Who Is Getting Stoned?
May 29, 2013 By Robert Harris | Commentary | Shelah Lekha
Among other subjects, the parashah narrates the story of the spies, one from each tribe, whom Moses sends to scout out the Land. Specifically, let us join the narrative at the point that Joshua and Caleb (the two good or “heroic” spies) attempt to encourage the community—largely ineffectively—after the People express their fears that any effort to conquer the Promised Land will not be successful.
Read MoreThe Desert Dead
Jun 12, 2015 By Raymond Scheindlin | Commentary | Shelah Lekha
When the spies returned to the Israelite camp in the wilderness of Paran after scouting out the Land of Canaan, they reported that the land did indeed flow with milk and honey but that it could not be conquered.
Read MoreOur Covenant with God
Jun 4, 2010 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shelah Lekha
When Moses confronts the gravest challenge to his and God’s authority since the golden calf, the negative report of the spies sent to scout the Land of Israel, he responds with a lawyerly argument for divine mercy that is taken directly from the one that had staved off the people’s annihilation by God the first time around. The argument takes the form of a question: What will the Egyptians say if God destroys His people?
Read MoreShelah Lekha
Jan 1, 1980
1 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, reconnoiter the region of Jericho.” So they set out, and they came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there.
Read MoreShelah Lekha
Jan 1, 1980
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one man from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.”
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