Chassidut sobre Isaías 44:18

And this is what appears correct: Behold, the Sages, may their memory be blessed, said (Tanchuma, Sh'lach 5:1): "Send men, etc." (Numbers 13:1) - this text is related (to Isaiah 44:18), "They neither know nor understand; for their eyes are stuck shut so that they cannot see." What did He see, to say, "Send men," after the episode of Miriam? It is simply that it was anticipated by the Holy One, blessed be He, that they would come and utter evil speech against the land [of Israel]. The Holy One, blessed be He, had said that they should not [be able to] say, "We did not know what the penalty for evil speech was." For that reason, the Holy One, blessed be He, put this [story] next to the one [in which] Miriam was afflicted with leprosy, because she had spoken [slander] against her brother, etc. But even so, they did not desire to learn. To here is [the midrash]. But behold, according to this, that which Scripture says above (in the section preceding this), "And Miriam spoke to Aharon about Moshe, etc.," is meaning to say, it is a wonder! The wonder is how two righteous people like this could do something like that, to speak evil speech. For it is well known that it is almost more severe than all of the sins in the Torah; and especially about Moshe, the man of God, who ascended into the heavens. Who would not be afraid about speaking against him! However the Cause of causes, blessed be He, is the One who is awesome in [His] plans for people, such that the thing happened for several reasons: 1) In order to publicize the virtues of Moshe, our teacher, who is the master of the prophets; and God came to elevate him, so that his fear would be on the faces of people. 2) To publicize that the Holy One, blessed be He and blessed be His name, does not neglect the reward of any creature. So it is like the statement of the Sages, may their memory be blessed, "Miriam waited a short time for Moshe, etc. Hence all of the Jewish people stopped for her for seven days, etc." (Sotah 9b). And 3) It - and this is the main one - is in the manner of the statement of the Sages, may their memory be blessed, "The Jewish people was not fitting for such an episode. Rather, it was to give a claim to penitents, etc." (Avodah Zarah 4b). And likewise, Aharon and Miriam were not fitting for that speech, were it not because the Jewish people [would] say, "Send men before us, etc." And Moshe took counsel with the Omnipresent, and His blessed name arranged that the matter of Aharon and Miriam would be first. For maybe, as a result of it, the scouts would see the rebuke for themselves and not speak evil slander against the land. For from the language of [the Sages], may there memory be blessed - in that they said, "What did He see, to say, 'Send men,' after the episode of Miriam" - it is implied that the Jewish people's saying, "Send me," was before the episode of Miriam. For if not, there is no reason to wonder about this: Perhaps that is how it was, this episode was after that episode! But it follows that since it was before the episode of Miriam, it was certainly [also] after the coming together of the elders, for it is surely from this that Miriam's speech was drawn. For Miriam was next to Tzipporah when it was said to Moshe (Numbers 11:27), "Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp." [In response,] Tzipporah said, "Woe to the wives of those [men], etc." - as per the statement of the Sages, may their memory be blessed (Sifrei, Bemidbar 99:1; cited in Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 736; and Rashi on Numbers 12:1). However the Cause of causes, blessed be He and blessed be His name, waited to answer and say, "You send," until He arranged for the speech of Aharon and Miriam, and that which happened to the righteous Miriam as a result of it, first - so that the scouts would accept the rebuke and be afraid for their lives, to say evil slander. Yet even though the scouts saw this with their eyes, they did not place it into their hearts to be afraid of this, but acted according to their evil wills. And it is to this that they, may their memory be blessed, hinted to with their words, "this text is related to, 'They neither know nor understand; for their eyes are stuck shut so that they cannot see.'" The understanding of this is that they did not want to know and to understand, even from what they saw with their eyes, not to do this.