Difference between revisions of "The Story of the Spies in Bemidbar and Devarim/2"
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<point><b>Prayer</b> – In Devarim, Moshe omits his prayer where he attempts to minimize the nation's sin and achieve forgiveness, since his goal is to highlight rather than hide the nation's mistakes.</point> | <point><b>Prayer</b> – In Devarim, Moshe omits his prayer where he attempts to minimize the nation's sin and achieve forgiveness, since his goal is to highlight rather than hide the nation's mistakes.</point> | ||
<point><b>Punishment</b> – The spies' punishment is not mentioned in the retelling, thereby emphasizing instead the wrongdoing of the people themselves.</point> | <point><b>Punishment</b> – The spies' punishment is not mentioned in the retelling, thereby emphasizing instead the wrongdoing of the people themselves.</point> | ||
− | <point><b>Moshe's instructions</b> – | + | <point><b>Moshe's instructions</b> – Moshe did not recount all the details of his original instructions as these had no relevance to his message and his audience was not unfamiliar with</point> |
<point><b>The scouted area</b></point> | <point><b>The scouted area</b></point> | ||
</category> | </category> |
Version as of 03:32, 8 June 2020
The Story of the Spies in Bemidbar and Devarim
Exegetical Approaches
Purposeful Recasting
The differences are intentional changes made by Moshe so as to best get across his message to the new generation. Moshe purposefully presented the story in a way that would emphasize the guilt of the nation rather than the sin of the individual spies.
Two Perspectives on One Story – Two Missions
R. Yaacov Medan2 accounts for the changes in the two books by positing that each is telling the story from a different perspective. He suggests that the spies were sent on a dual mission: a military reconnaissance mission as well as a surveying mission to determine the tribal inheritances. Sefer Devarim tells of the former, while Sefer Bemidbar focuses on the latter. Many of the differences are thus understandable:
Local Harmonization
Many other commentators relate to each difference individually, without trying to account for all of the changes together.