[What a ‘visual’ God is YHWH, Who teaches clearly with words and action.  The beauty of these narratives recounting the exodus and wilderness wandering is that there are so many concrete images deeply embedded in every teaching moment for the liberated former slaves who have yet to learn, step by step, many new lessons from their Liberator, their new Master, their God, Who says what He means and means what He says, no ifs, buts, maybes!

 

We who read these narratives could so easily visualize incidents such as the parting of the Red Sea, Mount Sinai amidst smoke, thunder and lightning, the Tabernacle, the organization of the camp and the marching of the sons of Israel . . . and now, the budding of the staff of Aaron. Such images evoke the incident connected with each and hopefully, the lessons learned as well; in fact they are so much easier to understand than abstract doctrinal teachings with big words such as “justification”, “sanctification”, “glorification”.

 

Illustrators of these stories should have no difficulty getting the point across, wouldn’t you think? This chapter is simple enough to understand; still, commentary and Soncino translation from Pentateuch and Haftarahs, ed. J.H.Hertz included as usual.

 

S6K preferred translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

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Numbers/Bamidbar 17

1-5. The brazen censers of the 250 men are to be collected and hammered into plates for the Altar of burnt-offering.

 

1 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
2 Speak to El’azar son of Aharon the priest, 
that he may set-aside the pans from the burned-remains,
 and the fire-coals, scatter yonder, for they have become-holy;

and scatter thou the fire yonder.  Scatter the burning coals in the censers far away from the Altar.

for they are become holy.  The censers had previously been private property, but they had, through the fact that incense had been offered in them, acquired sacredness, and must nevermore be used for a secular purpose.

 

3 (as for) the pans of those-who-sinned, (at the cost of) their lives,
 make of them beaten plates, overlaid for the slaughter-site,
 for they were brought-near before the presence of YHVH, 
and have become-holy. Let them be a sign for the Children of Israel!

at the cost of their lives.  Or, ‘against their own souls’ (RV Text).

covering of the altar.  For an additional bronze covering of the Altar of burnt-offering; Exod. XXVII,2.

a sign.  A perpetual reminder of the fate that befell the rebels who handled the censers out of which these ‘beaten plates’ were made.

 

4 So El’azar the priest took the bronze pans that the burned-men had brought near, and he beat them as overlay for the slaughter-site,
5 a reminder for the Children of Israel, 
in order that no outside man might come-near who is not of the seed of Aharon to turn smoking-incense into smoke before the presence of YHVH, 
and so that he not become like Korah and like his community, 
as YHVH spoke through the hand of Moshe to him.

of the seed of Aaron.  A priest, and not a Levite.

unto him.  Better, regarding him; Aaron.

6-15. The disaffection had spread so far that many of the people resented the death of Korah and his followers, and held Moses responsible for it.  This further shows that the complete suppression of the rebellion was a question of T be or not to be for Israel.  the people are visited by an outbreak of plague.

 

6 But all the Children of Israel grumbled on the morrow against Moshe and against Aharon, saying:
 (It is) you (who) caused-the-death of YHVH’S people!
7 Now it was, when the community assembled against Moshe and against Aharon, 
that they turned toward the Tent of Appointment, 
and here: the cloud had covered it,
 and the Glory of YHVH could be seen!

the cloud covered it.  As a symbol of protection to God’s loyal servants against the threatening mob.

 

8 Then Moshe and Aharon came to the front of the Tent of Appointment.

to the front of the tent.  In response to this Divine manifestation, and to receive the Divine charge for further action.

 

9 And YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
10 Move-aside from the midst of this community,
 that I may finish them off in an instant! 
They flung themselves upon their faces.

fell upon their faces.  In prayer and entreaty to God to spare the rebellious people; XVI,22.

 

11 Moshe said to Aharon: 
Take (your) pan and place upon it fire from the slaughter-site, putting smoking-incense (there);
 go quickly to the community and effect-appeasement for them, 
for the fury is (still) going-out from the presence of YHVH, 
the plague has begun!

 

thy fire-pan. lit. ‘the fire-pan’; i.e. the censer which belongs to the High Priest and which he used on the Day of Atonement (Lev. XVI12) when ministering in the Sanctuary.

make atonement for them.  As we see from Lev. XVI,12,13, the use of incense played an important part in the Atonement ritual.

wrath gone out from the LORD. Wrath is spoken of as a Divine messenger that is to execute God’s punishment upon the guilty.  It goes forth to kill, and slays as it proceeds.

12 Aharon took (it), as Moshe had spoken, 
and he ran to the midst of the assembly: 
and here, the plague had begun among the people!
 So he put the smoking-incense (in it), and effected-appeasement for the people:
13 now he stood between the dead and the living, 
and the plague was held-back.

 

between the dead and the living.  Aaron hastens and takes up a position in front of Wrath.  All behind have died:  those in front have not been touched; they are living.  Thus it is that Aaron stands between the living and the dead, and stays the plague.

 

14 Now those that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, 
aside from those that died in the matter of Korah.
15 Aharon returned to Moshe, to the entrance of the Tent of Appointment, 
since the plague was held-back.

16-28. VINDICATION OF AARON

Moses deposits 12 wands for each of the 12 tribes, and an additional rod inscribed with the name of Aaron as head of the tribe of Levi.  Ibn Ezra suggests that as the two tribes of the children of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) were reckoned together (Deut. VII,12), the total number of the rods did not exceed 12.  Next morning, Aaron’s rod had budded and brought forth fruit, confirming the Divine choice of Levi.  Henceforth, Aaron’s right to the priesthood is unchallenged.

 

16 Now YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
17 Speak to the Children of Israel, 
take from them a staff, a staff (each) per Fathers’ House from all their leaders, for their Father’s House: 
twelve staffs, 
each-man-his name you are to write upon the staffs.

rods.  Ordinarily carried by the princes as the symbol of tribal authority.

father’s house.  Tribe.

princes. Those named in Chapters II and VII.

 

18 And the name of Aharon you are to write upon the staff of Levi,
 indeed, one staff for (each) head of their Fathers’ House.

 

Aaron’s name.  To indicate that God had appointed Aaron to be the prince of his tribe.

 

19 You are to put them in the Tent of Appointment, before the Testimony, 
where I appoint-meeting with you.

 

before the testimony. i.e. in front of the Ark that contained the two Tables of the Testimony.

 

20 Now it shall be: 
the man whom I choose, his staff will sprout;
 thus will I still from upon me the grumblings of the Children of Israel that they set-grumbling against you (both).

I shall choose.  For the special duties and privileges of the priesthood.

 

21 Moshe spoke to the Children of Israel, 
and they gave him, all the leaders, a staff per (each) one leader, 
a staff per (each) one leader, 
for their Fathers’ House, twelve staffs, with the staff of Aharon in the midst of their staffs.
22 Moshe laid out the staffs before the presence of YHVH,
 in the Tent of the Testimony.
23 Now it was on the morrow:
 when Moshe entered the Tent of the Testimony,
 here: it had sprouted, the staff of Aharon, of the House of Levi! 
It had put-forth a sprouting-flower, it had blossomed a blossom, it had ripened almonds!

24 Moshe brought out all the staffs from before the presence of YHVH
 to all the Children of Israel;
 they saw (them), and each-man took his staff.

and they looked.  Here was indeed Divine confirmation of the High Priesthood of Aaron.

25 YHVH said to Moshe:
 Return the staff of Aharon before the Testimony to be safeguarded as a sign for the rebellious-folk, 
that their grumblings may be finished from me, 
so that they do not die!

token.  A warning to future generations.

26 Moshe did it, 
according to all that YHVH commanded him, so he did.
27 But the Children of Israel said to Moshe, saying: 
Here, we expire, we perish, all of us perish!

behold, we perish.  This and v. 28 form a transition to the next chapter, in which the Levites guard the Tent, lest any layman should perish by approaching it.

 

we are undone.  A despairing outburst on the part of defeated and disheartened men.  Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their company had perished, and furthermore a plague had swept away several thousands of people.  It looked as if the end had come to all!

 

28 Anyone who comes-near, comes-near (at all) to the Dwelling of YHVH will die; 
will there be an end to our expiring?

shall we wholly perish?  Better, shall we ever have finished dying?; ‘have we not yet done expiring?” (Benisch).  It was in response to this agonizing cry that Aaron and the Levites were bidden in XVIII to guard the Sanctuary against the approach of any ‘stranger’.

[Commentary from Pentateuch and Haftarahs, ed. Dr. [J.H.Hertz;  he uses the Soncino edition; reformatting and highlights added.

S6K preferred translation is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admn1]

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THE GREAT MUTINY

In the last Sedrah we had seen the people threatening to appoint a chieftain who was to take them back to Egypt.  It was ominous of further serious revolt.  When the rebellion broke out, it was widespread though not homogeneous.

• On the one hand, there were those who were discontented with the leadership of Moses.  These were led by Dathan and Abiram, of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe that once possessed what had now lost the ‘birthright’ in Israel, and was, it seems, chafing for the recovery of that primacy.
• On the other hand, there were Korah—himself a Levite—and his followers, who were aggrieved with Aaron, to whose family all priestly privileges were now confined.

These two groups of malcontents worked separately, and they were in the end cut off by entirely different acts of God (v.32 and 35).  Their punishment was signal, since the vindication of Moses and Aaron had to be complete.  Otherwise, anarchy would soon have destroyed national unity; and, in its trail, there would have followed the total frustration of whatever Divine Mission was in store for Israel on the arena of history.

 

The general drift of the story of Korah and his companions is thus quite clear, though we cannot follow all the details.  The unprejudiced student finds nothing improbable in the story of such a revolt; and he knows that if it did arise, it could only have taken place in the Desert.  During that period alone, the tribes of Reuben and Levi marched side by side, their joint conspiracy growing out of their proximity to one another at that time.  ‘The two tribes afterwards became entirely parted asunder in their characters and fortunes; the one was incorporated into the innermost circle of the settled civilization of Palestine; the other hovered on the very outskirts of the Holy Land and Chosen People, and dwindled away into a Bedouin tribe.  But the story of Korah belongs to a time when Levi was still fresh from the great crisis in Sinai, by which that tribe had been consecrated and divided from the rest; when the recollection of birthright of Reuben still lingered in the minds of his descendants’ (Stanley).

 
Numbers/Bamidbar 16

1 Now there betook-himself Korah son of Yitzhar son of Kehat son of Levi,
 and Datan and Aviram the sons of Eliav and On son of Pelet, the sons of Re’uven
2 to rise up before Moshe with men-of-stature from the Children of Israel, fifty and two hundred, leaders of the community, those Called in the Appointed-council, men of name.

of the congregation.  Hailing not from one tribe only, but from all Israel, summoned for consultation as need arose.

men of renown.  Distinguished and influential men.

3 They assembled against Moshe and against Aharon and said to them: 
Too much (is) yours!
Indeed, the entire community, the entirety-of-them, are holy, 
and in their midst is YHVH! Why then do you exalt yourselves over the assembly of YHVH?

all the congregation are holy. With the instinct of the true demagogue, Korah posed as the champion of the People against the alleged dictatorship of Moses and Aaron, the two brothers who usurped all power and authority in Israel.

