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Shelach | Who Sent the Spies?

21.09.2014
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The episode of the spies is one of the most traumatic in the Torah.  Amongst all the Israelites' sins during their sojourn in the wilderness this episode is unparalleled in its consequences.  This failure resulted in the entire Israelite nation being condemned by God to wander aimlessly in the desert for forty years, delaying their entry into Israel, until the sinning generation had perished.  (14:28-34)

 

The question that I would like to raise is whether the mission was doomed to failure from the start.  Who sent the spies? Was it God's project? If so, why was God sending them? Or were the spies sent by Moses? Was it by the request of the Bnei Yisrael (Israelites)? If so, what then were the objectives of their mission?

 

CONFLICTING TEXTS

 

I raise these questions with a deliberate agenda because the Torah text itself is somewhat vague about these details.  Let us look into the texts themselves.

 

In the book of Deuteronomy (Devarim), the entire notion of a spying mission is conceived and initiated by the people.  Moses testifies:

 

"When we reached Kadesh-Barnea I said to you, '... See, the Lord your God has given you the land, go up and possess it... do not fear or take fright.' And you all came to me and said, 'Let us send men ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word of the route that we should follow and the cities we will come to.  I approved of the plan and selected twelve of your men, one from each tribe...'" (Deut 1:21-22)

 

On a superficial first reading, the nature of the mission is undoubtedly military.  The aims are to identify the route of invasion noting the cities in the district.  The approach of the nation comes as a response to Moses' "go up and possess" speech.  Now the people want more information.  These men are real spies, gathering intelligence information as they travel through the land.

 

Now, let us turn to the account in Bemidbar (The Book of Numbers).  Shelach Lekha presents a rather different image of the lead-up to the spies.  The differences between the accounts will raise quite a number of questions.

 

"The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'Send men to tour the land of Canaan which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one man from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.' So Moses, by the Lord's command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran... he said to them, 'Go up through the Negev to the hill country and see what kind of country it is.  Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they live good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified? Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not? And take pains to bring back some of the fruit of the land.'" (13:1-20)

 

From this account we can see that the mission was initiated by Divine command.  Like a regular legal section of the Torah, the new topic is introduced with the words, "The Lord spoke to Moses saying." Here, not only does God give the initial impetus to the operation but the text deliberately stresses the point by repeating how, "Moses, by the Lord's command, sent them out" (v.3).  It is clear that God is initiating the process.  So our first difficulty lies in the disparity between the texts [1].  Which is correct? Did Moses send the spies at the request of a nervous nation (seemingly without even consulting God), as would seem apparent from Devarim, or is this a command of God as indicated by the account in Bemidbar?

 

Other questions, however, emerge from the text in Bemidbar.  Why does God want to send spies? We can understand human beings, the Israelite nation, taking this action faced by an unknown war with an absence of intelligence information about the enemy forces or their territory.  The sending of spies by the people is a sensible, logical, almost expected act.[2] But what about God? He cannot be sending the spies for Himself.  God knows what is out there.  So why is He commanding us to send spies?

 

RASHI

 

"SHELACH LEKHA: Send men (literal translation: send for yourself) - according to your discretion! I am not issuing a command.  If you want to, you may send them.  When the people of Israel approached Moses with the request (Devarim 1:22) Moses consulted with God.  'I told them that the land is good' said God, as it states, "I will raise you from the oppression of Egypt to... a land flowing with milk and honey" (Shemot 3:17, at the burning bush).  'By their lives, if they so wish, I will let them have the opportunity to send the spies, even if they are likely to err as a result ...  '" (Rashi on 13:1)

 

Rashi's approach is complex and interesting.  He sees Devarim and Bemidbar as part of an integrated story.  The events happened in the following way.  First the nation approached Moses requesting a spying mission.  Moses consulted with God.  God was not keen on the idea, after all the people should have trusted His assessment of the land and its goodness.  Nonetheless, He answered Moses, "Shelach Lekha," "send them for you," or rather, "it's not My choice, but if you think it is a good idea, it's OK." God is aware of the potential danger contained in this Israelite spying mission, He knows that it can go wrong, but He still allows Moses to follow his own leadership instincts and reassure the people if that's what they were in need of.

