Parshas Shelach recounts one of the
saddest episodes in the history of the Jewish People, the sin of the Meraglim (Spies).
Moshe sent a representative, in fact the Nassi, from each tribe to scout out
their tribe’s allotted area in Eretz Yisrael. When the spies returned, their
report was designed to put Eretz Yisrael in a bad light. The Bnei Yisrael were
quick to believe these distinguished men and refused to enter Eretz Yisrael,
even though Hashem had promised them how wonderful the land was. As a result,
the Bnei Yisrael were punished by having to spend forty years in the desert and
that every adult of the generation would not enter Eretz Yisrael. The only
adults to survive the trek through the desert were the only two spies to speak
good about Eretz Yisrael, Moshe’s prize pupil, Yehoshua, and Calev ben Yefuneh.
This week’s Haftorah tells how after the
forty years, the Bnei Yisrael, led now by Yehoshua, prepared to enter Eretz Yisrael.
Before bringing the nation across the river into the land, Yehoshua sent spies
to scout out the land. The Meforshim are amazed by this. How could Yehoshua,
not only someone who lived through the sin of the spies, but someone who was
one of the spies himself, potentially make the same mistake again
and send spies to scout out the land?
The Malbim shows the difference between
the two episodes by examining the exact purpose of sending the spies in each
circumstance. He explains that there are two types of people who are sent as
advance scouts, תרים
and מרגלים.
A תר is
someone sent to scout out the land to make sure it is good for living. Is it inhabitable,
good for growing crops, good climate, etc? In this case, each Shevet had to
send one person in order to make sure their needs were taken into account.
Furthermore, this person had to be well-respected within his tribe to insure
that his word would be trusted. For example, while a prominent person from
Shevet Reuven might have already be going, Shevet Zevulun would still send one
of their own VIPs since they were looking for a completely different type of
area than Reuven as well as the fact that most of the tribe might not even know
who this person from Reuven was!
On the other hand, a מרגל is a
military spy, someone sent to scout out
the land for strategic purposes. The purpose of these spies is all about
finding the worst parts of the country, the uninhabited or insanitary places
which make them easy incursion points. In this case, not only is each tribe not
required to send a representative, it’s probably wiser that they don’t in order
that military secrets are not leaked. The only person who need be represented
here is the General of the army which means that only a small number of people
will go. It also does not matter if they are well-respected, trusted people by
the nation at large; the only person who needs to trust them is the General.
This is the difference between the Spies
in our parshah and the spies by Yehoshua. Hashem tells Moshe that he can send
spies, “וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת
אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן” “and they will scout out the land of Canaan” (Bamidbar 13:2). Hashem told Moshe to
send תרים,
men whose sole purpose was to see if their tribe’s portion was fit for them to
live and thrive, not to come back and say the land is unconquerable! This is
also why Moshe sent a representative from each tribe together with the full
knowledge of the entire nation; this was simply a tourist trip! However, the
Spies treated it like a military mission, and found all the bad parts of Eretz
Yisrael. For that reason, we refer to them as the מרגלים. This was the mistake of the Spies and
Bnei Yisrael in believing them.
In Yehoshua however,
sending מרגלים
was exactly what he wanted! Bnei Yisrael were about to enter the land and
Yehoshua needed information on how to conquer it. This is why he only sent two
men, who aren’t even named in the pasuk since their qualifications are not
necessary (unlike in our parshah where each spy is given his own pasuk!). This
mission was also carried out without public knowledge since it was purely a
military mission. This is why Yehoshua was allowed to do what he did without
any issues.
Shabbat Shalom!
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