4 Now when Moshe heard, he flung himself on his face.

he fell upon his face.  Either an expression of despair at this sinful rebellion, or of prayer for guidance.

5 Then he spoke to Korah and to his entire community, saying: 
At daybreak YHVH will make-known who is his and who is
holy and he will declare-him-near to him; 
the one that he chooses, he will declare-near to him.

who are His . . . holy.  God will reveal which tribe He has chosen to be nearest unto Him, and who in that chosen tribe is fitted to be high priest.

6 This, do:
 Take yourselves (fire-)pans, 
Korah and his entire community,

take you censers.  Moses here addresses Korah and those Levites who were envious of the higher privileges of the priesthood.  He challenges them to test their claims to equality with Aaron by undergoing a species of ordeal.  They are to assume, for once, the functions of priesthood, and God would show whether or not He approved of such assumption.

7 and put fire in them,
 placing incense on them, before the presence of YHVH, 
tomorrow.
 And it shall be:
 the man whom YHVH chooses, he is the holy-one. 
Too much (is) yours, Sons of Levi!

you take too much upon you.  Indignantly he retorts upon the rebels in their own words.

8-11.  Moses upbraids Korah and he Levites for their discontent with the position already assigned to them.

8 And Moshe said to Korah: 
Pray hearken, Sons of Levi:

unto Korah.   While Moses deals with Korah and his group, Dathan and Abiram stand in the background with their grievance, v. 12.

9 Is it too little for youthat the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel
 to bring you near to him,
 to serve the serving-tasks of the Dwelling of YHVH,
 to stand before the community, to attend on them?
10 He has brought-near you and all your brothers, the Sons of Levi, with you- 
would you seek the priesthood as well?
11 Truly, (it is) you and your entire community that come-together against YHVH-
 as for Aharon, what is (wrong) with him that you should grumble against him!

that ye murmur against him.  Aaron was not self-appointed.  God Himself had called him to his office, and his duties and privileges were duly assigned to him.  As a result of this appeal by Moses, some of the Levites—the children of Korah among them—seem to have been detached from the body of rebels.  Furthermore, we learn from I Chronicles VI,22, that in the line of Korah’s descendants appeared leaders of sacred song.  Several of the Psalms are attributed to the ‘Sons of Korah’.  See on XXVI,11.

12-15.  Dathan and Abiram contemptuously refuse Moses’ summons to attend before him, accuse him of misleading the people, and charge him with playing the prince over the People on the strength of promises he cannot fulfil.

12 Moshe sent to call Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eliav,
 but they said: We will not go up!
13 Is it too little that you have brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to cause-our-death in the wilderness?
 that you should play-the-prince over us, even the prince?

a land flowing with milk and honey.  Insolently—and ironically—they apply to Egypt the very words by which Moses described the Promised Land.

14 Then too, not to a land flowing with milk and honey have you brought us, 
(nor) have you given us an inheritance of field and vineyard. 
The eyes of these men, would you gouge out? We will not go up!

not brought us.  Probably a satiric reference to the disaster that overtook the Israelites when, despite the warning of Moses, they attempted to enter Canaan, recorded in XIV,45.  Wickedly Dathan and Abiram now by insinuation shift the blame for that disaster on Moses! (Wiener).

put out the eyes.  Are you trying to blind us to the true facts?

these men. A euphemism for ‘us’.

15 Then Moshe became exceedingly upset, 
he said to YHVH: 
Do not turn your face toward their grain-gift- 
not (even) one donkey of theirs have I carried off, I have not done ill to (even) one of them!

wroth.  Grieved and vexed.

respect not Thou their offering. ‘Accept not the offering of incense which they are about to present unto Thee on the morrow’ (Rashi).

not taken one ass.  ‘They accuse me of tyranny.  But I have never so far abused my power and position as to accept even the meanest gift from any one of them!’  In I Sam VIII,11-17, we read what an autocrat of early times had it in his power to do.

16-19.  KORAH AND HIS COMPANY ACCEPT MOSES’ CHALLENGE

16 Moshe said to Korah: 
You and your entire community,
 be (there) before the presence of YHVH,
 you and they and Aharon, tomorrow.

Moses said unto Korah.  To be ready on the morrow and put his claim to the test.

17 And take, each-man, his pan,
place on them smoking-incense,
 and bring-it-near, before the presence of YHVH, 
each-man his pan,
 fifty and two hundred pans, 
and (also) you and Aharon, each-man his pan.
18 So they took each-man his pan, 
placing on them fire,
putting on them smoking-incense, and stood at the entrance to the Tent of Appointment,
 as (did) Moshe and Aharon.
19 And Korah and his entire community assembled against them, 
at the entrance to the Tent of Appointment.
 Now the Glory of YHVH was seen by the entire community;

assembled all the congregation.  The rebellion was indeed a serious matter.  Korah’s demagogy, in addition to his rallying round him the ambitious leaders, had won over to his banner large sections in all the tribes.

20-24.  MOSES’ INTERCESSION

20 and YHVH said to Moshe and to Aharon, saying:
21 Separate (yourselves) from the midst of this community, 
that I may finish them off in an instant!

from among this congregation.  As the whole congregation, favouring Korah, had rendered itself worthy of extermination.

22 They flung themselves on their faces and said: 
O God, God of the spirits of all flesh, 
when one man sins, 
at the entire community will you be furious?

God of the spirits of all flesh. He who made all hearts can be trusted to distinguish between the guilty and those misled by the guilty.

shall one man sin.  Korah, the chief instigator who leads the masses astray; Gen.XVIII,25 (‘That be far from Thee . . . to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee:  shall not hte Judge of all the earth do justly?”)

wroth with all the congregation.  The dupes of that one man and his misguided confederates.

25-34.  DESTRUCTION OF THE REBELS

Nothing could now have prevented the complete disintegration of the People save the destruction of the instigators of the sedition.  That destruction, moreover, had to be in so striking a way that it would clearly reveal the Divine purpose.

23 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
24 Speak to the community, saying:
 Go up from around the dwelling-place of Korah, Datan and Aviram!
25 Moshe arose and went to Datan and Aviram,
 and there went after him the elders of Israel.

the elders of Israel.  Ibn Ezra suggests that these were the 70 elders who, according to XI,16,17, were to assist Moses in bearing the burden of the people.  These remain loyal during the upheaval.

26 And he spoke to the community, saying: 
Pray turn away from the tents of these wicked men, 
do not touch anything that is theirs,
 lest you be swept away for all their sins!

in all their sins. On account of the great multitude of their sins.

27 They went up from the dwellings of Korah, Datan and Aviram,
 all around. Now Datan and Aviram had come out, stationed at the entrance to their tents, 
with their wives, their children, and their little-ones.

Dathan and Abiram . . . stood at the door. With a brazen mien, reviling and blaspheming God (Rashi).

28 Moshe said: 
By this you shall know
 that (it is) YHVH (who) sent me to do all these deeds, 
that (it was) not from my (own) heart:

all these works. i.e. constituting myself the leader, and my brother the High Priest.

not . . . of mine own mind.  But at the express Divine command.

29 if like the death of all humans these-men die, 
and the calling-to-account of all humans is accounted upon them,
 (it is) not YHVH (who) has sent me.

these men.  Dathan and Abiram and their followers.

die the common death. A natural death.

visited after the visitation of all men. i.e. suffer no extraordinary or significant fate.

30 But if YHVH creates a new-creation, 
and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows up them and all that is theirs,
 and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have scorned YHVH.

make a new thing. lit. ‘ create a creation’; i.e. work a miracle which sweeps the rebels out of existence by one stroke; then will their guilt be apparent, and Moses’ authority vindicated.

into the pit.  lit. ‘into Sheol’; regarded as deep down under the earth, and as the place where the wicked go after death.

31 Now it was, just as he finished speaking all these words,
 there split the ground that was beneath them;
32 the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up them and their households,
 all the human beings that belonged to Korah and all the property..

that appertained unto Korah.  All who associated themselves with Korah in his rebellion were suddenly engulfed.

33 So they went down, they and all theirs,
 alive, into Sheol; 
the earth covered them,
 and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
34 Now all Israel that were around them fled at the sound-of-their-voice,
 for they said: Lest the earth swallow us up!

at the cry of them.  At the mingled sound of the human shrieks and of the earth-convulsions that engulfed the men.

35 Now fire went out from before the presence of YHVH 
and consumed the fifty and two hundred men, 
those who had brought-near the incense.

that offered the incense.  The Reubenites who accused Moses of misleading the people were destroyed—like Nadab and Abihu–by fire from the LORD.

 

 

 

[If you have followed this series on book III and IV of the Torah, chapter by chapter, you will have noticed that the format has turned into somewhat like the “notes of a student”.  In books I and II, our commentary were mostly ours, Sinaite perspective, with a sprinkling of interpretations we have learned from Jewish sources.  Here, we gather commentary from Jewish sources (not Christian sources) and if useful, we absorb; if not, we take it with a grain of salt.  Always, the rule of thumb is:  if the commentary goes outside of what is clearly stated in the text (like some rabbinic additions, or exclusive-for-Israel and Jews only), we think about it specially if it’s useful for application.

 

A note about the incident of stoning the sabbath-breaker:  this extreme punishment as well as the upcoming feasts in this fall season {Vayyiqrah 23} made us revisit and rethink the sabbath law.  There will be a series on it at this time since it is the season for introspection, individual and communal, to see how closely we have learned to obey and apply the Torah after more than a year of realigning our lives to it.  We agree that nine out of the 10 commandments are not so difficult to observe, well maybe except for the ‘sins of the tongue’,  but the sabbath continues to be lingering question: we know the ‘when’, but do we really know the ‘how’? Does the Lord of the Sabbath give instructions on how to celebrate the Sabbath?  Please follow the series starting with Revisiting the 4th: “Sabbath”: Year II/ 5774.

 

Commentary from AST/ArtScroll Tanach; Seymour Rossel, Torah: Portion-by-Portion and Pentateuch & Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz; translation by EF/Everett Fox The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

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Seymour Rossel comments in The Torah: Portion by Portion:

A Cluster of Laws

Shelach-Lecha ends with a cluster of laws.

• One speaks of the challah offering—setting aside “the first yield of your baking” for Adonai.
• Another repeats the law of strangers:  “You and the stranger shall be alike before Adonai—the same ritual and the same rule shall be for you and the newcomer who lives with you.” Some of these laws contradict laws in Leviticus—they probably came from a different time and place—and this may be why they were placed here.  Suddenly, the midst of the laws, is a court case:
  • Once, when the Israelites were int he wilderness, they came upon a man gathering wood on Shabbat.  [They] brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the whole community.  He was placed in custody, for [no one knew what should be his punishment].  Then Adonai said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death:  the whole community shall pelt him with stones outside the camp.”  So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death—as Adonai had commanded Moses.

