Speaking Truth in Trust

Parashat Sh’lach L’cha, Numbers 13:1–15:41
Chaim Dauermann, Congregation Simchat Yisrael, West Haven, CT

Nowadays, amid discussions about various matters, it is not uncommon to be told, “Do your own research.” I have found that this phrase is often shorthand for, “Go and see the things that I’ve seen, and then you will think the way that I think.” This discourse belittles the value of research, casting it as a means of proving others wrong, rather than as a means of discerning the truth of a matter, and understanding our purpose in it. It needn’t be so. Yet it often is.

But what happens when the admonition to do one’s own research comes from God himself?

In this week’s parasha, the Lord has commanded Moses to send a scouting party from the Israelite camp in Paran into the land of Canaan, which God has promised to them as a possession. According to God’s instructions, Moses selects one leader from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and sends them all into the land to scout for 40 days, and then bring back a report of what they’ve found. Among the twelve, Joshua son of Nun is called from Ephraim, and Caleb son of Jephunneh is called from Judah. When they return from their scouting mission, they bring fruit from the land—grapes, pomegranates, and figs, a far cry from the manna the Israelites had become accustomed to.

They gave their account to him and said, “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey—this is some of its fruit. Except, the people living in the land are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the sons of Anak there! Amalek is living in the land of the Negev, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites are living in the mountains, and the Canaanites are living near the sea and along the bank of the Jordan.” (Num 13:27–29)

At this, Caleb steps forward and adds, “We should definitely go up and capture the land, for we can certainly do it!” (13:30). Joshua remains silent, but the remaining ten push back against Caleb: “We cannot attack these people, because they are stronger than we” (13:31). The ten proceed to spread discord within the camp, riling people up with their stories not only of formidable cities, but enormous men as well. “We also saw there the Nephilim. (The sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.) We seemed like grasshoppers in our eyes as well as theirs!” (13:32–33).

The situation soon gets entirely out of hand. The Torah records that the children of Israel spend the night in a state of unrest, yelling and weeping. And not for the first time, they complain that they have been brought out of Egypt for nothing. “Why is Adonai bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be like plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” (14:3). They even suggest that they should pick a new leader and head back to Egypt. Caleb and Joshua tear their garments, and push back against their fellows:

“The land through which we passed is an exceptionally good land! If Adonai is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land and will give it to us—a land flowing with milk and honey. Only don’t rebel against Adonai, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They will be food for us. The protection over them is gone. Adonai is with us! Do not fear them.” (Num 14:7–9)

But the people don’t want to hear it. They even threaten to stone Caleb and Joshua to death.

God intervenes and speaks to Moses, and in the end, the consequence of this rebellion is that the children of Israel are left to wander in the desert for 40 years before entering the land. And, as if this were not punishment enough, every person among them over 20 years of age is to die before the nation takes possession of the land. It is only their children who will inherit the land. As for the ten spies who brought the bad report, they soon die of a plague. Joshua and Caleb are the only ones exempted from these consequences—they will live to enter the land.

It’s an interesting scenario. The ten spies presumably merely wished to preserve their lives. Surely, the things they saw must have been deeply terrifying, since they so easily overwhelmed the allure of Canaan’s abundance. They could not have known the consequences of their bad report, nor that their sin would ultimately condemn their entire community. Joshua and Caleb spied out the same land, and yet their response was not the same. The difference for them was that they put their faith in God first, before any feeling of doubt fomented by what they had seen. They knew the land had been promised.

Before the twelve spies went into Canaan to observe the land, Moses gave Joshua a new name. His name had previously been Hoshea, which means “saves,” but Moses added one letter to his name—a yod—changing it to Yehoshua (in English: Joshua) which means, roughly, “God saves.” By trusting that salvation comes from the Lord, Joshua merited a  reward, even if its coming was not immediate. Indeed, by doing the right thing, Joshua and Caleb put themselves in short-term danger, not only from the immediate threat of stoning at the hand of their community, but also from 40 years of whatever social consequences they suffered as a result of their actions. Their knowledge that they had acted in faith, and that their faith was well-placed, had to be enough to sustain them.

In the eye of Scripture, 40 years is not such a long time. And sometimes a good report takes a lot longer than that to come to fruition.

When God sent his Son to the world, he was given the name Yeshua, a shortened version of Yehoshua that had become common by that time. In the first century, the apostles carried Yeshua’s simple message of faith and salvation to the world. The Apostle Paul summed it up in his letter to the Romans: “For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). Tradition holds that eleven of the twelve original apostles died on account of their good report. Paul, too, perished as a martyr. Only the Apostle John was left to die in old age, and from his exile on Patmos he wrote of a coming fulfillment of God’s promise, an ultimate culmination of all things: “He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Nor shall there be mourning or crying or pain any longer, for the former things have passed away” (Rev 21:4). That John would die without seeing this promise fulfilled does not make it any less true, nor his cause any less just. A good report is not of any less value if our community rejects it, or if we suffer physical threats on account of it. Caleb and Joshua’s good report was based on long-term trusting. The author of Hebrews identifies this faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of realities not seen” (Heb 11:1). It’s worthy of note that this speaks nothing of results.

When we investigate something fully, we must not only stand on the truth of what we find, but also on our faith that God will deliver on his promises. If we know that a promise of peace and reconciliation awaits us at the fulfillment of all things, our report must stand on this very faith, even as it should also be true to what we have seen, heard, and learned. Whatever short-term loss such a good report might bring, God’s promise remains one of grace without end.

All Scripture citations are from Tree of Life Version (TLV).