Bamidbar Chapter 14

Bamidbar Chapter 14: The People’s Rebellion and Moshe’s Intercession

Introduction: Structure and Context

So here we are learning Bamidbar chapter 14, the second part, second half of the story of the Meraglim [the spies]. It’s quite a long chapter. We’ll try to summarize what is going on in it.

As we’ve said in the previous chapter, which is the first half of the story, these two chapters in some sense could have made a chapter in the middle here before the story of the Ma’apilim [those who went up presumptuously]. In any case, these two chapters are totally part of one story. There’s no real reason to divide it this way. You might think of other ways to divide the story.

What we’ve had before was the Meraglim’s return, right? After the whole story of the command of Temush [the scouting mission], the action of the Meraglim to go to Eretz Israel to check it out, the Meraglim’s return, and two levels, two steps of their report. First, they gave a simple report, and then they started a conversation whether they will manage to conquer the land. And then they gave their sort of narrative, their sort of personal impression of how they’re weak relative to the people there.

The People’s Response: Universal Complaint

And there we’re getting the response of the people to this report, to this really nice narrative that they got. And the response was very sad. They raised their voices and they cried. They cried and cried doesn’t mean just like they had tears, they were sad. It’s something like they complained very loudly, they cried out.

And they complained on Moshe and Aharon and all of them, Kol Bnei Yisrael [all the children of Israel], all the people, Kol HaEidah [all the congregation]. I’ve said that HaEidah I think means the important people, the people who count in the congregation. Kol Bnei Yisrael means everyone. They’re all having the same complaint.

So although different than the previous stories where there are Asafsaf [rabble] complaints and then Moshe and Aharon and Miriam had complaints, here everyone has the same complaint. It doesn’t of course talk about Aharon and Miriam, but everyone had complaints. We should assume that all the 70 leaders from the previous story, they’re all complaining.

The Content of the Complaint

And what are they complaining? That this whole plan, this is really a challenge to the whole plan of Moshe taking them out of Mitzrayim [Egypt], bringing them to the Midbar [wilderness], bringing them to [Eretz] Yisrael. They said this whole plan was a bad plan, we should have died in Mitzrayim, we should have even died in the Midbar on the way. We’re just going to die now, to fall by the sword. We’re going to die in war. Our children, our wives will become prizes of war that will be taken by the enemy. It’s even worse, it would have been better for us to be in Mitzrayim.

And they literally start speaking one to another, let’s — how about we make a new leadership, we create a new leader and we go back to Mitzrayim.

Moshe and Aharon’s Non-Response

And this is a very serious challenge and Moshe and Aharon don’t have a response. As we’ve seen now, this is the first time and then later in the same similar later, Moshe and Aharon don’t really have responses to the good challenges. The weak challenges, they have responses. When there’s a good challenge, they don’t answer, they wait for Hashem to answer for them.

So what Moshe and Aharon do is they fall on their face before Hashem. This is what it means, if they fall to their face, like they’re giving up in front of them, or it might mean a kind of prayer. They’re saying, we don’t really have a response. Like if you really think that there’s no way, we should have maybe even died on the way, you know, on thirst or something, it’s all better than dying in war and having our children being taken captive and slaves and so on. We don’t really have an answer.

Yehoshua and Calev’s Counter-Report

But the only people that have an answer, that get involved in the discussion here, are the two of the Meraglim, Yehoshua ben Nun and Calev ben Yefuneh, who are one of the Meraglim, they seem to have, they feel the right to challenge, right? Because now every Moshe and Aharon, they’re getting this report, everyone is hearing their report, nobody’s assuming they’re lying, right? Even the prophet doesn’t say they’re lying. They narrated the story badly, they said the bad things about it, but nobody said that they lied. So the only people that had a real chance of challenging them are Yehoshua and Calev, who are from the group of Meraglim, they were there.

