Humble Spies
We are living in an age obsessively preoccupied with self- esteem. Our problems will overwhelm us when we fail to grasp that self-esteem must be replaced with G-d esteem. We are the last generation of exile and the first generation of Redemption, chosen by G-d to lead the way into this miraculous Age. We must not lose our confidence in victory over the forces of exile.
Spiritual Rebellion
One of the most difficult stories in the Torah to comprehend concerns the spies handpicked by Moses to scout the land of Cana’an. Ten of the 12 spies gave a horribly slanderous report upon their return. Their negative depiction of the land caused nearly the entire male population of Jews to cry and spurn the gift of the Land of Desire that G-d had promised them. As a consequence of their rebellion, the spies died in a plague and the rest of the Jewish community, aged 20 and older, were destined to die in the desert while the conquest of the land was delayed for almost 40 years.
Commentators have grappled with this enigmatic episode. How could such righteous people have turned so dramatically against Moses and G-d?
Joshua’s Humility: A Stumbling Block
Another enigmatic detail according to Rashi is that Moses changed Joshua’s name specifically to fortify him with the strength not to be swayed by the conspiracy of the spies. Why would Moses single out Joshua for this prayer?
Targum Yonason ben Uziel explains that when Moses saw Joshua’s humility he prayed for him. Why would humility be an obstacle for Joshua?
The simple explanation is that humble people are more likely to be followers and not leaders. Accordingly, Joshua’s humility might cause him to suppress his own opinion and be receptive to what the other spies will say.
However, that is not an adequate answer. While a humble person does not promote himself, he does promote G-d’s ideas. Certainly, Joshua, the most devoted disciple of Moses, would not deviate one iota from the mission to prepare the Jewish people for the conquest of the land. How could his humility get in the way?
Too Spiritual and Too Humble for the Land
To answer this question it is necessary to explore Chassidic approach to this entire episode first. The Spies’ rebellion was not motivated by their lowliness. On the contrary, it was a product of their extremely high spiritual state. They could not countenance living a primarily physical existence, which living in and inhabiting the land would entail. They preferred the purified spiritual environment of the desert, surrounded by clouds of glory and subsisting on heavenly Manna.
But, as Chassidus explains, the rationale went even deeper than that. The rebellious spies knew that the ultimate goal was for the Jewish people to exercise mastery over their physical and material existence. They were convinced that it would not be possible for them to achieve that objective. If their existence continued to be miraculous, as it was in the desert, there would be no problem in conquering the land in both the physical and spiritual senses of the word. However, the premise of the Jews’ entry into the land of Cana’an was that they would do so following the natural order. How then, the spies reasoned, could we expect to transform the land into something spiritual and G-dly if we were to be constrained by, and subject to, the natural order of things?
The spies obviously underestimated the Divine spark that exists within every Jew and which enables him or her to gain mastery over nature. It was their misplaced humility that was the root cause of the rebellion. Moses was therefore understandably most concerned for Joshua, since he was by nature the most humble of the 12 spies. In his case, the danger was most acute that he would think it impossible to uncover the Divine energy that would lead to a successful conquest of the land.
However, this answer does not adequately address why Joshua would think the Jewish people would be unable to conquer the land. After all, humble people always think that everyone else is superior to themselves. If Joshua couldn’t do it himself, why couldn’t the collective efforts of the entire Jewish people be able to do it?
Location, Location, Location
There is another approach to answering the question of why Moses was concerned for Joshua’s humility. This approach is based on the 20th century work, Knesses Yechezkal.
The Talmud (Berachos 6a) discusses the importance of having a fixed place for one’s prayers. The 18th century commentator R. Yechezkal Landow explains that when a person prays in a certain location it acquires a lingering spirituality that will provide additional support the next time he prays in that same spot.
Based on this premise it follows logically that when one commits a sin in a given location it becomes endowed with a trace of impurity, especially if that place is used repeatedly for the commission of a sin. This lingering impurity can cause other unsuspecting people to be more vulnerable if they should chance upon the place.
