Moses sent 12 leaders of the Jewish people to spy out the Land of Canaan. The report by 10 of the spies caused an uproar in the Jewish camp.
Then Caleb, one of the 12 spies, started to speak.
30. And Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”
31. But the men who went up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than us.”
Some Questions
Why did Caleb quiet the people? What does it mean “before Moses”?
Caleb says “possess it” and “overcome it.” What does the pronoun “it” refer to?
The Ten Spies in their reply refer to “the people.” Was Caleb also talking about “the people” in his statement?
Let’s take a close look at each verse.
Numbers 13:30
And Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”
Caleb quieted the people before Moses
The word translated as “before” is the Hebrew “el” which has several possible translations into English. Most often it is translated as to, into, or toward.
The truth is, no matter how “el” is translated, the phrase is difficult to understand.
What was Caleb trying to accomplish? The commentators suggest several answers to this question.
According to Rabbi Hirsch, Caleb tried to keep the people from speaking against Moses.
Rashi writes that Caleb hinted to the crowd that he was going to agree with the other Ten Spies. He got the crowd to listen to him by saying words that seemed to be against Moses. Once he had their attention, he switched and urged the people to go into the Land.
Chizkuni disagrees and suggests Caleb only wanted the people to listen to Moses. Once the crowd was quite, Moses spoke.
What was the message from Moses at this time? His words are recorded later in Deuteronomy:
29. Then I [Moses] said to you, Dread not, nor be afraid of them.
30. The Lord your God who goes before you, He shall fight for you, according to all what He did for you in Egypt before your eyes.
Abarbanel in his commentary takes a similar approach. Caleb wanted to silence the people so that they would listen to Moses.
But first he wanted to deliver a message to them: We are stronger than the people in Canaan. We can go up into the Land against their will.
Caleb did not want to extol the miracles that God had performed for the Jewish people and His capabilities. That was the job of Moses.
However, Caleb had been there and had seen the Land, so that’s what he spoke about.
Tzror Hamor makes the startling suggestion that Caleb silenced the people and Moses. He did not want Moses to speak because he was afraid that the people would not believe him. Then the spies would take advantage of that to undermine Moses.
“Let us go up and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”
Daat Mikra explains Caleb was saying it’s not our concern who lives in the Land now. We are able to go up and possess it.
This comment understands that both instances of the word “it” in the verse are a reference to the Land of Israel.
This is clear in the Hebrew of the verse. The Hebrew word “eretz” (land) is feminine. And both instances of “it” in the verse are also in the feminine.
Tzror Hamor adds a basis for Caleb’s statement: the Land is the inheritance of the Jewish people based on God’s oath to the forefathers and their merit will permit them to possess it.
Numbers 13:31
But the men who went up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than us.”
The Ten Spies had a very different message for the Jewish people.
We are not able to go up
Sforno claims that the spies were warning the people that the tribes in Canaan would rise up against them and not let them enter.
In fact, the spies were “correct” as we read a few verses later. Some of the people attempted to enter the Land on their own initiative.
45. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that hill, and defeated them, and pursued them, even to Hormah.
But those men acted after they were explicitly told that they were acting against God’s decree of 40 years in the Wilderness.
for they are stronger than us
Here’s how the Gemara understands this phrase:
As Rabbi Hinnana bar Pappa says: The spies said a serious statement at that moment: “They are stronger than us” (Numbers 13:31). Do not read: “stronger than us,” rather: “stronger than Him,” that even the Homeowner, is unable to remove His belongings from there, as it were.
This phrase represents one of the most significant claims of the Ten Spies.
The preposition “min” (spelled mem-nun) means “from.”
It can also be used to indicate a comparison between things. That’s how it’s used in our verse which leads to the translation “than.”
The base word “min” can have pronouns added to it as a suffix.
Here’s where we get some ambiguity.
- “from him / than him” is spelled mem-mem-nun-vav and pronounced mimenu
- “from us / than us” is spelled mem-mem-nun-vav and pronounced mimenu
That’s right, they are identical.
As explained in A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew, page 63: The context explains whether “mimenu” means ‘from him’ or ‘from us.’
Or, in our verse, does it mean “than Him” or “than us”?
As R. Steinsaltz makes clear, the spies were speaking heresy and claiming that the Canaanites were stronger than God Himself. That is a denial of God’s omnipotence.
Tzror Hamor, relating to his comment on verse 30, writes that the spies were saying, “You rely on the oath to the forefathers, but ‘they are stronger than Him’ and hence the oath is nullified.”
Torah Temimah explains that Caleb (according to a midrash) spoke about the miracles that Moses performed. The Ten Spies replied, “Yes, but what do those miracles matter? Even God cannot prevail in these circumstances.”
Defending the 10 Spies
R. Steinsaltz points out that it is possible to explain that the Ten Spies were not speaking heresy. Rather they claiming that the recently freed slaves of Egypt did not have the military strength to fight those mighty armies in Canaan.
This comment by R. Steinsaltz leads us to a question: could the Jewish people at time rely on God to fight for them, or did they need to wait until they were more sure of their military might?
Rabbi Dessler on the Spies
Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler views the incident of the spies as a delicate balancing act between bitachon (trust) and hishtadlut (human effort).
In this article I will only look at a couple of his points. You can read it in depth in Hebrew in Michtav MiEliyahu (Vol 1, page 189) or in the English translation, Strive for Truth (Vol 2, page 267).
His focus is on the opening verses of Numbers 13, but I think his remarks apply to the entire episode.
His starting point is that the ideal is to have maximum trust in God and hence minimize human endeavor.
He must minimize worldly endeavor only to the degree which is consistent with his true spiritual level. [emphasis added]
This weighing of options is an extremely delicate operation.
God had told the Jewish people that He was bringing them into a Land that was suitable for their needs. They were only days away from entering that Land.
Should they rely on God’s promises or was this the time to act “responsibly” and send in spies first? In the context of our verses, was this the time to consider the military strength of the young nation?
Rabbi Dessler understands that Moses was not sure if he should send spies into the Land or not.
He writes, based on Rashi, that after the people came to Moses (Deuteronomy 1:22), then Moses asked God what he should do.
God’s response is recorded in Numbers 13:1-2.
This is clear from the fact that Mosheh Rabbenu asked Hashem whether or not spies should be sent into Canaan before the invasion and received the answer: “Send for yourself: it must be your decision.” The true position was withheld from him because it was necessary for Israel to be given a test.
God did not give Moses a clear answer because it was important for Moses and the Jewish people to learn how to make this type of decision.
Moses decided that he must send the spies.
Mosheh gave in to them only because he saw they were set on this course and he thought that not to agree would be worse than to agree. When he said, “The matter seemed good in my eyes” he meant, according to Ramban, “I accepted your evil plan and gave instructions for it to be carried out.”
There is one other important aspects of Moses’ decision.
But once they had made the fatal mistake of seeking the way of human endeavor, Mosheh felt he could no longer prevent them from adopting this course. The level they were now on made it necessary.
Moses perceived that by asking for spies the Jewish people were revealing that their current spiritual level required them to take action and send in spies.
In other words, Moses disagreed with their request, but was forced to accept their decreased spiritual level.
Moses did try to protect the people from harm. The men he chose as spies were righteous and leaders of the people. Moses hoped that these men would be able to avoid temptation and pass the test that they were about to face.
The spies returned from their mission and gave their report. Ten argued that they had no ability to successfully enter the Land. Only 2 argued that they could still rely on God’s promises and succeed.