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 | + | <point><b>Moshe's encouragement</b> – Instead of encouraging the nation by emphasizing the good of the land (as Yehoshua and Calev had), Moshe mentions Hashem's miracles, recognizing that the nation's current fear was unconnected to the quality of the land,<fn>After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the nation was likely not overly concerned that Israel would prove to have worse conditions. </fn> but to the imminent challenges of conquest.<fn>In addition, as Moshe had not recounted the spies negative report, there was no need to include Yehoshua and Calev's counter arguments.</fn>  </point> |
− | + | <point><b>Other omitted details</b> – Moshe did not recount all the details of his original instructions nor the full route of the spying mission as these had no relevance to his message and his audience was familiar with the story regardless.</point> | |
</category> | </category> | ||
<category name="Two Perspectives"> | <category name="Two Perspectives"> | ||
− | Two Perspectives on One Story | + | Two Perspectives on One Story |
− | <p> | + | <p>The changes in the two books can be explained by positing that each is telling the story from a different perspective, with Sefer Bemidbar focusing on  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:</p> |
+ | <mekorot>R. Yaacov Medan<fn>See R. Yaacov Medan, <a href="http://www.herzog.ac.il/tvunot/fulltext/mega10_medan.pdf">"בכייה לשעה ובכייה לדורות"</a>‎, Megadim 10 (1990): 21-37.</fn></mekorot> | ||
<point><b>Initiator</b> – Hashem commanded the "holy" scouting mission so that the princes could evaluate the land and allocate it amongst the tribes, but the nation themselves initiated the spying mission in their desire to prepare for the conquest.</point> | <point><b>Initiator</b> – Hashem commanded the "holy" scouting mission so that the princes could evaluate the land and allocate it amongst the tribes, but the nation themselves initiated the spying mission in their desire to prepare for the conquest.</point> | ||
<point><b>Who is sent?</b> The scouting mission necessitated that the twelve princes of each tribe be chosen as representatives, while the military mission could have sufficed with anonymous men.</point> | <point><b>Who is sent?</b> The scouting mission necessitated that the twelve princes of each tribe be chosen as representatives, while the military mission could have sufficed with anonymous men.</point> |
Version as of 01:27, 9 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
The changes in the two books can be explained by positing that each is telling the story from a different perspective, with Sefer Bemidbar focusing on 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.