Why “שלח לך” when “שלח” alone would be sufficient? (Parshat Shelah)

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛
Bereishit 12:1

וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ שְׁלַח־לְךָ֣ אֲנָשִׁ֗ים
Bamidbar 13:1-2

The curious addition of a seemingly superfluous לְךָ in both Bereishit, when God tells Avram to go to Canaan, and in Bamidbar, when God tells Moshe to send spies to Canaan begs for a common denominator between these two episodes.

Now there are two obvious common denominators between the two stories themselves. In both instances a party is being sent by God to Canaan. And in both episodes the one(s) being sent to Canaan go there and spurn what they find.

• In Bereishit, Avram escapes Canaan rather quickly because he does not want to contend with a famine. (Yet it does not appear that everyone else living in Canaan at the time hightailed it to Egypt in search of greener pastures.)
• In Bamidbar, the spies reject Canaan despite its abundance, because they were frightened by the people living there.

This connective tissue certainly merits further inquiry. It is also interesting that אברם at this point is not yet אברהם, and הושע is not yet יהושע, at least at the outset of our parsha.

But unlike the interjection of the needless לְךָ , these are narrative details rather than linguistic anomalies. So what exactly are we meant to understand by this לך?

In Parshat Lekh Lekha Rashi explains the superfluous  לך as לַהֲנָאָתְךָ וּלְטוֹבָתְךָ, i.e. for your own benefit, for your own good.  If Rashi is correct then, clearly, the same must be true in our Parsha as well.

Hence we must ask, in what way was sending the spies for the benefit and good of Moshe?

Parshat Shelah tells the very disturbing and problematic story of the מרגלים, the twelve spies sent at God’s behest to tour Canaan and report back:

אִ֣ישׁ אֶחָד֩ אִ֨ישׁ אֶחָ֜ד לְמַטֵּ֤ה אֲבֹתָיו֙ תִּשְׁלָ֔חוּ כֹּ֖ל נָשִׂ֥יא בָהֶֽם׃
“one man from each tribe of their fathers, every one a ruler among them”
(Bamidbar 13:1)

 Moshe then augments the spies’ mandate by authorizing them to:

וּרְאִיתֶ֥ם אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ מַה־הִ֑וא וְאֶת־הָעָם֙ הַיֹּשֵׁ֣ב עָלֶ֔יהָ הֶחָזָ֥ק הוּא֙ הֲרָפֶ֔ה הַמְעַ֥ט ה֖וּא אִם־רָֽב׃
and see what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many?

וּמָ֣ה הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הוּא֙ יֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּ֔הּ הֲטוֹבָ֥ה הִ֖וא אִם־רָעָ֑ה וּמָ֣ה הֶֽעָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁר־הוּא֙ יוֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּהֵ֔נָּה הַבְּמַֽחֲנִ֖ים אִ֥ם בְּמִבְצָרִֽים׃
Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified?
(13:18-19)

Before dispatching the spies, Moshe singles out Yehoshua;

אֵ֚לֶּה שְׁמ֣וֹת הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַ֥ח מֹשֶׁ֖ה לָת֣וּר אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיִּקְרָ֥א מֹשֶׁ֛ה לְהוֹשֵׁ֥עַ בִּן־נ֖וּן יְהוֹשֻֽׁעַ׃
Those were the names of the participants whom Moses sent to scout the land; but Moshe changed the name of Hoshea son of Nun to Yehoshua.
(13:16)

Rashi notes that by thus distinguishing Yehoshua from the others Moshe is hinting that he knew the entire enterprise did not augur well.

וַיִּקְרָא משֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ וגו   הִתְפַּלֵּל עָלָיו יָהּ יוֹשִׁיעֲךָ מֵעֲצַת מְרַגְּלִים
And Moshe called Hoshea… He prayed on his behalf, “May God save you from the counsel of the spies.” [The name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ is a compounded form of יָהּ יוֹשִׁיעֲךָ, May God save you.]- [Sotah 34b]

 I would argue the opposite – that Moshe knew the entire project would turn out exactly as planned. Indeed, had he known that it would turn out poorly, why would Moshe launch a totally unnecessary espionage effort in the first place? Did he need spies to validate the choice of Canaan? Wasn’t God’s word on the subject sufficient? Why initiate a project that he knew in advance would prove a failure? And surely, if we accept Rashi’s explanation of לך, Moshe did not view the impending debacle as something negative. Indeed it was something he wanted, something that would be of clear benefit .

Upon their return, the spies fulfill their mandate precisely by providing detailed information per what Moshe, not God, had requested:

וַיְסַפְּרוּ־לוֹ֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ בָּ֕אנוּ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר שְׁלַחְתָּ֑נוּ וְ֠גַ֠ם זָבַ֨ת חָלָ֥ב וּדְבַ֛שׁ הִ֖וא וְזֶה־פִּרְיָֽהּ׃
This is what they told him: “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

אֶ֚פֶס כִּֽי־עַ֣ז הָעָ֔ם הַיֹּשֵׁ֖ב בָּאָ֑רֶץ וְהֶֽעָרִ֗ים בְּצֻר֤וֹת גְּדֹלֹת֙ מְאֹ֔ד וְגַם־יְלִדֵ֥י הָֽעֲנָ֖ק רָאִ֥ינוּ שָֽׁם׃
However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the Anakites there.
(13:27-28)

Thus far their report is merely factual, and no negative or pessimistic word has been uttered.

