Shabbos Parashas Shelach - 5777

Shabbos Parashas Shelach - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

Send forth for yourself men and let them investigate the land of Canaan that

I give to the children of Israel. [Bamidbar 13:2]

Did G-d command the sending of the spies? Even if not, why did He allow for it?

Things went downhill pretty fast when they took their adventure, and we know He

knows the future. Why encourage them to go in the first place?

Rav Hirsch says, "The addition of the word lecha in no way diminishes the commanding

meaning of the demand." He explains that it was correct for the people to ask Moshe for

the spies, as this was an appropriate step in the transition to the requirement of hishtadlus

that they would need to perform once in the land. It was correct for Moshe to agree. The

reason G-d chose to make a command here is that it was wrong for the people to choose

any men they wanted, but that only Moshe should make that decision.

Rashi says that it means, "for your own benefit and good", referring to Moshe. In his view,

by commanding Moshe to send the spies, G-d enabled Moshe to live an additional

forty years wandering in the desert before the people would enter the land.

Nachshoni also agrees that this is a commandment: "G-d issued His command only to

allow free will to operate. His decision to let the Israelites be deceived constituted prior

knowledge of their fate, but that did not nullify their ability to choose. Rabbeinu Bechaye

likens this command to 'Appoint a king over you' [Devarim 17:5] for that too was meant

only to facilitate the Israelites' making freewill decisions."

Ramban disagrees. He says, "By your own decision. I do not command you -- if you wish,

send forth." Abarbanel counters Ramban that the text does not say that G-d agreed to

the request of the people. In fact, the verse says that G-d commanded the makeup of

the spy mission, one from each tribe, rather than acquiesce in whatever group the people

might choose. If G-d wanted to specify the members of the expedition, why not just select

Joshua and Caleiv? There had to be more to it than just agreement with the request of

the people. Instead, Abarbanel says, "When they heard Moshe say, 'Go up and posses

it...Do not fear' [21] the people mistakenly thought that it was going to be their task to

conquer the land by the sword." Since G-d knew that this was not to be the case, they did

not need spies, but He knew that any denial of such a requested mission would give the

impression that something was not good about the land. G-d therefore wanted them to

see with their own eyes the full goodness of the land.