Another matter, “Send you men”; although the Holy One blessed be He said: “Send you,” it was not from the Holy One blessed be He that they should go. Why? It is because the Holy One blessed be He had already said the praise of the Land of Israel to them: “For the Lord your God is bringing you to [a good] land” (Deuteronomy 8:7).3Therefore there was no need to send anybody to check the quality of the land.
Likewise it says: “For the land that you are coming there to take possession of it…[it drinks water from the rain]” (Deuteronomy 11:10–11). And while they were still in Egypt, He said: “I have descended to deliver them from the hand of the Egypt and to bring them up from that land [to a good and expansive land, to a land flowing with milk and honey]” (Exodus 3:8). The verse says: “The Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud” (Exodus 13:21).4Therefore there was no military need to check out the land.
What is “send you men”? Rather, it was Israel that requested these matters, as when they arrived to take possession at the borders, the Holy One blessed be He said to them: “See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you, [go up and conquer]” (Deuteronomy 1:21); at that moment, Israel approached Moses, as it is stated: “All of you approached me” (Deuteronomy 1:22). That is what Ezra said: “…They did not heed your commandments.
They refused to heed and did not remember Your wonders” (Nehemiah 9:16–17). Likewise, it says: “[and the Ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them…] to scout a resting place for them” (Numbers 10:33). Nevertheless, they said: “Let us send men before us, and they will spy [the land] for us”? (Deuteronomy 1:22). It is, rather, that they did not believe.
Likewise, David says: “Because they did not believe in God” (Psalms 78:22); and it is written: “They refused to follow His Torah” (Psalms 78:10). Rabbi Yehoshua said: To what were they comparable? It is to a king who arranged for his son, a fine-looking, wellborn, and wealthy woman. The king said to him: 'I arranged for you a fine-looking, wellborn, and wealthy woman.'
The son said to him: 'I will go and see her,’ because he did not believe his father. Immediately, the matter was difficult for and troubled his father. His father said: ‘What shall I do? If I say to him: I will not show her to you, now he will say: She was ugly; that is why he does not want to show her.’
Ultimately he said to him: 'See her and ascertain whether I lied to you. But because you did not believe in me, I vow that you will not see her in your home, but rather, I will give her to your son.’ Likewise, the Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: “The Land is good,” but they did not believe, but rather, they said: “Let us send men before us, and they will spy [the land] for us.” The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘If I prevent them, they will say: It is because it is not good that He did not show it to us.
Rather, let them see it; but by My oath, not one of them will enter into it, as it is stated: “They will not see the land regarding which I took an oath to their fathers, and all those who scorned Me will not see it” (Numbers 14:23); but I will give it to their children.