Parshas Shelach 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Jun 12
- 2 min read
וישלח יהושע בן נון מן השטים שנים אנשים מרגלים ... (יהושע ב-א)
Prior to the nation’s invasion of the Holy Land, Yehoshua sent two spies to scout the city of Yericho and determine the best entry point into Eretz Yisroel. This parallels the story of the Meraglim that Moshe sent forty years earlier which was a story of extreme slander which caused tremendous damage to the Jewish people. Since the Jews’ entry to Eretz Yisroel was delayed as a result of the spies Moshe sent, why did Yehoshua even contend to send another group?
R’ Yonah ben Avraham Gerondi zt”l (Rabbeinu Yonah) explains that there was a fundamental difference between the two groups of spies. The group that Moshe sent sinned gravely because they misunderstood their mission. Instead of only scouting out the military capabilities of the enemy, the first group of spies focused on whether they wanted to enter the land at all. Their mission was doomed to failure from the start because they had already decided that they don’t like the land and were looking for a way to convince the rest of the nation as well. Yehoshua chose Pinchos and Calev ben Yephuneh as his two spies and was confident that the earlier issues would not be repeated because he knew that they were utterly righteous and would stay razor focused on their mission. In addition, Yehoshua made it very clear to them that they shall report only to him and not report their findings to all of Klal Yisroel as the earlier spies did. By doing this, no one would be able to misconstrue the exhibition’s findings and only the truth will emerge.