Of course, breaking Adonai’s law of Shabbat was a serious issue.  But up to this time it was not known how people should be punished for this.  Would Adonai punish them? should the Israelites punish them? So Moses had the Israelites guard the guilty man while he asked for Adonai’s decision.  Was the story meant to terrify us into keeping the Sabbath?  Did the man deserve death just for gathering wood?  Modern scholars believe that we have only part of the story here.  Something is lost; something is missing.  It is a mystery that we will probably never solve and even though the judgment came directly from Adonai, no punishment like this was ever again inflicted on an Israelite for breaking the law of Shabbat.

 

• Tzitzit
  

Today we think of the last law in Shelach-Lecha as the most important.  Adonai told Moses:

 

Speak to the Israelites and instruct them to make for themselves fringes . . . etc.

 

Rashi says that this law is here because the scouts had followed their hearts and eyes to do evil.  From now on Israelites would be reminded to do good by seeing the fringes on their garments.

 

Nowadays some Jews wear tzitzit all the time, but most Jews wear fringes only on a tallit.  The blue thread, part of blue dye was made from the shells of a particular sea mollusk.  But that mollusk became rare, almost extinct, and the special dye became too expensive for common folk, so the custom arose of making the tiztzit only of white cord.

 

Later the idea of blue and white as a holy combination gave rise to making the tallit white with blue stripes.  In turn this led to blue and white being considered “Jewish colors”.  It also led to the colors and stripes on the flag of the modern State of Israel, which reminds us of a tallit.

 

Archeologists notice fringes in paintings of the costumes of many ancient peoples.  Fringes were often worn by royal or wealthy folk.  But the Torah connects the fringes to “all the commands” of Adonai.  In the traditional prayer book this law became part of the Shema prayer.  When it is recited, worshipers gather the tzitzit in their hand and gaze at them.

 

Numbers/Badmidbar 15

 

The priestly and ritual laws mentioned in this chapter seem to be supplementary to the sacrificial code of the Book of Leviticus.  They were promulgated during the years of wandering in the desert.

 

1-16  MEAL OFFERINGS AND LIBATIONS

1 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
2 Speak to the Children of Israel 
and say to them: 
When you enter the land of your settlements that I am giving you,

 

when ye are come into the land.  These instructions, coming as they did immediately after the doom pronounced upon the generation in the Wilderness, were a welcome intimation that their children should possess the Land of Promise.

 

ArtScroll note:  15:2-16  Though this passage would not apply until 39 years later, it was pronounced now to reassure the younger generation that God still intended to give them the Land (Ibn Ezra; Ramban).

3 and sacrifice a fire-offering to YHVH: 
an offering-up or a slaughter-offering, 
to make a vow-offering, or in free-will, 
or at your appointed-times, 
to sacrifice a soothing savor for YHVH,
 from the herd or from the flock,

 

offering by fire.  The general term for every sacrifice consumed on the Altar; see Lev. I,0.

 

a sacrifice.  Termed more fully in Lev. III,1, ‘a sacrifice of peace offerings.’

4 the one bringing-near his near-offering is to bring-near to YHVH as grain-gift:
 flour, a tenth-measure,
 mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil,

then shall he that bringeth his offering.  The following verses prescribe the quantities of flour and oil for the cereal offering, and wine for the drink offering, that must accompany the important sacrifices.

5 and wine for a poured-offering: a fourth of a hin;
you are to sacrifice it with the offering-up or the slaughter-offering,
-for (each) one sheep,
6 or for the ram, you are to make as a grain-gift:
 flour, two tenth-measures, 
mixed with oil, a third of a hin,

for a ram.  The meal and drink offerings were to be increased when the animal sacrificed was of a larger size.

7 and wine for a poured-offering, a third of a hin;
you are to bring-near a soothing savor 
8 And when you sacrifice the young of the herd as an offering-up or
 as a slaughter-offering, to make a vow-offering or a shalom-offering to YHVH:
9 it is to be brought-near with the young of the herd as a grain-gift:
 flour, three tenth-measures, 
mixed with oil, half a hin,
10 and wine you are to bring-near as a poured-offering, half a hin 
a fire-offering of soothing savor for YHVH.
11 Thus is to be sacrificed with (each) one ox or with (each) one ram or with (any) lamb among the sheep or among the goats,
12 according to the number that you sacrifice;
 thus are you to sacrifice for (each) one,
 according to their number.
13 Every native is to sacrifice these thus, 
to bring-near a fire-offering of soothing savor for YHVH.
14 Now when there sojourns with you a sojourner, 
or (one) that has been in your midst, throughout your generations, 
and he sacrifices a fire-offering of soothing savor for YHVH; as you sacrifice (it), 
thus is he to sacrifice (it).

15 Assembly! 
One law for you and for the sojourner that takes-up-sojourn,
a law for the ages, throughout your generations:
 as (it is for) you, so will it be (for) the sojourner before the presence of YHVH.
16 One instruction, one regulation shall there be for you and for the sojourner that takes-up-sojourn with you!

one law and one ordinance. Another assertion of the identity, in respect of civil, moral, and religious rights and duties, of the homeborn and stranger or proselyte.

17-21.  CHALLAH

17 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
18 Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: 
When you enter the land that I am bringing you to,

when ye come into the land.  ‘As soon as ye enter upon the soil of the Promised Land, even before ye have subjugated the enemy there, and settled down in comfort’ (Sifri).

19 it shall be
 that when you eat of the bread of the land,
 you are to set-aside a contribution to YHVH:

a portion for a gift. Or, ‘contribution’ or ‘selected portion’; Heb. terumah, see Exod. XXV,2.  It is here used in a wide sense to mean a gift in general.

ArtScroll note; By making the servants of God dependent on the gifts of the nation, God connects those who give with those who devote themselves to matters of the spirit.

20 premier-product of your kneading-troughs,
 round-loaves you are to set-aside as a contribution;
 like the contribution of the threshing-floor,
 so you are to set-it-aside.

of the first of your dough.  This offering is called Challah.  The Rabbis, however, laid it down that the dough in order to become subject to the law of Challah must consist of at least one omer of flour (about 3 quarts). The portion for Challah must be 1/24th of the dough of a private householder, and 1/48th of that of a baker.

as  . . . of the threshing floor.  This offering of bread from the home is as obligatory as the offering of grain from the threshing-floor at the annual harvest.

21 From the premier-product of your kneading-troughs you are to give to YHVH a contribution, throughout your generations.

unto the LORD., i.e. unto the priest; ‘ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thy house’ (Ezek.XLIV,30).

According to v. 18, the law of Challah applied only to Palestine.  But in order that this institution should not be forgotten, the Rabbis ordained that it remain in force beyond Palestine and for all time. It is still kept in observant Jewish households where bread is baked.

22 Now if you should err, 
not doing any of these commandments
about which YHVH spoke to Moshe,

all these commandments.  According to the Talmud, the reference in the present passage is to the sin of idolatry committed unintentionally.  That sin, involving as it does apostasy from the fundamental doctrines of Judaism, is equivalent to breaking all the commandments of the Torah.  Other commentators, like Nachmanides, are inclined to refer these words to any comprehensive breach of the ordinances of the Torah.

23 anything that YHVH has commanded you, through the hand of Moshe, 
from the day that YHVH commanded and forward, throughout your generations,
24 it shall be:
 if (away) from the eyes of the community it was done, by error, 
the entire community is to sacrifice one bull,
 a young of the herd, as an offering-up, as a soothing savor for YHVH; 
with its grain-gift and its poured-offering, according to regulation, 
and one hairy goat, as a hattat-offering.

in error. Heb.; opposed to sins committed in wilful defiance of God’s commandments;

shall offer. The whole community is to bring a common sacrifice.

25 The priest is to effect-purgation for the entire community of the Children of Israel, 
that there may be granting-of-pardon for them,
for it was an error,
but they have brought their near-offering, 
a fire-offering of soothing savor for YHVH,
 and their hattat-offering before the presence of YHVH, 
on account of their error.
26 So there shall be granting-of-pardon for the entire community of the Children of Israel,
 and for the sojourner that sojourns in their midst, 
for (it was done) by the entire people in error.

all the congregation shall be forgiven.  This verse is solemnly recited thrice before the opening of the evening service on Kol Nidre night.  And rightly so;  because it may be said to be the keynote of the Day of Atonement and its message of forgiveness for all sins, and not only of involuntary transgressions.  By the sincere repentance which Yom Kippur demands, the sinner shows that his wilful sins also were largely due to ignorance; and hence they are treated by God as if they were done ‘in error’.

27 Now if one person sins, in error, 
he is to bring-near a she-goat, in its (first) year, as a hattat- offering.

and if one person sin through error.  According to the Talmud, this too refers to the sin of idolatry.

28 The priest is to effect-purgation for the person that errs,
 in sinning, in erring, before the presence of YHVH,
 to effect-purgation for him, that he may be granted-pardon.
29 The native among the Children of Israel,
 and for the sojourner that sojourns in your midst:
 one instruction shall there be for you,
 for him that does (anything) in error.
30 But the person that does (anything) with a high hand among the native-born or among the sojourners,
 it is YHVH that he blasphemes; 
cut off shall that person be from among his kinspeople,

with a high hand. lit. ‘with a hand raised’, as a sign of presumption, as a public defiance of His law.

the same blasphemeth the LORD.  No sacrificial atonement is possible for a wilful offence.

31 for the word of YHVH he has despised, and his commandment he has violated; 
cut off, cut off shall that person be- 
his iniquity is on him!

his iniquity shall be upon him.  As long as he has not done repentance (Talmud).

32-36.  The Sabbath-breaker.  A concrete instance of intentional sin.

‘In the penal code of Israel, idolatry is regarded as a crime of high treason, as being a subversion of the constitution and a revolt against God.  Herein the law exhibits all its rigour, extending to public blasphemy and public violation of the “Sabbath’ (Joseph Salvador).

32 Now when the Children of Israel were in the wilderness, 
they found a man picking wood on the Sabbath day.
33 They brought him near, those who found him picking wood,
 to Moshe and to Aharon, and to the entire community;

unto all the congregation.  To the Council of Elders, who were the congregation by representation.

34 they put him under guard,
 for it had not been clarified what should be done to him.

should be done to him.  The law against Sabbath-breaking had been made known, but not the method of execution; Lev. XXIV,12, to which this is a parallel case.

ArtScroll note: The nature and procedure of the death penalty had not been clairfied, but they knew, as stated in Exodus 31:14 that Sabbath desecration incurs the death penalty (Rashi).

35 YHVH said to Moshe:
 The man is to be put-to-death, 
yes, death, pelt him with stones, the entire community, outside the camp!
36 So they brought him, the entire community, outside the camp;
they pelted him with stones, so that he died, 
as YHVH had commanded Moshe.