Tearing Their Clothing

And what do they do? Firstly, they rip their clothing. In other words, they’re participating in Moshe and Aharon and being at a loss here. They’re saying, this is horrible what’s going on, this is not okay. And then, so that’s step one.

Their Theological Argument

Then step two is that they speak to the people and they disagree, they challenge that report. They say, this is not true. Firstly, the land that we went to check out is great land. And of course, remember, this is not something they ever challenged. Everyone agreed that the land, as far as the land, is a good person, is a good land. Of course, they said in their second step of their report, they said, it’s a hard land that eats its people that live in it, its inhabitants, but it doesn’t necessarily differently disagree, this is just a different emphasis, right? They’re saying, let’s go back to the beginning, it’s a good land.

But you’re afraid, so then here, they’re answering, Yehoshua and Calev’s answer is Hashem. It’s in the name of Hashem. If Hashem will want us, He will bring us this place, He will give it to us, it’s a great land, it’s chalav u’dvash [milk and honey]. Just do not rebel against Hashem, because Hashem is the power that’s going to help us. If you rebel against Hashem, then maybe you’re right. But if you go with Hashem, if Hashem will want us, if Hashem is the one bringing us, then we’ll definitely be able to go.

“Their Shade Has Departed”

And therefore, just don’t rebel against Hashem, which it seems like they’re interpreting, and that’s why they rip their clothing. Like similar to like the law, if someone hears someone cursing God or something like that, you rip your clothing, because you’re hearing something blasphemy, this is against God. But if you will not blasphemize against God, you will not rebel against God, then don’t be afraid of the people in the land. There are food, sar tzilam mei’aleihem [their shade has departed from them], it’s very interesting.

And the Torah always says shade is protection, it’s a constant of protection. Like the thing protecting them from the sun or from enemies has been lost. In other words, of course, this is a beautiful image, like there’s a desert and like they went in the summer, it was very hot, and they said, look, these people have no shade, there’s no trees, similar to like we talked about, of course, the Midrash noticed this connection between the etz [trees] and the tzeil [shade]. But of course, literally, the etz means trees there, and here it is talking about something more metaphorical.

But there’s idea here where something like they’re fully exposed to us, there’s nobody protecting them. Okay, they have, they might have been the Anak [giants], but Hashem is stronger than these Anak. There’s, this is not something you should be worried about. And it’s also a report, right? This is also a way of them interpret their report. They said, we saw that they don’t, they’re not protected. We saw that they don’t have protection. How did they see it? They saw it with the eyes of this promise that they believe that Hashem will bring them. But it’s not only, we have to emphasize this, it’s not only like, well, Hashem will help us against the reality, against nature, against what there is. No, they’re saying that if you look with these eyes, if you’re not rebelling against Hashem, you will see that they don’t have anyone to rely on, really, these people.

The People’s Rejection and Hashem’s Appearance

But now, of course, Yehoshua and Calev’s challenge and response here doesn’t get accepted. The people, they want to stone them. That’s how mad they are at this. They’re thinking that they’re just trying to fool them or something or something as weird is going on. They’re not interested in listening to this.

And here Hashem intervenes. Hashem’s glory, which probably means a cloud or something like that, is seen in the Ohel Moed [Tent of Meeting], like we saw very similar to the story that we had earlier by Miriam. Hashem gets revealed and is showing like, I’m here. I’ve noticed what’s going on. It’s not, I’m not, it’s in front of me. I’ve heard the complaints.

Hashem’s Anger and Proposal

And now Hashem, what does He say? He speaks to Moshe, similar to, again, over there, where He spoke to Aharon and Miriam. Now He’s speaking to Moshe, not speaking to people. He’s speaking to Moshe and He expresses His anger, His frustration to Moshe. And this is what He says. He says, Ad ana yena’atzuni ha’am hazeh? [Until when will this people blaspheme Me?] Until when will they not believe me, will they not trust in me? I’ve done so much for them. This is not like, they said, we should have died in the Midbar, we should have died in Mitzrayim. Remember, someone took you out of Mitzrayim. We got in here. How much more do I have to do for you, for you to trust the plan, to trust that the next step will also work?