 

Here clearly, Moses is put in something of an impossible position, knowing how God is less than keen.  At the same time, he knows that his resistance to the plan would simply raise suspicions that the land was impossible to capture, or that the land itself was in some way inferior.  His only possibility is to agree to their requests in the hope that his confidence would reassure them.[3] Who knows? If Moses expresses a totally "nothing to hide" policy, maybe the people would be convinced that there really was nothing to worry about and would shelve the idea of the mission.  At worst, if they do send the spies, even if it is against God's better judgement, hopefully they would return with a confident attitude in relation to the land and its capture, thereby boosting confidence in the conquest of Canaan.

 

According to this approach, the spying mission clearly contained the potential for failure from the very start.  Even God's command is a reluctant one, capitulating to the fears and  hesitance of the nation as they begin to anticipate the realities of war.

 

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

 

Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzato (ShaDaL), the progressive 19th century Italian commentator, suggests an original and rather daring reading of God's command to send the spies.  He notes the contradictory strains in Devarim and Bemidbar and states:

 

"The entire situation was fixed by God.  The Rambam[4] has already spoken of the wilderness as a training ground for courage and bravery... as is widely known that travel in the desert and the lessening of bodily pleasures... will engender the character trait of bravery, not to mention the children who were born... unused to denigration and slavery. 

...But I say that God's intent was not to imbue them with courage... rather, He planned events so that the nation would stay in the wilderness in order that the people be in contact with Moses for an extended period of time.  Had Moses led them into the land (immediately), the nation would have dispersed, each person to his family tract of land, and Moses would not have had the opportunity to teach them wisdom... and the faith in the Law of Moses would never have been fixed in their hearts for eternity.  Rather, they lived in the wilderness for forty years, Moses leading them, providing for their material needs with miracles and wonders, at the same time, teaching them the way of God.  This situation was unique: an educational environment in which two million people would study with their teacher unhampered by daily worries for their sustenance.  This deepened the faith of Israel in such a way that whereas the surrounding nations followed, in their error, pagan deities, the students of Moses remained a unique and singular nation in the land, keeping the pure faith.  It was from this base that their faith spread and will continue to spread to the benefit of all mankind." (commentary to Bemidbar 13:1)

 

These comments of Shadal suggest that God orchestrated the entire thing.  God sent the spies, knowing full well that they would fail.  And it was all strategically planned so that the Israelite nation would spend an entire forty years living, breathing and studying Judaism.  The purpose here was to absorb the faith of Israel so deeply into the national lifestyle and mindset, so that it could never be lost.  An entire generation of children born in the wilderness knew only a Jewish lifestyle according to the dictates and values of the Mosaic law.  This was the most familiar environment and lifestyle for them, their only true frame of reference.  It provided a solid platform for the future.

 

This philosophy is recorded in the Mekhilta (a very early Midrashic source):

 

"God brought the Israelites to the Land of Israel via the wilderness rather than the direct route.  Said the Holy One (blessed be He), 'If I bring them into the land now, immediately, each person will possess his field or vineyard and they will neglect the Torah. Instead I will take them a circuitous route in the desert for FORTY YEARS having them eat the Manna … AND THE TORAH WILL THEREBY BE ABSORBED INTO THEIR BODIES" (Shemot Ch.13)

 

A SET-UP?

 

This approach would seem to put a very different angle on the traumatic failure of the twelve-man delegation to Canaan.  It would seem to turn the entire story on its head! We read the story in the Torah, a narrative filled with tense expectation and bitter disappointment.  The anticipation of a successful mission, and the great failure, the fear and tension of the nation, Moses taken by surprise, the courage of Caleb and Joshua, are all these simply illusions?  According to R. Luzzato, the story is not a failure, not a tragedy at all! It is all a big set-up by God Himself! How can God express such disgust, such disappointment and anger if He has the entire thing worked out from the start, if He never wanted them to go in to the land in the first place? What is all the drama of this story? Why could God have not just told them that the entry into the land would be delayed for forty years rather than give the nation the impression that they had failed so miserably and sinned so greatly?

