK means to send out light from the EYE and invest into the
reality that your seeing, a part of you becomes one with reality and then
you receive it back into your eyes,, it impresses upon the soul because it is a
stronger action and determined.
What happens in Seeing –
perceiving directly into your soul is that your constantly absorbing everything
around you – much like trafffic, nature around you when you walk in the park
etc….. it is this quality that effects the Neshemah the most – the quality of
what your eye is seeing is incomplete and not processed. It is a one way action
where light is just entering your eyes. Whereas when one looks he is sending a
probe and Light is leaving the eyes to search out and intelligently investigate
into his desires, therefore what he concludes becomes his reality and he is
invested in it. The attritubute of deep recognition that a soul contemplates
upon shapes his reality and defines his actions or deeds. This is exactly what
we see in this weeks Torah portion of Shelach
Further to last Torah portion where we seen how the middot (attributes) of humanity play a big part on how we perceive the ways of HaShem in this world, we read how Hashem instructs Moshe to send out men for reconnaissance of Eretz Israel, but there is a different story behind all of this, it was not God, but the people who had requested Moses, and after complying with their wishes since it was already decided, Hashem allowed them to carry out their plan. In Sefer Devarim Moshe clearly mentions that they had approached him and he saw it was a good plan – So Hashem said – since you guys have already made a plan lets go along with it – incredible patience and flexibility on God’s part !!!!
Now God knows the beginning from the end – we do not, but yet He is
not going to forcefully manipulate us and violate our free will, so the story
plays out, whether it is to the benefit of the people or to their demise no one
knows until the end. Reflecting on a human level, we have got to feel for the
people – any human would have reacted in similar manner, after all who would
want to go and relocate into another land without first knowing what is in
store for them there. So when the people asked Moshe, he complied with them and
found it to be a good thing even instructing them on a few points and
instructions to fortify the mission and to make a decision on how to start the
entering or infiltration of the land (Deut 1:22-23) but now is verse 24 another
word is used (וַיְרַגְּלוּ) unlike in Bamidbar (וְיָתֻרוּ) where Hashem uses another word – what is the difference – the
word Tur simply means to scout the land and explore, whereas Moshe uses the
word regalim which is used for spying. Scouting is different from spying – one
is passive recon work whereas the other is full glowing James Bond style feet
on the ground. You see even Moses got sucked into the evil ways of the people –
and in sefer Devarim he reiterates the same by complaining to them about it.
Sometimes as human we get complacent because we lose our alertness and
vigilance in life – we do not reflect correctly and seem to be lost or think we
are losing our way in life, and so it was in the desert with the sons of Israel
– but why?
Consider this – God sends Moshe an
exiled and wanted man to come to rescue them for slavery, and bring them to a
land flowing with milk and honey, what is their first response, they never
believed until the signs were performed before them, until a sense of healing
and belonging was stirred within them by remembering their forefathers Avraham,
Yitzak and Ya’acov and the promises HaShem made with them – now they had hope,
but really ???? they never knew God, for them it was probably a myth and far
too detached from their reality and comfort, after all they were now a
different people, lost their culture, language, their Torah and more so
connection to any real Tzaddik since Joseph had passed years before.
And now here they come following
Moshe into the wilderness because he is the only connection to what they have
seen and experienced – and the situation is demanding for them to be sure of
their future so they approach Moshe and he complies. Would anything be wrong in
this – I don’t think so, except as I said only God knows the outcome – whether
for destruction or for good – the result and the path being carved out is all
in the hands of the children of Israel. Ah – the motivation to ask for such a
thing where does it come from? Were they reflective enough to perceive the
great hand of HaShem in taking them into the land and remain in alacrity to
follow through his instructions – or they wanted to take things into their own
hands – they wanted the power to make their own decisions, to decide their own
reality, their own way of dealing with issues, now they are in a dilemma
SENSE OF HOPELESSNESS in Bamidbar(Numbers) 14:1-2 it says the whole night the children of Israel remained in their tents
crying and weeping, they gave up hope and see all their fears of settling for
nothing and being without any future was overwhelming. Why because the spies
came back with a negative report saying that the land before them was
impossible to inhabit, all the odds were against them and the people of the
land were stronger and better and bigger, and besides the Anakim were there –
the giants – their hearts sank in despair and fear – after all they followed
Moshe and his God to this point where their seems to be no way to go forward –
a dead end. The scouts also use a phrase which not much thought has been put
into – “land swallows up its residents” in vs 32 – what does it mean. if Life
and our journeys come to an acceptable end where there is comfort and rest
that’s a good thing, but when one hits the last hurdle and all effort seems for
nothing, the human heart fails and the fervor of the spirit withers to a point
of death this is what happened to Israel. Therefore it was very necessary that
they walked in FAITH to believe God rather than validate their situation and
their future – with God it is always a single outcome of goodness – left in our
hands the outcome has many variables outcomes – mostly for destruction.
