The Jerusalem Prayer List – 28 June, 2024
by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel
The reading on this Shabbat is called Shelach-Lecha.
From the Torah, we will be reading Numbers 13:1 – 15:41.
The Prophets (The Haftarah) is from the book of Joshua 2:1-24.
From the New Testament, we will be reading from Matthew 10:1-14.
This Torah portion is a pivotal point in the whole Torah. The text is complicated because it is unclear from the beginning of Numbers chapter 13 who ordered the 12 Israeli princes to spy or tour the land.
Faith in the Bible never means doctrine, theology, ideas, or theological interpretation of scriptures. Faith always implies trust, reliance on God, and a fearless attitude based on God's promises and relationship. Here are some interesting facts about the 12 princes of the tribes that were sent to tour, spy, and investigate the land; all of these word options are legitimate because of the confusion of who sent them and for what purpose these tribal leaders were sent. Here are the confusing texts:
"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them." So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel." (Numbers 13:1-3 NKJV)
"Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds;" (Numbers 13:17-19 NKJV)
Note that Moses's sending of the 12 princes of the tribes was much more detailed and a different mission from God's command in the first verses of chapter 13. In verses 17 – 19, the mission was expanded with the need to gather strategic information, not only if the land was good or bad but also if they had walled cities or camps and if the Canaanites in the land were strong or weak.
I am mentioning these differences to present the case that the men who went to spy on the land had unclear instructions. Were they intended to bring strategic military information, or were they to evaluate the land if it was good (agriculturally) or not? The confusion about the purpose of the mission of the 12 princes of the tribes caused the different reports and evaluations of the tribes to Moses.
"Then they told him, "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants), and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." (Numbers 13:27-33 NKJV)
We must remember that the 12 men traveled together, and they all saw the same thing and did their very best to report the truth. The land was rich and beautiful, but they saw strongholds and big (giants) and assessed themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of the Canaanites.
All the spies saw the same things: the land is a land of milk and honey. They even brought samples of the fertility of the land, such as good grapes and such big bunches of grapes that it took two of the men to carry these giant grape bunches and bring them to Moses.
Israel is still at war in the South, with Hamas in Gaza approaching a year of war that started on October 7th, 2023, and still bleeding with almost daily casualties of our men in uniform. In the northern Galilee, Hezbollah is bombing and sending explosive drones every day. Although the population of north Galilee and parts of the Golan Heights are evacuated southward and living in hotels, Israel is facing, in some ways, a similar dilemma. Can we enter a major war with such multiple arenas? We have the war in the South with Hamas, the war with Hamas and Fatah in Judea and Samaria in Judea and Samaria, in the North of the Galilee with Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran, and the potential war with Iran itself, that is already a nuclear power that most likely has at least some atomic bombs ready. In our government, several factions fight with each other and face the same dilemmas as the spies in our Torah portion!
The confusion started with Moses himself. He didn't command the spies with the word-for-word command that God gave him. He added elements of military intelligence, such as strategic information about the defenses of the Canaanites' cities and fortifications. The 12 spies sent were asked for one kind of information, and ten came back with a report assessing the enemy, themselves, and all of Israel. After more than two years of crossing the Sinai Desert, drinking water from the Rock, and eating Manna from heaven, and after crossing the Red Sea on dry ground, the Ten came back with a discouraging report that didn't take God into account at all!
All twelve spies agreed that the land was indeed fruitful, "flowing with milk and honey," and they brought back samples of its produce. Ten spies reported that the land's inhabitants were powerful, and the cities were fortified and large. They also described the people as giants, forgetting what God has done for them in the Exodus from Egypt, forgetting the power of God demonstrated with the ten plagues on the Egyptians. The ten spies said, "We, God's people, Israel, are like grasshoppers compared to the Canaanites that inhabit the land."
The report of the ten spies graded themselves and their enemy but also gave a grade to God. They concluded that conquering the land was impossible. Their short memory of God's great and mighty works for them in Egypt, the dramatic delivery out of slavery, and the passing of the sea on dry land, all these wonders and daily miracles didn't mean a thing to those ten spies, noble princes of Israel. When they came back with samples of the bounty of the land of Canaan and the report of fortified cities, they diminished God's ability to help them conquer the land of Canaan and demoralize all the people of Israel.
