In the Book of Numbers, it is hinted that no living being, even precious souls, "there is no righteous in the land who does good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20), as in this portion it is written "consuming at the edge [katze] of the camp"(Numbers 11:1)—the elite [ketzinim] of the camp (see Sifri Numbers 85), and in Parashat Shelah is written the sin of the scouts "all of the men being heads of the Children of Israel,"(Numbers 13:3) who were "mistaken hearted... and not knowing the ways [of God]" (Psalms 95:10), and so, in the section of the gatherer [of sticks of Shabbat], and in parashat Korach, "who was clever... and his eyes misled him” (Bamidbar Rabba 18:8, Midrash Tanhuma Korach 5, Rashi on Numbers 16:7), and in parshat Hukat is written “the waters of conflict” (Numbers 20:13) about Moses and Aaron, and in parashat Balak about Zimri ben Salu [who was killed for improper relations with a Midianite woman] that he was a chieftain (see Numbers 25:14). This hints to what was said “Remember, do not forget how you angered God your God in the wilderness”(Deuteronomy 9:7) because ‘wilderness’ indicates the destruction and the desolation that is in every individual, as how there were worlds that were destroyed before the world of building (see Kohellet Rabba 3:11:1, Zohar 3 292b:2). And this hints to the strength of humans over the demonic and wild forces within them that want to mislead them in youthful sins, and thus also in all lofty matters, are found deriving from the force of the wilderness, as the wilderness indicates the whole world, because before the creation of the form of humanity the whole world was a wilderness, because settlement [the alternative to wilderness] is only from people, and anything before the complete finishing of the formation of humanity is called wilderness.
(215) And he said "and you will see etc if it is strong or weak" (Numbers 13:17-18) - and this is also the aspect that a person is able to check themselves in whatever level they are, as I wrote before regarding the verse in Song of Songs (Songs 8:1-2) " if only it could be as with a brother,as if you had nursed at my mother’s breast: then I could kiss you when I met you etc" and also regarding the verse in Genesis "they were naked and were not ashamed of themselves" (Genesis 2:25), that a person when checking oneself they knows whether they are strong and connected in the service of Hashem. This type of person is not worried about the words of those that speak against them or wayward thoughts for they have removed themselves from the world of materialism and klipt and they remain solely cleaving to God and are called naked and then they are not ashamed. That is not the case when one is concerned with the words of the slanderers, or the other impediments [to prayer] then one knows that "they are lazy, lazy in the work" (Exodus 5:17) of Hashem. And this is what it means "are they strong or weak": one should know from those signs whether one is strong or weak in the service of Hashem.
And “through the impulse from below comes an impulse from Above,” to fulfill what is written, “From there I will bring you down, says the Lord,” namely, depriving it of its dominion and power and withdrawing from it the strength and authority which had been given it to rise up against the light of the holiness of the divine soul, whereupon it inevitably becomes nullified and is banished, just as darkness is nullified before physical light.
Indeed, we find this explicitly stated in the Torah in connection with the Spies who, at the outset declared, “For it is stronger than we”—“Read not ‘than we,’ but ‘than He,’” etc., for they had no faith in God’s ability. But afterward they reversed themselves and announced, “We will readily go up….” From where did their faith in God’s ability return to them? Our teacher Moses, peace unto him, had not meanwhile shown them any sign or wonder concerning this. He had only told them that the God was angry with them and had sworn not to allow them to enter the Land. Why should this have influenced them, and of what avail was this to them, if they did not believe, Heaven forfend, in God's ability to subdue the thirty-one kings, for which reason they had no desire whatsoever to enter the Land?
But undoubtedly, since the Israelites themselves are “believers, the descendants of believers,” except that the sitra achara—which is clothed in their bodies—had risen against the light of the holiness of their divine soul, in her impudent haughtiness and arrogance, without sense or reason—now, therefore, as soon as the Lord had become angered against them and thundered angrily, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation…. Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness…. I the Lord have spoken, I will surely do this to the entire evil congregation,” their heart was humbled and broken within them when they heard these stern words, as is written, “And the people mourned greatly.” Consequently, the sitra achara toppled from its dominion, from its haughtiness and arrogance, leaving the Israelites to their inborn faith.