HEBREW WORD STUDY – SEND FOR YOURSELF – SHELACH LAKA שלח לך Shin Lamed Cheth Lamed Kap
Numbers 13:2: “Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.”
Churches are now re-opening after two months of shelter in place. Many are feeling like they are now returning to their normal routine. For some who have been listening to other preachers on live streaming, they are questioning their loyalty to their home church and are playing little church musical chairs. Then there are those who are breathing a sigh of relief. They are like people of Israel who make their decisions based upon leadership and not follow the leading that God gives them through His Spirit. They don’t trust the Spirit within them and will not make a move until they consult their spiritual leadership. There are some Christians who just refuse to grow up. They attend a church that controls their every step. They will not sneeze without consulting their pastor on the proper way to make that sneeze to honor God. I have known people who would not even purchase any of my books until their pastor had a chance to review my doctrinal statement and scan one of my books to give his seal of approval. They look upon their pastor as a sort of prophet to guide their every move. They never learn to hear from God themselves.
Moses heard from God but even God told Moses to grow up. In the early days of Moses’ ministry, he would not make a move without a direct command from God. As the children of Israel were now approaching the Promises Land the people were a little hesitant to enter and wanted to scout out the land first. By this time and after all of his experience with God Moses should have matured to the point where he could have said: “Say what? I mean really? Are you serious? Come on people, after all the miracles of the plagues in Egypt, the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, the water from a rock, the personal message for God Himself on Sinai, and even your daily bread falling faithfully every day for crying out loud. Why do you need to scout out the land? Isn’t it obvious by now that God would not bring you through all these miracles just to have a bunch of giants lop your heads off? Come off it, God has proven over and over that He is going to give us that land no matter what size the opposition is, let’s go get ‘em.”
Instead Moses went to God to find out if it was His will to send out spies. There is a little twist to God’s response: “Send thou men…” Between the words shalach – send and ‘enashim – men is the word laka. The word ‘enasim is not the usual word for man which is ish. ‘Enashim is a word for mankind or natural, physical man. The word ish, your common word for man and can reference the physical and/or the spiritual man. “Enashim is strictly the flesh, natural man, his own desires and will. In other words, send men out to decide what their will is in this matter.
You see that little word following shalach,- send is in a construct form to the word laka. which means for yourself. I have read this verse in 27 different translations and only three actually translate the word laka. Twenty four of the twenty-seven translations totally ignore the word laka. I don’t blame them. I mean doesn’t it sound a bit redundant to say; “Send for yourselves men?” Or does it?
The Jewish sages think it is not redundant. They saw great significance in that word laka and so do I for that matter, a real lesson for us Christians today. What God is saying to Moses, “It is time for you to make a decision. I have proven over and over that I am with you, that I keep my promises and that I would protect you against overwhelming odds. Now you decide, do you need to see the opposition you will face in the Promise Land before you attempt to conquer it? Do you really need to reassure yourself that you are strong enough or are you ready to just trust me in blind faith that no matter what lies ahead I am there with you? Moses, if you send out spies, you are doing it for yourselves, not me. I know what awaits you in that land and I have already given you the victory. But Moses I have given you and the people a free will, you do what you want. But don’t send out spies in my name, do it for yourself, and then decided what to do? Send out spies from the leadership of each tribe. Find out if my people are my sheep who follow me as their shepherd or they follow their human leadership as their shepherd.
You know the rest of the story, Moses sent out twelve spies who returned. They had proof of what a fertile land it was but also a story of giants and advised “their sheep” make a be line back to Egypt. Only two spies said: “Giants, smiants, God gave us this land, let’s go get ‘em.” The result is that the people were not mature enough to know God’s will and trusted their leaders who were human and capable of missing God’s will. Of course, they did not have the faith to enter the land. So God caused them to spend 40 years wandering the desert until a new generation grew up that had the faith to enter the land and trust God for victory when facing overwhelming odds.
“The sending of the spies represented the critically important ability of the Jewish people to decide that they wanted to enter the land, not because of a commandment alone, but because their own will and desire directed them to do so.” Rabbi Menachem Feldman
Maybe this time of quarantine was time for God to teach Christians who have reached maturity to depend upon Him alone and to discover God’s desires on their own and not that which is dictated by human instruments.
God allowed Moses to make a decision on his own. Ok, it was a bad decision, but at least God allowed Moses to fail in order to learn a lesson. The people, listened to a human voice believed it rather than the revelation God gave them and decided not to enter the land. None paid any attention to God’s faithfulness in the past.
Have you noticed that you don’t seem to get the signs and wonders you first got when you were saved? Maybe it is because you have drawn away from God, in fact, it might be the opposite, it might be a sign that you have matured to the point where God is going to let you chose your own path because you have walked through the desert, you have seen the faithfulness of God and now you are ready to make your own decision, to grow up and choose that path God laid out for you. Let it be your decision not only His.
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