This explains the statement in Ethics of the Fathers:
“If two people are sitting together and do not discuss words of Torah, it is a place of scorners.”
Some commentators interpret this statement in a novel way: The fact that two Jews, who were otherwise steeped in Torah study, failed to do so in that location is a sign that a group of scorners previously sat in that place. They defiled and degraded that location, thereby having a deleterious effect on these two individuals by making them less likely to say words of Torah.
This concept can serve as another way of understanding the role of the spies. The Land of Cana’an was known for the depravity of its inhabitants prior to the conquest. Such extensive impurity so pervaded the landscape that it would be most difficult, if not impossible, for the Jewish nation to conquer the land and transform it into a Holy Land. The odds were stacked against their succeeding in this endeavor.
To “soften the turf” and remove the effects of the moral depravity of the Canaanites, Moses sent the spies, who were righteous, moral and spiritually sophisticated scouts. Their task was to purify the air in preparation for the conquest by the remainder of the Jewish people.
The spies, however, were led astray by their lack of selfconfidence. Although they were generally aware of the depraved nature of the land, which they obviously had to have heard about from Moses, one cannot compare the power of seeing something to the more attenuated impact of just hearing about it. After being confronted with the ugly reality of the land’s depravity and contamination they were convinced that they could not change it for the better. They feared it would prove morally fatal to the Jewish people.
Moses’ great concern was for his trusted disciple Joshua, precisely because of the latter’s deep humility. Moses recognized that there is a fine line between the humility that makes a person receptive to all that is positive and the unwarranted underestimation of one’s own spiritual powers. Moses prayed specifically for Joshua because none of the other spies were as distinguished by their humility as Joshua.
Whose Power is it?
At this point another question can be raised: if the other spies did not suffer from an excess of humility why did they think they could not execute their mission of preparing the land for the conquest? Why couldn’t they endow the land with purity and holiness, which they obviously possessed in abundant measure?
The answer is that the mindset of believing that one’s own credentials and prowess qualify one for a mission can be a most destructive force and lead to the very undoing of the mission. To be sure, people sent on a mission by Moses then, or by the Moses of our own generation now, are chosen because they have the G-d given talents to carry out that particular mission. However, success is only guaranteed when they realize that the power they bring to their task is derived from the power of Moses, the leader of their generation.
The spies, tragically, began to believe in themselves. They forgot that their power and spirituality alone would not pave the way for the conquest. It was Moses’ inspiration and G-dly energy that empowered them in their mission. When they saw the formidable and daunting challenge of the land’s degradation with their own eyes, it hit them hard and they began to doubt their ability to succeed. Had they remained connected to Moses and his spiritual power, they would not have lost their self-respect and determination to triumph in their task.
Whose Esteem?
We are living in an age obsessively preoccupied with selfesteem. And yet we see so many people who fall apart when confronted by a challenge. The problems will overwhelm us when we fail to grasp that self-esteem must be replaced with G-d esteem. We are the last generation of exile and the first generation of Redemption, chosen by G-d to lead the way into this miraculous Age. We must not lose our confidence in victory over the forces of exile.
How do we develop this confidence when we look around the world and see so much strife and negativity?
The answer, again, is that we have been chosen by G-d to be the emissaries of the Moshiach of our generation, just as the spies were chosen by their Moses. He is with us in our exile, but will imminently take us out of it. Now when we confront all the obstacles we can be confident that we will surmount them because we go with the power of Moshiach.
Lest we use misplaced humility to say that we are not worthy or that we are incapable of transforming the world into a Messianic utopia, the response must be that we are “simply” agents of Moshiach. Even one additional positive act, word or even thought on our part, when suffused with our awareness of the identity of the one who sent us, can tip the supernal scales for the good and bring salvation to the entire world.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Shlach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
