shlach answers

Shelach 5724
Alef.

1. Verses appearing in Sotah 34b:

(BaMidbar 13:2

'Send thou men, that they may ויתרו (spy out) the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them.')

Devarim 1:22

And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said: 'Let us send men before us, that they ויחפרו (may search) the land for us, and bring us back word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come.'

Yeshayahu 24:23

Then the moon shall be וחפרה (confounded), and the sun ashamed; for the LORD of hosts will reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His elders shall be Glory.

Since when one compares the verb that is used in BaMidbar, before it becomes apparent that the majority of the spies will give an evil report, with the verb that is used in Devarim which is a reprise of the events that took place @40 years before, in retrospect, Moshe recognizes that the spies for the most part (with the exceptions of Yehoshua and Kalev) were not objective observers, but rather biased with preconceived notions regarding the entire enterprise of entering the land of Israel in order to conquer and inhabit it. חפירה suggests digging up incriminating evidence that would justify a negative conclusion. From the context of the verse in Yeshayahu, where there is parallelism between וחפרה and ובושה, clearly indicating that the verb חפר has a negative connotation, such an interpretation is extended to the spies approach to the land of Israel.

2.  When one considers the two spy missions, i.e., BaMidbar 13 and Yehoshua 2, there is a marked difference in their intent. From the instructions that Moshe issues to the spies,

במדבר פרק יג יח) וראיתם את הארץ מה הוא ואת העם הישב עליה החזק הוא הרפה המעט הוא אם רב:

(יט) ומה הארץ אשר הוא ישב בה הטובה הוא אם רעה ומה הערים אשר הוא יושב בהנה הבמחנים אם במבצרים:

(כ) ומה הארץ השמנה הוא אם רזה היש בה עץ אם אין והתחזקתם ולקחתם מפרי הארץ והימים ימי בכורי ענבים:

it would appear that he was interested in obtaining qualitative rather than military data, i.e.,

what sort of land is it, what sort of people live there, in what sort of social arrangements do they live, do trees grow in the land. This was not about an imminent attack for which military information was being sought, as in the case of Yericho in the book of Yehoshua. Consequently, the fact that the same verb is used, reflects the fact that the spies came back with a military report, one that was not favorable to the Jews entering the land of Israel. Consequently, both in terms of the verb that Moshe originally used (see ans. 1) as well as the intent of the mission as per Moshe’s instructions, the spies obviously carried out their own personal agenda, resulting in the tragedy of the Jews wandering in the desert for an additional forty years.

Beit.

1.  Although the initial verb in the verse is in plural form, the verb describing the trip to Chevron is in the singular, suggesting that only one of the spies went there. This in turn raises the question of the identity of that particular spy.

במדבר פרק יג כב) ויעלו בנגב ויבא עד חברון ושם אחימן ששי ותלמי ילידי הענק וחברון שבע שנים נבנתה לפני צען מצרים:

2.  When Kalev is designated as “marching to a different drummer”, since we already know that Yehoshua has been designated for special consideration by Moshe, by the process of elimination, in light of Kalev defending the plan to enter the land of Israel, it is concluded that it was he who went to Chevron in order to draw inspiration to resist the influence of the majority of the spies.

3.  Rava understands the verb as Moshe praying on Yehoshua’s behalf to HaShem to Protect him from the negative influences of the other spies. The preposition “ל” would then take on the connotation “concerning” rather than merely “to”.

במדבר פרק יג טז) אלה שמות האנשים אשר שלח משה לתור את הארץ ויקרא משה להושע בן נון יהושע:

4.  If each time Yehoshua would enter into a dangerous situation, Moshe would pray on behalf of his Talmid Muvhak, then what is stated in BaMidbar 13 is consistent with Shemot 17. While in Moshe’s mind, he was always hoping that HaShem would be with Yehoshua, the name may not have officially, publicly changed until the later period of BaMidbar.

Gimel.

במדבר פרק יג (כא) ויעלו ויתרו את הארץ ממדבר צן עד רחב לבא חמת:

(כו) וילכו ויבאו אל משה ואל אהרן ואל כל עדת בני ישראל אל מדבר פארן קדשה וישיבו אותם דבר ואת כל העדה ויראום את פרי הארץ:

1.  Since it has already stated that the spies had gone to carry out their mission, why does the beginning of v. 26 have to mention their “going”? It could have just as easily and understandably begun with the second word, “and they came”. Consequently, the conclusion is drawn that their spying had little to do with the conclusion that they ultimately shared, since this had always been their opinion from the outset.