The redemptive difference was that two spies with different experiences from the day of the exodus from Egypt demonstrated different attitudes. Caleb and Joshua came back from their mission to tour and assess the land of Canaan with a different Report from that of the ten spies that came back to Moses with their tails between their legs: Caleb and Joshua did not forget the experiences of Israel since leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea on dry land, and eating Manna from heaven every day and drinking water from the Rock (Already in Exodus chapter 17). These two men, who were close to Moses even before this mission, encouraged the people, expressing confidence in God and His faithfulness in keeping His promises to Moses and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These two men never forgot God's help to take them out of Egypt and to see Pharaoh's army drowning in the Red Sea. These two men returned with a positive report. We can do it! With God's help, we can take possession of the land given to our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!
The sin of the ten spies was simply a weak memory. They forgot what they experienced in Egypt, the ten plagues that ended with the death of the firstborn Egyptians and their release from slavery. It was the sin of weakness and lack of faith in a God who demonstrated His power and faithfulness to Moses and Israel so clearly and universally.
I have seen this lack of faith since October 7th, 2023, among members of the Israeli government and even in some of the veterans of Israel's wars of the last 50 years of our existence; wars fought against all odds in this land between the river and the sea, a land that was promised and given and taken back and given again and with thousands of years of experience demonstrating God's faithfulness.
The majority of the 12 princes of Israel, ten out of twelve, came back with adverse reports, not only about the pagan inhabitants of the land given to our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their dependents as an everlasting possession but also about God and His ability to deliver His promises to Moses and all of the Israelites. The sin of the ten spies is a firework-type demonstration of lack of faith in God's faithfulness and repeated examples of His power and faithfulness to Moses and all of Israel.
I must confess, dear brothers and sisters, that since the war in Gaza started, I have seen and experienced up close the same type of phenomenon as in the Torah reading of this upcoming Shabbat among a large number of people in the land of Israel. Israelis have forgotten where they came from and how blessed they are in the land of Israel despite the horrors of October 7th, 2023, and the non-human demonic hate and behavior of our enemies. Despite witnessing numerous miracles, including the parting of the Red Sea and the provision of Manna, they doubt God's ability to fulfill His promise to give them the land of Canaan. The sin of lack of faith cost Israel thirty-eight more years of wandering in the Sinai Desert. Thirty-eight more years in the Sinai College of Hard Knocks. After thirty-eight more years of eating Manna, they got tired of eating this food from heaven and wanted McDonald's, Hamburgers, and Coca-Cola.
You see, dear brothers and sisters, our weakness and short memory of all the blessings that God gave us as a nation and to Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry and the Roeh Israel Congregation over so many years must not cast a shadow on God's ability and faithfulness to keep His promises to us as individuals and also to us as an organization and a congregation and to all of Israel as a nation. We must not forget that God is faithful in all His ways and has never failed or deceived His people when he blessed or cursed us. God has always kept and will keep His promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, and David Ben-Gurion.
The ten spies did something that damaged the camp of Israel, the nation of Israel, so much that it took 38 years of wandering in the Sinai wilderness until all that generation that left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea on dry land died and was buried underneath the sands of the Sinai desert.
The report of the ten spies spread fear and discouragement among the people of God, those who were enslaved people in Egypt and were liberated by the mighty works of God and miracles. Their lack of trust in God's faithfulness, forgetting the mighty demonstrations of God's protection and feeding of the Manna from heaven and giving them water from the Rock, that followed them in the wilderness all through the desert (as Paul states in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and as Rabbinical Judaism holds that this Rock is the Messiah Himself). The report of the Ten Spies was 90% true, but their 10% false reports, fear, panic, and rebellion among the people was the sin that required God to delay the conquest of the land of Canaan by another 38 years.
That lack of trust that these ten spies and leaders spread among the people produced such sad weakness in the people of Israel that they cried out, lamenting that they would have been better off dying in Egypt or the wilderness. The worst part of their sin was contemplating removing Moses as a leader and choosing a new leader in Moses' place. The sin of the ten spies was serious because it was a rejection of God's plan, a demonstration of weakness, and a forgetting of all that God did for them through Moses. By doubting God's promise and plan, the spies and the Israelites were essentially rejecting God's faithfulness for all those years and His authority and leadership.
God's response to this act of rebellion was severe. Israel's unfaithfulness was, of course, a punishment. At the same time, the punishment became the cure and healing for Israel, preparing the nation for the significant task of dividing the land of Israel among the tribes and conquering the land from the Canaanite nations that inhabited the land. What God decreed is that the entire generation of Israelites who had rebelled would not enter the Land of Israel, including Moses himself! God sent all of Israel back to college to get a degree in wandering through the desolate, sandy, and rocky desert of Sinai.
