Parashat Shelach-Lekha

Parashat Shelach-Lekha

Sivan 26, 5772 ~ June 16, 2012

by Marshall Schwartz

This week's parsha, Shelach-Lekha, begins with the story of the twelve spies sent across the Jordan to investigate the Land of Israel.  Actually, we are presented with only part of the story here – more details are provided at the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy.  Further, our haftarah relates the story of the second time spies were sent into Eretz Yisrael, this time by Joshua.   Comparing the differences among the three tales can be quite informative.

“Send for yourself men to spy out the Land of Canaan,” Hashem instructs Moshe at the start of this parsha – or, as Rashi explains, “not for me”, but if you want to, then go ahead.  A simple reading of the text would seem to indicate that this idea originated with Hashem.  It's not until the next book of the Torah that we get the full story, as Moses begins his final instructions to B'nei Yisrael:

All of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us, and let them spy out the land, and bring word back to us: the road on which we should ascend, and the cities to which we should come.”  The idea was good in my eyes, so I took from you twelve men, one man for each tribe.”  [Deut. 1:22-23]

Only here do we learn that the impetus for sending spies came from the people themselves – not from Hashem, and not even from Moshe.  But Moshe takes their proposal and subtly modifies it in two important ways.  First, Moshe himself selects the spies – unwilling to follow B'nei Yisrael's request to “let us send men ahead of us”, lest they choose individuals of weak character who, out of fear, might bring back a less-than-glowing report about the land that Hashem had promised would be “flowing with milk and honey”.   Secondly, while the people had wanted only a report of information important to their impending military campaign, Moshe expands the scope of the mission:

See the land – how is it?  And the people that dwell in it – are they strong or weak?  Few or numerous?  And how is the land in which they well – is it good or bad?  And how are the cities in which they dwell – are they open or are they fortified?  And how is the land – is it fertile, or is it lean?  Are there trees in it or not?  You shall strengthen yourselves and take from the fruit of the land.  [Num. 13:18-20]

Gathering military information before battle is standard procedure – Joshua does it (as related in our haftarah), and Moshe himself does the same just two parshiot from now, when “Moshe sent [men] to spy out Jazer”  [Num. 21:32].  But what Moshe adds to the spies' task is decidedly non-military – he requests a report on the fertility, the bounty of Eretz Yisrael, so that the wavering, spiritually-weak tribes would be heartened by a report confirming Hashem's promise. 

         

But Moshe's hopes are soon dashed.   When the spies return, they show the assembled B'nei Yisrael the magnificent produce they brought back with them, and inform  Moshe that Eretz Yisrael  indeed “flows with milk and honey”.  This is what Moshe expected to here.  Immediately, however, dark clouds cover this picture, as the spies turn to military matters:  “The people that dwells in the land is powerful, the cities are fortified and very great, and we also saw there the offspring of the giants [yelidei ha'anak].  Amalek dwells in the south; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites dwell on the mountain, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and on the bank of the Jordan” [Num. 13:28-29]. 

All of these statements properly fulfill the spies' mission, as given to them by Moshe.  Then Caleb, dismayed by the negative review the other spies have given about the strength of the people that Israel is supposed to conquer,  asserts himself and declares, “We shall surely ascend and conquer it, for we can surely do it!” [Num. 13:30].   And that's when the rest of the meraglim (except for Joshua) exceed their mandate, departing from a straightforward reconnaissance report to instead pour out all their fears and lack of faith in Hashem's promises:

“We cannot ascend to that people, because they are stronger than us!”  They brought forth to B'nei Yisrael an evil report (dibat) on the land they had reconnoitered, saying, “The land through which we passed, to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants!  All the people that we saw in it were huge! There we saw the Nephilim...; we were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes! [Num. 13:31-33]

This was the true sin of the ten spies (and of the mass of Israelites who believed their self-debasing report):  They rejected Hashem and the land he had promised to them, overwhelmed by the fears and sense of powerlessness wrought by centuries of slavery in Egypt. They are so distraught that they declare, “Our wives and our young children will be taken captive.  Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?...  Let us appoint a leader and let us return to Egypt!” [Num 14:3-4]  For this rejection, Hashem imposed the severe punishment of barring their entry into Eretz Yisrael – only their descendants, those younger than 20, plus Caleb and Joshua, would inherit the land.

When told of Hashem's decree against them, the people repent, and in the morning they declare themselves ready to march onward and conquer the land.  They persist in this design even after Moshe tells them that they will fail utterly, because Hashem is not with them and this effort transgresses Hashem's command.   Only after they suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the Amalekites and Canaanites do they desist.  Only then have they learned the lesson that without Hashem's assistance they are indeed powerless, but with his help they can conquer all, even “giants”.

Joshua has kept silent during this confrontation.  [Some midrashim suggest that this was a deliberate plan, that Joshua expected that, after Caleb's outburst, the other spies would turn to him – as Moshe's long-time aide de camp – for support, whereupon he would win the day by announcing his complete agreement with Caleb.  But the opportunity never came.]  But he learned an important lesson from this incident.  When faced with the task of conquering Jericho, as related in our haftarah, there is no public selection of men to reconnoiter.  Without fanfare, Joshua selects two men (according midrash, Caleb and Pinchas – whose zeal for Hashem is shown by his actions at the end of Parshat Balak, which we read in three weeks) for the task.  They discover that the inhabitants of the land are in dread of the Israelits, having heard of their departure from Egypt, the splitting of the sea, and their overwhelming defeat of Og and Sichon.   All this less than 40 years after B'nei Yisrael rejected Hashem and the land.  It leads one to believe that the original group of spies never even spoke to any of the people living in the land during their 40-day exploration of it, else they would have discovered at least some of the fear evinced during the time of Joshua.  It was clear that Israel's  all-too-human weaknesses, exacerbated by generations of numbing servitude, overwhelmed the awe they felt at the splitting of the sea and at the foot of Mount Sinai.  Only true faith in Hashem can allow us to overcome our frailties.