민수기 12:16의 미드라쉬

[(Numb. 13:2:) SEND MEN.] This text is related (to Is. 44:18): THEY NEITHER KNOW NOR UNDERSTAND; {THEY WALK IN DARKNESS,} FOR THEIR EYES ARE STUCK SHUT SO THAT THEY CANNOT SEE. What is the reason for saying, YOU YOURSELF SEND <MEN>, after the episode of Miriam (in Numb. 12:1ff.)?¹²Numb. R. 16:6; see Tanh., Numb. 4:5. It is simply that it was anticipated by the Holy One that they would come and utter slander against the land.¹³Sot. 34a. The Holy One had said that they should not <be able to> say: We did not know what the penalty for slander was. For that reason he put this <story> next to the one <in which> Miriam was afflicted with leprosy, because she had spoken <slander> against her brother. <This affliction happened> so that everyone would know the punishment for slander. Thus it is stated (in Numb. 12:1–16, which ends): THEN AFTER THAT THE PEOPLE JOURNEYED FROM HAZEROTH¹⁴Where they had waited seven days for Miriam to be cleansed from leprosy. AND ENCAMPED IN THE DESERT OF PARAN. <It was a warning> so that if they came to speak slander, they would consider the episode of Miriam; but even so, they did not desire to learn. It is therefore stated (in Is. 44:18): THEY NEITHER KNOW NOR UNDERSTAND. Therefore the Holy One wrote <about> the sending out of the spies after the episode of Miriam.

And I will make my covenant between Me and thee (Gen. 17:2). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and His covenant, to make them know it (Ps. 25:14). What secret did He reveal to those who feared Him? The secret of circumcision. The Holy One, blessed be He, revealed to Abraham alone the mystery of circumcision. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. This alludes to Abraham, for it is written about him: Thou art a God-fearing man (Gen. 22:12). What is the meaning of the word sod (“secret”)? It may be explained arithmetically. In the word sod, the samekh is sixty, the vav six, and the dalet four—totaling seventy in all. Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, informed Abraham: I will produce from you seventy, as it is said: Thy fathers descended to Egypt with threescore and ten persons (Deut. 10:22); I will cause seventy elders to descend from them, as it is written: Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel (Num. 11:16); and I will also cause Moses to descend from you, and he will explain the Torah in seventy languages. Therefore, it is written: The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and His covenant, to make them know it.