37-41.  TZITZIS

37 YHVH said to Moshe, saying:
38 Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them that they are to make themselves tassels on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations,
and are to put on the corner tassel a thread of blue-violet.

fringes.  In Ezek. VIII,3 it denotes a lock of hair.  By analogy, it is employed in the present instance to denote a fringe or tassel.

their garments.  Only of the men; because of the general rule that women, whose duties are more absorbing in the home, are free from all precepts that have to be performed at a specified time.

a thread of blue.  To be intertwined with the ‘tassel’ itself.

blue.  The thread had to be dyed with the blood of a molusc found in the waters near the coast of Phoenicia.  The dye was scarce even in Mishnaic times.  Hence the authorities agreed that white wool-threads alone need be inserted.

 

39 It shall be for you a tassel,
 that you may look at it and keep-in-mind all the commandments of YHVH and observe them, that you not go scouting-around after your heart, after your eyes which you go whoring after;

look upon it.  The Rabbis translated see it, which was held to imply that the fringe was reserved for worship during daylight.

 

and remember.  The Tzitzis are to be a constant reminder to the Israelite of all his duties to God, and of the special relationship in which the Israelite stands to God, whose ‘colours’ he wore.  The blue thread in the Tzitzis, say the Rabbis, resembles the sea, the sea resembles the heavens, and the heavens resemble the Throne of Glory.  Thus, the outward act of looking upon the Tzitzis was to the Israelite an inward act of spiritual conformity with the precepts of god. It was such fine spiritualization of ceremonial that led to the beautiful verses of Psalm XXXVI (‘How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God, and the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings.  For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light do we see light’) being recited by the worshipper on putting on the Tallis.

 

after your own heart.  The heart and the eyes are the agents of Sin—the eye seeth, the heart desireth, and the person executeth (Talmud).  The true Israelite, however, arrayed in the sacred covering, reminding him of the Divine Presence, does not stray after the satisfaction of bodily pleasures; but is mindful that he is a member of a ‘holy’ People, dedicated unto God and holiness.

 

40 in order that you may keep-in-mind
 and observe all my commandments, 
and (so) be holy to your God!

 

and be holy unto your God.  The aim of this precept is thus distinctly stated to be the furtherance of holiness in the life of the individual and the naiton.

 

In later generations, the law of the fringes was carried out by means of the Arba Kanfos and the Tallis.  The former is an undergarment consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth, about 3 feet long and 1 foot wide, with an aperture in the centre sufficient to let it pass over the head.  To its four corners are fastened the Tzitzis.

 

The Tallis is a woolen or silken mantle worn over the garments during worship by day (except on the eve of Atonement, when it is put on some minutes before nightfall).

 

‘By the 13th century it had become unusual for Jews to mark their ordinary outward garment by wearing fringes.  But the fringed garment had become too deeply associated with Israel’s religious life to be discarded entirely at the dictate of fashion in dress.  Pope Innocent III in 1215 compelled the Jew to wear a degrading badge; the fringed garment became all the more an honourable uniform, marking at once God’s love for Israel and Israel’s determination to “remember to do all God’s commandments and be holy unto his God”‘ (I. Abrahams).

 

41 I am YHVH your God, 
who took you out of the land of Egypt, to be to you a God;
 I am YHVH your God!

 

ArtScroll note:  The Torah commands that we remember the Exodus every day (Deut. 16:3).  The Sages instituted that it should be fulfilled through the recitation of this paragraph because, in addition to the mention of the Exodus, it contains several other basic precepts (Berachos 12b).

[Since Caleb figures quite prominently in this episode of the Spies, please read this post: My servant Caleb – a different spirit.

 

It never ceases to inspire us:   the thought of Israelite Joshua and Kennezzite Caleb as the only two from among the generation that left Egypt who entered the Land along with the 2nd generation that was born in freedom in the Wilderness.  The very symbolism of an Israelite and one ‘absorbed’ or ‘integrated’ or ‘assimilated’ into Israel should add to the clues sprinkled all over the Hebrew Scriptures of the intended inclusion of non-Israelites in the plan of YHWH and in His Torah for all mankind:

• mixed multitude leaving Egypt
• in Covenant with YHWH at Sinai,
• “One law for the native-born and the stranger”,
• and now a Joshua and a Caleb surviving from the generation that left Egypt,  entering the Land (vs. 30).

Need anyone miss the point?

Another point to remember as we read:  The reference to Israel is sometimes in the plural, and also in the singular (vv.11,12).  In the book of Yeshayahu/Isaiah, this interchanging of pronouns used for Israel is what confuses readers/Christian interpreters who think that just because the “singular” does appear, that it suddenly shifts to a “person” and specifically the 2nd person of their Trinitarian God. But all throughout the TNK, this interchange of pronouns consistently refer to the same chosen people, firstborn son, servant of YHWH. Only those with another religious agenda get confused; follow simple reading rules and common sense.  The Great Communicator intends to be clear with His messages, why should He be vague if He wishes to be understood and obeyed?
 
One more thing to note:  be careful of what we wish for; the chronic complaining first generation that left Egypt wished to return to Egypt or die in the wilderness —as the title of this post quotes YHWH, vv.28-30.

28 Say to them:

As I live-the utterance of YHVH-

if not as you have spoken in my ears,

thus I do to you . . . !
29 In this wilderness shall your corpses fall,

all those-of-you-counted (for battle), including all your number, 

rom the age of twenty and upward,

(you) that have grumbled against me!
30 If (any of) you should enter the land over which I lifted my hand (in an oath) 

to have you dwell in it, 

except for Calev son of Yefunne and Yehoshua son of Nun . . . !

 

Commentary is from Seymore Rossel, The Torah: Portion-by-Portion and Pentateuch & Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; translation is by EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—-Admin1.]

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Here’s a comment by Semour Rossel in The Torah: Portion-by-Portion:

In Numbers we are told that Caleb was actually a Kennizite, not an Israelite.  The Book of Joshua says that Caleb claimed the land that he scouted for his people, the Kennizites.  Bible scholar Baruch Halpern recalls a tradition that David later married a Kennezite princess, giving David the right to claim Kennezzite lands. So David would have wanted to celebrate the story of how Caleb “earned” this territory by his loyalty to Adonai. . . .

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Numbers/Bamidbar 14

1-10  PANIC, WAILING AND REBELLION

1 The entire community lifted up and let out their voice,

and the people wept on that night.

wept that night.  ‘When the sound of their weeping reached heaven, God said:  “Ye weep now without cause; the time will come when ye shall have good cause to weep on this day.”  It was then decreed that the Temple be destroyed on this same day, the ninth day of Ab; so that it became forever a day of tears’ (Talmud).

2 And they grumbled against Moshe and against Aharon, all the Children of Israel,

they said to them, the entire community:

Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or in this wilderness, would that we had died!
3 Now why is YHVH bringing us to this land, to fall by the sword? 

Our wives and our little-ones will become plunder! 

Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?
4 So they said, each-man to his brother:

Let us head back and return to Egypt!

let us make a captain.  also in Neh.IX,17.  Ehrlich is inclined to see in this phrase an idiomatic expression and he translates, ‘let us set our mind to return to Egypt.’

5 Moshe and Aharon flung themselves on their faces

before the entire assembled community of the Children of Israel.

fell on their faces.  Overwhelmed by sorrow and shame.

6 Now Yehoshua son of Nun and Calev son of Yefunne,

(alone) from among those who scouted out the land, ripped their garments;

rent their clothes. As at the news of some family bereavement or terrible calamity.

7 they said to the entire community of the Children of Israel,

saying:

The land that we crossed through, to scout it out- 

good is that land, exceedingly, exceedingly!
8 If YHVH is pleased with us,

he will bring us to this land and give it to us, a land that is flowing with milk and honey.

if the LORD delight in us. If they did nothing to alienate God’s favour.

9 But: against YHVH, do not rebel,

and you- do not be afraid of the people of the land,

for food-for-us are they!

Their protector has turned away from them,

and YHVH is with us-

do not be afraid of them!

for they are bread for us. lit. ‘they are our bread’; i.e. we shall easily destroy them.

their defence.  lit. ‘their shadow’; a common metaphor of great significance in a hot country (McNeile).

The word (‘our bread’) may refer to the manna, and lit. ‘their shadow is removed from over them’, to the melting of the manna at noonday (Exod. XVI,21).  The meaning of the passage would then be: ‘Fear not the people of the land, for they are like the manna when the shadows pass, i.e. when the sun has come out.  There is then no manna left.  The LORD is with us: our enemies shall melt away—fear them not’ (Ephraim Lenczic).

10 But the entire community of Israel thought to pelt them with stones. 

Now the Glory of YHVH was seen at the Tent of Appointment by all the Children of Israel,

11-25  DIVINE WRATH AND THE INTERCESSION OF MOSES

11 and YHVH said to Moshe:

How long will this people scorn me? 

How long will they not trust in me,

despite all the signs that I have done among them?
12 Let me strike it down with pestilence and dispossess it,

and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier (in number) than it!

destroy them. The Heb. root has this meaning in Exod.XV,9.

make of thee a nation. Moses would be a second Abraham, and thus the oath sworn to the Patriarchs that their seed should inherit the land would be fulfilled.

13 But Moshe said to YHVH:

When they hear (about it), the Egyptians,

that you brought up this people with your power from its midst,

Egyptians shall hear.  Moses, the faithful shepherd, leaves an unsurpassed example of self-denial to the children of men.  He refuses a glorious future for himself and his descendants, solely because Israel would have no share in it.  He begs God to spare His people out of regard for His own Honour.  The nations would misunderstand the destruction of Israel, and attribute it to His want of power to lead them into the land He promised them.

14 they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. 

They have heard that you are YHVH in the midst of this people, 

that eye to eye you were seen, O YHVH,

your cloud standing over them, 

in a column of cloud going before them by day,

and in a column of fire by night-

15 should you put this people to death as one man,

then will say the nations that have heard of your fame, saying:

16 (It was) from want of YHVH’S ability to bring this people into the land about which he swore to them, and so he slew them in the wilderness!

let the power of the LORD be great.  Show, in the sight of all the nations, the greatness of Thy power in forbearing with sinners and forgiving sin.  ‘In God’s mercy is also revealed His power.  He triumphs by His love and gentleness over the follies and frailties of men, and even in spite of themselves, they must at last fulfill the chosen and holy purposes of God’ (Montefiore).  Moses then pleads with God to spare His people out of regard for His own self-revealed Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy and Forgiveness, enumerated in Exod. XXXIV,6-7 and reproduced here.  In Exod. God is spoken of as ‘abundant in goodness and truth,’ to teach mortals that in our dealings with fellow mortals ‘goodness’ must precede ‘truth’.  Speak the truth to your fellow men by all means, but be quite sure that you speak it in love.  Even more instructive is the wording in v. 18, ‘plenteous in loving-kindness’.  Here the words ‘and truth’ are missing altogether, as if to impress upon our minds the teaching that there are occasions when ‘loving-kindness is all-important.