Therefore, Hashem is so upset, He says, I will just kill them. I will destroy them in a plague. I’ll make you Moshe to a greater nation. I’ll make you bigger than them. In other words, Moshe, or maybe even Calev and Yehoshua, whoever, the only people that are trusting in me, I’ll take care of you. Forget about all these people.

Moshe’s Intercession

Now Moshe, similar to what He did in the Egel [Golden Calf], right? Hashem told him a similar thing about the Egel. Moshe intervenes with Hashem. Moshe is not agreeing with Hashem. Moshe prays to Hashem and to destroy, to take away Hashem’s anger and to say that this is not going to work.

The Argument from Egypt’s Perspective

And he uses the same argument that he always uses. He says, oh, so the Mitzrayim will hear that you lost, right? The Mitzrayim, who, right? This is, well, this is like very interesting, but this is exactly Yehoshua and Calev’s argument, right? Hashem is the one that took you out of Mitzrayim. Hashem’s argument, you took out of Mitzrayim, you should trust that it will do further. And then Moshe says, okay, for the same reason, Hashem, you can’t give up either. You don’t expect the people to give up, right? Don’t give up. I’ve taken you out of Mitzrayim, I’ve taken you through the Midbar, trust that the next step will work too. Well, could you give up also?

What will the Mitzrayim say? The Mitzrayim will tell the people. The Mitzrayim will maybe metaphorically or literally be talking to the people of Canaan. It’s interesting, he says, I’m pretty sure that this means people of Canaan, although Moshe is not there. It’s like, he’s speaking as if we’re already there. He’s saying, they will say, look, we’ve heard that Hashem is with these people. Everyone can see your cloud go with them, your fire at night. And turns out you’ve killed them all as one person, like as if they’re one person in one day, in one night, and all the people have heard of you. It’s not like you can hide, you can pretend, oh, I never meant anything. No, everyone sees that you’re very clear about showing that it’s you, tzilam [their shade], right? The anan [cloud]. It’s under your shade that they’re going, right? You’re protecting them.

The Nations Will Say Hashem Lacked Power

And they will hear, the Mitzrayim will say, oh, obviously, okay, maybe Hashem was stronger than us, but He’s not stronger than Canaanim [Canaanites]. Hashem cannot bring them to the land. So He slaughtered them in the Midbar to get out of His promise to take them out of the land. So like, He slaughtered them in the sense of, there was a plague, maybe like, oh, something happened, I don’t know. He couldn’t fulfill His promise, therefore, this was His excuse, this was His answer.

The Brilliant Reversal

And this is Moshe’s very strong argument against Hashem. And you’ll notice the same thing, just like the Meraglim, like, notice, the Shearikot [?] of notice, wait, your people are saying that the Canaanim are stronger than Hashem. Moshe is saying, that is exactly what the truth would be, what the people will say, whenever someone says, people will say, this will be the reality, if you don’t, you actually follow them. If you actually do what the Meraglim are proposing and kill them in the Midbar, which is exactly what they said, then it will be true.

Invoking the Thirteen Attributes

And therefore, Moshe finishes his prayer, he says, ve’ata yigdal na koach Hashem [and now let the power of Hashem be magnified], in other words, make your power strong, show that your power is stronger. And then he repeats, in the story of the Egel, when Hashem revealed Himself to them, He said, it’s true, that you’re a God of justice and a God of righteous anger, but you’re also

So he slaughtered them in the sense of there was a plague, maybe something happened, I don’t know. He couldn’t fulfill His promise, therefore this was His excuse, this was His answer.