 

Perhaps, we may suggest a somewhat fuller explanation of the entire situation here.  R. Luzzato has given us one side of the story.  He has given us God's version of events.  But let us look at it from the human perspective assuming that we know nothing of the Godly perspective. 

 

The people knew that they were meant to enter the land and that the God who had successfully led them out of Egypt had promised them success in the conquest of the land.  Nonetheless, their feeling was one of insecurity.  They felt that they had to trust themselves rather than the Divine promises.  Let us assume that this is fine.  In fact, we might suggest that this is even the ideal.  Man trusts God but still has to use his own common sense.  So the people sent spies.  Let us ask, however, how did the people emerge from the land with such an extremely negative view? One approach suggests that it was their lack of self-confidence, or putting it another way, their lack of confidence in God, which led them to their erroneous and disastrous conclusions.  How so? Let us take one example.  The spies report:

 

"The people that we saw in it (the land) are all giants... we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so must we have looked to them." (13:32-33)

 

This text beckons the question as to whether these inhabitants of Canaan were indeed giants or whether due to a lack of self-worth, the spies simply viewed them as giant.  Were these Canaanites giant-looking because "we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves" or were they truly of immense proportions? After all, all size perception is relative to the eye of the beholder.  Maybe the fear of the spies showed through in the way that they viewed the land, their "evil report" being more an expression of their own insecurities than a true perspective on reality.

 

God had never promised Israel a "natural war."  He had always given His assurances that "I will send forth My terror before you, and I will throw into panic all the nations before you..."(Shemot 23:27).  Did the people really have faith in God's helping hand? Did they believe God? Was the God-Israel connection strong enough to give a fledgling nation confidence in the face of formidable enemies?  After all, how developed was their faith consciousness? Morale is essential to any war effort.  It is the ingredient that can tip the balance of a war.  Here the Children of Israel demonstrate that they are simply unready for the spiritual challenge of the conquest.

 

And this is a great disappointment indeed! After all that Israel has been through, we might expect more.  Indeed, from a surface reading of the parasha in Bemidbar, God expected more.  He expected them to be emotionally primed to enter the land.  This story clearly demonstrates that they were not.

 

And perhaps this explains the narrative of Devarim, their desire to send spies.  This act clearly demonstrates a flaw in the national mindset.  Rabbi Luzzato is correct – the people were spiritually immature.  It is not so much that God forced them through the failure of the spies, to stay in the wilderness for forty years.  They forced this very edict upon themselves, by demonstrating that they were as yet unready to face formidable odds armed with only faith in God! They were nationally unripe, and therefore unstable.

 

RAV SOLOVEITCHIK.  TOURISTS OR SPIES?

 

A very different approach is suggested by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.  He asks some very basic questions about the nature of spies:

 

Why are twelve spies sent? A more pragmatic plan would be to send a small undercover group (Joshua sent only two spies).  We would expect professional spies to be anonymous individuals, but here the political representatives of the tribes are sent, chieftains of their ancestral tribes.  These high ranking politicians seem like unsuitable candidates for a covert military operation.

 

The "brief" given by Moses (see the text above) talks not only of fortifications and population strength but as to whether the land is "good" or not, and Moses suggests that they bring back a sample of fruit.

 

Why do they go for forty days travelling the entire length of the land?  For a spying mission would it not be more sensible to plan the first attack or the first wave of attacks and then to return? Why is such an extensive intelligence mission necessary?

 

Where does this lead us? Clearly, prominent features of this mission were simply not relevant to a spying mission, which leads us to question the precise nature of this mission.  Is it a military intelligence operation or is it something else?

 

Rav Soloveitchik points to the details above, and comes to a redefinition of the nature of this mission.  It is not military in nature, but rather a diplomatic state delegation.  The group sent from the Israelite camp consists of the political leadership, with a delegate representing each of the twelve tribes.  This representative group is sent on a "state visit" to the promised land.  The Hebrew word for spies is not mentioned in our parasha.  Rather, the twelve representatives are told "to tour" the land.  They are not described as spies, but tourists, a diplomatic fact-finding delegation! But with what aim? Why are they needed?