Okie so now the 12 spies return
and give their feedback to Moshe and Aharon – and thereafter they went into the
camps and spread the negative word – what did they say – it was not wrongly
assessed what they LOOKED and returned was the truth but it was not mixed in
FAITH, They were not looking the way HaShem looks at Reality, not in encouragement
but in discouragement, not in honor but in disregard for their God. As I said
the outcome was in their hands and their chose the wrong outcome – thus they
paid with it for their lives. Moshe does something very unexpected here, within
the 12 there are two names that stand out the most one is Caleb and the
other is Hosea who turn out to be positive influences and to see the
situation differently.
Let’s look at the name of the 12
Out of all of these 4 catch our
attention very clearly
Caleb – from the heart Hosea – Save and Moshe changed his name to Yehoshua Yah Saviour Gaddiel – Kid of El Sethur – Destruction Nakbi –
Hidden or concealed Shammua –
Listen Shaphat – Judge Igal – Redeem Palti – Divulge/ Disseminate/excrete/outpour Gaddi – Kid
Ammiel – People of God Geuel –
Redeemer
Names are very important in Hebrew culture as it really speaks to you about the nature and attributes of a person, look at the names above and realize why Moshe had to change Hosea to Yehoshua because he had to balance out the Positive and the negative attributes of each individual. Lets look at something very different also – Chiasmic structure in the text
If we start with verse 4 and end with verse 16 – both these verses start with the same words “ these are the names “ why is the Torah being repetitive and superfluous – this is because it is telling something between these 2 verses is important – lets take the middle verse that is vs 10 ( Gaddiel son of Sodi ) Kid of El son of the Secret – where have you seen these parallels before all these same elements – believe it or not in the story of Joseph and his brothers – it seems everything is just repeated here. Look at the parallels. 12 brothers – 12 spies, among his brothers Jospeh was like a Kid that was killed and eaten by wild animals – the land devours its inhabitants. Joseph gives a evil report to his father – so do the 12 spies… if one parallels the story in exodus 37 to this portion everything will finally make sense. Even Hebron is mentioned in both stories….absolutely fascinating. Finally who resolves the issue with Joseph in the end – it was Judah who spoke and lead form the front. Here in the parashat it was Caleb from the tribe of Judah and Yehoshua from the tribe of Ephraim representing Joseph again who are the propagators of positivity in the camp.
Wow – this is amazing hidden inside this chiasmic structure is the jewel somehow – was Caleb and Yahoshua put there to balance out the opinions of the others we don’t know – but looks a possibility – Moshe knew all of them by names and their middot and therefore pre-emptively imputed into Hosea the Alphabet HEY to balance out and make sure that he does not get effected by the rest. So he and Caleb stand aside while the rest go on a negative turn – the story unfolds from there… but more importantly how is Hosea empowered by changing his name – lets look at 13:29 – the first thing they said when they came back was “ Amalek was in the Land in the south” does that ring a bell….yes Amalek who attacked Israel from the back in REPHIDIM (Complacency) the word comes from the word Rapha which meaning Weak and WEARY because they had become complacent and comfortable , thus they cried out to Moshe for water, so the weakest of them were lagging behind – AMALEK attacked them from the back and GOD has now removed their name from Eternity because of their cowardice. In Exodus 17:9 Moses Asks Hosea to choose out men to go to war with Amalek – he was strong then – but he had to be insulated from the venom of the spies now – So Moshe empowered him by changing his name.
If ever the people felt hopeless is because they never wanted to face Amalek again – and now besides them the Anakim who are also there – the giants, creating more and more uncertainty among the people. The children of Israel were left feeling hopelessness and desolate because the spies although gave them the truth but discouraged them at the last entry point – at the breakthrough into the land. The result was they tuned out from the pace that God wanted them to walk in and was sent for 40 years into the wilderness, until that generation that missed the opportunity perished and fell in the desert. A new generation arose that entered into the land – without the encumbrances and soils of their fathers, therefore chapter 15 starts with the verse – “when you enter into the land”
We as mortals without awareness and alacrity will never know what the outcome of our decisions and deeds will be – whatever path we choose there will be many variables to it. If we follow God in faith he will lead us into the singular path of righteousness. However we all have our Rephidim in our lives, for this is not a geographical place as such, it is the state of the soul that the children of Israel fell into and Amalek took advantage of them, later on Moshe named the place Massah & Meribah
We are called to walk by faith by seeing into the spiritual, when we look we are investing ourselves into our reality – God forbid it should be thus for our sakes.
God bless each one this shabbath
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