Why the Holy One Let Israel Send Spies into the Good Land

Another interpretation of "Send for yourself." Even though the Holy One, blessed be He, said "Send for yourself," it was not the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, that they should go. Why? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, had already told them the praise of the Land of Israel, as it is said, "For the LORD your God brings you into a good land" (Deuteronomy 8:7); and likewise it says, "For the land into which you are entering to possess it, etc." (Deuteronomy 11:10); and even while they were still in Egypt He said to them, "And I have come down to deliver him, etc. [unto a good land, etc.]" (Exodus 3:8). Then what is "Send for yourself"? Rather, they themselves requested these things, for at the time they reached the borders, Moses said to them, "See, the LORD your God has set the land before you" (Deuteronomy 1:21). At that moment Israel drew near to Moses, as it is said, "And you all drew near to me and said, Let us send men, etc." (Deuteronomy 1:22). This is what Ezra said, "And they refused to listen, and were not mindful of Your wonders, etc." (Nehemiah 9:17). And it says, "And the ark of the covenant of the LORD traveled before them, etc., to seek out for them a resting place" (Numbers 10:33), yet they said, "Let us send men, etc.," only because they did not believe in His Torah. And likewise David said, "They did not believe in God, etc." (Psalms 78:22). Rabbi Yehoshua says: To what were they comparable? To a king who arranged for his son a beautiful wife, the daughter of good and wealthy parents. He said to him, "Behold, I have arranged for you a beautiful wife, the daughter of good and wealthy parents; there is none like her in all the world." The son said to him, "Let me go to see her," for he did not believe his father. Immediately the matter became hard and grievous to 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, and that is why he did not want to show her." In the end he said to him, "Look at her, and you shall know that I did not deceive you; but because you did not believe me, by an oath, you shall not see her in your house. Rather, to your son I will give her." So too the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, "It is good," and they did not believe Him. They said, "Let us send men." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "If I hold them back, they will say the land is not good, that He did not show it to us." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Rather, let them see it; but by an oath, not one of them shall enter into it," as it is said, "If they shall see the land, etc." (Numbers 14:23), "rather, to their children I will give it."