The lesson we learn from the spies’

By the 29th of Sivan, 2449, the Jewish people had reached the border of the Land of Israel. Some of the people asked Moses to send spies to scout out the land. Moses consulted with G d, and G d agreed to this plan. Moses chose 12 men, one from each tribe, for this mission. These men were among the most distinguished leaders of the Jewish people. However, all but two of them – Caleb, and Moses’ chief disciple Joshua – made the mistake of overstepping the limits of their mission.

The Limits of Reason

שְׁלַח לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן וגו’: (במדבר יג:ב)

[G-d told Moses,] “Send out men, if you wish, who will inspect Canaan.” Numbers 13:2

G‑d wants us to understand as clearly as possible the goals of our Divine mission and the methods by which He wants us to carry it out, for this helps us fulfill it more enthusiastically. Moses therefore thought that it was proper to send out scouts to spy out how best to conquer the land. That way, the people would be more enthusiastic about entering and conquering the land.

The spies’ error consisted of going beyond the scope of their mission and drawing conclusions. Moses only asked them to see how the land should be conquered, not if it could.

The lesson we learn from the spies’ error is that even when we employ our own understanding in fulfilling our Divine mission, we must keep in mind that we are doing so because G‑d wants us to – that we are doing so on His behalf. This way, we can be sure that we are using our intellect solely to arrive at the objective truth, rather than to supply ourselves with evidence that bolsters some conscious or subconscious subjective agenda.1

Impossible!!!

Anything G-d wants could happen by perfectly natural means. And it could happen through you.

“They are stronger than us.” —The spies.

“They meant to say that the people of the land are stronger than G‑d. So to speak, the homeowner can’t remove his own belongings from his home.”—Talmud, Sota 6b.

They saw the miracles in Egypt, they witnessed Pharaoh and his army drowning in the sea.
They ate manna from heaven and they heard the mighty voice of G‑d at Mount Sinai.
How could they imagine any people or any force in this world to be more powerful than the G‑d who created everything from nothing?

But the problem was that they had witnessed G‑d disrupting the natural order of things. They had yet to see Him play by the rules of the game.
They had witnessed a G‑d beyond all things, but had not yet seen that the same G‑d was also within all things.

And so now, when they were to enter the land themselves, as mortal beings with mortal powers, to conquer the land, plow the land, sow and harvest from the land by their own hands—

Now they said, “Only by an open miracle can we win. But here we are asked to win by natural means. That is not possible.”

If they had asked Moses, what would he have said?

That these laws of nature, they are nothing but G‑d’s miracles in disguise, doing His will and concealing themselves within a weave of endless patterns.
Go out into the world and you will see: He created a world in which He can achieve anything He desires in any way He pleases.

And not only that, but He can do it through you.

Likutei Sichot, Vol. 4, pp. 1041-1047

By Tzvi Freeman