The meraglim—who committed the terrible crime of speaking negatively about Eretz Yisrael—were not ordinary people in the least. In fact, they were exceptionally great men (see Rashi to 13:3, Ramban to 13:4, and “Sichos Mussar,” Shelach). So how could it be that they did what they did?
There are few potential possibilities that may explain the root cause as to what underlied and led to the meraglims’ actions:
1. Fear and Despair
From the basic report of the meraglim, it could seem that meraglim were filled with fear and dread by what they experienced when scouting Eretz Yisrael: “They reported, ‘The people that dwell in the land are powerful, the cities are very fortified and large … Amalek (whom they were previously “scorched” by (Rashi)) dwells in the land…We cannot ascend to that people for it is too strong for us! … It is a land that devours its inhabitants (‘In every place where we passed we found them burying the dead.’ (Rashi))!” “All the people that we saw in it were huge! There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of the giant … we were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes (we heard them saying to each other, ‘There are ants in the vineyards (which look) like men.’ (Rashi))!” Thus, it could seem that there was much fear involved (see also Ramban to 13:32).
2. Lack of Emunah
The text of the Torah itself could imply that their lack of faith and trust in Hashem (that He can enable them to succeed in conquering Eretz Yisrael) paved the way for their evil deed: In response to this whole ruckus, Hashem says emphatically to Moshe, “How long will this people provoke Me, and how long will this people not have faith in Me…?” Moreover, in parshat Devarim, in Moshe’s rebuke to Bnei Yisrael—when he mentions the incident of the meraglim—he says, “In this matter you do not believe in Hashem, your God” (1:32).
3. Desire for Honor
The Zohar opines that the meraglim—(who were men of status and held positions of leadership until now)—were concerned that upon entering Eretz Yisrael they would lose their positions. The Mesilat Yesharim (who, seemingly, is referring to this Zohar) understands that the meraglim feared that their honor and prestige would be diminished upon entering Eretz Yisrael (chapter 11). (See also Ohr Yahel (Shelach) who seems to understand the Zohar in a similar fashion.) This would imply that the desire for honor led them towards their evil deed.
4. Concern for Their Spiritual Welfare
However, the Sefat Emet (Shelach ט”תרל) seems to understand the Zohar differently to mean that the meraglim didn’t want that their current lofty spiritual level be diminished upon entering Eretz Yisrael. This could imply that their actions weren’t borne from honor-seeking, but rather for the desire for spiritual attainments.
5. Wanting Moshe, Not Yehoshua
The meraglim knew about the prophecy that Moshe would die and Yehoshua—in his stead—would bring Bnei Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael (see Rashi to 11:28), and since the meraglim were students of Moshe, they did not want to be led by Yehoshua; therefore, they didn’t want to enter Eretz Yisrael so that Moshe would not die and that they would remain under Moshe’s leadership (Noam Hamussar, Shelach). (This motivation could be similar to the previous.)
It may be possible that all the above existed, and all contributed to the sin of the meraglim. Yet, there is, perhaps, another—and an even deeper rooted—cause that not only underlies the ultimate deed of the meraglim, but might also lie beneath the host of the other aforementioned possibilities.
In reference to the meraglim, it states in Tehillim (106:24): “And they despised the desirable land.” Rav Avraham Pam says that this was the root of the meraglims’ sin—they didn’t have the appropriate love and appreciation for Eretz Yisrael, the desirable land. If they had a really strong love for this desirable land, they wouldn’t have been afraid—they wouldn’t have had all those “great concerns” and fears about Eretz Yisrael which led them to such great despair, and they would have had the appropriate measure of emunah and bitachon in Hashem.
Love for the land is what Yehoshua and Calev were emphasizing to the people when they attempted to combat the convincing argument of the meraglim. They responded: “The land that we passed through, to spy it out—the land is very, very good!” Rav Pam points out that if the main issue was whether they felt capable of being able to conquer the land, then Yehoshua and Calev should have opened their response differently in a way that would target that concern (see “Atarah Lemelech,” pages 130-131). Thus, from the fact they opened their argument with these words may indicate that it was the lack of appropriate love for Eretz Yisrael that was the crux of the issue lying beneath the surface. (Additionally, Rashi says that the decree of the meraglim (i.e., the decree of death in the wilderness as punishment for the sin of being influenced by meraglim) wasn’t decreed upon the women because they held the land precious (Bamidbar, 26:64). This could, perhaps, also imply that the main root issue was that the meraglim and those whom they succeeded in convincing didn’t love the land like the women did, and, thus, they ultimately faltered.)
Based on this, we could suggest that because they didn’t have the appropriate measure of love for the land, this led them to not only fear the inhabitants who dwelled there, but could also have led to the other four possibilities mentioned above: If they loved the land to the appropriate degree, they would’ve believed that Hashem can make them successful; if they really loved the land, they would have left their ego at bay; if they really loved the land, they wouldn’t have made those spiritual-oriented calculations that not entering would be better for their spirituality and that having Moshe would be better for them.
While this can be a lesson for the way we ourselves perceive the Holy Land, we can, perhaps, also extend this to avodat Hashem in general: The more one increases his love for Hashem, for Torah, for mitzvot—the more one’s courage and bravery to succeed increases, the more his emunah that Hashem wants him to succeed and will help him succeed increases, the more one will be less concerned with one’s honor in the process and the more one will be devoted to following Hashem’s will without making other calculations.
Binyamin is a graduate of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchanan, and of Wurzweiler School of Social Work.
