וַיָּקֻ֙מוּ֙ לִפְנֵ֣י מֹשֶׁ֔ה וַאֲנָשִׁ֥ים מִבְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים וּמָאתָ֑יִם נְשִׂיאֵ֥י עֵדָ֛ה קְרִאֵ֥י מוֹעֵ֖ד אַנְשֵׁי־שֵֽׁם׃
Mereka bangkit di hadapan Musa, bersama dua ratus lima puluh orang Israel, para pemimpin jemaah, orang-orang yang dipanggil ke pertemuan, orang-orang ternama.
Akeidat Yitzchak
Some problems in the text of our Parshah. 1) Why does the Torah not report that Moses had been put under pressure by the people prior to the despatch of the spies, as is the case in Deut. 1,22, when Moses relates the same events? 2) Why were the "princes," not sent on this mission? Surely they represented the morally most steadfast? 3) If Moses saw fit to pray for Joshua, going so far as to change his name even, why did he not do the same for the other eleven spies? 4) Why did Moses give the spies potential ammunition for a negative report? He gave them such wide terms of reference that he actually invited problems! (verse 18-20) 5) Why did these spies cut off a cluster of grapes so heavy that it needed several (8) people to carry it? Surely that had not been what Moses had meant when he had instructed them to take from the fruit of the land? The report of the spies seems fair enough. Even the use of the word efess, employed elsewhere in scripture as meaning "but," does not seem too unfair! 6) Why did the spies proclaim the planned undertaking as hopeless only after Caleb had described it as feasible? (13,30-31) 7) Joshua's repeated stress on the "goodness of the land," something the spies had never disputed, seems pointless. 8) Why, in this instance, do we find punishment decreed after forgiveness? 9) Why did G'd respond to the fear the Jewish people expressed concerning their children's future, whereas He did not respond to the fear they expressed regarding their own future? 10) Why was the holy ark not allowed to accompany the people after they had expressesd their willingness to march against the Canaanites?