Why did the request of Am Yisrael to send spies to Eretz Yisrael find favor in Moshe’s eyes? Shouldn’t they have believed Hashem’s promise that He was going to take them into the Land that was flowing milk and honey?
Rav Chanoch Hakohein Ehrentreu, the Rav of Munich, explained:
When a person takes on a task that he must do, while raising his eyes On High for a tefillah that Hashem should grant him success, he also has to make a hishtadlus, and check the right way to carry out this task. This is what Chazal allude to when they say (Yevamos 105b): “One who davens need to keep his eyes below and his heart above.” With every action that a person does, he needs to put his heart “above” with tefillah to Hashem to grant him success, but at the same time, before doing the action “yiten einav lematah” and he will do all that is necessary by way of nature to succeed.
Here, as well, the request of the nation was to send people to scout “es haderech asher na’aleh bah” – to study what is the way that is recommended to ascend to the Land to capture it. This is not a contravention to emunah in the promise of Hashem that He will give them the land, because, as noted, alongside emunah and bitachon in Hashem, the person has to make every natural effort for his mission to succeed. This is why their words found favor in the eyes of Hashem. But in reality, the meraglim spoiled their mission when they did not believe the words of Hashem that the Land is good, and they chose to examine what it was like.