18 YHVH,

long-suffering and of much loyalty,

bearing iniquity and transgression,

yet clearing,not clearing (the guilty),

calling-to-account the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth (generation)-
19 pray grant-pardon for the iniquity of this people, 

as your loyalty is great, just as you have been bearing (iniquity) for this people from Egypt until now!

according unto the greatness of thy loving-kindness.  And not in accordance with the smallness of their deserts.

from Egypt even until now.  The though that God has always forgiven, gives Moses courage to ask Him still to do so.  It is otherwise with our fellowmen.  If one has often forgiven us, we are ashamed to ask him again.  But with God the gates of prayer, and forgiveness, are never closed.

20 YHVH said: 

I grant-pardon, according to your words;

thy word.  Thy petition.

21 however, as I live, 

and as the Glory of YHVH fills all the earth:

as I live . . . glory of the LORD.  As truly as I live and as all the peoples of the earth shall know that I am the Omnipotent One, so truly shall I visit the retribution those who distrusted My promises.

22 indeed, all the men who have seen my Glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, 

and have tested me these ten times,

by not hearkening to my voice:

these ten times.  A large number of times; Gen. XXXI,7.  They had now filled up the measure of their iniquities, and punishment must inevitably come upon them.

23 if they should see the land

about which I swore to their fathers . . . ! 

All that have scorned me will not see it!
24 But as for my servant, Calev, 

because there was another spirit in him, and he followed-me-fully,

so I will bring him into the land that he is about to enter, 

and his seed will possess it.

but my servant Caleb. He alone is mentioned here, because it was he who ‘stilled’ the agitated people (XIII,30).

another spirit.  Altogether different from that of the other Spies—unfaltering courage and unwavering faith in the Divine promise.

followed me fully. lit. ‘fulfilled to walk behind Me’, i.e. faithfully confirmed My word that the land was a good land.

possess it. Caleb received Hebron and the neighbouring hill country; see Josh. XIV,6-15.

25 Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite are settled in the Lowlands; 

on the morrow, face about and march into the wilderness, 

by the Reed Sea Road.

Amalekite and the Canaanite.  Turn away from these formidable nations in another direction, so as not to risk a conflict with them.

Vale.  here, equivalent to mountain defile, declivity, elevated plain.

into the wilderness.  Of the Sinai Peninsula; as distinguished from Palestine on the one hand, and from Egypt on the other.

26-39  THE PUNISHMENT OF THE PEOPLE

26 Now YHVH spoke to Moshe and Aharon, saying:
27 Till when for this evil community,

that they stir-up-grumbling against me? 

The grumblings of the Children of Israel that they grumble against me, 

I have heard!

how long shall I bear with this evil congregation? lit. “how long shall this evil congregation continue to be?”  According to Rabbinic tradition the reference here is to the ten Spies.

28 Say to them:

As I live-the utterance of YHVH-

if not as you have spoken in my ears,

thus I do to you . . . !

as ye have spoken. Your wish, expressed in the words ‘Would we had died in this wilderness’ shall be fulfilled.

29 In this wilderness shall your corpses fall,

all those-of-you-counted (for battle), including all your number, 

rom the age of twenty and upward,

(you) that have grumbled against me!

numbered of you. In the census detailed in Chap. I.

30 If (any of) you should enter the land over which I lifted my hand (in an oath) 

to have you dwell in it, 

except for Calev son of Yefunne and Yehoshua son of Nun . . . !

I lifted up My hand. ‘I have taken an oath.’

31 Your little-ones, whom you said would become plunder-

I will let them enter,

they shall come to know the land that you have spurned.
32 But your corpses, 

yours, shall fall in this wilderness,
33 and your children shall graze in the wilderness for forty years; 

thus shall they bear your whoring, 

until your corpses come-to-an-end in the wilderness.

bear your strayings.  Although the children were to be spared the fate of their sinning parents, they would not altogether escape the consequences of that falling away from God.  ‘Stayings’ is a departure from the RV, which gives the lit. translation of the Heb., the metaphor of marital infidelity used in Scripture to express Israel’s disloyalty to God through the worship of strange gods.

34 According to the number of days that you scouted out the land, forty days

-(for each) day a year,(for each) day a year-

you are to bear your iniquities,

forty years, thus you will come to know my hostility!

My displeasure. Or, ‘the revoking of my promise’ (RV Margin).

35 I am YHVH, I have spoken:

If I do not do this to this whole evil community that has come-together against me . . . ! 

In this wilderness they will come-to-an-end, there they will die.
36 So the men whom Moshe had sent to scout out the land returned and caused the entire community to grumble against him

by bringing a (false) report about the land;
37 the men died,

those bringing a report of the land, an ill one,

in a plague, before the presence of YHVH.

died by the plague.  By a sudden visitation from God.

38 But Yehoshua son of Nun and Calev son of Yefunne remained-alive from those men that had gone to scout out the land.
39 Now when Moshe spoke all these words to the Children of Israel,

 the people mourned, exceedingly. 

40-45.  Instead of obeying the Divine injunction to turn southwards (v.25), the people in self-willed defiance make a frantic effort to enter Canaan without delay.

40 They started-early in the morning

and went up to the top of the hill-country, saying:

Here we are, let us go up to (attack) the place that YHVH promised,

for we have sinned!

the top of the mountain.  Probably some mountain slope in the Negeb.

41 But Moshe said: 

Why now do you cross the order of YHVH? 

It will not succeed!

wherefore now do ye transgress. Your enterprise is contrary to the will of God, nor does the Ark accompany you. The commandment of the LORD in v.42 is given more fully in Deut. I,42.  ‘Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.’

42 Do not go up, for YHVH is not in your midst- 

 that you not be smitten by your foes!

43 For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there to face you,

 you will fall by the sword,

 for since you have turned from (following) after YHVH,

 YHVH will not be-there with you!

44 But they went up recklessly to the top of the hill-country, 

 while the coffer of the Covenant of YHVH and Moshe did not move from amid the camp.

but they presumed.  Their self-confidence rendered futile all the attempts of Moses to induce them to desist.

45 And the Amalekite and the Canaanite who were settled in that hill-country came down,

they struck them and crushed them, near Horma.

even  unto Hormah.   lit. ‘unto the Hormah’.  They suffer a crushing defeat and are driven back to the Hormah which they had only recently conquered.  Their direct march northwards is now definitely barred.  Henceforth they can enter Canaan only by passing through — and if that is impossible, around —the territories situated to the south and east of the Dead Sea and can cross the Jordan into Western Palestine.  It will be some 38 years before a fresh military enterprise is undertaken.  ‘In estimating the historical value of this story, we must remember that no nation gratuitously invents or accepts accounts of defeats it has never experienced.  If Hebrew history tells us that the Israelites on attempting to enter the land they subsequently inhabited met with an overthrow so annihilating as to leave them too weak to do anything but wander helplessly in a wilderness for nearly 40 years thereafter, we cannot refuse it credence.  The tendency is always to minimize defeats, not to exaggerate them; and a story such as this bears the hallmark of truth’ (Wiener).

 

This commentary is by Seymour Rossel from The Torah: Portion by Portion:

Scouts or Spies? Throughout history, most armies have sent spies ahead of them.  Bur the people Moses sent were not normal spies; they were chieftains of the tribes.  Chieftains are not trained for secret work, nor would Moses send chieftains into danger.  The assignment was just to study the land and its people and to report on life in Canaan.  The chieftains went out as normal travelers.  They were more like scouts than spies.

 

The Mission:  In the Midrash Rabbi Joshua compares the Israelites to the son of a king.  The king looked far and wide and found a wife for his son.  The girl was wise and beautiful.  She came from a rich and noble family.  The king told the prince, “I found you a fine wife.”  But the prince did not trust his father.  He said, “Let me go and see her!’

 

This greatly annoyed the king.  The king said to himself:  “What shall I do?  If I say, ‘I will not show her to you,’ he will think: ‘She is awful; that is why he does not want to show her.'” At last the king said to the prince, “Go and see her, then you will know I have not lied to you!  But because you had no faith in me, you shall never have her for your wife!  Instead, I will give her to your son!”

 

Rabbi Joshua explained:  The Holy One assured Israel “The land is good,” but they had no faith, and said, “Let us first send scouts to see the land.”  Said the Holy One, the Blessed, “If I do not allow them to send scouts, they will say: ‘God does not show it to us because it is not good.’  Better to let them scout the land.  But, since they would not take My word, not one of them will enter the land.  Instead, I shall give it to their children.”  As you read about the scouts, keep Rabbi Joshua’s story in mind:

Adonai spoke to Moses, saying, “Send for yourself men to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people.  Send one from each tribe, each one a chieftain.”  So Moses, at Adonai’s command, sent [scouts] from the wilderness . . . 

 

The name of the parashah is Adonai’s command, Shelach-lecha , “send for yourself.”  As Rabbi Joshua said, Adonai knew the land of Canaan was perfect. But the Israelites still did not trust Adonai completely.  They needed to see for themselves. So Adonai commands,”Send for yourself,” meaning, “for your own sake”.

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Commentary is from Pentateuch and Haftarahs, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz.

Numbers/Bamidbar 13

THE SPIES AND THEIR REPORT

According to some scholars, the victory of the Israelites over the king of Arad in the extreme south of Canaan, recorded in XXI,1-3, took place at this stage.  The Israelites inflicted an annihilating defeat on the enemy, and called his territory Hormah, lit. ‘utter destruction.’  So striking had been their success, that Moses deemed the moment ripe for undertaking the conquest of the Holy Land from this advanced station of their march.  As reported in Deut. I,22, the Israelites then came to Moses saying, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us.’  And they would have succeeded in forcing their way into the heart of Canaan, if they had been animated by the high courage required for such an enterprise.  This and the following chapter relate that such was far from being the case.  Twelve men are sent to explore the land, and learn its character and that of the inhabitants.  After forty days they return.  The ‘majority report,’ which is entirely against the possibility of conquest, threatens to demoralize the people by fear.

 

The incident of the Spies is the turning-point in the lives of all those that had been born in slavery.  By the cowardice and murmurings with which they receive the report of the Spies, they show themselves unfit for the tasks of a free nation.  They must die in the Wilderness.  During 38 years of wandering, a new generation that knew not Egypt was to be reared, in hardship and freedom, for the conquest and possession of the Promised Land.

1-24 THE MISSION OF THE SPIES

 

 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
2 Send for yourself men, 

that they may scout out the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Children of Israel. 

One man, one man per tribe of their fathers, you are to send,

each-one a leader among them.

send thou men. Heb. shelach lecha; lit. ‘send for thyself’.  The Rabbis stress the word lecha ‘for thyself,’ and make it imply, ‘If thou wishest to spend spies, do so.’

of every tribe.  In order that the whole people might share in the interest and responsibility of the enterprise.

a prince.  Not the same princes that took the leading part in the census (I,5),  but men of importance, capable of grappling with so trying a task.