 

"Moses regarded the land not only in a political or physical light, but also as an exalted, everlasting union.  A singular... people, special to God was being joined to a singular land from which God's attention is never withdrawn.  Destinies were being joined.  When the Jews were exiled and the land occupied by strangers, it remained desolate and withheld its bounty, as a loyal wife awaits eagerly the return of her spouse." [5]

 

Rav Soloveitchik sees this mission as establishing the first emotional links between a unique nation and a unique land.  A sort of marriage is transpiring in the union of the Israelites with the land of Israel.  A union is set up which retains a mystical loyalty for time immemorial.  For all time, the Jews will pray and long for this land, and the land too will yearn for the Jews.  This national delegation of leaders are the representatives of the nation.  They are there to look at the land and to recognize its uniqueness.  Hence, they examine it from every aspect: the military, the geographical, the climate, the agriculture.  They tour the land, for 40 days, examining and witnessing everything.  Were this mission a simple strategic spying mission, they would have reconnoitered the approach routes for the initial invasion and that would have sufficed.  But instead, for forty days, they traverse the length and breadth of the country.  They are tying a permanent knot between nation and land.  "God measured all the lands and found none suitable for Israel except Eretz Yisrael" (Leviticus Rabba 13).  The spies were there to be impressed by the special nature of this land and its suitability for Israel.

 

It was this that the spies misunderstood.  They perceived their mission as a spying mission in the (Devarim) narrower context.  They missed the mark and fell short of the agenda with which they were charged.  They examined the land from a military standpoint.  They forgot to view it from a religious perspective.  They reported as spies, rather than as national delegates.

 

In this way, they brought a great dream crashing down to earth.  The dream was that the twelve communal representatives would endear the land to the people on their return, talking about the perfect match between nation and land.  But the spies spoke about war and probabilities of success.  They let a moment which was pregnant with potential fall unfulfilled into oblivion.  The moment which might have led to an era of redemption and fulfillment for the nation became a night of tears.  This was the great missed opportunity of the twelve delegates who acted as spies rather than communal leaders.

 

TO SUMMARIZE

 

We began with a question which asked whether these spies were a mission from God or from the nation.  We have raised three alternative approaches.  Rashi suggests that the mission was initiated by man's fears, God reluctantly allowing the spies to leave, realizing the potential for failure.  Shadal sees the spies as God's idea, but in a strange twist he suggests too, that God wants the mission to fail to allow the Israelites time to become a nation.  Rav Soloveitchik sees the failure here in the notion that the people perceive their mission in a different way to that of God.  God sends the twelve men on a national-spiritual mission (Bemidbar) whereas they perceive their role in a military (Devarim) context.

 

Shabbat Shalom.

 

Footnotes

 

[1] Our assumption is that the five books of the Torah, all coming from God, will have a certain consistency to them.  This is definitely our expectation, nevertheless, we might suggest that despite a single Divine author, each book of the Torah still has its own unique theme, its own particular agenda.  Clearly, this will affect the choice of material to be included in a particular book, both legal and narrative, the way in which things are presented, what is included, what is left out, and even the style in which things are written.  To this end, we can examine different accounts in different books, expecting them to conform (or at least, not to contradict) in some way, but still aware that differences will be a result of different agendas on the part of each book.  This is an approach which I support and with which I identify, philosophically, theologically and exegetically.

[2] In the book of Joshua (Ch.2), we see how he too sends spies to scout the region of Jericho and to return with facts about the enemy. 

[3] See also Rashi on Devarim 1:23. 

[4] Moreh Nevukhim 3:24 and 3:32.  As far as I have been able to see from the Rambam, nowhere does he suggest that this was a reason for God to keep them wandering for 40 years.  He seems to read his explanation into the verse (Shemot 13:17), "God did not lead them... the direct route, lest they encountered war." i.e. t`hat the delay of a year between the Exodus and the expected conquest was to develop the confidence of the nation and their courage, but NOT that the 40 year sojourn was predestined.

[5] Reflections of the Rav vol.1 by Rabbi Abraham Besdin.  Adaptations of the lectures of Rabbi Joseph B.  Soloveitchik.

 

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