Shabbat Parashat Shelach - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Shelach - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

  They arrived at the Brook of Eshkol and cut from there a vine with one cluster of

  grapes, and they carried it on a pole, by two, and of the pomegranates and of the

  figs. They named that place the Brook of Eshkol because of the cluster that the

  children of Israel cut from there. [Bamidbar 13:23-24]

For what purpose did Moshe send the spies? In verse 18 he says, "see the land"

specifically whether the people there are strong or weak. In 20 he says again to

look at the land for fertility and trees, plus he directs them to "take from the fruit of

the land". It would seem to be three purposes, prepare for war, look for the fertility,

and bring back an example of the fruit. Our verse only references the third purpose.

But in the face of the upcoming war, why was it important to bring back fruit? Could

the spies not just have addressed the second purpose about the fertility of the land

with a simple statement? Why did they bring back the things they brought?

In 13:1 God tells Moshe to send spies to see the land. There is no indication of any

military purpose. In verse 18 Moshe gives a charge to the spies to see the land. He

adds that they should look at the people to see whether they are strong or weak, few

or many. If the purpose of the mission was military, Moshe could have told them to

look for a battle plan. Instead, he asked them to determine whether the people living

there were healthy and had large families due to blessings of the land. According to

Malbim, unwalled cities would be a sign of lack of wood or that the land was so poor

that the inhabitants did not fear anyone coming to take it. In short, Moshe's purpose

was to prove to the people that the promised land was in fact highly desirable.

Rashbam disagrees and says the reason Moshe asked about trees and topography

was to plan a military campaign. But given that God would be fighting the war for them,

they did not need to make such tactical arrangements.

Rashi in verse 20 notes Moshe asking "are there trees in it", and relates that to whether

there is a man there whose merit is so high that he would protect those living there.

Talelei Oros follows by saying that one takes the measure of a man by observing the

behavior of his "fruit", his students, thus Moshe told them to bring some of the fruit. The

ten spies apparently took this literally, but Yehoshua and Caleiv did not bring any fruit,

just information about the health of the people and state of the land.

Bringing the grapes and pomegranates and other fruit did help to show that the land

was abundantly fertile. The spies reported that many of the inhabitants were attending

funerals, which might indicate some issue where the land consumes its inhabitants, but

the fruit told a different story. In the end, Moshe's purpose was to show the people that

they should believe in God, that He was sending them to a land that would be good for

them.