Seudah Shlishit Devarim 5783

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 יהוה is giving to us.”

AND THEY SAID: ‘GOOD IS THE LAND WHICH THE ETERNAL OUR G-D GIVETH UNTO US.’ “Who were those who spoke well of the Land? Joshua and Caleb.” This is Rashi’s language quoting the Sifre. But I wonder. If so, what is this complaint against them [the people]? It was proper that they should believe ten people more than two? Perhaps Moses complained against them: “Since the Holy One, blessed be He, had informed you that it is a good Land, and the leading emissaries and the most righteous among them had also testified to that effect, you should have believed that the others spoke their piece out of lack of courage.”
The correct interpretation is as I have already explained there: All the spies admitted before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation, saying, We came unto the Land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Thus they were all in consensus on the goodness of the Land itself, but, with reference to the strength of those nations living there, they melted the people’s hearts. Then, when [the ten spies] saw that Joshua and Caleb were encouraging the people to wage war, the spies came to the children of Israel not in the presence of Moses and they disseminated a slanderous report about the Land to the effect that it is a Land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. This is [what Moses meant when he stated here], and ye murmured in your tents. The people also did not mention this slander in the presence of Moses for he would refute them because they [the spies themselves] did not say so at first [that the Land kills its inhabitants]; instead they admitted that it is a good Land, and surely it floweth with milk and honey. Rather, they said to Moses, Whither are we going up? our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying: The people is greater and taller than we. Therefore, Moses now said to them: “It is true as you say that that people is great and tall, but the Eternal will fight for you according to all that He did for you from Egypt even till now.” This, then, is the sense of the verse, Yet in this thing ye do not believe the Eternal your G-d, which means that the hindrance [to your immediate entry into the Land] was only a result of insufficient faith [you had in G-d]. Thus the whole section is explained in accordance with the simple meaning of Scripture and its purport.

ויאמרו טובה הארץ, even the wicked spies acknowledged the goodness of the land when they said “it is also flowing with milk and honey.” (Numbers 13,27).

For they were sent about this, to see the goodness of the land... Since they were sent about this detail, they had to give an answer to those that sent them. And they admitted about this that, "It is a good land" from the perspective of [it being], "that the Lord our God is giving [it] to us" - that if the Lord gives it to us miraculously, there is no objection about the land itself. And [Moshe] did not mention that which they said (Numbers 13:28), "However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful" - as this was not an answer, since they were not sent about this... So [the people] should not have paid attention to this, since they gave a positive answer to that which they were sent about. And regarding that which they said, "the people are powerful," they were not sent about it.

As those to whom Moses was sent, were themselves witnesses to the truth of his prophecy, there was no need for him to show them any other sign, since they and he were witnesses to the same matter. They were like two persons who saw an event together. When giving their testimony in such a case, each of them is a witness that the other is telling the truth, and neither need bring proof of the credibility of the other. So was it with Moses, our Teacher. After the Revelation on Sinai, all Israel became witnesses for him; and there was no need for him to show them any further sign. The Almighty indicated this to Moses at the beginning of the latter's career, when He gave him signs which he was to perform in Egypt, and said to him, "They shall hearken to thy voice" (Ex. 3:18). Moses realised that belief based on signs leaves lurking doubts and is followed by musings and speculation. He therefore sought to avoid the acceptance of his mission, and said, "But 10, they will not believe me" (Ex. 4:1), till the Almighty informed him that these signs were only to serve till our ancestors had departed from Egypt. "And when they will have gone forth and stand at the foot of this mountain," God said to Moses, "their doubts about thee will disappear. For here, I will give thee a sign by which they will know that it was I who sent thee from the first, and no vestige of doubt will linger in their mind". And this is what is meant in the text, "And this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee; when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God at this mountain" (Ex. 3:12). Hence one may conclude with regard to every prophet after Moses, that we do not believe in such a prophet because of the signs he shows, as much as to say that only if he shows a sign, we shall pay heed to him in all that he says, but we believe in him, because of the charge laid down by Moses in the Torah that if the prophet gives a sign "ye shall listen to him"; just as the Lawgiver directed that a cause is to be decided on the evidence of two witnesses even if we have no certainty as to whether they are testifying to the truth or to a falsehood. Similarly, it is our duty to listen to the prophet though we do not know if the sign he shows is genuine or has been performed with the aid of sorcery and by secret arts.

Hence too, if a prophet were to arise and perform signs and wonders, and seek to deny the prophetic character of Moses, our teacher, we would not have to listen to him and would be clearly certain that those signs were wrought by secret arts and witchcraft. For Moses' authority as a prophet is not founded upon signs, in which case we might have weighed the signs of one prophet against those of another. But with our eyes we saw and with our ears we heard the divine Voice, even as he (the claimant to prophecy) also heard it. To what may this be compared? To persons testifying in the presence of a man concerning an incident which he saw with his own eyes and denying that it took place as he saw it. He will surely not accept their statement, but will be convinced that they are false witnesses. The Torah accordingly ordains that even if the sign or token takes place, you are not to listen to the words of such a prophet; since he shows a sign and token in order to deny what you saw with your own eyes. As we only accept signs (as a prophet's credentials) because we are so bidden in the commandment given us by Moses, how shall we, on the strength of such a sign, accept a man as a prophet, who seeks to repudiate Moses' prophecy for the truth of which we have the evidence of our own eyes and ears ?