Devarim 3rd Aliya

Recollection of the Spies

Moshe recalls the incident with the spies and how they mobbed him out of panic, demonstrating their lack of faith, saying that they wanted to send in spies to scout out the Land.

They did not at that time question whether or not they should enter the land but rather just what the best route would be/straightest road and which cities to attack first. They wanted the spies to bring back their report in the language of the land as they felt that hearing their language would be the best way to understand the inhabitants and what they were up against.

Moshe was fine with this request but G-d was not happy with it.

Moshe was actually hoping that they would back down from their request after he agreed to it. Rashi likens this to a donkey purchase. Where a potential buyer asks if he can take a donkey he is interested in for different kinds of test drives. When the seller allows him to with confidence, this is enough to convince the seller to buy the donkey without having to actually test drive it.

So Moshe sent 12 men, one per tribe (save the tribe of Levi), choosing from amongst the most refined men.

The spies walked along the length and breadth of the land, ascending the mountain until the valley of Eshkol*.
*Side note: “Eshkol” literally means “cluster” and this name alluded to their downfall in that the spies showed the nation a cluster of grapes to demonstrate how big the fruit was in the land.

The text recounts the spies bringing “down” fruits to the nation, alluding to how the land of Israel is higher than all other lands.

Yehoshua and Calev reported that the land which G-d gave to them was good, however the nation rebelled against G-d’s command to conquer the land.

They slandered G-d, imagining that G-d took them out of Egypt out of hatred for them only to deliver them to be destroyed by the Amorites.

Rashi explains this weird delusion that the Israelites had by citing Sifrei chapter 24 which states that whatever is in your heart about your friend is what you think is in his heart about you. So in reality, G-d did not hate the Israelites. He loved them. But the Israelites were the ones who hated G-d.

Rashi relates a parable to describe the mistaken view which the Israelites had about G-d’s feelings towards them. Rashi describes a king who has two sons, one of which he loves and the other which he hates. He also has two fields, one which is easily irrigated and thus can produce water at any time. The second field was dependent only upon rain for its water. The first field, being superior to the second, the king gives to the son he loves and the second to the son that he hates. The Israelites thought of this first field as the Nile which overflowed with water and the second one as the land of Canaan which indeed was dependent upon rain. They failed to recognize that in fact Canaan (Israel) was in fact the superior of the lands.

The spies exaggerated the size of the cities saying that they reached to “the heavens” and described the people as children of giants.

Moshe tells them not to break down nor fear. G-d will fight on their behalf the way He did in Egypt and in the desert where His angel carried them like a father carries a son to protect him from bandits and wolves. In Shmos 14:20 Rashi elaborates on this parable, of a man who is walking with his son in the desert. If bandits approach from the front, he puts the son behind him. If wolves come from behind, he puts the son in front of him. If both bandits and wolves attack simultaneously from either side, the father carries the son in his arms and fights against the attackers.

The Israelites acknowledged the miracles that G-d had done for them thus far however they didn’t believe that G-d would carry through with his promises regarding the land of Israel.

When G-d heard this, he got angry and swore that none from that generation would enter the land except for Calev to whom He gave Chevron. G-d filled with anger against Moshe as well and denied him entry to the land, setting it up so that Yehoshua enter and inherit it on Moshe’s behalf.