The Story of the Spies in Bemidbar and Devarim/2
The Story of the Spies in Bemidbar and Devarim
Exegetical Approaches
Purposeful Recasting
N. Leibowitz1 suggests that 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 nation's fault, ensuring that they learned to take full responsibility for their actions, and understood why they had spent forty years in the desert.2 This can account for many of the changes:
Two Perspectives on One Story – Two Missions
R. Yaacov Medan3 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.
