Shelach continued

Then two of the twelve (any guesses as to which two?) rent their clothes and said, The land is an exceedingly good land. And if the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Only don't rebel against the Lord and don't fear the people. They are our bread. Their protection has gone. The Lord is with us. Do not fear them.

A rousing speech of encouragement. What effect did it have on the congregation?

"And all the congregation bade stone them with stones." What should have encouraged the people and strengthened their hearts only made them furious. Having rejected God they would not be dissauded from their idea to return to Egypt. Woe betide any who would suggest otherwise. And who knows if the two courageous spies would have indeed been stoned? And what would have happened to Moses and Aaron?

But then....[Imagine if you will a choir singing from Handel's "Messiah"] "And the glory, the glory of the Lord, shall be revealed..."

For indeed the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. God is not pleased. The Israelites want to stone the only two people who were faithful and courageous? The only two who fulfilled Moses' command should be stoned? God forbid! And that's exactly what happened.

In fact, God is so incensed that He threatens to destroy the entire congregation. Hear now, the words of the Lord and tremble before Him all the earth.

"How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."

After all that God had done for them-the ten plagues, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, the manna, the water, the quail, the pillar of cloud and fire, the giving of the Torah-the people still grumble. They still complain. They are an ungrateful people. They are stiffnecked. Theyhave uncircumcised hearts. They still do not trust in God. With the attitude of 'what have you done for me lately?' the Israelites only see that God brought them to the edge of the Promised Land to be slaughtered by their enemies.

Instead of relying on the promise of God that they will inherit the land, terror and dread fill their hearts. We will die! Our children and wives will be spoils of war! Why couldn't we stay in Egypt? Why did we have to come out here? This generation is not readyto enter the Promised Land. A generation born in slavery has no concept of freedom. The people were taken out of Egypt, but Egypt was not takenout of the people.

And if that's how they want to be, if they want to reject God, then He will reject them. If they want no part of the inheritance of the Promised Land, then so be it. They want to be back in Egypt? God will destroy them with the pestilence. It will be as if they were still in Egypt. They reject the inheritence? God will disinherit them. And then every rabbi's dream (said tongue in cheeck of course), God will make a greater and mightier nation of Moses. Moses is called Moshe rabbenu (Moses our Rabbi). Every trial and tribulation the rabbis faced was borne by Moses. The offer to be rid of an unruly and ungrateful congregation and to start over with a brand new one modeled after the rabbi himself, what could be more tempting? But, Moses does not take God up on His offer.

Moses our rabbi, is also Moses our defense attorney. Knowing full well that God is jealous for His honor and glory and reputation, Moses gives an impassioned and inspired plea for God's forgiveness. (See also Moses' plea to God afterthe incident with the golden calf-Exodus 32:11-14.)

"Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people; that You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, 'Because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.' And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, "The Lord is long suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, vising the inquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.'

What will Egypt say? What will the nations say? What about Your promise to Israel? Let your power be great and show mercy.

Egypt, and other nations, believed in local gods. Their gods could wield power in their respective spheres. But outside of their land,then the god of another people took over. If the Israelites' God could wreak havoc in Egypt, then He was stronger than Pharaoh, no doubt, but what about His power in the wilderness? There, it is for naught. He atually cannot do what He promised. Why then should the other nations fear the Lord? Why should the Israelites be able to take the Promised Land if You are powerless to bring them in?

God swore on oath to give the land of Israel to Abraham and hisdescendants. It is not on account of the Isrealites' righteousness or merit that they get to inherit the land. It is because God loved their fathers and is faithful to fulfill His promises. But if He decides not to bring the Israelites in, then what of His great promises? Why should He be feared and worshipped if He cannot make good on His promises?

And lastly, Moses makes a plea for God's mercy. And Moses says, "letthe power of my Lord be great." Sometimes, showing mercy can be seen as weakness. And sometimes it takes great strength to be merciful. Here, Moses is saying that mercy on God's part would be a tremendous display of power. As justified as God would be in destroying this wicked and rebellious people, it shows even greater strength to let mercy overcome justice. Moses quotes God's own words back to Him. These are words that God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai after the incident of the golden calf. See Exodus 34:6-7. Remember, Lord, how You said that You are merciful and compassionate and long suffering and forgiving of iniquity,transgression and sin.

The last line of Moses' closing argument is: "Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." Numbers14:19 And the Lord said, "I have pardoned, according to your word." Numbers 14:20.These two verses are part of the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) worship service. It's pretty powerful stuff.

To be continued...