At one time or another, all of us have said, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” Did you know that it comes from as far back as 442 BCE, when it was first expressed by Sophocles? It was also part of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” (1598). It could have also come from Torah, in the Book of Numbers. In this week’s portion, messengers were charged to scout out the Promised Land and report back to the Israelites what they found there. All but two of the scouts came back and said, “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers. All the people that we saw in it are men of great size--and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them” (Numbers 13:32ff).
These messengers brought back a report that condemned the whole search process and doomed the faith of the people against their own hope and in God to deliver them there. In case you didn’t know, the ten men who failed in their duty to convey their faith in God’s ability to deliver the people, were killed by plague. I’m sorry to disappoint you. However, Joshua and Caleb stood out among the men who returned. They reported an encouraging outlook that upheld God’s sanctity and the people’s ambition to enter the Promised Land. Caleb said, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it” (Nu 13:30). Furthermore, Joshua and Caleb said to the people, “The land is exceedingly good; [it is] a land that flows with milk and honey…” (Nu 14:7-8).
Many conversations have taken place to assess whether the messengers were accurate but irresponsible, or if Joshua and Caleb were committing an early version of “bait and switch”? Do you think Joshua and Caleb were overstating their observations only to encourage the people forward? Do you think the other messengers were condemned too quickly for their accurate report? The fairest and most appropriate answer is often found somewhere in the middle. In this case, we also have to consider one more variable: God’s presence was at work in the Biblical account. Human fear and anxiety were real, but so was God’s promise to the people. With God’s faith in hand, so to speak, Joshua and Caleb were representing their claims truthfully. There was no stopping the people from entering and possessing the Land as long as God was with them, and God was.
Faith in God’s presence can make a difference in you, too. How many “Promised Lands” have you thought about entering in your lifetime? How many forks in the road have you encountered? You didn’t move forward because you thought you were doomed. You moved forward because you believed that that next step was going to be better than your alternatives. Perhaps you found your way because you believed that God would be with you there. Perhaps you found your way because you simply believed that you would be okay with your decision. Either way, somewhere down deep you hoped that you made the right choice. Both are connected to the faith we place in the “still, small voice” within us.
Next time you are at a fork in the road, don’t condemn the messenger; regard the still, small voice within you as a message that bears some truth. With faith, choose wisely and then say, as did Joshua and Caleb, “Let us by all means go up!”
From my desk to yours, Shabbat Shalom.
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