And this is Moshe’s very strong argument against God. And you’ll notice the same thing, just like the Meraglim — notice the parallel structure. The Meraglim said that the Canaanites are stronger than God. Moshe is saying, that is exactly what the truth would be, what the people will say. Whenever someone says “people will say,” this will be the reality. If you actually follow them, if you actually do what the Meraglim are proposing and kill them in the Midbar [wilderness], which is exactly what they said — “if only we had died in the Midbar” — then it will be true. It will look like God couldn’t do it.

And therefore Moshe finishes his prayer. He says, ועתה יגדל נא כח ה׳ [Ve’atah yigdal na koach Hashem — And now, make Your power strong]. In other words, show that Your power is strong.

And then he repeats what God told him in the story of the Egel [Golden Calf], when God revealed Himself to him. He said, God, You are a God of justice and a God of righteous anger, but You are also a God of being slow to anger, of being long to anger — ארך אפים [erech apayim] — of doing chesed [kindness], of carrying people’s sins. You can accept people’s sins, You could bear the burden of our sins.

And yes, ונקה לא ינקה [venakeh lo yenakeh — He does not completely absolve], You do not forget, but remember — that is also part of the ארך אפים [erech apayim]. God has time. God can wait for four generations. Maybe in four generations there is a solution that can be found, where somehow God can win. And maybe there has to be some punishment for the people not trusting Him — you can get that also.

But right now — right now You have to forgive the people with Your great kindness, as great as Your kindness is. וכאשר נשאתה לעם הזה ממצרים ועד הנה [Ve’asher nasata la’am hazeh miMitzrayim ve’ad heinah — And as You have carried this people from Egypt until here]. You’ve carried them until here, You can’t give up now. You’ve carried them, and of course You knew that we’re sinful, You knew that we’re hard people, You knew that we’re not trustful. You’ve carried us until now — continue to carry us.

God’s First Response: Forgiveness with Consequences

And God agrees with him. God says, סלחתי כדברך [Salachti kidvarecha — I have forgiven as you said]. You’ve made a good argument, you’re right. I will forgive them as you’ve said, according to your words, in your way.

And this is God fulfilling the second part. Like I said, this doesn’t mean that everyone is getting off scot-free. And He promises, חי אני [Chai ani — As I live], I swear by My life, as I live. And I think this also means something like, you asked Me to show My power, yes. Now, וימלא כבוד ה׳ את כל הארץ [veyimalei chevod Hashem et kol ha’aretz — and My glory will fill the whole earth]. So it’s like, I’m swearing by My life, by My glory, which will fill the whole earth now.

The Oath: This Generation Will Not See the Land

That these people who’ve seen Me, who’ve seen My glory, who’ve seen My miracles that I did in Mitzrayim [Egypt] and the Midbar, and they’ve tried Me about ten times, they still don’t listen to Me — I swear that אם יראו [im yir’u — if they will see] the land that I swore their parents…

The blasphemers, the people that blaspheme Me, will not see her. אם [im — if], in other words, I swear that something will happen — that’s the language of a swear. It doesn’t have the other side here, “if they will happen.”

But the only exception will be My servant, Kalev, who has had a different spirit with him — רוח אחרת [ruach acheret] — he didn’t go along with the Meraglim. He followed Me. I will bring him to the land, and his children, his descendants will inherit it.

Okay? So that’s Hashem’s response to Moshe: that okay, He will not kill everyone, but He swears that the people that have not trusted Him will not see the land that they don’t trust Him to bring them to. Basically, they’re going to get their wish in some sense.

And also, He makes an exception for Kalev. Of course, Yehoshua is not mentioned here, but maybe it’s obvious — Yehoshua is going to be the leader later. So it’s not really someone that needs an exception. Of course, he’s on Moshe’s side. But Kalev will have an exception, and he will get it. And of course, there’s a story in Sefer Yehoshua which describes exactly this happening.

