Rabbotai, with these words, I want, with your permission, to enter another topic. The other topic is found deeper, not here. It is found deeper in Parshat Devarim.
In Parshat Devarim, Moshe Rabbeinu recounts what he saw with his own eyes – matters that are not found in our Parsha. What did the spies say? אֶ פֶ ס. No chance. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu said He is giving us this land, there is no such thing as no chance. All we need to ask is, “how do we enter?” The Gemara says (Brachot 3b): When David Hamelech rose at dawn, the sages came to him and said, “Your people need sustenance.” How did he respond? “Go and sustain yourselves from one another.” They then responded, “A handful does not satisfy a lion, nor does a pit fill from its own dirt.” David Hamelech responded, “Go and stretch out your hands in a troop.” That is, raid the enemies and take spoils. Immediately, the Gemara says, they consulted Achitophel on which path to take, and how to set up a strategy and tactics for the battle array. They asked him how to go to battle, and from where to enter to conquer.
The commentary Ein Yaakov says they did not ask Achitophel whether to go to war or not. Why? Because the moment David Hamelech said, “Go, stretch out your hands in a troop,” they go to war. What you are allowed to ask is only one question: How. There is no question of whether. The king said, “We’re going,” so we’re going. The only question they ask Achitophel is how. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu said we are entering Eretz Yisrael, we are entering. What is the only question? How. That’s all. For that, you send spies. Don’t come back and say “No chance” – that’s not your business.
