וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם מ־שֶׁה וגו' כֻּלָּם אֲנָשִׁים רָאשֵׁי בְנֵי יִּשְׁרָאֵל הֵמָּה: וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹתָם לְמַטֵּה רְאוּבֵן וגו' אֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים וגו' וְיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן נוּן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ: "And Moshe sent them... all of them were men (anashim), heads of the Children of Israel were they. And these were their names: for the tribe of Reuven..." The Posuk concludes the list: "These were the names of the men (anashim)... and Moshe called Hoshea the son of Nun, Yehoshua." (13:2-16)
The Tzvi LaZaddik the Bluzhover Rebbe points out several difficulties in these Psukim: 1. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh asks why the Torah says "And these were their names", and then repeats "These were the names of the men" right afterward. 2. Why is the fact that Moshe changed Hoshea’s name to Yehoshua recorded specifically after the second mention of "These were the names of the men"? What is the connection between the two? 3. In the first verse, it simply says, "And these were their names" without the word "anashim", but the second time it specifies, "These were the names of the men". Why the change?
To understand this, there is the concept taught by the heilige Arizal in "Likutei Torah". The Arizal asks Why in our Parsha, the leaders are called "heads of the Children of Israel", whereas earlier in Parshas Bamidbar, the tribal leaders were called "heads of the thousands of Israel". Why this shift in title? The Arizal takes us back to Bereishis. When Yosef accused his brothers, saying, "You are spies!", he was speaking prophetically. He foresaw that in the future, a tragedy would occur involving spies. In order to protect the generation of the wilderness from sinning by spies, Hashem implanted the souls of the original tribes inside these new tribal leaders, giving them the spiritual strength to withstand the trial. This is why they are called "heads of the Children of Israel"—meaning the literal children of Yaakov (the tribes) were present within them.
However, Yosef's lineage split into two tribes: Ephraim and Manashe. The soul of Yosef entered into the leader of Manashe. For the tribe of Ephraim led by Hoshea, Moshe desperately wanted the holy soul of "Levi" his own tribe, to enter and protect him instead of Yosef.
This explains why Hashem told Moshe, "Send for yourself"—in the singular. Hashem was telling Moshe: "You personally select the soul of Levi to enter your disciple, Yehoshua." However for the other tribes, the Torah uses the plural, "You shall send" referring to the general regular process.
With this holy insight of the Arizal, the Bluzhover Rebbe beautifully resolves all of our questions: When the Torah says "And these were their names," it is referring strictly to the physical names of the leaders themselves. However, when the Torah shifts and says "These were the names of the men", it is referring to the holy souls of the Tribes residing within them. In Torah language, the word "Anashim" always denotes individuals of great spiritual stature and righteousness. Now we understand why Yehoshua’s name change is mentioned exactly here. Moshe successfully actualized his prayer, drawing the soul of Levi into Hoshea to shield him from the spies' conspiracy. This infusion of spiritual power transformed him, which is why his name change is positioned with the "names of the righteous men."
As a beautiful allusion to this vort, the first letters of the Hebrew phrase וַיִּקְרָא לְהוֹשֵׁעַ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ describing the name change spell out the name לוי. Through the spiritual merit of Levi, Yehoshua was saved from the counsel of the spies. The mission of the spies was not merely a military mission, but a spiritual battlefield of souls where past, present, and future meet. (Tzvi LaZaddik - Bluzhov)
