Literary Devices – Bemidbar 15/0

Literary Devices – Bemidbar 15

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Allusions

Tzitzit and the Spies

• Allusions – The legal passage regarding tzitzit alludes back to the story of the spies by employing language which was prevalent or significant in the earlier story.  In stating the purpose of the law, the verse writes: "וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת כׇּל מִצְוֺת י״י וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְלֹא תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם".  The root "תור" had appeared twelve times in Bemidbar 12-13, the root "ראה" ten times, the related noun "עין" four times¹ and the noun זנות once (outside of these two texts, there is only one other occurrence of the root throughout Bemidbar).  This usage might indicate that the spies' sin lay in being led astray by their own sight and perceptions, and that the law of tzitzit is meant as a corrective.
• Lectures – Listen to משמעות של פרשת ציצית לאור הפרשיות הקודמות לה, by R. Amnon Bazak and פרשת ציצית - פרשת השליחות, by R. Yosef Zvi Rimon, which both discuss the literary and thematic connections between the spies’ sin and the command of tzitzit. R. Bazak further connects the two narratives also with the story of Chovav in Bemidbar 11. 

Law and Narrative

In his lecture, Between Law and (the Meraglim) Narrative, R. Nathaniel Helfgot suggests that many aspects of the chapter and its laws actually allude back to the story of the spies:

• Twice the chapter states that its laws will come into effect upon entry into the land (verses 2, 18), calling to mind Hashem’s earlier decree that this generation will not enter the land (14:23).
• The laws of the מנחה and חלה, both involving bread, recall Yehoshua's words not to fear the Canaanites "for they are our bread", while the libations connect to the grapes mentioned in 13:20.
• Laws relating to the sin of the congregation, the עדה (verses 24-26) recall the word “עדה” which appears eight times in Bemidbar Ch. 14
  The root קשש, which appears in the story of the stick-gatherer, calls to mind the only other use of this word in Chumash, in Pharaoh’s decree of Shemot 5:7, and perhaps symbolizes a desire to return to Egypt as expressed in 14:4
  The verb תתורו (verse 39) alludes to the spies’ touring of the land in Bemidbar 13
  The name ה’ appears 28 times in Bemidbar 15, perhaps to indicate that Moshe’s warning of אין ה’ בקרבכם in 14:42 is not eternal. 

Character Titles

¹ This alone might not be significant, but together with the emphasis on seeing, it takes more import.