I have had the opportunity to wander in the wilderness of Sinai several times, fortunately, not for forty years or even for forty days. The experiences were always educational. The first time was in 1969 with Dr. John McRay, Neil Christy, and Sam Alayan, my first Arab Muslim Friend from Elementary School in Jerusalem, who was also the first Muslim to become my brother in the faith. Every trip to the Sinai was an education. A trip to the Sinai or any desert teaches a person lessons on total reliance on the Almighty. My first experience on that trip was of four men: one Jew, Joseph, one Arab, Sam Alayan, and Two Gentile brothers, faithful and true friends. What do you think would happen on the first day driving an old VW van with no paved roads? Yes, it did happen! The VW Van got stuck in the sand. The wheels were a third deep in the soft sand of the Sinai desert. The more we tried to drive out, the deeper the wheels dug under the sand. Our first day in the Sinai desert was not far from the Biblical Kadesh Barnea. As the heat got hotter and we entered the early afternoon, there was no hope of getting out, and there was not much water to drink.
All four of us prayed and asked God for help. Sam Alayan keeps saying in Arabic, "Allah Akbar", Repeatedly non-stop. There is no shade on the horizon, and Dr. John McRay and Neil Christy are sitting on the sand (inside the VW Van, which was way too hot) with a cloth on their heads. I am not blessing but also not cursing God for putting us in that spot. I am just sad thinking about what is going to happen to me and the others and what is going to happen to my wife, who was pregnant and in the hospital in Tel Aviv. About 30 minutes after we prayed, I looked to the horizon and saw a black dot moving. The black dot got closer and closer. After about 20 minutes, we could distinguish that the black dot was an Arab desert dweller, a Bedouin. He walked right up to us and, wearing the black sheep wool Abayah (an Arab loose-fitting black housecoat kind of dress), The Bedouin asked in Arabic what the problem was, typically Middle Eastern, dear brothers and sisters! You had to be blind not to see what the problem was. But, out of pure desert courtesy, he asked. I told him you see, brother, we are stuck in the sands of the Sinai desert, and we have very little water and no way to dig ourselves out of this predicament.
The Bedouin smiled and said, no problem, I will get you out! But you will have to take me to my next stop. Wallah I said, we would be delighted to bring you in our can to your next place! He said I thank Allah in Arabic and took off walking into the desert in a different direction. All four of us, the Jew, the Arab, and two Americans, almost fainted thinking that this Bedouin was playing with us and just walked away. He walked about 100 meters away from us and returned with a bucket made from the rubber of an old truck tire. The bucket was full of water. He said wait, and walked away again. After about 30 minutes, he returned with several palm branches in his hands. He places the palm branches under the tires, pours water on them, and says in Arabic, "Drive!! Go!!"
Dr. John McRay gets in the driver's seat and turns on the key; the Bedouin says, "Shwaye Shwaye, go slow, very slow!" Dr. McRay lifts his foot off the brakes and presses the gas pedal, and the car moves forward. While the vehicle is moving slowly, the Arab Bedouin is first seated in the front seat of the VW Van, driving 90 kilometers = 60 miles in the desert with two Arabs, one Jew, and two Americans. The Sinai desert is a testing ground for all, and every desert is a testing ground for all. We drove for nearly three hours to get the Bedouin to his place and had a good time. We shared food, water, and cola with the Bedouin Arab. It was the first time that he ever had Coca-Cola! The miracle was that he said that when he goes to El-Arish, he would look for this better-than-coffee drink to take to his family! Yes, the desert is always a place of miracles and testing us to see what we are made from and who we are!
The question always comes up in Rabbinical discussions: Why did God punish all of Israel with such harsh punishment and prolong their days in the wilderness for another 38 years? God had a covenant with Israel. He gave Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses a contract with commitments on His and the Israelites' side. The covenant was explicit, and Moses, Aaron, and Israel committed at Mount Sinai to hear and obey God's covenant. God had repeatedly demonstrated His power and faithfulness. It was clear from the episode of the spies that Israel needed to learn that God is a loving and caring God and a faithful God to keep all his promises.
The covenant that God made with Israel was not a one-sided agreement. It was a two-sided covenant. God had demands upon the children of Israel, and He had committed to care for them and provide for them the land promised to their forefathers, from Abraham and repeated to Isaac, and repeated to Jacob, and repeated to all the children of Israel some 20 times in the five Books of Moses. You sign a contract, you commit to keeping it, and not keeping your part of any covenant (contract) will cost you, and with God, it was clear that that nation of enslaved people needed a little more schooling and a little more time to eat and breathe some hot desert sandy wind. Undermining God's Authority is not wise, especially in the wilderness.
It is never wise to undermine God, even if you are in your own home or mansion on top of a green hill surrounded by fruit trees and fountains of cool water. It is never wise to undermine God's Authority, which people of no faith and trust in God do often. In my observations for many years, the super religious "better than thou" types have little confidence in God and more faith in Benjamin Franklin's face on the $100 bill. God's authority is part of His plan for this earth and all its inhabitants. God is preparing us for eternity and a new heaven and earth, as Isaiah, the prophet, said around 800 B.C.E.
Before Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled, with similar mentions of the same type of prophecy in the book of Revelations, we might have to go back to school and learn what the children of Israel had to understand. It is never good to doubt or undermine God's plan for Israel and His world. God is very single-minded, and we humans can change His mind (but it is also never easy.) Having faith and trusting God is always the safest and the most pleasant thing to do! I wish I had done it more often! I hope you do, too!
"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. "No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed." (Isaiah 65:17-20 NKJV)
Please don't forget to help Netivyah International in our fight against antisemitism. It is an ancient plague that has brought calamity on the Jews and Israel, but also, or more so, on the antisemites themselves. Please visit our webpage, www.netivyahinternational.org, and learn about our initiative, which is still in its beginning stages, and help. No amount is too small or too big. We need to keep publishing material and begin organizing events in the churches of the United States and worldwide.
Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry in Israel is also doing an excellent job with our soldiers on the battlefields and with the Hamotzi food program. We are one body and one brotherhood with two organizations, focusing and using our strengths for various projects. Any contribution earmarked for our challenges and tremendous and vital ministries of the Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry in Israel or Netivyah International is highly appreciated and distributed as marked.
Anti Semitism is a growing plague in your backyards in Europe, the United States, and the world over. We have challenges that are, at times, more urgent and others that are more important. Netivyah is an organization born in Jerusalem that has expanded and is ministering globally. Please share the vision and projects of both organizations!
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We realize the prayer list is long. We have updated it and will continue to update it. These brother and sisters that need your prayers are encouraged by them. Your prayers are knocking on heavens door for healing and provision for mostly old brothers and sisters. Please consider time spent in prayer a way to bridge Geography time and space asking God to heal and bless these people who need our prayers.
Your prayers for brothers and sisters you don't know personally are pure love and building of the Body of the Messiah. It is Agape Love since you are doing this without any selfish interests and casting a vote in Heaven for someone who is your brother. Still, you don't know them, and God looks at these prayers that are unselfish and genuine expressions of love and care for another link in the long chain of love and faith that binds us together even though we might not know each other in this world.
When we all get to Heaven, it will be a joy to meet people we prayed for and sometimes even cried for. Brothers and sisters who are physically strangers but spiritually a part of the same body of Christ, I believe that one day we will have the privilege to sit together and share: "I remember praying for you to be healed!" "I remember praying for you to be safe when you were fighting in Gaza to free the hostages from the cruel hands of the terrorists of the Hamas in Gaza."
Pray for the following brothers and sisters who need divine grace and the gentle touch of the hand of God for healing and strength.
In Jerusalem:
update Joseph & Marcia Shulam
Your continued prayers for Joe and Marcias health are appreciated. They are both comfortable at home, The PET Scans last week did not show major changes. Additional test and scans for the will be scheduled for his Thyroid.
Ilana Ahijervie is a dear sister who is 98 years old and suffering from memory problems.
Please pray for our dear sister, Lea Kurkey.
new Daniel is back home in the hospital after have surgery for removing his GallBladder in France last week. Please pray for his recovery.
Pray for Adam's father and mother, Barry and Dalia. They have some health problems and challenges.
Pray for Hannah suffering from Migraine Headaches. Miriam is a dear sister old age dementia.
Pray for Daniel S. and his children.
Pray for Gary, our dear leader in the Ro'eh Israel congregation, and his health, as well as for his wife Melanie and their family.
Pray for Um Mahmud Abu-Eid, Jimmy Abu-Eid, and all of the family. This is a dear family of old friends that needs healing and wisdom for the children and for their work.
Please pray for the Romero family, who live deep in the Negev desert. It is hot there, and they are far from our congregation, and we miss them.
In the U.K.:
Pray for Deborah Isaiah. I pray for the Lord to find Deborah Isaiah and lead her to a blessed life, family, and a solution to her problems.