Nevertheless, Kalev finds it necessary at this point to interject;

וַיַּ֧הַס כָּלֵ֛ב אֶת־הָעָ֖ם אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר עָלֹ֤ה נַעֲלֶה֙ וְיָרַ֣שְׁנוּ אֹתָ֔הּ כִּֽי־יָכ֥וֹל נוּכַ֖ל לָֽהּ׃
Kalev hushed the people before Moshe and said, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.”
(13:30)

It is only now that the other ten spies turn negative;

וְהָ֨אֲנָשִׁ֜ים אֲשֶׁר־עָל֤וּ עִמּוֹ֙ אָֽמְר֔וּ לֹ֥א נוּכַ֖ל לַעֲל֣וֹת אֶל־הָעָ֑ם כִּֽי־חָזָ֥ק ה֖וּא מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃
But the other men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack that people, for it is stronger than we.”

וַיֹּצִ֜יאוּ דִּבַּ֤ת הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תָּר֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר הָאָ֡רֶץ אֲשֶׁר֩ עָבַ֨רְנוּ בָ֜הּ לָת֣וּר אֹתָ֗הּ אֶ֣רֶץ אֹכֶ֤לֶת יוֹשְׁבֶ֙יהָ֙ הִ֔וא וְכל־הָעָ֛ם אֲשֶׁר־רָאִ֥ינוּ בְתוֹכָ֖הּ אַנְשֵׁ֥י מִדּֽוֹת׃
Thus they spread calumnies among the Israelites about the land they had scouted, saying, “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers. All the people that we saw in it are of great size;
(13:31-32)

We can only speculate as to what the ten naysayers would have said had Kalev remained silent. Perhaps they would have been content to conclude with their factual description rather than volunteer their opinion that the land was unconquerable. This we will never know. But we do know the denouement of this sorry story, whereby all the spies, other than Kalev and Yehoshua, were doomed, and the Children of Israel were condemned to wander in the desert for 40 years until the last of the refugees from Egypt had died.

This is a classic case of shooting the messenger. But why? And, again, what was in it for Moshe?

I would suggest that the entire episode was a setup. The very decision to send the tribal chiefs on this mission virtually guaranteed its failure – and Moshe both knew this and wanted this.

After all, no one has a more vested interest in maintaining the status quo than the entrenched chieftains. These men, the spies, had reached the very top of their game – a game best played in the desert. They knew very well that once Eretz Israel was settled and the nomadic life was abandoned they would be lame ducks at best, anachronisms with little to offer and no justification for their continued leadership.

Moreover, what national leader dispatches mature, successful, establishment men on an espionage mission? Reconnaissance is a game for the young, the bold, the ones who are looking for missions and challenges, not for Senators or CEOs of Fortune corporations.

And finally, why the need to send such a large delegation? Why was it necessary to have each tribe represented? Couldn’t Moshe have sent Yehoshua and Kalev alone? To argue they were all needed because each tribe would listen only to its own chief lacks credibility. After all, the tribes of Kalev and Yehoshua did not respond favorably to the positive POV of their leaders. They, too, sided with the mob against Moshe and Aharon.

To begin with, why was this mission necessary altogether? On the basis of this parsha there is zero indication that the people had asked for it. The initiative was God’s, as was the composition of the delegation that was dispatched.

It appears to me that the entire “Meraglim” episode was indeed a setup – a setup intended to achieve one basic goal – namely to postpone the invasion of Canaan until the generation that had been slaves in Egypt had passed on.

Both God and Moshe understood that an entrenched, fortified, established Cannanite society (“Hebron was built seven year before Zoan in Egypt” – 13:22) would not fall to a ragtag mob of recent slaves with no frame of reference as free men, let alone any battle experience. At the same time, there was no acceptable way to announce this and inform 600,000 Israelites that, no, despite what God had promised they would not actually be settling in the Promised Land, after all.

Clearly, the stage had to be set, legitimacy gained in order to justify such a decision to wander until the last of the original Egypt-born Israelites had died. And this legitimacy was garnered by way of the Meraglim.

The stage was set by God and Moshe. But the match was lit by Kalev whose interjection in verse 13:30 ignites the conflagration by getting the other ten spies to react to his call for immediate invasion. Had Kalev kept his mouth shut, it could well be that all Moshe would have gotten from his reconnaissance team was factual information. They would defer to Moshe to process this data, which was factually correct and without prejudice. Their mandate did not include drawing conclusions regarding if and when to attack. It is not a spy’s job to determine policy.

Indeed, the first to speak out of line was, in fact, a seemingly hot-headed Kalev whose braggadocio is apparent in his words – unless, of course, he was making his declaration in order to trigger the response it elicited, and thus enable God and Moshe to achieve their goal of putting the invasion of Canaan on hold for 40 years.

It could even be that Kalev and Yehoshua were primed in advance to trigger the turmoil. The adding in of God’s name by changing Hoshea to Yehoshua at this point in time (and with no explanation given) might indicate this.

In retrospect it makes perfect sense that this ruse took place. It bought the necessary time to raise a new generation of Israelites not burdened with the defeatism, weakness, inexperience and ghetto mentality of those who had been born in Egypt. Over the course of the next 40 years a new generation would rise, a generation of people accustomed to harsh, independent living; battle hardened and lacking any nostalgia for the shtetls from which they had emerged. This generation would be ready to conquer Canaan.