The Practical Instruction: Turn Back

And now Hashem says, so what will you do? Look, the Amaleki and the Canaanites are in the valley — בעמק [ba’emek]. This is basically, again, literally what the Meraglim said, right? In the low part, in the Negev, that’s where the Amaleki and the Canaanites are going to be. In other words, you can’t go there. So you’re going to have to find a different way there.

For tomorrow, turn around, go back to the Midbar, to the way of the Yam Suf [Reed Sea]. You’re going to turn around, you’re going to have to find a different way to go.

So in other words, in a certain sense, it’s accepting the Meraglim’s complaint, right? This is very interesting. And that’s itself part of their punishment, right? A person’s punishment is that he gets what he wanted. The Meraglim said, you can’t go here, there’s Amaleki and Canaanites. Hashem said, you’re right. We could have taken you if you would have trusted, but you don’t trust. Go back the other way. We’ll find a different way. It will happen.

God’s Second, Expanded Speech: The Details of the Punishment

And now there’s another one, another moment, another speech that Hashem gives to Moshe and Aharon. And this is somewhat doubled. It seems to say similar things that He said before, but there’s a question here: why are there these doublings? It’s not the first doubling in the Torah, of course. But we can see that He adds a lot, a lot, a lot to this, to this promise, to this oath that He’s swearing. He gives a very important detail, and He really fills out what He didn’t really make clear before. He said the people that have not trusted Him won’t see them, but it doesn’t really explain what will happen. So here He does somewhat explain what will happen.

How Long with This Evil Congregation?

He says like this. First, He says the same thing that we said before. עד מתי לעדה הרעה הזאת אשר המה מלינים עלי [Ad matai la’eidah hara’ah hazot asher heimah malinim alai — Until when are these bad congregations, these bad people who are complaining against Me?] Right? In other words, this is Hashem saying exactly what He said before. Ten times they’ve tried Me. How much? How much more can this go on for?

I’ve heard them. And then it says, I’ve heard, right? This is again what we say the whole time. Hashem is saying, I didn’t forget. It’s not that you can complain and I don’t notice. I hear, I notice that complaints are in My ears, in My eyes, so to speak.

The Oath Made Explicit

Therefore, tell them. And He tells them the same oath. חי אני [Chai ani — As I live], I will do to you exactly what you spoke in My ears. And that’s filling out what I said. I told you already before by saying, your corpses will fall in this desert. All of you, all of you who’ve been counted in the census from the twenty years and older, all of you who have complained against Me, all of your corpses will fall together.

And I swear, אם תבאו [im tavo’u — if you will come] to the land that I’ve sworn to make you rest in, to make you live in, besides — and here we do have Kalev and Yehoshua.

The Children Will Inherit

And your children that you said that will be captive, that will be לבז [lavaz — prizes of war], that will become prizes of war — I will bring them, and they will know the land which you have not wanted, which you have been מאסתם [me’astem — rejected].

But you, your corpses will die in this Midbar. Your children will be in the desert for forty years. In other words, this whole generation until you die, basically. It’s saying, basically, you’re going to die a natural death, in some sense. But you will have to wait for the next generation to come. They will carry זנותכם [zenutechem — your faithlessness, your treason], basically, until your corpse is finished, until you all finish dying.

Why Forty Years?

And this will take, again, why forty years? I gave you a simple explanation: because forty years is basically the time that it takes for a generation to change. But also, there’s a symbolism here. The amount of days — we said they came back after forty days. So the exact amount of days that you went and checked out the land, for that amount of days, one day per year, you will have to carry your sin and it will take that long to get to Eretz Yisrael.

And He finalizes with His signature: אני ה׳ דברתי [Ani Hashem dibarti — I, Hashem, have spoken]. This is Me, Hashem, speaking. I promise, if not, if I will not do this to these people who are complaining, you will all die in the desert.

Okay. I went a little fast here because I have to move on.

The Death of the Spies

And now, we have — this is Hashem’s statement. And now we have the pasuk reporting, the narrator, so to speak, reporting that something, what they said, part of what Hashem said they will do, happened.

