13:1,2 records that G-d told Moshe “send for yourself men to scout out the land.” What was the need for spies if G-d was going to help the people capture the land? Why did G-d tell Moshe to send spies?
Rashi (on 13:1) records the opinion of Resh Lakish (Sotah 34B) that G-d did not command or want the people to send spies. Instead, the people requested the spies, as recorded in Devarim 1:22, and G-d agreed to the wishes of the people. Thus, according to Rashi, the spies should never have been sent.
Ramban (on 13:2) disagrees with Rashi. He notes that according to Rashi, Moshe should have also been unhappy about the sending of the spies since it could only have led to trouble but Devarim 1:23 records that the sending of the spies pleased Moshe. Rashi (on Devarim 1:23) explains that Moshe only said he was pleased because he thought if he would agree to the mission, then the people would not want to send the spies. However, even according to Rashi, Moshe was taking a very risky chance, (which failed) for no apparent reason. Furthermore, even with Rashi’s explanation, Moshe could still have just agreed to the sending of the spies, he did not have to say he was pleased. Ramban also asks why did Moshe tell the spies to check if the land was good or bad, if he already knew the land was good? Furthermore, why did Moshe send the spies altogether, since even if the land was bad, would he have wanted to return to Egypt?
Ramban follows the same chronology as Rashi that first the people asked for the spies, but according to the Ramban this was a reasonable request. Ramban explains that the sending of the spies is the normal action of all people who go to fight, especially on new terrain. (The sending would obtain information for the people, and this would still be called “for yourself” 13:1.) The spies would be able to lead the army in their march into the land of Israel. In fact, Moshe sent spies 39 years later as part of the fight with Amorites, 21:32, as did Yehoshua, and this explains why Moshe thought the sending of the spies was a good idea. (It cannot be a sin per se to send spies if Moshe sent spies 39 years later.) Ramban argues (see his comments on Bereshit 6:19, Vayikra 21:17, Bemidbar 1:45, and Devarim 20:9) that one is not to rely on miracles, and this why G-d agreed to the request of the people to send the spies.
With this idea, Ramban (see also Rashbam) explains the instructions of Moshe. The spies were to start in the south, because these inhabitants were situated close to where the Jewish people were camped and the people had to know were to go on their march into the land. The spies were to discover if the cities were fortified because then the Jewish people could make the necessary preparations to fight in those places, as for instance from what angle to attack and what supplies to take. The spies were to find out the good and bad places since the Jewish people would first attempt to capture the good places. Furthermore, since Moshe knew the land was good, he told the spies to bring back the fruits of the land to make the people more excited about entering the land of Israel. Ramban notes that even though the people had lived in Egypt close to Israel, they might not have known about the quality of the land of Israel since they had been slaves.
However, according to this military approach, why did Moshe need to send 12 spies instead of 2? It seems the spies were representatives of the tribes, as each tribe except Levi had one spy. (Levi did not send a spy as either they had already demonstrated their faith in G-d or because (Daat Zekeinim) they were not going to receive land.) Why did each tribe need to be represented?
My thought is that the mission of the spies was a test to see if the people were ready to enter the land of Israel. The people had been free from slavery for just one year and a few months. Was this enough time for them to lose their slave mentality? Were the people ready to enter the land? The test was whether the people would be willing to go to the land of Israel after hearing how difficult it would be to conquer the land. The people had to hear the military information about the inhabitants of the land, especially about the strength of the inhabitants of the land. If they said they were willing to go, then their acceptance indicated that they had lost their slave mentality. However, if they said no, then that meant that they needed more time in the desert. The people would have to live by natural means in the land of Israel and their faith in G-d would have to be strong enough to survive outside influences.
As we discussed in chapter 11, after the people cried for meat Moshe had great doubts whether the people were ready to enter the land of Israel, and hence the spies also had to bring back information about the quality of the land and food to show how good the land was. If the people would fail the test they would remain in the desert for many years. The initial positive reports about the land and the fruit that the spies brought back would give the people a desire for the land of Israel during their stay in the desert. The leaders of the people were chosen to be spies and each tribe was represented since then the people would accept their leader’s report that the land of Israel was an excellent land.
This idea explains why the spies initially gave their reports not just to Moshe, Aharon but also to the people, 13:26, since the mission was a test of the people. Moshe was hoping that the people would succeed in the mission but if they failed, then they were just not ready to enter the land of Israel, this could not be forced. The people’s failure showed that their faith in G-d was not at a sufficient level, and this is why G-d was upset with the people. The punishment of staying in the desert was to increase the faith of the people in G-d, see Devarim 29:3.
Also, Ramban (on 14:17) notes that when Moshe prayed for the people, he prayed for them to be spared but not that their sins would be completely forgiven. This was because the people needed to stay in the desert to increase their faith in G-d.
Finally, this idea explains why the people were not allowed to repent for their sins. After hearing their punishment, they tried to go to the land of Israel but G-d let them be defeated, 14:45. They had just demonstrated that they were not ready to live in the land of Israel, and a sudden change of faith would not suffice for living permanently in the desert. The faith in G-d had to become ingrained in the people and for this they had to stay in the desert for 40 years. Thus, Moshe 40 years later (Devarim 9:1,2) could tell the people about the strength of the inhabitants of the land and the people would still be willing to enter the land of Israel since by then they had sufficient faith in G-d.
Two literary “proofs” for the idea that the spy mission was a test can be found in the essay by James Ackerman (1987, p.83). He points out that the spies were asked to determine “whether rather than how the land could best be conquered.” This question of whether the land could be conquered is a test of the people, are they willing to enter the land of Israel? Also, the language of shelah lekha (13:2) is similar to the language of lekh lekha by Avraham in Bereshit 12:1, 22:2. Just as by Bereshit 22:2, the story of the binding of Yitzhak was a test of Avraham, Bereshit 22:1, so too the sending of the spies was a test of the Jewish people.
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