“These were the names of the men” (Numbers 13:16). What were their names? They were “Setur son of Mikhael…Naḥbi son of Vofsi…Geuel son of Makhi” (Numbers 13:13–15). There are people whose names are pleasant but their actions are repulsive; their names are repulsive but their actions are pleasant; their names are pleasant and their actions are pleasant; their names and their actions are repulsive.
Whose names are pleasant but their actions are repulsive: This is Ishmael and Esau. Ishmael – God listens [shome’a el]; Esau – he performs [oseh] the will of his Maker [osehu]. Their names are repulsive but their actions are pleasant: These are those who ascended from the exile: “The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Tamaḥ” (Ezra 2:53).5These are names which have no reference to anything positive, and appear to be names which were originally not used by Jews.
For example, Sisera was the name of an officer who headed an army which subjugated Israel (Judges 4:2). Their names are repulsive and their actions are repulsive, these are the spies: What is written in their regard? “Setur” – He eliminated him [shesetaro] from the world.