Of course, Hashem — Moshe succeeded with his prayer, with his intervention, that not all the people died, but some of the people, the specific people, did die. And it said, the people that Moshe sent, they died במגפה [bamaggefah — in the plague], in exactly in a plague, לפני ה׳ [lifnei Hashem — before Hashem], in front of Hashem. But Yehoshua ben Nun and Kalev, they survived.

So apparently, the Meraglim themselves died, or maybe — yeah, the Meraglim themselves died, whether on the spot, or whether in general in the desert, and so on. But they died, but Yehoshua and Kalev survived.

The Failed Ascent: The Ma’apilim

Now, we have a very interesting story. So it’s very interesting to see the structure. Like, on the one hand, they were not courageous enough, they did not trust enough, and therefore they lost, they didn’t — they got what they wanted, and didn’t go. Now, on the other hand, that doesn’t mean that that means you should just be rash and jump and do whatever you want and go even in the danger.

The People’s Reversal: “We Will Go Up”

So what we see is, Moshe speaks distinctly to the people, and they’re very sad. They’re in mourning — ויתאבלו העם מאד [vayit’ablu ha’am me’od — and the people mourned greatly]. Now, in the mourning, they say, you know what? You were right. Hashem was right. We will just go, we’ll just — well, they woke up in the morning, they go to ראש ההר [rosh hahar — the top of the mountain]. Again, the mountain — there’s the עמק [emek — valley], which is close to them, and then the הר [har — mountain], which is where the land is. And they say, we’re going to go up to the mountain. הננו [hinenu — here we are], we’re going to go up to the place that Hashem has promised us to go. חטאנו [chatanu — we’ve sinned], we made a mistake, we said we can’t go, we’re going to go.

Moshe’s Warning: It’s Too Late

And now, Moshe says, no, no, no, this is not what we meant. This is — maybe it means to say it’s too late, or maybe it says Hashem already said, He already accepted your complaint. This is not how it works.

Moshe tells them, למה זה אתם עוברים את פי ה׳ [lamah zeh atem ovrim et pi Hashem — why are you transgressing the word of Hashem?] Hashem just told you to go back. That’s very interesting. This is the first — this is like the second chance. Like, you can’t go back. Once you’ve lost it, you’ve lost it, and Hashem sort of agreed with you, so now you’re going to have to go with your new plan. We’re not going to go with the old plan.

So Moshe tells them, don’t go up, because Hashem is not with you — ואין ה׳ בקרבכם [ve’ein Hashem bekirbechem] — you will be destroyed in front of your enemies. The Amaleki and the Canaanite are there, you will fall on the sword. Because in other words, כי על כן שבתם מאחרי ה׳ [ki al ken shavtem me’acharei Hashem — because you turned away from following Hashem], Hashem is not with you.

The Theological Point: You Can’t Always Return to Plan A

This is very interesting, because it’s like against teshuvah [repentance]. We always assume that teshuvah means you can always get back. You can’t always get back. Sometimes someone loses a certain opportunity. Hashem wanted to take them in a certain way, but now they decided to go a different way, now you’re going to have to follow through this plan too. You can’t go back to Plan A. Plan B is the plan now.

The Defeat

But they do go, and this is an interesting verb — ויעפלו [vaya’apilu] — we’re not clear what it means, but it means something like they overcame this challenge and went anyways. But Moshe and ארון ברית ה׳ [aron brit Hashem — the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem] did not go with them. That’s exactly what it means, if there is no Hashem near you.

And they actually lost the battle. The Amaleki and the Canaanite, who were in that mountain, they came back and they hit them, ויכתום עד החרמה [vayaktum ad haChormah — and they struck them down to Chormah]. They lost the battle, which might mean either a place, or like lashon [the language of] חרם [cherem — destruction], they destroyed them entirely.

So these people — obviously not all the people — these people who went up, lost their battle, as Moshe said.