See virtually every parshan explain the inconsistency with sefer Devarim, where this is the idea of the Israelites, rather than Hashem. And the resolution is that first Hashem said עלה רש, 'Go and possess it.' Then they asked to send scouts. Moshe consulted Hashem, who agreed, and instructed how to select them.
See Ibn Caspi and Shadal that the failure of the spies was part of a Divine plan.
Granting this harmonization, this does not really address why? If both occurred, why do we get such a different sense in parashat Shelach and parashat Devarim? Why omit details here and mention them there? Why mention the request of the Israelites and omit God's instruction? Why mention God's instruction and omit the request of the Israelites.
The answer is 'tone'. In parashat Shelach, the point was the corruption of an ideal. Look at how these men were selected. Each man was a prince among them. And they were to come back telling of the glorious land that Hashem was granting the Israelites. And, as a practical matter al derech hateva, scouts were needed to know how to go about conquering the land. Of course the land was to be conquered. If so, the request of the Israelites is really beside the point. At the start of the parasha, all is good and ideal.
In parashat Devarim, the point is mussar to the Bnei Yisrael. This stands alongside a litany of other failures of character. If so, their request is juxtaposed with Moshe's instruction:
Their request is indicative of a disregard for Moshe's instruction 'fear not, neither be dismayed'. They wanted to found out if it was a good idea to try to conquer the land, rather than finding out how they would best conquer the land. And this deficiency in intention carried through to the end. And since this is mussar, it is appropriate to bring this salient detail forward.
Tg Yonasan renders שְׁלַח-לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים as guvrin charifin. But it does not mean that they were 'sharp'. Rather, it is an accidental transposition for guvrin chafirin, where chafirin is Aramaic for spies.
Continuing:
Two approaches. The traditional is that these were actually the nesiim, either by different names but appearing elsewhere, or else different nesiim replacing earlier ones (who died seeing God's presence on Har Sinai). A second (see Chasam Sofer, Tg Yonasan) is that these were appointed by the nesiim. Thus, תִּשְׁלָחוּ--כֹּל, נָשִׂיא בָהֶם means that each nasi among them sent a scout.
I would argue with both and say that כֹּל נָשִׂיא בָהֶם as well as כֻּלָּם אֲנָשִׁים רָאשֵׁי בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵמָּה does not mean literal nesiim, but rather very prominent, important, influential people. And therefore also the need to list every single one of them. And they could have been (and some were) pointed out for perpetuity for good; instead, this turns into a list of bad guys. But at this stage, it could have gone either way.
See Ramban on the order of the meraglim, and their shevatim. Why in this order? It is not based on their degalim, tzivosam, or birth order. He suggests based on their relative stature or worth.
The list:
Considering, Reuven, Shimon, and Yehuda are obvious. Levi is missing since no one was sent from Levi? Why? Perhaps because the Ephraim / Menashe pair pushed him off, or perhaps since they would not really inherit a possession. But Leah is the first wife, and gave birth to these in this order. See Bereishit 29. In birth order, Dan and Naftali are next, but these are of the maidservants, and so will be dealt with later. The next one Leah gives birth to is Yissachar. (See Bereshit 30.)
Zevulun's moving I can't really account for. I could offer forced answers, such as that Yosef was born at the same time (or should have been) as Yissachar, due to the dudaim -- but won't.
Then, Ephraim as a stand-in for Yosef, and Binyamin. These are the two sons of the other main wife, Rachel.
As mop-up, one son from each. Menashe was moved to a secondary position, because we already have someone for Yosef. Dan and Naftali, from Bilhah, are in relative birth order, but Zilpah's sons, Asher and Gad, are interspersed, and in reverse birth order.
There might be other influences on the order. Sons of Leah are a natural place to start. But note that Hoshea bin Nun is one of the 'good' meraglim, is of Ephraim, and is placed where we would expect, before Binyamin. But Yosef is not mentioned.
Contrast with the meragel for Menashe, where Yosef is mentioned.
| יא לְמַטֵּה יוֹסֵף, לְמַטֵּה מְנַשֶּׁה--גַּדִּי, בֶּן-סוּסִי. | 11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. |
I would suggest Hoshea bin Nun is placed at pasuk 8 so that the immediately preceding would have the words בֶּן-יוֹסֵף.
Another juxtaposition would be:
based on similarity of names and fathers' names. Gadiel vs. Gadi, ben Sodi vs. ben Susi. Perhaps these two:
| יג לְמַטֵּה אָשֵׁר, סְתוּר בֶּן-מִיכָאֵל. | 13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. |
| יד לְמַטֵּה נַפְתָּלִי, נַחְבִּי בֶּן-וָפְסִי. | 14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. |
are juxtaposed because of how they make for such great spy names. סתור means hidden and נֶחְבָּא means to hide oneself. And pasuk 14, 13, 12, skip the Gadis, 9, are in reverse alphabetical order. Nun Samech Ayin Peh.
Why is there a chirik in Bin Nun. For instance:
| ח לְמַטֵּה אֶפְרָיִם, הוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן-נוּן. | 8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun. |
and
| טז אֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים, אֲשֶׁר-שָׁלַח מֹשֶׁה לָתוּר אֶת-הָאָרֶץ; וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן-נוּן, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ. | 16 These are the names of the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua. |
Chasam Sofer gives a whole explanation based on the yud borrowed from Saray, and which nikkudos may transfer. Not looking carefully now, but add a yud sheva, we need to take the two dots from ben. And so we are left with just a single dot.
Probably, it has to do with the duplication of nuns in bin-nun, and in the short single syllable nun, and in the makef shifting the stress to the next word.
The point of the renaming is not to say that Moshe prayed for Hoshea here and changed his name to protect him. Rather, it gives a list. And we, the casual reader, might not realize that this is the same person. So we are told that Moshe elsewhere refers to him as Yehoshua.
This also has the side-effect of singling out Yehoshua as a 'good' spy early on, before it happens.
| יז וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם מֹשֶׁה, לָתוּר אֶת-אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן; וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם, עֲלוּ זֶה בַּנֶּגֶב, וַעֲלִיתֶם, אֶת-הָהָר. | 17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them: 'Get you up here into the South, and go up into the mountains; |
I need to know more Biblical geography before being able to understand the pesukim detailing geography. So I don't know if this animation is any good:
Perhaps more later.
No comments:
Post a Comment