We're diving into a moment of profound disillusionment and rebellion in the Israelite camp, right after the spies return from scouting the land of Canaan.
The people, as Ginzberg recounts, weren't just sad. They were furious. The dream of the Promised Land, the culmination of generations of slavery and wandering, seemed to be slipping away. So, what did they do? They decided to replace Moses and Aaron with new leaders – Dathan and Abiram – with the explicit goal of heading back to Egypt. Can you imagine?
But it gets worse. It wasn't just a leadership change they were after. It was a complete rejection of everything they stood for. They renounced God! They wanted to create an idol, a tangible, visible deity to replace the unseen force that had led them thus far. As Ginzberg tells it, drawing upon earlier sources, this wasn’t just the “mixed multitude” (the non-Israelites who had joined them in their Exodus) complaining; even those who had been pious were now saying, "Would to God that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would to God we had died in this wilderness!"
Think about the desperation in that statement. The utter hopelessness.
In the face of this despair, Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who had brought back a positive report, tore their clothes in mourning. They tried to reason with the people, to remind them that the time was near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, to give the land of Canaan to his descendants. They even claimed that God had removed the guardian angel of the Canaanites, making them vulnerable!
But the people weren't having it. "We do not believe you," they retorted. "The other spies have our weal and woe more at heart than you." Ouch.
Even Moses himself, the man who had led them out of slavery, couldn't sway them. He delivered a direct message from God, urging them not to fear the Canaanites. He reminded them of all the miracles they had witnessed in Egypt and the wilderness. "He who wrought all those miracles for you in Egypt and during your stay in the wilderness will work miracles for you as well when you will enter the promised land. Truly the past ought to inspire you with trust in the future."
But their response? A stinging rebuke: "Had we heard this report of the land from strangers, we should not have given it credit, but we have heard it from men whose sons are our sons, and whose daughters are our daughters." In other words, they trusted the negative report because it came from people they knew. It was a brutal rejection of Moses' authority and, more importantly, of God's promise.
In their rage, they even threatened Moses and Aaron. According to Legends of the Jews, God intervened, sending a cloud of glory – the Shekhinah (שְׁכִינָה), the divine presence – to protect them. But instead of being awed into repentance, the people hurled stones at the cloud! As Ginzberg makes clear, drawing upon earlier sources like Midrash Rabbah, this act of defiance pushed God's patience to its absolute limit. God decided that the spies would be destroyed, and the people would face severe punishment for their lack of faith.
What does this story tell us? It's a stark reminder of how easily fear and doubt can overwhelm faith, even after witnessing incredible miracles. It's a cautionary tale about the dangers of listening to the loudest voices of negativity and the importance of trusting in the promises that have been made to us, even when the path ahead seems daunting. It makes you wonder: when have we been like the Israelites in this story, so blinded by fear that we turned away from the very thing we longed for?