Shelach Lecha: the test

A scouting party is sent to probe the land; a preparation for the fulfillment of Gd's promise to the ancestors of these liberated slaves. The Israelites had been living from miracle to miracle; from the plagues that brought expulsion from Egypt, to the splitting of the sea that vanquished the most powerful army on  earth, to the manna and the quail. Now they are to become normal people who farm for food and negotiate with competitors. But first, they needed to find a way to settle in a  land currently occupied by previous invaders. What was the land like? What was the flora and fauna? Were the cities fortified?

The narrative appeals to the readers sense of order. There is a prize to acquire, a goal. Investigating the obstacles and opportunities is a rational preparation. It was not merely the land and enemy that was probed. It was also the spies, who are described as  

כֻּלָּ֣ם אֲנָשִׁ֔ים רָאשֵׁ֥י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל הֵֽמָּה׃

all of them were heroes, the heads of the Israelites. 

These were the people who would lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. They were charge with bringing back a report. They brought back the physical evidence of fecundity. They had also come to a conclusion: conquest is impossible. 

The report of the scouts was a test. There is no doubt that an ordinary military conquest would have been improbable, the odds of success were vanishingly small. But they had seen how a demand for meat in the desert could be  instantly fulfilled from an unanticipated source. The truth of the situation was not in question. It was the unsolicited conclusion of hopelessness that constituted the failure of these heroes. 

I am reminded of other hopeless situations. My father's escape in the Treblinka uprising had odds of survival -  with hope in the unforeseen - of0075%, 75 in a million. The odds of survival without hope were  much closer to zero.  I have treated patients whose demise from cancer was guaranteed  with similar odds; and they were  rescued by unanticipated discoveries: new medicines. Hopelessness is the prophet that assures doom.  

The  multitude was tested  by the report. Could they resist the spin, the easily credible theories, that the reporters presented? Perhaps the era of wonders would end when  they crossed into the new, settled, land. Perhaps the people there  had a different, more powerful, magic than their own. Which theory of the unknown should prevail? Unfortunately, it was not the belief that  faith in the Gd of the exodus would follow through  an finish the job. That model did not win the day.  The people failed. They found the wrong truth. 

Could Moses have handled the charge to send the scouts better?   Rashi summarizes the Midrashic view that that the decision to send the scouts was a test for Moshe. 

שלח לך. לְדַעְתְּךָ, אֲנִי אֵינִי מְצַוֶּה לְךָ, אִם תִּרְצֶה שְׁלַח; לְפִי שֶׁבָּאוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמְרוּ נִשְׁלְחָה אֲנָשִׁים לְפָנֵינוּ, כְּמָה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "וַתִּקְרְבוּן אֵלַי כֻּלְּכֶם" וְגוֹ' (דברים א'), וּמֹשֶׁה נִמְלַךְ בִּשְׁכִינָה, אָמַר, אָמַרְתִּי לָהֶם שֶׁהִיא טוֹבָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "אַעֲלֶה אֶתְכֶם מֵעֳנִי מִצְרַיִם" וְגוֹ' (שמות ג'), חַיֵּיהֶם שֶׁאֲנִי נוֹתֵן לָהֶם מָקוֹם לִטְעוֹת בְּדִבְרֵי מְרַגְּלִים, לְמַעַן לֹא יִירָשׁוּהָ (תנחומא):

שלח לך

 SEND THEE (more lit., for thyself) — i.e. according to your own judgement: I do not command you, but if you wish to do so send them. — God said this because the Israelites came to Moses and said. “We will send men before us etc.”, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 1:22): “And you approached me, all of you, [saying, We will send men, etc.]”, and Moses took counsel with the Shechinah (the Lord), whereupon He said to them, I have told them long ago that it (the land) is good, as it is said, (Exodus 3:17): “I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt … [unto a land flowing with milk and honey]”. By their lives! I swear that I will give them now an opportunity to fall into error through the statements of the spies, so that they should not into possession of it (the land) (Sotah 34b; cf. also Rashi on Sotah 34b:8 מדעתך and Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 5).

Could Moshe  have refused to send them? The people demanded a report. How could Moshe say no to such a logical request?  It would have invited another rebellion, perhaps more threatening  than the last. How could the truth be harmful? It is all in the spin. Moshe took the bet: he thought the spies, accompanied by his disciple Joshua, would not fail. The people would discern how things really work: by the will of Gd. Only Caleb and (eventually) Joshua spoke up for faith. It is always a bad idea to bet against a far superior intelligence. 

Ultimately  the reader  is tested by the story.  We have thousands of years of history to help contextualize the nature of the Promise, the ultimately methods of its fulfillments, and the wanderings that take up most of the landscape. But can we appropriately accept the lessons? 

In 1908 David Ben-Gurion and Yizhok Ben-Tzvi  published a description of the land that would become modern Israel... in Yiddish.

 It is an attempt at a non-judgemental description of the geography and ethnology of the area. In the haftorah there are two good spies.  In the parsha there are two good spies. They believe that faith in Gd will carry the day. 

If you believe that you can, you could win. If you do not believe in yourself, any win is a miracle.