37 SHLACH L'KHA (send on your behalf); Num 13-15, John 7&8

[Bruce Bertram]

This is the section of the Word that tells us of the initial foray into the promised Land of Canaan by the 12 spies from Israel. At God’s direction Israel selects 12 men, one from each tribe, and sends them to reconnoiter Canaan. The twelve spend 40 days doing so, and bring back some of the produce, particularly a cluster of grapes that has to be carried on a pole between two men. The men confirm that the Land is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and is very rich. But they also report that the inhabitants are large and numerous and live in fortified cites, and that by comparison the people of Israel are like grasshoppers and will be defeated if they attempt to take the Land as God instructed. Caleb disagrees and tries to tell the people that they can take ‘em. The people decide to believe the 10, and start crying and making plans to appoint a new leader and go back to Israel.

While Aaron and Moses beseech the Lord, Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes and try to convince the people that the Canaanites are no match for God and Israel because God has removed their protection. However, the people do not listen and some agitate for stoning Caleb and Joshua, when suddenly the glory of the Lord appears at the Tabernacle and speaks to Moses. God’s new plan is to destroy Israel and make a nation out of Moses. But Moses intercedes for the people, and asks God to forgive them for the sake of God’s own reputation and glory. God accedes to the request of Moses and does not destroy Israel, but assigns them the penalty of wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, a year for each day the spies were in the Land. They are to wander until the rebellious generation of people over the age of 20 is dead, except for Caleb and Joshua. The ten spies who gave a bad report died of the plague from the Lord. God orders the people to turn around and head for the Red Sea, but the people get upset at this sentence and decide to try and battle some of the Canaanites on their own. Moses warns them not to, but they try anyway, even though they don’t have the Ark. Unfortunately they are soundly defeated and driven back to the wilderness.

Numbers Chapter 15 starts of with sort of a promise, in that God continues to give regulations for the eventual entry of Israel into the Land of Canaan. When making burnt or peace offering, various animals are to have portions of grain and wine that go along with them, and a small cake is to be offered to God from the first of the seasonal dough. There is also a reminder that the laws will be the same for native Israelites as well as ‘sojourners’ or non-Israelites who live within Israel.

15‘As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the LORD. 16‘There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.’ ” (Numbers 15:15-16 NASB95)

Two sacrifices are specified for unintentional breaking of the commands, one for the nation and one for an individual. But a person who breaks a command defiantly will be cut off. In the middle of these instructions, a man is found gathering wood on the Sabbath. He is arrested and brought before Moses, who asks the Lord what to do with him. God orders execution, which is accomplished through stoning. The chapter wraps up with the command to wear tassels on the four corners of their garments, with a thread of blue in each tassel on the corners, to remember God’s commands and follow them, because “I am the Lord your God.”

Jesus in John chapter seven is avoiding Judea and Jerusalem because of the death plots against Him. His brothers urge Him to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths and to show Himself to the people. Jesus declines because it is not the right time, then after a short delay secretly goes to Jerusalem and shows up at the Temple teaching again. He teaches about His message coming from the ‘one who sent Him.’

16So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17“If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 18“He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. 19“Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” (John 7:16-19 NASB95)

He continues to point out how a child is circumcised on a Sabbath if needed to avoid breaking a command, so why would a healing be any different? He also says to judge with righteous judgment and not according to appearances. The people wonder why the authorities haven’t moved in to arrest Jesus, and think that perhaps the leaders have concluded that Jesus is the Messiah. There is debate back and forth over whether Jesus is The Prophet (like Moses) or a good man, or what. Some of the debate centers around Jesus’ origins and lineage, and some centers around His works. The religious leaders send guards to arrest Jesus, but they can’t follow through with the task because of what He is teaching and doing. The debate concludes for the leaders when they declare that since Jesus is from the Galilee area He can’t possibly be the Messiah.

A test is given to Jesus in chapter 8 when a woman ‘caught in the act of adultery’ is brought before Him. Jesus, in between writing in the dust several times, says that “he who is without sin” should cast the first stone. Apparently, between the writing and the admonition, no one can cast a stone and they all leave. Jesus tells the woman that since no one else accuses her then He doesn’t either, and that she should go and sin no more. Later, as Jesus is teaching in the Temple treasury, He speaks of being the Light of the World, and that there is testimony supporting this from Jesus Himself and the Father. The religious leaders think that His self-testimony isn’t true, but Jesus says that it is. Jesus further states that the leaders do not know the Father, and that Jesus will be returning to where He came from soon but the leaders will not be able to follow. Jesus further states that unless a person believes that ‘I am’ he will die in his sins. After Jesus says that if a person ‘continues in my word’ then he will know the truth and the truth will make that person free, some people object that they are sons of Abraham and are free already. But Jesus says that people who sin are slaves to sin, and a slave doesn’t stay in the household forever, but a son does. People who don’t do what Jesus says (and prove it by seeking to kill Him) not only don’t know the Father but the Word of the Father has no place in them. They are of their father the devil, because they do not do the works of the Father or of Abraham. If they were of Abraham they would love Jesus, but instead they are trying to kill Him. The Jews think Jesus must have a demon, but Jesus says that whoever keeps Jesus’ word will not see death because ‘before Abraham was I am.’ This is the last straw for some and they pick up stones to kill Him, but Jesus disappears.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

