The Story of the Spies in Bemidbar and Devarim/2

The Story of the Spies in Bemidbar and Devarim

Exegetical Approaches

Open Comparison Table

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:

 Initiator – 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.

Description of spies – 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.

Positive or negative report? Moshe relays only the positive aspect of the spies' report, emphasizing instead the ensuing complaints of the nation.

Prayer – 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.

Punishment – The spies' punishment is not mentioned in the retelling, thereby emphasizing instead the wrongdoing of the people themselves.

Local Harmonization

Many other commentators relate to each difference individually, without trying to account for all of the changes together.

¹ See N. Leibowitz, Iyyunim BeSefer Devarim (Jerusalem, 1995): 16-22.

² In addition, since Moshe was simply repeating a known story, he did not need to repeat every detail of the original telling.

³ See R. Yaacov Medan, "בכייה לשעה ובכייה לדורות"‎, Megadim 10 (1990): 21-37.