The Grasshopper Mentality and the New Jew

(1) ה' spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Send agents to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one participant from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.” (3) So Moses, by יהוה’s command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran, all of them being men of consequence, leaders of the Israelites. (4) And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur. (5) From the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori.

(6) From the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh.

(7) From the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph. (8) From the tribe of Ephraim, Hosea son of Nun. (9) From the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Rafu. (10) From the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi. (11) From the tribe of Joseph, namely, the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi. (12) From the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli. (13) From the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael. (14) From the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi. (15) From the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Machi.

(16) Those were the names of the participants whom Moses sent to scout the land; but Moses changed the name of Hosea son of Nun to Joshua. (17) When Moses sent them to scout the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negeb and on into the hill country, (18) and see what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? (19) Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified? (20) Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not? And take pains to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”—Now it happened to be the season of the first ripe grapes.

(21) They went up and scouted the land, from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at Lebo-hamath. (22) They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron, where lived Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the Anakites.—Now Hebron was founded seven years before Zoan of Egypt.— (23) They reached the wadi Eshcol, and there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it had to be borne on a carrying frame by two of them—and some pomegranates and figs. (24) That place was named the wadi Eshcol because of the cluster that the Israelites cut down there. (25) At the end of forty days they returned from scouting the land. (26) They went straight to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran, and they made their report to them and to the whole community, as they showed them the fruit of the land. (27) 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. (28) However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the Anakites there. (29) Amalekites dwell in the Negeb region; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites inhabit the hill country; and Canaanites dwell by the Sea and along the Jordan.” (30) Caleb hushed the people before Moses and said, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.” (31) But the other men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack that people, for it is stronger than we.” (32) 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; (33) we saw the Nephilim there—the Anakites are part of the Nephilim—and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.”

(1) The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. (2) All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” the whole community shouted at them, “or if only we might die in this wilderness!” (3) “Why is ה' taking us to that land to fall by the sword?” “Our wives and children will be carried off!” “It would be better for us to go back to Egypt!” (4) And they said to one another, “Let us head back for Egypt.” (5) Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembled congregation of Israelites. (6) And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of those who had scouted the land, rent their clothes (7) and exhorted the whole Israelite community: “The land that we traversed and scouted is an exceedingly good land. (8) If pleased with us, ה' will bring us into that land, a land that flows with milk and honey, and give it to us; (9) only you must not rebel against ה'. Have no fear then of the people of the country, for they are our prey: their protection has departed from them, but ה' is with us. Have no fear of them!” (10) As the whole community threatened to pelt them with stones, the Presence of ה' appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.

(11) And ה' said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me, and how long will they have no faith in Me despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst?

(12) I will strike them with pestilence and disown them, and I will make of you a nation far more numerous than they!”

(13) But Moses said to ה', “When the Egyptians, from whose midst You brought up this people in Your might, hear the news, (14) they will tell it to the inhabitants of that land. Now they have heard that You, ה', are in the midst of this people; that You, ה', appear in plain sight when Your cloud rests over them and when You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. (15) If then You slay this people wholesale, the nations who have heard Your fame will say, (16) ‘It must be because ה' was powerless to bring that people into the land promised them on oath that [that god] slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