3 So Moshe sent them from the Wilderness of Paran, by order of YHVH, 

all of them men(-of-standing)- 

heads of the Children of Israel were they.
4 And these (were) their names:

for the tribe of Re’uven: Shammu’a son of Zakkur;

their names.  (Chap. I,15)These names are invaluable documents of early life in Israel, and throw light on the religious feelings of the ancient Israelite.  They are genuine and trustworthy, as they can each be paralleled in Babylonian and Arabian inscriptions.  If, as alleged by hostile critics, these names were merely made to pattern and the product of the age of Ezra, they should be met with in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.  This, however, is not the case; and, in fact, such characteristic names as those compounded with Amim, Zur, and Shaddai are never found in post-Exilic times.  ‘It is quite certain that the names contained in the lists in the Book of Numbers cannot be rightly assigned to any other period than that of Moses (Hommel).

5 for the tribe of Shim’on: Shafat son of Hori;
6 for the tribe of Yehuda: Calev son of Yefunne;
7 for the tribe of Yissakhar: Yig’al son of Yosef;
8 for the tribe of Efrayim: Hoshe’a son of Nun;
9 for the tribe of Binyamin: Palti son of Rafu;
10 for the tribe of Zevulun: Gaddiel son of Sodi;
11 for the tribe of Yosef, for the tribe of Menashe: Gaddi son of Susi;
12 for the tribe of Dan: Ammiel son of Gemalli;
13 for the tribe of Asher: Setur son of Mikhael;
14 for the tribe of Naftali: Nahbi son of Vofsi;
15 for the tribe of Gad: Ge’uel son of Makhi.
16 These the names of the men whom Moshe sent to scout out the land -now Moshe called Hoshe’a son of Nun: Yehoshua.

Moses called Hoshea . . . Joshua.  Better, and Moses had called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.  The change had already been made at the time of the victory over Amalek, Exod. XVII,9.  Hoshea signifies, ‘He has helped.’ Moses, by prefixing to it a letter of the Divine Name, changed it to Joshua, Heb.Yehoshua, i.e. ‘He will help, at the same time indicating the Source of salvation.  According tot he Midrash, however, Moses here pronounced over Joshua the prayer,’May God deliver thee from the counsel of the Spies.’

17 Now when Moshe sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, 

he said to them:

Go up this (way) through the Negev/Parched-land, 

and (then) you are to go up into the hill-country.

the South.  Better, the Negeb; lit. ‘the dry land’; southern Canaan, extending northward from Kadesh to within a few miles of Hebron, and from the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean; the steppe region which forms the transition to the true desert.

the mountains.  The hill-country in Southern Palestine.

18 And see the land-what it is (like),

and the population that is settled in it: 

are they strong or weak, 

are they few or many;
19 and what the land is (like), where they are settled:

is it good or ill; 

and what the towns are (like), where they are settled therein:

are (they) encampments or fortified-places;
20 and what the land is (like):

is it fat or lean, 

are there in it trees, or not?

Now exert yourselves, 

and take (some) of the fruit of the land 

now these days (are) the days of the first ripe-grapes.

of the fruit.  As a tangible confirmation of their testimony.

the time of the first-ripe grapes.  The end of July or beginning of August.

21 So they went up and scouted out the land,

from the Wilderness of Tzyn as far as Rehov, coming toward Hamat.

the wilderness of Zin. N.E. of the wilderness of Paran, and therefore the southern boundary of Canaan.

unto Rehab.  In the north of the land, at the base of Mount Hermon, near the sources of the Jordan.

at the entrance to Hamath. The narrow pass between Mount Hermon and the Lebanon, often spoken of in Scripture as the northernmost border of the Holy Land (XXXIV,8).

22 They went up through the Negev a

nd came as far as Hevron:

there are Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, 

the descendants of the Anakites. 

Now Hevron had been built seven years before Tzo’an of Egypt.

Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai.  Probably the names of clans, since we meet these names in the time of Joshua (Josh.XV,14).

Anak. lit. ‘neck’; the natives of the Negeb seem to have been very tall and lank, a fact that gave rise to the tradition that they were the remnants of a race of giants.

before Zoan. A city of great antiquity, older than 2000 B.C.E., and rebuilt in the beginning of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty.

23 They came to the Wadi of Eshkol/Clusters and cut down from there a branch and one cluster of grapes 

-they had-to-carry it on a bar (held) by two-

and some pomegranates and some figs

valley. Heb. nachal, denotes a stream and the gorge through which it flows–a wady.

24 That place they called the Wadi of Clusters,

on account of the cluster that the Children of Israel had cut down there.

25-33  THE REPORT OF THE SPIES

25 Now they returned from scouting out the land

 at the end of forty days.

26 They went and came before Moshe, before Aharon, and before the entire community of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh;

 they returned word to them and to the entire community, 

 and let them see the fruit of the land.

Kadesh.  Was for many years the seat of encampment for the tribes during the wanderings, and the starting-point for the final march into Canaan.  It has been identified with the modern Ain Kadis (‘Holy Spring’).  ‘Out from the barren and desolate stretch of the burning desert-waste we had come with magical suddenness into an oasis of verdure and beauty, unlooked for and hardly conceivable in such a region.  Running water gurgled under the waving grass’ (Trumbull).

27 Now they recounted to him, they said:

We came to the land that you sent us to, 

and yes, it is flowing with milk and honey,

and this is its fruit-

it floweth with milk and honey.  ‘Pursuing the tactics of slanderers, they began by extolling the land, so as not to arouse, by too unfavourable a report, the suspicion of the people; and knowing also that no report has a chance of being accepted, unless it contains some truth’ (Talmud).

28 except that fierce are the people that are settled in the land, 

the cities are fortified,exceedingly large, 

and also the descendants of Anak did we see there!

howbeit.  Now comes the announcement of the impossibility of its conquest.

29 Amalek is settled in the Negev land, 

and the Hittite and the Yevusite and the Amorite are settled in the hill-country, 

the Canaanite is settled by the Sea, and hard by the Jordan!

Amalek . . . Hittite.  See note at the end of the chapter.

30 Now Calev hushed the people before Moshe and said: 

Let us go up, yes, up, and possess it,

for we can prevail, yes, prevail against it!

Caleb stilled the people.  In the next chapter (XIV,6,30), Joshua is associated with Caleb in his opposition to the ten faithless men.  Being the attendant of Moses, he may have given place to Caleb as the one more likely to be listened to in the then temper of the people.

toward Moses.  He restored silence so that Moses might be heard.

we are well able to. lit. ‘we shall certainly’.

31 But the men who went up with him said:

We are not able to go up against the population,

for it is stronger than we!
32 So they gave-out a (false) report of the land that they had scouted out to the Children of Israel, saying:

The land that we crossed through to scout it out:

it is a land that devours its inhabitants; 

all the people that we saw in its midst are men of (great) stature,

an evil report of the land.  ‘The punishment that God brought upon Miriam was meant as a lesson of the severity with which God punishes slander.  Her experience, nevertheless, did not awe the sinful men who, shortly after that incident, made an evil report of the Promised Land, and by their wicked tongues stirred up the whole people in rebellion against God’ (Midrash).

that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. ‘That does not produce enough to support them; Ezekiel XXXVI,8,11-14,30 (Gray).

33 (for) there we saw the giants-the Children of Anak (come) from the giants- 

we were in our (own) eyes like grasshoppers,

and thus were we in their eyes!

the Nephilim.  The primeval giants mentioned in Gen. VI,4.  The Spies use that name to heighten the effect of their description of the invincibility of the sons of Anak (W.H. Green).

 

so were we in their sight.  Or, ”so must we have been in their sight.’ Those who are in their own eyes as grasshoppers assume, and rightly so, that others have a similar estimate of them.

 

The Spies traversed the entire land from south to north.  The length of the Holy Land is about 180 miles, and its average breadth between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan about 40 miles.  The country may be regarded as consisting of three strips running north and south.  There is—(1) the Maritime Plain—extending inwards from the coast to a distance of form 4to 15 miles.  It is very fertile.  It includes the famous Plain of Sharon and the Lowlands of the Philistines.  (2)  Behind this Maritime Plain, and parallel to it, rises the ‘Hill Country’, the backbone of the Holy Land.  On the east, it falls precipitously down to (3) the Valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea.  Across these lie the Highlands of Gilead and Moab, the modern Transjordania.

 

In the monumental records, the country is called ‘the land of the Canaanites’, or the ‘land of the Amorites’; from which it may be inferred that these were the tribes originally inhabiting it.  At a very early period the Hittites, who formed a powerful kingdom to the north, established themselves in Canaan.  At the time of the Israelitish Conquest the land was inhabited by a mixture of tribes.  Of these, the principal were the Canaanites (.e. probably ‘Lowlanders’), dwelling in the Maritime Plain and the Valley of the Jordan:  the Hittites and the Jebusites in the south, in what was afterwards called Judea; the Hivites to the north of these, in what came to be known as Samaria; and, still further north, the Perizzites.  The Amorites (i.e. probably, the ‘Highlanders’) were found in the north, and also in the south, to the east of the Jordan.  The Philistines had obtained a settlement in the southern part of the Maritime Plain.

 

Seymour Rossel in The Torah: Portion by Portion explains:

“Nephilim and Anakites” – The Nephilim were legendary people mentioned in Genesis 6:4, where it says they were heavenly beings who suddenly “appeared in the earth.”  The word nephilim means “fallen ones”, but the Greek Jews of Alexandria translated it as “giants”.  Anakites were legendary giants.  Joshua later conquered them, leaving only a few survivors.  It was said that Goliath, the famous giant slain by David, was an Anakite.

 

 The Faith to Overcome —Rabbi Max Nussbaum (1908-1974) once taught that Caleb’s words can help us in positive ways in moments when we feel weak, doubt our strength, question our talents, and suspect our courage.  In other words, when we think of ourselves as grasshoppers, we should repeat Calebs words, Ki yachol nuchal lah, “For we can only learn to have faith in the strength that God gave us, as Caleb did, then “we shall surely overcome” our problems.

 
[S6K comment: May we have the last word:  we have written articles explaining the non-existence of fallen angels, i.e. devil, evil spirits, etc. — therefore, we subscribe to the Jewish interpretation that the Nephilim were not half-and-half beings procreated by devils with human women, if we may borrow our messianic teacher’s expression (who himself taught the half-and-half beings called Nephilim), this is “hogwash”.   So what were they?  Probably ‘freaks’ of nature, huge men, mighty men, taller-than-everyone-else-men, like Goliath, depending on their genetic inheritance and diet.  Don’t we see such human beings today?  And only in horror movies and hand-me-down superstitions do we encounter half-and-half creatures.  We either believe God’s Word or men’s, that’s always our choice.]

[So far, we’ve seen some verrrrrry bad behavior among the Israelites.  The masses complain and grumble.  Now the siblings of Moses complain as well.

 

What is wrong with every one of these freed slaves who are enjoying YHWH’s grace and blessing in visible and experienceable ways? They should be simply praising YHWH! Aren’t they finally free from slavery to cruel masters in Egypt under whose treatment they groaned and prayed for deliverance?  Haven’t they been led and fed by no less than their new Master who is far more powerful (not to mention the TRUE GOD) than all the non-gods of Egypt?  

 

What is wrong with these people—short memory? Short tolerance for inconvenience? Lack of faith that the Master they now serve can deliver to the last detail of His promises? All of the above?

