פרשת שלח לך תש"ט - דברי ה'

surely they shall not see the land which I swore unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised Me see it.

But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

But your little ones, that ye said would be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected.

surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up My hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye are come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you,

surely all those men that have seen My glory, and My signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to proof these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice;

עשר פעמים, not literally, but meaning “many times.” We have encountered such expressions in Genesis 31,7, as well as in Leviticus 26,26, and in Job 19,3. In neither instance is the word עשר to be understood literally.

surely they shall not see the land which I swore unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised Me see it.

וכל מנאצי לא יראוהו, also their sons who at this time had not reached the age of 20 but would be among those who disdain Me in the future, will also not be granted the privilege of seeing the Holy Land. Examples of this decree were the men who died during the uprising of Korach and had been under the age of 20 (at the time of the Exodus), as well as the people who died at Shittim 38 years later because of their involvement with the Moabite women, as well as the people who died before Moses could erect the copper snake. The people concerned had not been involved in rejecting the land of Israel at the time when the spies made their report as they were under age. (compare Numbers 21,6 and 25,9)

But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

My servant Caleiv. He was mentioned alone because previously, “Caleiv silenced the people.” The Levites and kohanim were also not included in the oath, for no prince of theirs was among the spies.

Question: Why in Possuk 24 does it not mention Yehoshua?

The Torah wanted to explain why G'd decided to refer to Caleb as "My servant," an exceptional compliment. Although also Joshua did not spurn G'd, Caleb was possessed of a totally different spirit. He had not needed the prayer of Moses to enable him to resist the influence of the other ten spies. Caleb had at one time during the mission experienced the רוח אחרת, i.e. the evil spirit which filled the other spies. He had gone to the graves of the patriarchs in order to recharge his spiritual batteries before he would succumb to the wiles of the evil urge. וימלא אחרי, "He decided to follow Me." The Torah describes how Caleb decided to follow his good urge rather than his evil urge. Man is subject to two advisors. One advises him to follow G'd's wishes, the other advises him to assert his independence. If one decides to resist the urge to commit a sin it is accounted as if one had fulfilled one of G'd's commandments (Kidushin 39). Joshua had not been in a similar dilemma as he had never been tempted to be disloyal to G'd and to act illogically, due to Moses' prayer on his behalf. We have a verse in the Book of Samuel which describes a mystical dimension concerning the prayer of a צדיק such as Moses. It suggests that such a prayer may exert influence on a person's moral tendencies. This is based on Samuel II 23,3 צדיק מושל יראת השם, "the righteous exercises some control concerning matters of reverence for the Lord." Seeing that Caleb's resistance to the evil urge under circumstances of great provocation was unaided by external factors, he is described similarly to Moses, i.e. that he was G'd's servant.

But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

רוח אחרת [BUT MY SERVANT CALEB, BECAUSE HE HAD] ANOTHER SPIRIT [WITH HIM] — The word “another’ suggests that he was filled with a twofold spirit — the one to which he gave utterance (lit., one in his mouth), and another which he concealed in his heart. To the spies he said, “I am with you in your counsel”, whilst in his heart he had the intention to tell the truth, and it was only on this account that he possessed the power to silence them (the people), as it is said, (Numbers 13:30) “And Caleb silenced [the people concerning Moses]” (cf. Rashi on that verse), for they thought that he would say the same as themselves (as the spies). It is this that is alluded to in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 14:7) where it states that Caleb said “And I brought him (Moses) word again as it was in my heart” — but not as it was in my mouth (i.e. not what I had said to the spies) (Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 10).

A different spirit — in opposition to the spies.