Parshat Shlach: An unfair responsibility?

By Rabbi Avi Billet

Issue of June 19, 2009 / 27 Sivan 5769

In the midst of the crisis of the spies, a seeming throwaway line is almost completely ignored by the commentaries. As Kalev and Yehoshua shout encouraging words while defending the land and G-d, they say (14:9) “Do not rebel against G-d and do not fear the nation of the land, for they are our ‘bread’ [prey]!

They have lost their protection –– G-d is with us, so do not fear them.”

As the rebelling crowd suggests stoning them in the next verse, “G-d's glory suddenly appeared at the Communion Tent before all the Israelites.”

The enumerated chapter 14 continues, and yet the Torah as written has the equivalent of a new paragraph, as if the scribe, were he typing, hit the “return” key before continuing the narrative.

This suggests that the conversation between Moshe and G-d which follows, in which the former suggests G-d show restraint and remember His attributes of mercy, takes place after this divine appearance in front of the Communion Tent (Ohel Mo’ed).

In other words, as Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (Netziv) explains, the appearance of G-d’s glory caused fear of G-d to penetrate the people and it stopped all attempts to stone Kalev and Yehoshua.

What is “G-d’s glory,” what does it mean to “see it,” and what role does it play in this episode?

In every other episode when “the Glory of G-d” (K’vod Hashem) made an appearance to the people, it was covered by a cloud or in conjunction with a holy fire (Vayikra 9). In Shmot 16:10, Netziv remarks that when the Glory of G-d appeared in a cloud, the Jewish nation “felt a divine revelation.” They felt it, but did not see it.

When Moshe approached the top of Mt. Sinai in Shmot 24:16-18, he entered the cloud where the glory of God was also present.

In Shmot 40:34, Kli Yakar deliberately distinguishes between the cloud and the glory of G-d.  He writes, “…Just as one could not look at the sun –– the light of G-d could only be seen through the filter of the cloud. When the Mishkan (tabernacle) was erected Glory and cloud separated, because the light of G-d entered the Mishkan, where it is meant to settle, and the cloud remained on the outside... Therefore it says here that Moshe could not enter the Ohel Moed for the cloud rested upon it and the Glory of G-d filled the Mishkan... Now that they are separate because the cloud is on the outside and Glory is alone in the Mishkan, it prevails upon Moshe not to enter.”

In our story in Bamidbar 14, for the first time we see the Glory of G-d making a public appearance without the filter of the cloud. Apparently, this is a deadly apparition. (See 16:19 and 17:7 after which G-d wants to destroy the perpetrators right away. Rabbenu Bachya points out in 20:6 that G-d did not appear to the “eyes” of the people.)

Imagine the scene: Yehoshua and Kalev are arguing to defend G-d, with their backs to the Ohel Mo’ed. On the other side, the people are staring at these two individuals who virtually stand alone in their defense of this land everyone else fears attempting to conquer. As the mob crescendos, they get a blip of a vision projected onto the ‘screen’ behind Yehoshua and Kalev, who miss the vision because they can’t afford to turn their backs on those looking to harm them.

Much like those whose punishment from Shmot 24:10-11 was delayed until later (see Rashi there, and Chizkuni on Vayikra 10:2 and Bamidbar 11:1), the unfiltered vision of the Glory of G-d was G-d’s way of sentencing an entire generation to death in one fell swoop.

And now the continuation of Bamidbar Chapter 14 makes a lot sense. However we are to understand, G-d was fed-up and frustrated by the clear ingratitude of the people. He wanted to wipe them out and make a new nation through Moshe. But their cries of fear and doubt were insufficient to sentence them to death –– and besides, Yehoshua and Kalev were worthy to enter the Promised Land. So, in the one moment when it would be possible, G-d brushed back the mob, sentenced them all to death, and spared Yehoshua and Kalev of seeing the vision that might have killed them too.

Moshe’s subsequent conversation staved off the death sentence for a period of time, 38 more years in the desert, but it could not commute it. Some sins against the divine can not go unpunished, even if the punishment comes months or years after the offense. (Shmot 33:20)

Was it fair of G-d to put the people in such a predicament? Maybe, maybe not. But, as I once heard a teacher explain to a student who complained of “the bad grade you gave me,” “I did not give you the grade. That was the grade you earned.”

It is worth the lesson to think how we alone are, and always will be, responsible and culpable for our actions.