 

Surely the problem must be deeper than that . . . something more basic in human nature.  God surely did not put it there, but because of freedom of the will and the tendency to be self-centered, self-serving, self-absorbed, self-ish, humanity in general act in much the same way, giving in to the ME-FIRST tendency.  

 

That is why the Torah has to teach OTHER-centeredness, and YHWH’s WILL first and foremost! Both go against the satisfy-Me self-inclination.

Commentary is from Pentateuch & Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz; additional commentary by Seymour Rossel, The Torah Portion by Portion. Translation is by EF/Everett Fox The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

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This comment is by Seymour Rossel in The Torah: Portion by Portion:

Jealousy Punished

At Hazeroth, two stories are combined into one.  In the first Miriam and Aaron complain that Moses married “a Cushite woman”, a non-Israelite.  The second story is about jealousy.  Miriam and Aaron ask, “Has Adonai spoken only through Moses?  Has [Adonai) not spoken through us as well?”  Adonai heard them.  the text says, “Now Moses was very humble, more so than any person on earth.”  So it was Adonai who called Moses, Miriam, and Aaron to the Tent of Meeting, where Adonai said to Miriam and Aaron:

“Hear My words:  When a prophet of Adonai arises among you, I will make Myself known to [the prophet] in a vision, I speak with [the prophet] in a dream.  Not so with My servant Moses . . . With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of Adonai.  How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!”  Still angry at them, Adonai departed.

 

Suddenly, snowy scales appeared in Miriam’s skin.  Aaron was afraid.  He pleaded with Moses, saying, Forgive us for being so foolish.  help her, so that her flesh will not be eaten away!  And Moses pleaded with Adonai, saying “O God, pray heal her!”  But Adonai said, Send her out of the camp for seven days as her punishment. . . .

 

The way this story is told, Moses pays no attention when Miriam and Aaron complain about his marriage, or even when they are jealous of his place with Adonai.  That is why the Torah notes, ‘Moses was a very humble man.’  But Adonai is offended by Aaron and Miriam’s jealousy.  So Adonai explains how Moses is special.  Other prophets are inspired in visions or dreams sent by Adonai, but Moses receives Adonai’s words “plainly and not in riddles”.  Adonai speaks with Moses “mouth to mouth”.

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Commentary from Pentateuch and Haftarahs, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz:

Numbers/Bamidbar 12

MIRIAM AND THE VINDICATION OF MOSES

Moses bore with resignation the complaints and murmurings of his People, and000as we shall see—their alternate cowardice and foolhardiness.  His foes were also of his own household.  This chapter tells how his only brother and only sister offended against him.

1 Now Miryam spoke, and Aharon, against Moshe 

on account of the Cushite wife that he had 

taken-in-marriage, 

for a Cushite wife had he taken. 

spoke against Moses.  Miriam seems to have been the instigator of the evil speaking against Moses.  The story of Miriam in Scripture is brief, but memorable. She first appears during the Oppression in Egypt, guarding the ark of bulrushes in which Moses was saved from destruction.  Then many years later at the crossing of the Red Sea, she led the women’s refrain, ‘Sing unto the LORD, for He hath triumphed gloriously.’  Because of the merit of Miriam—says Jewish legend—a Well accompanied the Israelites on their wanderings till the day of her death.  It is a spiritual tragedy that such a prophetic soul should have been guilty of an offence deserving the dire punishment recorded in this chapter.

the Cushite woman.  Probably Zipporah, a native of Midian, which is a synonym of Cushan (Hab.III,7), the home of the North Arabian people called ‘Kusi”.  Others take the word Cushite in the usual sense of ‘Ethiopian’.  In that case (the second) marriage of Moses with a South Egyptian woman was the occasion of complaint by Miriam and Aaron.  Further details are not given, which fact led legend to step in and fill in the gap, and supply a reason that would serve as the connection between v.1 and 2.

2 They said: Is it only, solely through Moshe that YHVH speaks? 

Is it not also through us that 

he speaks? 

And YHVH heard. 

only with Moses.  Having spoken ill of Moses and thus belittled his importance, they asked, ‘Has Moses a monopoly of Divine communications?  Can we not claim equality with him?’

and the LORD heard it.  God said, Moses is very meek and pays no heed to the injustice meted out to him.  I will therefore defend him (Midrash).

3 Now the man Moshe is exceedingly humble, 

more than any (other) human who is on the face of the earth. 

now the man Moses was very meek.  These words explain how it was that Moses took no steps to vindicate himself.

‘There is about these words, as also about the passages in which Moses no less equivocally records his own faults (XX,12; Exod. IV,24; Deut. I,37), that simplicity which is witness at once to their genuineness and inspiration.  The Heb. word for meek occurs frequently in the Psalms, and as here is applied by the writers to themselves; Psalm X,17, and Psalm XXII,27′.

4 And YHVH said suddenly to Moshe, to Aharon and to Miryam: 

Go out, the three of you, to the Tent of Appointment! 

The three of them went out. 

suddenly. Reproof and retribution followed without delay.

5 And YHVH descended in a column of cloud

and stood at the entrance to the Tent; 

he called out: Aharon and Miryam! 

and the two of them went out. 

both came forth.  They were separated from Moses, because a man’s whole praise may only be uttered in his absence (Sifri). This praise is given in v.7,8.

6 He said:

Pray hear my words:

 If there should be among-you-a-prophet of YHVH, 

in a vision to him I make-myself-known, 

in a dream I speak with him. 

if there be a prophet among you. Better, if there be a prophet of the LORD among you.

I, the LORD do make.  Better, I make.

in a vision . . . dream.  ‘With some of the higher Prophets, such as Jeremiah, dreams as a source of revelation fell into complete disrepute’ (Gray).

7 Not so my servant Moshe: 

in all my house, trusted is he; 

trusted in all My house.  Found worthy of God’s confidence in everything appertaining to the guidance of the House of Israel.  Moses is pre-eminent among the Prophets.  While other Prophets chiefly warned their own generation and comforted them with blessings in the remote future, Moses addresses all times, communicating to them everlasting statutes and laws for all generations.

8 mouth to mouth I speak with him, 

in-plain-sight, not in riddles, 

and the form of YHVH (is what) he beholds.

 So why were you not too awestruck

 to speak against my servant, against Moshe? 

mouth to mouth.  The same as ‘face to face’ (Deut. XXXIV,10).  These phrases denote figuratively ‘the clearest, most direct, and most simple communication, the figure being taken from the way in which men communicate to each other things which they desire to be clearly understood and to leave no doubt as to their truth or meaning’ (Friedlander).

not in dark speeches.  The Talmud expresses this distinction by comparing the vision received by Moses to the reflection given out by a bright mirror, whilst the visions of other Prophets were like the blurred images produced by a dim mirror.

the similitude of the LORD.  Not the essential nature of God, which no man can see, but the similitude in which for the time it pleased Him to veil His glory; as e.g. the burning bush.

9 The anger of YHVH flared up against them, 

and he went off. 

He departed. As a judge departs after trying and convicting evil-doers.

10 When the cloud turned away from above the Tent, 

here: Miryam has tzaraat like snow! 

When Aharon faced Miryam,

here: she has tzaraat! 

Miriam was leprous. Aaron was exempted from punishment, as he was merely drawn into this attack on his brother.  Leprosy was regarded as the Providential punishment for slander.

11 Aharon said to Moshe: 

Please, my lord, 

do not, pray, impose on us guilt-for-a-sin

 by which we were foolish, by which we sinned! 

Oh, my lord.  Aaron now feels humbled and speaks to Moses as to a superior.

lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us.  Do not bring upon us the consequences of our sin.

12 Do not, pray, let her be like a dead-child 

who, when it comes out of its mother’s womb, 

is eaten up in half its flesh! 

as one dead.  ‘Let us not bear the penalty of this wicked folly we have committed.  Let her not turn like a corpse, like one born with a body half wasted’ (Moffatt).

13 Moshe cried out to YHVH, saying: 

O God, pray, heal her, pray! 

Moses cried unto the LORD.  Showing fullest forgiveness for both, and sincerest pity for his smitten sister.

heal her, O God, I beseech thee. This prayer is a model of brevity.  It says so much in five of the simplest, shortest Hebrew words!

14 YHVH said to Moshe: 

If her father spat, yes, spat in her face, 

would she not be put-to-shame for seven days (at least)? 

Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, 

afterward she may be gathered-back. 

hide in shame seven days.  Would not a father’s putting his daughter to shame before all the world entail her retirement for seven days at least?  How much more, when her Heavenly Father has seen fit to inflict a public punishment upon Miriam, should she be shut away for at least a similar period!

15 So Miryam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, 

and the people did not march on until Miryam had been gathered-back. 

without the camp.  as was the case with lepers.

till Miriam was brought in again.  This was done out of deference to Miriam.  ‘Miriam waited for her brother Moses one hour, as it is said, “And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him” (Exod. II,4).  In return for this sisterly act, the people of Israel waited for Miriam seven days in the desert’ (Talmud).

16 (Only) afterward did the people march on from Hatzeirot, 

they encamped in the Wilderness 

of Paran. 

 

 

[Those from third world countries view life in first world countries with envy, wishing they could experience convenience (never mind luxuries) that the ‘haves’ mostly take for granted . . . such as . . . water coming out of a faucet right in one’s home, cooking food without having to gather wood for a stove, such realities that the ‘have nots’ experience on a daily basis.  And yet when media features life in the USA for instance, whether in news or reality shows or canned TV entertainment or a slice of Americana, the image projected is one of ungratefulness, dissatisfaction, waste of an enviable lifestyle that people of poorer countries could only dream about.

 

If we think with a judgmental attitude that we could probably have fared better than this generation that left Egypt with no less than the Creator of the universe bringing in miracle after miracle to their lives, appreciating instead of griping about no water, only manna to eat . . . think again.  There is something about human nature that has not changed much from those days of old to these days and that is — being content with what one has, particularly if what one has is truly a privileged life, compared with others.

 

 If I only had ‘enough’ . . . how much is ‘enough’?  I bought a tea mug because of this reminder:  “I come to see the ancient secret of happiness:  Wanting what I already have.”

 

Commentary is from Pentateuch & Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz; additional commetnary from Seymour Rossel, The Torah, Portion by Portion. Translation is by EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. —Admin1.]

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This is commentary by Seymour Rossel from The Torah, Portion by Portion:

Complaining      Even Moses complained.  He asked Adonai, Why have you burdened me with these people?  Where will I find meat for them?  I would rather die than suffer from all their whining.  Adonai told Moses to gather seventy leaders at the Tent of Meeting.  Adonai would remove some of Moses’ spirit and give it to them so that Moses would not have to bear all the burden alone.  As for the people, Adonai said to tell them, “Adonai will give you meat and you shall eat.  You shall eat . . . for a whole month, until [meat] comes out of your nostrils and you hate it.”

So Moses chose seventy leaders and called them to stand around the Tent of Meeting.  Adonai came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses, removing part of Moses’ spirit and putting it on the leaders, “And when the spirit rested on them, they spoke in ecstasy–but only that one time.”

