Welcome to Torah portion Shelach
Shelach means Send
Scripture passage: Numbers 13:1-15:41
Read Aloud from My First Torah
YHVH had the people send twelve spies into the Promised Land, one from each tribe.
They were told to go up into the hills.
They needed to find out what the land was like, where the people lived and how well the cities were protected.
They spied in the land for forty days and brought back a cluster of grapes so big that it had to be carried on a pole.
When they returned to camp, they gave a report.
The land was beautiful, flowing with milk and honey, and filled with fruit.
But, the people there were giants and the cities were well protected.
Caleb encouraged the people to rise up and take the land!
But the other spies became fearful and claimed that they looked like grasshoppers next to the people of the land.
They gave the people a bad report.
All the people got very upset and wept all night long.
They were afraid to go into the land and wished that they had stayed in Egypt.
Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones brave enough to go into the land.
They tried to encourage the people.
They knew that YHVH would be with them if they trusted and obeyed.
They told the people to not give in to fear.
But the people were ready to throw stones at them!
YHVH was ready to wipe the people out and begin again with Moses.
But Moses prayed for the people.
He reminded YHVH how the other countries would hear of it, and think that YHVH wasn’t strong enough to take the Children of Israel into the land.
He begged YHVH to forgive the people.
YHVH heard Moses and He did forgive the people.
But, since they refused to trust Him, they would be punished.
All the people, twenty years old and up, would wander in the wilderness.
They would wander for forty years, the same as the number of days the spies were in the land.
They would all die and not be allowed to go to the Promised Land.
Only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed because they believed YHVH and showed great courage.
All the children would grow up and go into the land.
This was heartbreaking news for all the people.
They were now ready to obey YHVH and go into the land.
But YHVH had already decided their punishment.
It was too late.
They set out the very next morning to take the land.
But YHVH was not with them, and they came back defeated.
YHVH began to restore the people to Him by reminding them of the offerings for sin.
He told them to make tassels with a thread of blue.
They were to attach the tassels to the corner of their clothes to remind them to obey.
In the middle of all this, they found a man collecting sticks on the Sabbath.
They didn’t know what to do with him, so they asked YHVH.
He told them to stone the man, and they did.
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Suggested Activities
Copywork passage: Numbers 14:6-9
Tracing copywork book for all the Torah portions
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Torah together – small group Bible study for each portion, also suitable for families with older children
Lessons in Yeshua’s Torah – a book packed with activities for each Torah portion (affiliate link)
Morah, Morah, teach me Torah – a book written to help you teach preschool children (affiliate link)
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