This week’s portion, Shlach-Lecha (literally, “send over,” as in “send over people to Israel”) tells one of the most famous stories of the desert generation; indeed, a story that defines that generation - the story of the Twelve Spies.
The Story of the Spies
The story, in essence, can be summed up in the following way: God instructs Moshe to send people to scope the Land of Canaan. (This seemingly minor point – that it was God who instructed Moshe to send the spies rather than it was Moshe’s own idea – is quite important. More on that later.) Moshe, in essence, sends an “all-star team” consisting of all the twelve tribal leaders. Among them are two that would become very famous later – Ye’ho’shu’a Ben Nun (also known as Joshua here), and Calev Ben Yefoo’nai (aka Caleb). Moshe does not satisfy himself with merely forming of the group, but provides them with a detailed framework of their spying mission: Where they should go, what should they look for (“Is the people sitting there strong or weak? Consisting of many or the few? And what is the nature of the country? Is it good or is it bad? Etc., etc., - Numbers 13:17-20). He also instructs them to bring “from its fruit.” The narrator is kind enough to inform us that we are in the midst of grape harvest season (Num. 13:20).
The twelve spies were then sent on their way, and it took them 40 days to complete their mission (an important number, to which we shall return later). They do bring back grapes – hence the famous picture of two men carrying a huge cluster of grapes on a pole – as well as some other fruits. They also praise the Land as “flowing with milk and honey.” But then they come to the thrust of their report (and, interestingly, unlike most “spies-report” before and since, this one is issued in public, where the entire “we the people” may listen and respond): “Alas, the people occupying in the Land is fierce, and the cities are as fortresses and very big, and we have also seen the offspring of the Giant.” (Num. 13:28). This, understandably, upset the listening people to no end; Calev, in response, is required to “hush all the people,” and tells Moshe that “[despite all that] we could still do it”; or, in more modern parlance, “Yes we can.” The rest of the spies, however, concluded differently: “No, we would not be able to come to this country, as the people there are stronger than us.” (Num. 13:31)
The rest of the story is well known: The people of Israel become incredibly upset – they weep the whole night and complain to Moshe and Aharon, demanding that they would return to Egypt; Calev and Jushua try to save the day, claiming this Land is “very, very good” (twice the text reads “very”) and begging the people to trust God. The people, in return, decide to stone them (nothing new here – just read some of the responses (called in Israel “talk-backs”) to the pieces published in the Israeli e-newspapers on the same Land today). God – not for the first time – has had enough; just like after the Golden Calf story, he confesses to Moshe on His wishes to destroy the people. Moshe pleads back – in one of the most moving and inspiring defense “closing arguments” ever heard (do read: Num. 14:13-19). God, in response (like any great Judge), decides to split the offer: While not killing all the people, He would “only” condemns them to wonder in the desert for 40 years – “as the number of days that you have wondered the Land; forty days – one day for each year” (Num. 14:34). In addition, God kills all of the spies – other than Calev and Joshua, of course – and then, to complete, kills (through the Amalekies, the eternal enemy of the Israelites) many other Israelis who dared challenge Him and climb to top of the local hill. End of story.
Lessons of the Story
The most obvious lesson of the story – as it is taught for years in Israeli schools, Sunday Schools, and otherwise – is that those who trust God are rewarded accordingly, and those who do not are punished accordingly.
Moreover, those who dare “libel” the Land of Canaan should be severely punished – by death, no less; while those who only sang its praises and describe its beauty and fertility will become the future leaders of the People of Israel.
So far, so good. Or is it?
As loyal readers of this blog may come to expect, some serious doubts may be raised regarding this narrative, in particular upon closer reading. First, it was neither Moshe’s nor the people’s idea to be sent as spies to Israel – God Himself gave the order. That, of course, leaves us scratching our heads: Why would God need to gather intelligence about the Promised Land? Is there anything He doesn’t know about it? “Of course not,” our religious friends would smile to us, knowingly, “He did not do that for Himself, He did it for the People – so they would know.” [Another option, according to which it was Moshe’s idea, but that he only invoked the highest authority possible to persuade the best-of-the-best to go, may not sound “religious” enough, so we can put it aside for the moment.] Let us assume, then, that this task was, in Lincoln’s famous words, “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” So what went wrong?
The people who were sent – not shrinking violets are they – felt a duty to report things “as they saw it.” This is the most sacred duty of every spy and reconnaissance unit person ever since: as someone who was trained to perform this very same task more than 3,000 years later, I can personally testify that the value of “truth in reporting” is the most basic – and sacred – value that special units are taught to keep from day one; even – and in particular – if the news we had were not good news, we had to report them as is. Indeed, in military circles, good news are often very suspicious; the spies – or the reconnaissance people – are expected to bring bad news, so that the generals in HQ would be able to properly prepare for the worst.
The ten spies, therefore, didn’t “libel” the Promised Land at all. They told the story as they saw it (which, to be sure, is also extremely logical). And the way they saw it was this: There is a Land, at the heart of the Middle East, surrounded by deserts, hostile nations, and rough weather. Yet the Land is awesome – it is fertile, it is lush with milk and honey, and it is beautiful. Not surprisingly, this piece of land is dutifully guarded – the cities are fortified, and the people are fierce. It would not be easy – if at all possible – to concur it from them.
Any of that sounds not familiar today, 3,000 years later? Maybe they were not so wrong after all…
Shabbat Shalom.
Doron
P.S - Following the spies, the blog, too, will venture out to visit the Land of Milk & Honey. It will resume in a couple of weeks.
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