2.  The people, perhaps as part of their slave mentality, had a very closed mind when it came to becoming independent and responsible for their own destiny. They felt vulnerable and incompetent. Consequently, even before they left, they wished that the status quo, i.e., all of their needs would be taken care of by HaShem, would continue, and this would happen only in the desert, not in a land for which they would have to take responsibility for their own destiny and welfare. The spy mission, therefore, was an exercise in futility, and only brought out the most negative feelings, both on the parts of the spies as well as the majority of the people to whom they reported.

Daled.

במדבר פרק יג כח) אפס כי עז העם הישב בארץ והערים בצרות גדלת מאד וגם ילדי הענק ראינו שם:

(כט) עמלק יושב בארץ הנגב והחתי והיבוסי והאמרי יושב בהר והכנעני ישב על הים ועל יד הירדן:

If Amalek were the first people that they encountered as they entered Israel from the South, then why mention the children of giants, who were not associated with a specific geographic location, first? The implication is that this is not a geographical consideration, but rather a tactic to incur intimidation.

Heh.

במדבר פרק יג לא) והאנשים אשר עלו עמו אמרו לא נוכל לעלות אל העם כי חזק הוא ממנו:

1. RaShI quotes the Rabbinic interpretation on Sotah 35a re BaMidbar 13:31, according to Siftai Chachamim because of one of two reasons:

a. Since earlier, the term “הוא” was omitted in BaMidbar 13:28  אפס כי עז העםinstead of אפס כי אז האם ההוא ממנו, RaShI believes that they are adding an extra element to their argument. Whereas earlier they contended that the inhabitants were simply too strong for the Jews, this time they are emphasizing that they are too strong even for HaShem, KaVeyachol.

b.  The connotation that the spies are referring even to HaShem’s Inability, so to speak, to conquer the inhabitants is due to the implication of a literal rendering of כי חזק הוא ממנו, i.e., we are strong too, but they are just stronger. This assumption is rendered impossible when considering the metaphor that the spies adopt, i.e.,

במדבר פרק יג לג) ושם ראינו את הנפילים בני ענק מן הנפלים ונהי בעינינו כחגבים וכן היינו בעיניהם:

that compared to them, we were like grasshoppers. Consequently, if someone who is strong is being compared unfavorably to the inhabitants of Canaan, it is HaShem, KaVeyachol.

2.  א. In both cases the meaning of the word “ממנו” is at issue—does the pronoun mean “of/from us” or “of/from Him/him”?

בראשית פרק ג כב) ויאמר יקוק אלקים הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע ועתה פן ישלח ידו ולקח גם מעץ החיים ואכל וחי לעלם:

 BaMidbar: The people in Canaan are stronger than Him--Derash (as opposed to us--Peshat). These two interpretations are not mutually exclusive. Not only are the people stronger than the Jewish people; they are even stronger than HaShem, KaVeyachol.

 Beraishit: R. Akiva—from him (man) will be decided Good and Evil, rather than from God—Derash. The reason why this is against the Peshat is because the rest of the verse no longer works, i.e., what does the phrase “הי' כאחד” mean when severed from “ממנו”?

ב. The end of the Midrash appearing in Sota 35a would seem to complement the Rabbinic idea cited by RaShI in his first comment on Beraishit:

רש"י בראשית פרק א

(א) בראשית - אמר רבי יצחק לא היה צריך להתחיל [את] התורה אלא (שמות יב ב) מהחודש הזה לכם, שהיא מצוה ראשונה שנצטוו [בה] ישראל, ומה טעם פתח בבראשית, משום (תהלים קיא ו) כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו לתת להם נחלת גוים, שאם יאמרו אומות העולם לישראל לסטים אתם, שכבשתם ארצות שבעה גוים, הם אומרים להם כל הארץ של הקדוש ברוך הוא היא, הוא בראה ונתנה לאשר ישר בעיניו, ברצונו נתנה להם וברצונו נטלה מהם ונתנה לנו:

Once one posits that HaShem Created the world, including the land of Israel, and Established who had the right to live in it, it should be possible for Him to Remover one nation and Replace it with another. Consequently it is heretical to suggest that He could not.