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MURMURINGS AND REBELLIONS

This and the following three chapters deal with the successive rebellions of the People after their departure from Sinai that resulted in their being excluded from the Promised Land.

 

Numbers/Bamidbar 11

1 Now the people were like those-who-grieve (over) ill-fortune, in the ears of YHVH. 

When YHVH heard, his anger flared up; 

there blazed up against them a fire of YHVH 

and ate up the edge of the camp. 

as murmurers.  Rebellious and complaining, instead of bearing their troubles in a spirit of trustful dependence upon God.

the fire of the LORD.  The punishment was swift and terrible.  It may either have been lightning (Job I,16), a miraculous outburst of flame (Lev.X,2) or an ordinary conflagration.

The Complainers     

2 The people cried out to Moshe 

 and Moshe interceded to YHVH, 

 and the fire abated.  

unto Moses; and Moses prayed.  The Midrash says, ‘It may be likened unto an earthly king who was angry with his son.  What did he son do?  He went to his father’s friend, saying, Go and seek mercy from my father for me.’

abated.  Went out.

3 So they called the name of that place Tav’era/Blaze, 

for (there) had blazed against them fire of YHVH. 

Taberah. i.e. ‘Burning’.

4-35  ‘THE GRAVES OF LUST’

Dissatisfaction with the manna   

4 Now the gathered-riffraff that were among them 

 had a craving, hunger-craving, 

 and moreover they again wept, the Children of Israel, and said: 

 Who will give us meat to eat? 

and the mixed multitude.  The Heb. form is a contemptuous term denoting a number of people gathered together from all quarters, a rabble, or riff-raff.  It is identical with the mixed multitude (Exod. XII,38) of aliens who had attached themselves to the Israelites and accompanied them out of Egypt.

fell a lusting.  Began to have a strong craving for flesh food

the children of Israel also wept.  Discontent, like sin, is contagious.  ‘They were not so much suffering as seeking for some pretext for gambling’ (Sifri).

ArtScroll comment adds this:  the rabble (the promiscuous assembly) i.e. the Egyptians who had joined Israel, influenced the Children of Israel to complain again (Rashi) going so far as to say that they preferred Egyptian slavery to the Presence of God (v. 20).

5 We recall the fish that we used to eat in Egypt for free, 

the cucumbers, the watermelons, 

the green-leeks, the onions, and the garlic! 

we remember.  ‘The natural dainties of Egypt are set forth in this passage with the fullness and relish which bespeak personal experience’ (Speaker’s Bible).  These words enable us clearly to see into those slave souls who preferred the garlic of Egypt to the bread of freedom.

for nought.  Classical writers attest that in Egypt fish was to be had in abundance and was incredibly cheap.

6 But now, our throats are dry; 

there is nothing at all 

except for the mahn (in front of) our eyes! 

7 -Now the mahn is like seed of coriander, 

its aspect like the aspect of bdellium. 

coriander seed.  About the size of a peppercorn; Exod. XVI,31.

as the appearance of bdellium.  See Gn.II,12.  The manna is said to have been white.  The comparison probably turns on the shining or sparkling nature of the bdellium.

8 The people would roam around and collect it, 

grind it in millstones or crush it in a crusher, 

boil it in a pot, and make it into cakes, 

so that its taste was like the taste of (something) rich (made with) oil. 

as the taste of a cake baked with oil.  lit. ‘something juicy made with oil.’ In Exod. XVI,31, it is said to have tasted like wafers made with honey, the ‘oily’ taste no doubt coming to it after it had been ground and beaten.

10-15  MOSES’ DISCOURAGEMENT AND COMPLAINT

10 Moshe heard the people weeping by their clans, 

each-man at the entrance to his tent. 

Now YHVH’S anger flared up exceedingly, 

and in the eyes of Moshe it was ill. 

family by family.  The weeping was general and unconcealed.

Moses’ despair  

11 Moshe said to YHVH:

 For-what have you dealt-ill with your servant, 

 for-what-reason have I not found favor in your eyes, 

 (that you) have placed the burden of this entire people on me? 

wherefore have I not found favour in Thy sight.  ‘This is the language of despair, not the murmuring of unbelief’ (Keil).

12 Did I myself conceive this entire people, 

or did I myself give-birth to it, 

that you should say to me, 

Carry it in your bosom

 like a nursing-parent carries a suckling-child, 

to the soil about which you swore to their fathers? 

13 Where should I (get) meat to give to this entire people, 

when they weep on me, saying: 

Give us meat so that we may eat! 

14 I am not able, myself alone, to carry this entire people,

 for it is too heavy for me! 

15 If thus you deal with me, 

pray kill me, yes, kill me, 

if I have found favor in your eyes, 

so that I do not have to see my ill-fortune! 

my wretchedness. i.e. the failure of his hopes and efforts; the despairing complaint of Elijah in I Kings XIX,4 and of Jeremiah in Jer. XV,10. My wretchedness: his failure to fulfill the task which he cannot abandon because God-given–a feeling of woe that arises whenever a spiritual leader toils vainly and wearily with the dull masses, to whom he is tied by feelings of love and duty’ (Holziner).

16-30  THE SEVENTY ELDERS

16 Then YHVH spoke to Moshe: 

Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, 

of whom you know that they are elders of the people and its officers, 

and take them to the Tent of Appointment, 

stationing them there with you. 

whom thou knowest to be the elders.  Ripe in years as well as qualified by their wisdom to share the burdens of leadership.

17 I will come down and speak with you there,

 I will extend from the rushing-spirit that is upon you 

and place it upon them; 

then they will carry along with you the burden of the people, 

so that you will not (have to) carry it, you alone. 

the spirit which is upon thee.  Implying no diminution of the spiritual power of Moses, ‘even as a light that kindles other lights is not thereby dimmed’ (Sifri).

with thee.  Endowed with a portion of Moses’ prophetic power, their influence in the camp would silence the murmurings and help towards putting an end to dejection and faithlessness.

God responds to the people   

18 Now to the people you are to say: 

 Hallow yourselves for the morrow 

 that you may eat meat, 

 for you have wept in the ears of YHVH, saying: 

 Who will give us meat to eat? 

 For it was better for us in Egypt! 

 YHVH will give you meat, and you shall eat it: 

sanctify yourselves.  Fit yourselves to receive the promised gift of God.

against tomorrow.  In readiness for tomorrow.

will they suffice them? Moses expresses amazement at the Divine promise. His realization of the power of God fails for a moment. Scripture portrays Moses as but human!

23 YHVH said to Moshe: 

Is the arm of YHVH (too) short? 

Now you shall see whether my 

word happens to you or not. 

is the LORD’s hand waxed short? i.e. is it too weak or powerless?

24 Moshe went out and spoke to the people the words of YHVH. 

He gathered seventy men from the elders of the people, 

and had-them-stand around the tent. 

New prophets     

25 And YHVH came down in a cloud 

 and spoke to him, 

 and YHVH extended some of the rushing-spirit that was upon him 

 and put it upon the seventy men, the elders; 

 and it was, 

 when the spirit rested upon them, 

 that they acted-like-prophets, but did not continue. 

in the cloud.  The symbol of His perpetual Presence with them.

they prophesied.  A feeling of spiritual ecstasy and exaltation possessed them, causing them to break out into praises of god, and declaring His will and His goodness.  By prophecy is here meant, not prediction of the future, but the power of instructing and admonishing the people with an authority that was recognized as having its source in God.

but they did so no more.  ‘They prophesied that day but never after’ (Sifri).  They were not intended to be permanent sharers with Moses in his task of leadership.  Maimonides compares the recipients of Divine revelations to men whose night is illumined by flashes of lightning.  ‘To some it is given to behold the lightning flashes in rapid succession; they seem to be in perpetual light, and their night is as clear as day.  This was the degree of prophetic flash at long intervals; this is the degree of most of the Prophets.  By still others a flash of lightning is perceived only once during the whole night.  This is the case of those of whom we are told, “They prophesied, but they did so no more.”‘

26 Now two men remained in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, 

the name of the second, Meidad, 

and the spirit rested upon them

 -they were among those-recorded,

but they had not gone out to the Tent- 

and they acted-like-prophets in the camp. 

Eldad . . . Medad.  Two of the seventy elders had declined the honour and remained in the camp.  They were nevertheless seized with the same ecstasy.

of them that were recorded.  They belonged to those who were originally registered as being of the 70 elders.

27 A (certain) lad ran 

and told Moshe, he said: 

Eldad and Meidad are acting-like-prophets in the camp! 

a young man.  lit. ‘the young man’; some one whose name was known but is not given here; possibly some servant of Moses.

28 Then Yehoshua son of Nun, Moshe’s attendant from his youth, spoke up, 

he said: 

My lord Moshe, contain them! 

shut them in (forbid them).  Restrain them from continuing their prophetic efforts.  He feared that the honour and authority of Moses would be diminished by men prophesying who had not received the spirit from Moses.

29 But Moshe said to him: 

Are you jealous for me? 

O who would give that all the people of YHVH were prophets, 

that YHVH would put the rush-of-his spirit upon them! 

would that all the LORD’s people were prophets. The one saying proves the incomparable greatness of Moses’ character. He loves his people more than himself.  When a man is really great and good he longs that all should be as he is, and better.  So far from being displeased with Eldad and Medad, he yearned for all Israel, elders or not, without the camp or within, to receive the Divine spirit.  ‘Moses expresses the conviction which is true for all time, that the possession of the spirit is not confined to particular persons or classes’ (McNeile).

30 Moshe took himself back to the camp, 

he and the elders of Israel; 

31-34  FULFILMENT OF THE DIVINE POWER

The quail   

31 and a rush-of-wind moved from YHVH 

 and swept in quails from the sea, 

 they spread out over the camp 

 as far as a day’s journey here and a day’s journey there, 

 all around the camp, 

 and about two cubits upon the face of the ground. 

from the sea.  Across the sea; probably the modern Gulf of Akaba.

and let them fall by the camp.  The wind lessened, and the quails exhausted by their long flight across the sea fell down from the heights.

two cubits above the face of the earth. Flying at such a low height, they were easily netted.

32 The people arose all that day and all night, and all the morrow day, 

gathering the quail, 

the least gathered ten homers. 

They spread them, spread them out, all around the camp. 

gathered.  They were arranged in heaps and spread out to be ‘cured’ in the sun.

33 The meat was still between their teeth 

 -(the supply) not yet exhausted, 

 when the anger of YHVH flared up among the people,

 and YHVH struck down among the people an exceedingly great striking. 

very great plague.  Their passionate lust was gratified, but the surfeit killed them; see Psalm LXXVIII,26-31; CVI,13-15.

34 So they called the name of that place Kivrot Ha-Taava/Burial-places of the Craving, 

for there they buried the people who had-the-craving. 

35 From Kivrot Ha-Taava the people marched to Hatzeirot, 

and they remained in Hatzeirot. 

and they abode at Hazeroth. The site has not been identified.