Parshat Shelach begins:
we read:
I do not believe that these two accounts are contradictory, for two reasons.
Firstly, there is a big dispute among scholars whether codes such as the Code of Hammurabi or the law codes in the Torah were written as law codes or as case law.
The difference between the two: as a law code, legislators sat down and wrote a comprehensive, theoretical law code to cover various cases. as case law, a case came before a judge, he decided it, the details such as the names of the litigants were stripped away and it was generalized, and written down to cover that situation and situations like it.
Thus, is ki yinatzu anashim yachdav the result of two men fighting and the wife of one intervening, or did this start out entirely conceptual. Sometimes, specific details in the code suggest it is case law. On the other hand, comprehensiveness and specific writing style suggests law code.
Most often in Torah, the case behind the situation is not given. Yet we see in parshat Yitro that people were coming day and night to Moshe to ask him questions, for many of which he made inquiry of Hashem. And we do have occasion where we see the incident beforehand. Thus, the blasphemer, the chopper of wood, and the daughters of Tzelofchad. This is not necessarily the comprehensive list, but rather just thoise instances when the Torah recorded the query besides the final law.
Indeed, one can frame this as the question whether the Torah was given megillah megillah - scroll by scroll throughout the period in the wilderness, in a gradual revelation to Moshe -- or all at once on Har Sinai.
If so, when the people suggested that Moshe send spies, Moshe, though thinking it a good idea, would have consulted God. And this is the subject matter of parshat Shelach.
Secondly, we must realize that parshat Devarim, and much of Devarim, is polemical. Moshe is giving mussar to the Israelites. This is not a history lesson but a focus on failings such that they can improve their actions in the future. True, details are different from that in Shelach, but that is because Moshe omits some details and expands upon others for polemic effect. (Kind of like the author of Afikei Mayim...)
Thus, Moshe focuses on the fact that it was the people's initial suggestion without mentioning Hashem's approval of the plan. He mentions that the spies (all of them) said that the land was good and then focused on the people's reactions, and does not focus on the negative aspect of the spies' report. This is not a conflict between two sources/accounts of the same event, but rather the result of a speaker with an agenda picking and choosing those details to stress for maximum effect.
I believe that these two reasons work together to eliminate any apparent contradiction.
parshiot
parshablog
-- email me: joshwaxman@yahoo.com
1 comment:
Very often, we experience what we believe to be the punitive hand of G-d, but the Almighty is our Heavenly Father who created us and loves us with infinite love, and whose mercies and compassion always encompass us, so His punishment is not affliction, but correction. This teaching is blatantly obvious in this parsha. The people are guilty of an act of perfidy. They spurn G-d's magnificent gift - Eretz Yisrael, the Holy Land. They demand that spies be sent on a reconnaissance mission - which, in and of itself, betrays a hidden agenda. As anticipated, they return with a most disheartening, blasphemous report; they inject fear into the hearts of the people which results in a call for a return to Egypt. But the Almighty G-d, who knows the machinations of the hearts of men, foresaw the future and protected His people, even in this time of disgrace. He allowed these ill-intentioned spies to scout out the entire land in a mere forty days - an impossible feat for that time. G-d gave the spies good speed so that the punishment might be minimized, since for each day that they spied out the land, the nation had to spend a corresponding year in the desert. The forty days of scouting became forty years of wandering. During this time, the nation was reborn and made atonement for the sins of the spies, and herein lies a profound lessons for us to remember.
1) When difficult and challenging days come upon us, and we find ourselves "wandering in our own desert", we should recognize that that experience is a call from G-d.... a challenge to grow and realize our higher purpose. 2) The second lesson that we should internalize is to try to emulate the boundless mercies of G-d. G-d enabled the scouts to traverse the land in a mere forty days so that the period of rehabilitation would not exceed the number forty. Similarly, we too, should make it easy for those who wronged us or departed from the path of Torah, to make amends, re-enter and become part of our great Jewish community.
Through the sins of the spies, we gain a glimpse of the complexity of human nature and we become painfully aware that if the mind is twisted and the heart is crooked, then no matter how many miracles G-d performs, no matter how much kindness He extends, His actions will be misinterpreted and maligned, for a man sees and hears only that which he wants to see and hear. Thus we find that when the spies entered the Land of Israel, G-d made a miracle on their behalf and arranged that, just on that day, Job, the righteous citizen of the land, should die. Job was respected and revered - therefore his death signaled a national day of mourning. Everyone attended his funeral, and this great outpouring of people permitted the spies to go undetected. No one payed attention to them, no one hampered their movement and they were able to return safely to their home base. However, instead of being grateful for this miracle, instead of recognizing G-d's protective care, the spies gave a slanderous report and proclaimed, "It is a land that devours its inhabitants. People are dying all day - there are constant funerals."
This, once again reinforces the sad reality that even the open miracles of G-d are of no avail; if people have hidden agendas. they will see only that which they want to see and hear only that which they want to hear.
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