The Sidra of Shlach-Lecha is devoted, mostly, to the grave sin which was committed first by 10 of the 12 spies that were sent by Moses to investigate the land. As a consequence, the entire nation sinned by rebelling against God. It turned out to be the second most catastrophic event in the desert, equal to the catastrophe that happened a little earlier when the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf. After the sin of the Golden Calf, God forgave or, at least, deferred the punishment. This time the punishment was immediate and extremely severe.
The Sidra tells us clearly that God commanded Moses to send the spies. However, this information is contrary to the information given by Moses himself, 39 years later, when he repeated the story to the next generation of Israelites. Many commentators deal with this difficulty.
In the first portion we are given the names of all the spies, who were leaders of their respective tribes. The first three are listed according to the birth of the founders of the tribes, but the others are listed in order of their importance. The Torah emphasises the fact that they were very important people in order to highlight the gravity of their sin. They should have known that the nation would be extremely disturbed by what they had to say, but they did not care. They should have been cautious in their judgement and much more discreet in giving their report.
In contrast to Rashi, who considers that the entire mission was wrong and against the will of God, Nachmanides believes that the idea of sending the spies was completely legitimate and wise. He proves it from the fact the Torah reports that, 39 years later, Moses again sent spies to spy out the town of Ya’azer, before taking it. Subsequently, Joshua sent two spies into the city of Jericho.
According to Nachmanides, Moses purpose in organising this mission was for them to check out the military installations in the land and to see how the people of Canaan were preparing themselves. He also asked them to make a very special effort to bring fresh fruit, in order to raise the people’s excitement and hope.
The spies left the camp at the beginning of the summer, at the time of the grape harvest. According to rabbinic tradition, their departure took place on the 30th of Sivan. It is striking that this date very often falls in the same week that we read this Sidra. The date of their departure is based on the data, which the Torah gives in the previous Sidra, regarding Israel’s travels. They left the Sinai desert on the 20th of Iyyar. They walked for three days until the 23rd of Iyyar. For an entire month they stayed in Kivroth Hata’avah. There they demanded meat to eat which they ate in excessive quantities and then died from over-eating this meat. They then travelled from there to Chatzeroth, where Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses and they stayed there for seven days. This takes us to the 30th of Sivan. They remained in the land for 40 days and came back on the night of Ninth of Av.
Moses’ first instruction to the spies was that they should enter the land from the South and go up to the mountainous terrain of that area. They followed these instructions, entered from the land south and travelled all the way to the Northern border. According to the Torah, one of the spies, who was later identified as Caleb, also made his way to the ancient city of Hebron. According to Rashi, he went to pray at the graves of our fathers of the nation, Abraham Isaac and Jacob who are all buried there.
After 40 days the spies returned. They brought with them a very large branch of vine, full of grapes-so heavy that two people had to carry it. They also brought some dates and pomegranates. The land of Israel was always famous for these three fruits. In doing this they fulfilled Moses instruction to the letter.
When the spies arrived back in the camp, at Kadesh, the entire nation gathered around them. Even before saying anything about the land, they showed the fruit and said that it was true that the land “was flowing with milk and honey”. Then they proceeded to give an account of the military situation, reporting that the inhabitants of the land of Canaan were very strong physically and extremely tall. They also gave a precise description of where the various ethnic groups lived in the land. The Amalekites lived in the Negev; the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites lived in the mountainous region and the Canaanites lived by the Mediterranean Sea and near the Jordan River.
As soon as the spies finished this initial report, it was clear that they had committed a grave sin. The next speaker was Caleb who told the people to be quiet and tried to encourage and inspire them. He ordered them to look to Moses to see what he had to say. But when Moses didn’t say anything, he declared: “We shall surely go up and conquer the land because we are strong and able to do it”. From the text, it is not completely clear what the sin of the spies was. It is possible that they gave their account with an extremely negative attitude, which the people felt immediately. But, according to Nachmanides, their sin lay in the use of the Hebrew word ‘EFES’ at the very beginning of their speech. In his opinion the word ‘EFES’ means ‘IT IS IMPOSSIBLE’. In other words, even before they described what they had seen, they committed the grave crime of announcing, in front of the entire nation, that God had completely misled them into believing that they could ever reach the promised land. Moses was so shocked that he was lost for words. This was the last thing that he had expected from such important tribal leaders. He had sent them because he trusted them completely. He had been sure that they would come back and help him in the leadership. Instead, they came back and betrayed him shamelessly. Even Joshua, Moses closest disciple, who had been one of the spies, was so deeply upset that he was unable to react at this stage. Only Caleb remained strong, fought back and responded with a courageous declaration. But the damage was already done. This was the end of the first episode. The worst was yet to come.