Shelach: Planning

The Israelites are consigned to forty years of wandering in the desert in this week’s parsha.  This is the paradigm of exile as punishment. It is an ironic penalty since it is granting the request of the insurgent.

The scouts return with an honest report.  The land is good, it produces spectacular fruits. The land is populated and there are some very big people there – people one would  prefer not to fight.  The problem arises when the scouts  judge that entry  into the land is not possible. The people say it would be better to die in the desert than confront this mighty force:

וַיִּלֹּ֙נוּ֙ עַל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֔ן כֹּ֖ל בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַֽיֹּאמְר֨וּ אֲלֵהֶ֜ם כׇּל־הָעֵדָ֗ה לוּ־מַ֙תְנוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם א֛וֹ בַּמִּדְבָּ֥ר הַזֶּ֖ה לוּ־מָֽתְנוּ׃

All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” the whole community shouted at them, “or if only we might die in this wilderness!”

The requested alternative, dying in the wilderness, is granted. That is the punishment.

The section that follows this tale of exile resulting from a lack of courage and faith describes the libations and meal offerings that would become part of the sacrificial rite when they entered the Promised Land

כִּ֣י תָבֹ֗אוּ אֶל־אֶ֙רֶץ֙ מוֹשְׁבֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י נֹתֵ֥ן לָכֶֽם׃

When you enter the land that I am giving you to settle in,

The juxtaposition serves to restate Gd’s promise to the ancestors. Eventually the people will enter the land.  It also emphasizes what will be lost during the exile. The libations required wine, the meal offerings were made from wheat.  These delicious luxuries required agriculture, they required settlement on the land. This could not happen for forty years.

The statement of the changes in the sacrificial rite after  meat and wine would be available bring the sin and punishment into focus.  The scouts, lacking the faith in Gd and themselves, did not adequately look at the consequences of their pronouncements. There was actually no alternative to proceeding into the land. Without divine intervention, they would die in the wilderness ( Gd’s first stated choice  אַכֶּ֥נּוּ בַדֶּ֖בֶר  I will strike them with pestilence). Through the mercy elicited by Moses, their offspring would survive, but the generation of insufficient faith would be denied bread and wine.  The earlier complaints about the lack of dietary variety would now be their fate for the rest of their lives.

The juxtaposition of the libation and meal offerings, immediately following the rebellion,  means that the proper performance of the divine temple  rite was delayed. Things would not be done in the ways preferred by Gd; and the people would not benefit from the service as it was intended. The fabric of the universe was rent.

The scouts undoubtedly felt threatened when they were on their mission. They were committing a capital offence against the people they were spying on.  The haftarah is more explicit that spies would not be treated with any mercy. Yet, they undertook the mission and all returned.  They brought the pilfered fruit on a pole:

וַיָּבֹ֜אוּ עַד־נַ֣חַל אֶשְׁכֹּ֗ל וַיִּכְרְת֨וּ מִשָּׁ֤ם זְמוֹרָה֙ וְאֶשְׁכּ֤וֹל עֲנָבִים֙ אֶחָ֔ד וַיִּשָּׂאֻ֥הוּ בַמּ֖וֹט בִּשְׁנָ֑יִם וּמִן־הָרִמֹּנִ֖ים וּמִן־הַתְּאֵנִֽים׃

They reached the wadi Eshcol, and there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it had to be borne on a carrying frame by two of them—and some pomegranates and figs.

They went down the road broadcasting their mission.

  If they were able to do this, why did they doubt that the people could conquer the land? Did they think themselves special and the Israelite nation ordinary?

The exile is an underestimation. It disparages the power of Gd and it belittles the self. The exiled person is out of place and cannot find the center or the source. Achievement requires belief in self, belief in others, and the suspension of disbelief that is faith.