(17) Therefore, I pray, let my Lord’s forbearance be great, as You have declared, saying, (18) ‘יהוה ! slow to anger and abounding in kindness; forgiving iniquity and transgression; yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children, upon the third and fourth generations.’ (19) Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to Your great kindness, as You have forgiven this people ever since Egypt.” (20) And ה' said, “I pardon, as you have asked. (21) Nevertheless, as I live and as יהוה’s Presence fills the whole world, (22) none of those involved—who have seen My Presence and the signs that I have performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and who have tried Me these many times and have disobeyed Me— (23) shall see the land that I promised on oath to their fathers; none of those who spurn Me shall see it. (24) But My servant Caleb, because he was imbued with a different spirit and remained loyal to Me—him will I bring into the land that he entered, and his offspring shall hold it as a possession. (25) Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites occupy the valleys. Start out, then, tomorrow and march into the wilderness by way of the Sea of Reeds.” (26) ה' spoke further to Moses and Aaron, (27) “How much longer shall that wicked community keep muttering against Me? Very well, I have heeded the incessant muttering of the Israelites against Me. (28) Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says ה', ‘I will do to you just as you have urged Me. (29) In this very wilderness shall your carcasses drop. Of all of you [men] who were recorded in your various lists from the age of twenty years up, you who have muttered against Me, (30) not one shall enter the land in which I swore to settle you—save Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. (31) Your children who, you said, would be carried off—these will I allow to enter; they shall know the land that you have rejected. (32) But your carcasses shall drop in this wilderness, (33) while your children roam the wilderness for forty years, suffering for your faithlessness, until the last of your carcasses is down in the wilderness. (34) You shall bear your punishment for forty years, corresponding to the number of days—forty days—that you scouted the land: a year for each day. Thus you shall know what it means to thwart Me. (35) I ה' have spoken: Thus will I do to all that wicked band that has banded together against Me: in this very wilderness they shall die and so be finished off.’” (36) As for the agents whom Moses sent to scout the land, those who came back and caused the whole community to mutter against him by spreading calumnies about the land— (37) those who spread such calumnies about the land died of plague, by the will of ה'. (38) Of those involved in going to scout the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived. (39) When Moses repeated these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome by grief. (40) Early next morning [their fighting force] set out toward the crest of the hill country, saying, “We are prepared to go up to the place that ה' has spoken of, for we were wrong.” (41) But Moses said, “Why do you transgress יהוה’s command? This will not succeed. (42) Do not go up, lest you be routed by your enemies, for ה' is not in your midst. (43) For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there to face you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned from following ה' and ה' will not be with you.” (44) Yet defiantly they marched toward the crest of the hill country, though neither יהוה’s Ark of the Covenant nor Moses stirred from the camp. (45) And the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country came down and dealt them a shattering blow at Hormah.

(6) The Judahites approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know what instructions GOD gave at Kadesh-barnea to Moses, the agent of God, concerning you and me. (7) I was forty years old when Moses the servant of GOD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I gave him a forthright report. (8) While my companions who went up with me took the heart out of the people, I was loyal to my ETERNAL God.

They said (in Numb. 13:33), “And in our own eyes we were like grasshoppers.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “I forgave them for that [remark]; but I was exacting [when they said] (ibid., cont.), ‘And so we were in their eyes.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “Did you know what I made you in their eyes? Who would say that you were not like angels in their eyes?”

(19) We set out from Horeb and traveled the great and terrible wilderness that you saw, along the road to the hill country of the Amorites, as our God ה' had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, (20) I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which our God ה' is giving to us. (21) See, your God ה' has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession, as ה', the God of your fathers, promised you.

Fear not and be not dismayed.” (22) Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send agents ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to.” (23) I approved of the plan, and so I selected from among you twelve participants, one representative from each tribe. (24) They made for the hill country, came to the wadi Eshcol, and spied it out. (25) They took some of the fruit of the land with them and brought it down to us. And they gave us this report: “It is a good land that our God ה' is giving to us.” (26) Yet you refused to go up, and flouted the command of your God ה'.

(27) You sulked in your tents and said, “It is out of hatred for us that ה' brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to wipe us out. (28) What kind of place are we going to? Our brothers have taken the heart out of us, saying, ‘We saw there a people stronger and taller than we, large cities with walls sky-high, and even Anakites.’” (29) I said to you, “Have no dread or fear of them. (30) None other than your God ה', who goes before you, will fight for you, just as [God] did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, (31) and in the wilderness, where you saw how your God ה' carried you, as a householder carries his son, all the way that you traveled until you came to this place. (32) Yet for all that, you have no faith in your God ה', (33) who goes before you on your journeys—to scout the place where you are to encamp—in fire by night and in cloud by day, in order to guide you on the route you are to follow.” (34) ה' heard your loud complaint and, becoming angry, vowed: (35) Not one of those involved, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers— (36) none except Caleb son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his descendants will I give the land on which he set foot, because he remained loyal to ה'.— (37) Because of you ה' was incensed with me too, saying: You shall not enter it either. (38) Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, he shall enter it. Imbue him with strength, for he shall allot it to Israel.— (39) Moreover, your little ones who you said would be carried off, your children who do not yet know good from bad, they shall enter it; to them will I give it and they shall possess it. (40) As for you, turn about and march into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds. (41) You replied to me, saying, “We stand guilty before ה'. We will go up now and fight, just as our God ה' commanded us.” And [the men among] you each girded yourselves with war gear and recklessly started for the hill country. (42) But ה' said to me, “Warn them: Do not go up and do not fight, since I am not in your midst; else you will be routed by your enemies.” (43) I spoke to you, but you would not listen; you flouted יהוה’s command and willfully marched into the hill country. (44) Then the Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you like so many bees and chased you, and they crushed you at Hormah in Seir. (45) Again you wept before ה'; but ה' would not heed your cry or give ear to you. (46) Thus, after you had remained at Kadesh all that long time,