שְׁלַח לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ אֶחָד אִישׁ אֶחָד לְמַטֵּה אֲבֹתָיו תִּשְׁלָחוּ כֹּל נָשִׂיא בָהֶם: (יג, ב(
Send for yourself men and let them spy out the Land of Canaan that I give to the Children of Israel, one man each from his fathers’ tribe you shall send, every one a leader among them. (13:2(
Rashi explains: Send for yourself men – by your discretion. I do not command you to do so, if you wish, send. Since Israel came and said (Devorim 1:22(, ‘נשלחה אנשים לפנינו’ – ‘Let us send men ahead of us’ as it says ‘ותקרבון אלי כלכם’ – ‘All of you approached me’, and Moshe consulted the Shechina, and G-d said, “I told them that the Land is good, as it says (Shemos 3:17(, ‘אעלה אתכם מעני מצרים...’ – ‘I shall bring you up from the affliction of Egypt...’. I swear by their lives that I give them room to err through the words of the spies so that they will not take possession of it.’
Behold, from the words of Rashi we see that the very fact that the Israel said, “Let us send men ahead of us,” already proved that they were lacking in faith. However, they had not yet reached the point of actual heresy, and it was still possible to warn them that in sending the spies, they were placing themselves in danger of falling into heresy.
This means that at that time, before the spies were actually sent, even though there was already some deficiency in their faith, they were still not deserving of stumbling and being drawn after the spies‘ words. And if, at that point, distant rumors had reached them about the strength of the seven nations, they would not have been deterred at all, because they still trusted and relied on the salvation of Hashem. As is indeed seen, even initially when they wanted to send spies, they did not seek to know the strength of the nations, but only how it would be easiest to conquer the land. As the Torah itself testifies (Devarim 1:22), their request was: את הדרך אשר נעלה’נשלחה אנשים לפנינו וגו’ וישיבו אותנו דבר ’ואת הערים אשר נבוא עליהם - “Let us send men before us... and they will return a report to us about the path by which we shall ascend and the cities to which we shall come.” From here you learn that they did not seek to know the might of the nations at all, because they were confident in Hashem that He would deliver them into their hands even if they were mighty in strength. They only thought that they had to prepare and know in advance what was expected of them.
However, the higher will was not pleased even with this, for HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted them to place their trust in Him for that as well—that He would guide them and cause their conquest to succeed without any preparation at all. So that they would have no claim to say, “My strength and the might of my hand has made me this victory.” And although, generally speaking, a person is obligated to make natural efforts for any matter he needs, in this case they were not in need of that, for HaKadosh Baruch Hu had explicitly promised them (Shemos 3:17), “I shall bring you up from the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite.” Therefore, they had only to trust in His word.
And about this Hashem said to Moshe: since in practice their trust in Him is not complete, they are endangering themselves through their actions, for they are liable to completely lose their hope in Him. And as indeed happened in the end—their faith weakened entirely and they were drawn after the words of the spies, who dared to say in front of the entire nation, ’כי חזק הוא ממנו’ - “For it is stronger than He” (below, 13:31). See there in Rashi, who explains that they were referring to Hashem Yisbarach, Rachmana litzlan. And in the Gemara (Sotah 35a), it says that they said, “Even the Master of the house cannot remove His vessels from there,”.
Behold, it is fitting for us to reflect on the matter: why indeed did their faith weaken? For according to what we have said, they were initially people of faith, and they relied solely upon the strength of their Creator.
And were it not for the insight HaKadosh Baruch Hu, we could have said that their error was only one of “perspective”— that they believed that even though the Creator Baruch Hu had promised them victory, He did not intend for them to proceed like a blind person groping in the dark. Therefore, they thought they must prepare in advance to know the way they were to go. And it is true that once HaKadosh Baruch Hu revealed that these matters stemmed from a “flaw in faith,” we no longer have a claim to interpret it merely as an “error.” Nevertheless, we must still understand how they deteriorated so far—after all, it is possible to say that the yetzer had an opening to entice them and cloak their weakness as a matter of “perspective,” as we explained. But why should this be an opening to change their mind and entirely nullify their faith?
However, a great principle in the avodah of emunah has been taught to us here: emunah [faith] in all matters is hidden from the eye. Therefore, even after a person merits clear faith, he is obligated to examine it and review it constantly. And if he turns his attention away from his faith, necessarily it will weaken from him. The longer he remains distracted, the more its impression fades. As explained by the holy Rebbe Moshe of Kovrin on the posuk (Tehillim 116:10), ’האמנתי כי אדבר’ - “I believed, for I shall speak,” that the posuk means that the merit of “I believed” comes through the fact that I frequently express and review statements of faith.
In light of this, the claim of HaKadosh Baruch Hu is well understood: for once it was revealed before Him Yisbarach, that their request to send spies stemmed from a weakening of faith, He also knew that the weakness was a result of “distraction of the mind.” Because of that, the clear impression they had merited at the revelation at Mount Sinai had already weakened in them. Although faith was still engraved within them, some weakening was already discernible. As a result, the yetzer already had the ability to “twist” the will of Yisbarach and present His words to them in a distorted way, not in their true intent. Therefore, He said to Moshe: by their lives, I shall give them room to err— for if they continue in their distraction, the impression will weaken more and more, and later they may be drawn even after the counsel of the spies, which was overt heresy in its plain sense.
For this reason, the tribe of Levi was not pleased with the sending of the spies (see Rashi, Devarim 1:23), for the tribe of Levi always examined their faith well. As is seen also in the sin of the Golden Calf, they were not deterred at all by the terrible concealment that prevailed at that time. As the Torah testifies (Shemos 32:26), that after the incident of the Calf, Moshe stood at the gate of the camp and proclaimed: ’מי לה’ אלי?’ - “Whoever is for Hashem, come to me!” ’ויאספו אליו כל בני לוי’ - “And all the sons of Levi gathered unto him”—the entire tribe came and declared that they had no part in that sin. This means that they guarded their faith like the apple of their eye, and therefore its impression was not weakened. And even now, in the matter of sending the spies, their faith remained strong, and they initially refused to send them. Therefore, they also recoiled from the words of the spies and were not drawn after them (see Rashi later on, Bamidbar 14:29, from which it appears that they were not punished for this, and thus it is necessary to say that they were not drawn after the spies).
This is the essential point that must be derived from these words of Rashi. Rashi, through his words, reveals to us a person’s obligation to examine his faith daily, and even hourly. For only through this will his faith remain strong. And the practical advice for this is that one should constantly involve himself in holy seforim that strengthen pure faith.