In the ‘50’s and ‘60’s there were radio shows and a TV show called Dragnet. The TV show in the late ‘60’s starred Jack Webb and Harry Morgan as two police detectives who went around solving crimes. Jack, the lead actor, as Detective Joe Friday, would sometimes say, “All we want are the facts” or something like it, usually when the person he was questioning ventured into personal opinion. Later, “Just the facts” (which really came from a parody of the show) became a tag line of fond remembrance, but it is also a good tag line for the events of Numbers 13.

After the 12 spies are appointed and return from their mission to reconnoiter the Land promised to Israel, they give a report that is loaded with personal opinion in addition to ‘just the facts.’ What they were asked to do was provide information of what was there.

18“See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. 19“How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they like open camps or with fortifications? 20“How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. (Numbers 13:18-20 NASB95)

What they did was deviate from the facts and venture into personal opinion.

31But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” 32So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. 33“There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:31-33 NASB95)

It wasn’t as though God didn’t know what was going on in the Land. The purpose for sending in the spies was not to tell God what was going on, but to test the people concerning their determination to follow God in spite of the (visible) facts. Heart conditions were revealed when the people gave in to fear by believing only the testimony of ten of the spies and also by wanting to stone the two who were speaking in favor of God’s plan (Caleb and Joshua).

Jesus deals with the facts of the Law in John 7 and 8, sort of like Joe Friday in Dragnet. If you read between the lines it is almost as if you can hear Jesus saying, “Just the facts.”

24“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (John 7:24 NASB95)

Judging by appearance was what the spies did in Numbers and the religious leaders were doing according to the testimony of John. Jesus says instead to use “righteous judgment,” which would be according to God’s Words. He demonstrates this by the court case of John 8:1-11, where the accusers are shown not to be judging according to Torah but judging according to appearance. The ‘facts’ have to include what God says, because everything God says is a fact. Torah is a fact. God told Israel in Exodus and Numbers that they were going into a land of “milk and honey,” to trust Him, and He would lead them there. He had performed many miraculous signs to prove His power to do what He said, and ten times (Numbers 14:22) they grumbled and turned back from following. Jesus performed many signs also, and instead of following Israel fell into their old ways of grumbling and refusal to live according to His facts.

God’s Word is factual; it is truth. Knowing and trusting that truth helps to judge righteously, and frees us from slavery to wrongdoing. Sticking with His Word, without putting words in His mouth, is the key to freedom.

31So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32 NASB95)

We are sold into slavery every time we embellish God’s Word with our own.

The facts of Jesus’ time were that Jesus was from God and did things only someone with God’s power could do. God did certain signs that showed who He was, that His word could be counted on as truth, and that He would do what He said.

11The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? (Numbers 14:11 NASB95)

Jesus did the same thing, and leads many into the Promised Land even now, but because of the slavish tendency to reject God’s Words and embellish them with opinions the religious leaders spurned God so thoroughly that they eventually killed His Son and denied themselves entry. Again.

The spies didn’t stick with the facts, they had to editorialize and add their personal opinions. The religious leaders of Jesus’ time couldn’t stay away from editorializing also; misinterpreting what God said in His word and the signs Jesus did right in front of them. If a person claims Abraham as a father, then they do the things Abraham did. We are faced with a similar choice. Stick with the facts of His Word, believe the signs He has given, and trust Him, just like Abraham. When we add personal opinion to what God says, all too often we end up spurning Him. If we stick with His facts, judge according to the truth, with righteous judgment, we live full lives of freedom as if we were already in God’s resting place.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Numbers 13:1 - 15:41; Joshua 2:1-24; John 7 and 8; Hebrews 3:7-19
(Edited slightly from the book Whole Bible Christianity by me. See also The Adulterous Woman at http://www.wholebible.com)

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7, ESV)

Some people think this story (John 7:53-8:11) wasn’t in the original manuscripts. Some think it is true even if not in the original. I don’t think it matters, because understood in the context of the rest of the Bible it still fits in with all the other teachings of Jesus.