In Finland:
Mauno Lemponen has been diagnosed with cancer in advanced stages. We are asking for God's Will to be done, giving him healthy days with family—prayers for Hilka, Miika, and Ester, who support each other.
Pray for Keijo and Salme, our dear partners and fellow workers in God's flock. Both Keijo and Salme have some challenging heart issues.
Pray for Satu-Maria, Sinni Tuuli, Anne Mirjami, our dear sisters
Pray for Eva H., Patty, Andrea, Julia, Victor, Aaron Tani, and Hillel.
In Brazil:
update William Monteiro Alves was released from the hospital yesterday and is home now. Thanks for your prayers.
Gabriel Monteiro Alves & Lusinete de Oliveira are concerned for William Monteiro and are doing their best to cope with life, work and managing Lusiente’s health problems as well. Please pray for some relief.
Pray for the Congregations related to Netivyah in Brazil to have the strength and stamina to face the challenges ahead of them with courage and strength of faithfulness to the Lord and to the vision of the restoration of the church and Israel.
Pray for the millions of victims of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition who have been forced to convert to the Catholic church and now want to return home to the land of Israel and the faith of our fathers.
Pray for a dear young man, Paulo, from Curitiba, Brazil, who seriously needs our prayers for sanity and mental health.
Pray for a dear sister named Claudia Rita Souze Arau. She has cancer and needs God's healing hands to touch her with healing.
Pray for Fatima Maria Docarmo Guimararaes - pray for her health and her granddaughters' twin babies.
Guilherme Antonio Nothen Becker is suffering from back problems.
Aratuza de Oliveira and his wife. Pray for their 3-year-old child, Caique de Oliveira Becker, who has severe problems with his eyes, and ask the Lord to give healing to his eyes.
In Asia:
Pray for Pastor TJ in Taiwan.
Pray for Deborah Ruth, a dear sister from China.
Pray for Sister Yoko Nagumo in Japan.
Tony Tam, his wife Luisa, and his son Marco need special prayers for their situation.
We continue to pray for Zhou Wenrian, the Abe family, Toru San, Yumi Ohara, and her family: Deborah Ruth, Ayla, Daniel, and their daughter.
Pray for Dr. Song and his wife, Sister Harriet Kim and the KIBI Ministry.
In the United States of America:
Larry is asking for prayers for his grandchildren. I would say most of us that have grandchildren are concerned about the states of the world. The state of intolerance. The temptations out there. Please pray for the holy sprit to guide them in making good choices.
Bill C. is undergoing some additional consultation and planning for dealign with a new Cancer diagnonsis. Pray for Jill supporting him.
Please continue to pray for the daughter of Bill Culwell, who is sick with cancer and is receiving a new third round of treatment. Please pray for success and healing.
Brother Philip Slate and his wife. She is suffering from several physical and mental health challenges.
Barbra and Angie in Alaska. Barbra has some pains and discomfort related to old age. Please lift them in prayer for strength and reduction in pain.
Jonathan Bernis is in a long six-month recovery from a liver transplant. We thank God for this match. Please pray for this new liver to function and provide much-needed function. Please pray for Elisangela and the girls and the doctors and nurses attending our dear brother Jonathan Bernis.
Please pray for Danah, my daughter's health issues. I pray for the Lord to give Danah wisdom, peace, and calm in life and her work.
Aaron Hook, Nancy Hook's oldest son, needs our prayers for wisdom and healing from past life issues.
Lift for blessing and healing Jonathan B., his wife Aviva, their new baby, his mother, and his brother Daniel.
Pray for these important men of God: Rabbi Salt, his family, and Rabbi Hasselblad. They are both older and need protection and blessings.
Also, pray for Ilana Avramov, who is married to my cousin Nissim and lives in New York City. Ilana has fallen and is now in rehab, learning how to walk again. We pray for her full recovery. She and Nissim both need our prayers.
Pray for Steve Mock - His cognitive condition has declined, and we ask for the grace of God and His Healing and strength. Steve and Josie's son Joseph has received a wonderful and glorious report. After the last bone marrow transplant, the report is that the doctors didn't find any leukemia in his body! Praise the Lord!
I am asking for a special prayer for a dear brother and friend who is now doing very important work in a very dangerous and precarious part of the world. Just mention DadyLion in your prayers and ask for divine protection and angelic accompaniment for this man of God.
For updates or requests please email us at:Prayer@netivyahinternational.org