Virtually all the meforshim comment on the name change Moshe Rabbeinu implemented for his talmid Hoshea prior to sending him out on the mission to spy out the land. The pasuk says, “And Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun, Yehoshua” (Bamidbar 13:16). Rashi says, “He prayed for him: May Hashem save you from the plan of the meraglim.” The question is, if Moshe suspected that the meraglim were planning a conspiracy that might corrupt his faithful disciple, why did he not cancel the mission? Alternatively, why didn’t Moshe daven(pray) for the other meraglim? Furthermore, the Targum Yonosan ben Uziel interprets this pasuk as saying: “When Moshe saw the humility of Hoshea, he changed his name to Yehoshua.” The question is: What does Hoshea’s humility have to do with the fear of his being ensnared in the scheme of the meraglim?
Rabbeinu Yaakov Yosef (the one and only Chief Rabbi of the City of New York) gives a beautiful interpretation. There are two types of aveiros, “standard aveiros” and “subtle aveiros“. A standard aveira is when a person knows something is wrong, but he does it anyway. “I know I am not supposed to do this, but my Yetzer HaRah is too strong and I am going to do it regardless!” However, a subtle aveira is a much more difficult aveira to overcome. That is when you think what you are doing is a mitzvah. There are no regrets or pangs of guilt associated with such an action. It is very difficult for me to believe that I shouldn’t be doing such an action: “What are you talking about? I’m doing a mitzvah!”
According to the Zohar, the rest of the meraglim did not want to go into Eretz Yisrael because they were aware that if and when Klal Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael, there would be a new regime of leadership. The leadership of the wilderness (of whom they were all a part) would be retired or replaced. The Zohar says that they wished to retain their positions of power and prestige. Therefore, they tried to sabotage the national entry into Eretz Yisrael.
Yehoshua’s challenge was entirely different. Yehoshua was not, chas v’shalom, worried about his position This is the first category of aveira – “a grobba aveira“. They knew it was wrong to put their personal honor above the welfare of the entire nation, but they went ahead with the plan anyhow. As Chazal say, if there was any reason for Yehoshua to have hesitated about going into Eretz Yisrael, it was because “Eldad and Meidad prophesized in the camp.” (Bamidbar 11:27) Rashi explains that their prophecy, which so concerned Yehoshua, was that “Moshe will die and Yehoshua will take the nation into the Land.”
Yehoshua, the talmid protégé of Moshe Rabbeinu did not want his master to die. “What is Klal Yisrael going to do without a Moshe Rabbeinu?” So if Yehoshua would have any “negiyus” (ulterior motive) not to go into Eretz Yisrael, it would be the furthest thing from a personal agenda. He had no interest in preserving his own honor. His motivation would have been totally for the Sake of Heaven, a talmid being devoted to his Rebbe. So, if Yehoshua would have tried to sabotage the mission, it would definitely have been an aveira, but it would have been an aveira of the second category – that he perceives as a mitzvah!
So, says Rav Yaakov Yosef, everything is understood: Moshe Rabbeinu assumed that somewhere along the line the meraglim would say to one another “Hey! Wait a minute! We should sabotage the plan of the Ribono shel Olam because of our own honor? We can’t do such a thing! How low can someone be?” In other words, guilt would eventually get to them. Moshe, therefore, felt that he did not need to daven for the other eleven spies. They would come around and decide not to sabotage the mission on their own. However, when Moshe saw the great humility of Yehoshua, and that Yehoshua did not want to be the leader, Moshe recognized that this was a much more difficult aveira to overcome because it was disguised in the form of a mitzvah. Therefore, Moshe felt that Yehoshua needed s’yata d’shmaya more than any of the others, so Moshe davened specifically that Yehoshua be saved from the scheme of the meraglim.
