Difference between revisions of "The Story of the Spies in Bemidbar and Devarim/2"
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<p>The differences introduced in Devarim are intentional changes made by Moshe so as to best get across his message to the new generation. Moshe purposefully presents the story in a way that emphasizes the guilt of the nation rather than the sin of the individual spies.</p> | <p>The differences introduced in Devarim are intentional changes made by Moshe so as to best get across his message to the new generation. Moshe purposefully presents the story in a way that emphasizes the guilt of the nation rather than the sin of the individual spies.</p> | ||
<mekorot><multilink><a href="RDavidZviHoffmannDevarim1-22" data-aht="source">R. David Zvi Hoffmann</a><a href="RDavidZviHoffmannDevarim1-22" data-aht="source">Devarim 1:22</a><a href="RDavidZviHoffmannDevarim1-26" data-aht="source">Devarim 1:26</a><a href="R. David Zvi Hoffmann" data-aht="parshan">About R. David Zvi Hoffmann</a></multilink>, N. Leibowitz<fn>See N. Leibowitz, Iyyunim BeSefer Devarim (Jerusalem, 1995): 16-22.</fn></mekorot> | <mekorot><multilink><a href="RDavidZviHoffmannDevarim1-22" data-aht="source">R. David Zvi Hoffmann</a><a href="RDavidZviHoffmannDevarim1-22" data-aht="source">Devarim 1:22</a><a href="RDavidZviHoffmannDevarim1-26" data-aht="source">Devarim 1:26</a><a href="R. David Zvi Hoffmann" data-aht="parshan">About R. David Zvi Hoffmann</a></multilink>, N. Leibowitz<fn>See N. Leibowitz, Iyyunim BeSefer Devarim (Jerusalem, 1995): 16-22.</fn></mekorot> | ||
− | <point><b>Moshe's message</b> – N. Leibowitz explains that Moshe wanted to ensure that the nation learned to take full responsibility for their actions and understood why they had spent forty years in the wilderness. This agenda can account for many of the changes:</point> | + | <point><b>Moshe's message</b> – N. Leibowitz explains that Moshe wanted to ensure that the nation learned to take full responsibility for their actions and understood why they had spent forty years in the wilderness. As such, he highlighted their errors rather than those of the spies. This agenda can account for many of the changes:</point> |
− | <point><b>Initiator</b> – Moshe highlights how the initial request came from the people, not Hashem, thereby preempting anyone from saying that they were just doing what God commanded.</point> | + | <point><b>Initiator</b> – In Devarim, Moshe highlights how the initial request came from the people, not Hashem, thereby preempting anyone from saying that they were just doing what God commanded.</point> |
<point><b>Description of spies</b> – In Devarim, the spies are not given names or titles to minimize their importance and the possibility of anyone attributing all blame to their leaders.</point> | <point><b>Description of spies</b> – In Devarim, the spies are not given names or titles to minimize their importance and the possibility of anyone attributing all blame to their leaders.</point> | ||
− | <point><b>Positive or negative report?</b> Moshe relays only the positive aspect of the spies' report, emphasizing instead the ensuing complaints of the nation.</point> | + | <point><b>Positive or negative report?</b> In his review, Moshe relays only the positive aspect of the spies' report, emphasizing instead the ensuing complaints of the nation.</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>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 encouragement</b> – | + | <point><b>Moshe's encouragement</b> – Rather than repeating Yehoshua and Calev's encouragement to the nation which emphasized the good of the land, 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> – In Devarim, Moshe does 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 these points regardless.</point> | <point><b>Other omitted details</b> – In Devarim, Moshe does 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 these points regardless.</point> | ||
</category> | </category> |
Version as of 12:06, 13 June 2020
The Story of the Spies in Bemidbar and Devarim
Exegetical Approaches
Purposeful Recasting
The differences introduced in Devarim are intentional changes made by Moshe so as to best get across his message to the new generation. Moshe purposefully presents the story in a way that emphasizes the guilt of the nation rather than the sin of the individual spies.
Two Perspectives
The variations between the two books can be explained by positing that each is telling the story from a different perspective, with Sefer Bemidbar focusing on one aspect of the mission and Sefer Devarim on another.
Literary Variation
The differences between the two accounts are not fundamental, but simply the result of literary variation. When recounting events, Torah is often brief in one place and lengthy in another, relying on the reader to fill in the gaps from knowledge of the combined accounts.
- Our story is one of many in which a character repeats an incident to another and some of the details are found only in the original story or only in the retelling. See, for example, Ramban on Bereshit 42:21, Radak on Bereshit 41:17, R"Y Bekhor Shor on Bereshit 31:3, and R"Y Kara on Shofetim13:12 ho all suggest that these are all cases of the same literary trend.
- Ramban notes also the similar phenomenon in which Torah might mentions a command but not its fulfillment or the opposite.8
Local Harmonization
Many other commentators relate to each difference individually, without trying to account for all of the changes together. Some examples follow: