Timeless Torah

Spies. The very word conjures up images of wraithlike spooks that slink in and out of dark shadows. Uncouth characters, not quite the gentlemen one would like to meet in a back alley in the middle of the night.
Therefore it comes as a surprise that the twelve spies were actually handpicked by the greatest Jew of all time, Moses. Even more intriguing is the order in which they are listed. Age or rank does not seem to have been a consideration, as those protocols were obviously not followed, (i.e. younger brothers are mentioned before their elders). The Ramban is of the opinion that the twelve spies are recorded according to their personal greatness. If we follow this logic, (and no one else suggests a better reason for the strange order) then amazingly enough Joshua who is later to be the successor to Moses is ranked only fifth. Even Caleb who resists the influence of his peers is only listed third. This surely attests to the august group assembled by Moses to scout the land.
This only highlights the questions raised by all the commentaries who wonder how the spies could have reacted the way they did in maligning Eretz Yisroel. We however will look at the issue from the other perspective. Instead of asking, “Why did they?” let us ponder, “Why didn’t Joshua?”
What I refer to is the initial rebuttal of the spies’ account. After arguing that, “The people that dwells in the Land is powerful, the cities are fortified and great, we also saw the offspring of the giant...” it was only Caleb who responded. The actual verse reads, “Caleb quieted the nation before Moshe, and said, ‘We shall surely go up and conquer it, for we can surely do it.’”
There are three questions that one can ask. 1) Why was Joshua quiet? 2) What is the intent that this statement was made, “before Moshe?” 3) Why the repetition, ‘We shall surely go up...for we can surely do it?”
To explain Joshua’s silence, we must first understand why Israel was afraid. The fact that the Land was inhabited by mighty ogres with great fortresses did not scare them. Rather, their fear can be attributed to that which they had heard (recorded at the end of last week’s Biblical reading) from Eldad and Meidad who had prophesied that Moses was going to die before entering the Land and that Joshuah was going to lead them instead into Israel.
With Moses in the driver seat, the nation had not been frightened. Remember it was he who they actually saw brought the plagues, split the sea, and gave them the Tablets at Mount Sinai. So while humble Moses always assured the anxious Jews that he was merely a messenger from the Almighty, nonetheless, G-d was not felt and seen like the physical Moses was. That is why when Moses disappeared, the people in their hysteria initially made a Golden Calf. It was Moses’ absence they sought to replace, not G-d.
As long as Moses and his big stick were close at hand, the Jews were really not that worried. Their error was that they believed that all of these miracles depended upon Moses alone. If Moses was to die, and they were to enter the Land without him, then who was going to do the miracles? How could they survive?
This is why Caleb reiterated before Moses, “We certainly can do it.” It is a mistake, he said, to think that all of these miracles depended on Moses. On the contrary, the Children of Israel alone were worthy of miracles! The greatness of Moshe depended upon their holiness.
This is why, when the people began to make their Golden Calf, G-d said to Moses, “Go, go down, for your nation has corrupted themselves.” Moses rise and fall was based upon theirs.
Caleb could repeat this - and he did - in front of Moses, daring him, so to speak, to contradict the veracity of his words. But Joshua, the student of Moses, could not have delivered this message. For him, it would have been self-aggrandizement and self-promotion, to get up and say, “Don’t worry! I’ll lead you - I can do it. We don’t need Moses!”
Every Jew is holy. Yes, we look to our leaders, but they in turn look to us. The better we make ourselves and the higher we rise, the higher we lift those above us. So who’s leading and who’s following?