שלח

When we examine the verses, a significant question arises. At first glance, it seems there is a contradiction between the command given to Moses to "Send for yourself men, and they shall spy out the land of Canaan" (Numbers 13:2), and the fact that the sending of the spies led to a negative outcome. Why did the Creator, blessed be He, command this, unlike other commandments that the Israelites fulfilled after following the word of God?

Rashi clarifies this issue by explaining that the request to send the spies actually originated from the Israelites themselves. As it is explicitly stated at the beginning of the portion of Devarim (Deuteronomy): "And all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men before us, and they shall explore the land for us and bring us back word of the way by which we should go up and the cities we shall come to'" (Deuteronomy 1:22). Therefore, the command to send the spies was not an initial command from God.

Rashi's words are as follows: "Send for yourself – according to your own understanding. I am not commanding you, but if you wish, send. Because the Israelites came and said, 'Let us send men before us,' as it is said, 'And all of you approached me' (Deuteronomy 1:22). Moses consulted the Shechinah (Divine Presence). He said, 'I have told them that it is a good land,' as it is stated, 'I will bring you up from the affliction of Egypt to a good land' (Exodus 3:17). By their lives, I will give them room to err through the words of the spies, so that they will not inherit it."

However, this still leaves us with the question of how it is possible that God would agree to something that would lead to sin. It is even more perplexing regarding Moses, the man of God, who testified about himself, "And the thing was good in my eyes" (Deuteronomy 1:23), after the Israelites approached and requested to send spies to explore the land. Rashi explains there: "And the thing was good in my eyes – it was good in my eyes, but not in the eyes of the Omnipresent." The wonder arises from the fact that God testifies about Moses, "He is faithful in all My house" (Numbers 12:7), so how could Moses say, "The thing was good in my eyes," when he knew it was not good in the eyes of God? This is astonishing.

Therefore, we must say that Moses, our teacher, did not consider sending the spies as a command from God. Rather, he had a completely different intention in mind. The way and manner in which the Israelites requested to send the spies was not the same as Moses' intention, about which it is said, "And the thing was good in my eyes." We must understand this through the writings of our sages.

On the one hand, what was the intention of Moses, our teacher, and how did it align with the intention of the Omnipresent, blessed be He? On the other hand, how did the spies deviate from this path and choose a different way for themselves, leading to a negative outcome?