Did Jesus nullify the Law, as the church teaches? Or is there more going on? Did Jesus say, “No one can judge anyone else because everyone has sin?” If He did, does that mean that each person has the right to do ‘whatever is right in their own eyes?’ I say no, and I think the scriptural position is also no. There is more going on here than is apparent, especially if we don’t know the Law.

The only fact of the case given to Jesus was that the woman was caught in the act of adultery. This means having sex with a man who was not her husband. If she was “caught in the very act,” isn’t there a party to the proceedings that is missing? Like, hello, the man? Shouldn’t he have been part of the festivities?

“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her. “If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days. (Deuteronomy 22:22–29, ESV)

In fact, it was par for the course for leaders to blame the woman only. In many cultures even today the woman is blamed for ‘provoking’ men to lust. This is false. Men lust all by themselves (see People Husbandry Through The Word at http://www.wholebible.com). Sure, a woman should be modest, and if ‘caught in the act’ should be punished right along with her partner. But in this case, that wasn’t happening as it should.

Two or more witnesses are required for any offense, especially any capital offense, and they are not supposed to bear false witness.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16, ESV. See also Deuteronomy 5:20.)

“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. (Exodus 23:1, ESV)

Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. (Exodus 23:7, ESV)

“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (Deuteronomy 19:15–21, ESV)

If they did, they got the same punishment as the accused would’ve gotten (Exodus 21:14, Leviticus 24:19; and Deuteronomy 19:18-19). The witnesses are also supposed to be the first to cast stones after a conviction is legally (according to Torah) obtained. So if they were legally correct, Jesus says go for it.

This is the main reason why Jesus says, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” Since the man was missing, and since ‘caught in the act’ is a little suspicious unless the two had sold tickets, then the testimony was very likely false. If there were ‘witnesses’ to ‘the very act,’ then their first act was to stop it. Instead, they grab the woman only and take her to a kangaroo court.

1“You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. (Exodus 23:1 NASB95)

6“On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7“The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 17:6-7 NASB95. See also Numbers 35:30)

The issue was equal justice according to Torah. It wasn’t to shove the Law out of the way. Speaking of kangaroos, it doesn’t appear that the court here had been convened according to Torah, and they are being way too quick in jumping to a conclusion. There are elders that are supposed to judge these matters. The mob might have been a group of elders, but doesn’t seem like it from the text.

Even if it was, they would have to be the elders designated for hearing cases, not just any person walking by on the street.

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:15–18, ESV)

We are also not privy to other factors. Were the alleged adulterers caught in the city, or in the country? Was she a virgin? Did she fight or cry out? But Jesus, in a masterful stroke, gathers all of these questions together with one statement, “He who is without sin.” In other words, if you’ve followed Torah, start chucking.

Obviously, there were lots of Torah sections ignored by the accusers, many of which were even more important than the issue of adultery. No one in the mob was following the Law; they were acting on their own. This is also against the Law.

It wasn’t that Jesus was being all that sympathetic to the woman. He wasn’t thinking of some lame idea that ‘we all sin’ so she couldn’t be punished. Of course she could’ve been punished, if in fact justice (following Torah) were the issue. She was evidently guilty. But there was enough doubt that capital punishment couldn’t be administered according to the Word of God.

Justice obviously wasn’t a concern of the mob. Due to the number of laws broken, the statement of Jesus brought everyone up short. If they had kept going, they would have been subject to the death penalty also. That is why the mob backs off.

In all this, did you note that Jesus never said, “Don’t worry about this, the Law is going away?” Not once. In fact, He used the Law over and over in order to correct the false teachings. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just wave His magic wand and make it all go away? Easier, perhaps. Instead, He kept going back to what God had been saying all along.

Many other examples of Jesus fulfilling the Law revolve around traditions, not the Law itself. Plucking heads of grain (Matthew 12; Mark 2; Luke 6) was allowed (Deuteronomy 23:24, 25) because making a meal was allowed on Sabbath (Exodus 16:25). The leaders had wrongly classified plucking grain as work, which was banned on Sabbath.

Healing on the Sabbath (Matthew 12; Mark 3; Luke 6, 13, 14; John 5) and eating with unwashed hands (Matthew 15; Mark 7) were never banned by God. (See also The Heart of the New Covenant on the subject of clean and unclean in Chapter 10.)

The rabbi’s, for the sake of their authority, set aside God’s Word on a regular basis. These rulings were now a heavy yoke. In contrast, the yoke of Jesus, which is His Law, is light and easy.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30, ESV)

Shalom
Bruce