Hebrew Word Study – Explore – Tor – Taw Vav Resh

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.”

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I looked at thirty-five modern English translations of this verse and all but five ignored the preposition and pronoun leka which means for yourself.  Most all your translations say: “Send out mem and spy, explore or search out the land.” The word for spy, explore or search in Hebrew is tor which is just investigating and gathering information.  It could be gathering information for a military operation, hence the use of the word spy, or it could just be to explore like Lewis and Clark. They were not spying but exploring the new land. The context seems to suggest both.

My question is why did God tell Moses to send out spies or explorers? In fact, the word send shalach is in an imperative form, that is a command.  Did God need human eyes and ears to determine if the promised land was indeed a land of milk and honey and if the inhabitants were strong or weak?  Didn’t He know this already? I asked my professors in Bible College and seminary this question and they usually answered it was for the sake of the people to confirm what God told them, that is that the land was a land of milk and honey and that the people could be conquered. Some said it was to test their faith. 

I accepted the explanation that it was to test the people’s faith and they flunked the test. Once they saw the giants and, as we read in Numbers 13:32 we learn that it was a land that devours or consumes the people.  In other words, for a long time, the children of Israel were fed by God. They got manna from heaven every day and if they needed water, God provided that as well. They had a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to shelter them and protect them from the hazards of the desert.  Life was pretty sedate for the people. But now if they entered this land the welfare checks dry up, Section 9 is revoked and they would be forced to earn their living. They saw the labor of the people to cultivate their crops and care for their livestock.  This was a forty-day excursion and during that time they observed the people getting up early to feed and tend their livestock and then go out into a field and do backbreaking work from sun up to sun down. On second thought, maybe it was not such a good idea to go into the promised land.

If this is why God commanded the spies be sent out, it sounds like a setup to me. That little word, ignored by translators, leka gives us great insight.  It is Lamed which means for and a Kap qammets which is the pronoun your.  In other words what most translations leave out is God saying: “Send, for yourself, spies.”  Now it is not so much God sending out the spies but God agreeing with a request to send out spies.  Most Jewish commentators agree that God’s perfect Divine will be for the people to believe Him when He said it was a land of milk and honey and that He would protect them and give them great victories in the promised land.  God clearly promised this land to the people and the people were taught from childhood about the promised land and that a day would come when a leader would arise to lead them back to reclaim their land.

Now when they are about to approach their destination and fulfillment of a promise that they carried while in Egypt for 200 years, they begin to question the real value of this promise and approached Moses to choose one leader from each tribe to scout out the land, bring back a report with a recommendation to either enter the land or not. God simply allowed this but it was His permissive will not His perfect will. Most of us tend to live in God’s permissive.  Sure He continues to bless us, and hear our prayers just like He did with Israel for their forty years of wandering outside the promised land, but they did not enjoy the promised land which was God’s perfect will. 

The verdict was now in and the majority of scouts voted thumbs down and the people were ready to abide by the advice of twelve men and not the promise of God. 

But once they slept on their decision they got together and felt they were wrong and that it was a good idea to go into the land. Moses, however, said: “Too late, you had your chance. You can try to take the land but be warned, God will not be with you.” Well, once again they ignored Moses and took off to take the land. But they were no longer in God’s perfect will, they were operating in his permissive will which did not include the promised land. Thus they were severely beaten back with many casualties. They were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years in God’s permissive until a new generation who could trust God would arise to carry out God’s perfect will. 

Many times we feel God leading us and we hesitate. We want a sign to assure us of God’s leading.  God is saying, however, “Just trust Me.”  But we want a sign. We get what we think is a sign but signs are also not any more clear cut than our initial leading by God. The problem is that we may, like Israel, read the signs wrong.  Rather than say; “Wow, look at those giants, wait till God gets a hold of them.” We say; “Hoo boy, giants, we’re doomed.” After we do hesitate and back out we may end up with second thoughts and say; “Maybe, this is worth a shot, ok, I am going to trust God.” But then it is too late. Here is the scary part. When we make our decision we move from God’s perfect will to His permissive and it may be too late to get back into God’s perfect will.   If we have to hesitate, our faith is not yet strong enough for the task and God may have to send us back to the school of faith.  We may make that move but we will fall flat on our faces. Or worse yet, just as God gave the promised land to another generation, God may give his promise to someone else. Not that God breaks His promise to us, but that we do not meet His condition of faith to receive that promise. We got scared off by the giants Which we would know nothing about if we just went into the promise without seeking a sign, just going in faith. 

How many times have I heard Christians say; “Had I known what I was getting myself into, I would have decided differently. However, I am glad I did not know and went ahead because God knew what was out there I got to see God work his miracles.”

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