The Scout Story: A Guided Reading

^[1] For more on this, see Adele Berlin’s TABS devar Torah, “The Double Rebellion and the Defense of God’s Chosen.”

^[2] The notions of tahor and qadosh and tamei and chol overlap, but are not identical.

^[3] Mary Douglas, Leviticus as Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 79.

^[4] Adriane Leveen, Memory and Tradition in the Book of Numbers (Cambridge University Press, 2008), 22.

^[5] Jacob Milgrom, Numbers: The JPS Commentary (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 389. This continuity is one of many indications that Joshua is very connected to the preceding book of Deuteronomy favoring either the hypothesis of an original Hexatuech, “six books” (the books of Genesis-Joshua as a unit) or the idea that Deuteronomy introduces the Deuternomistic history, and Deuteronomy-Kings should be seen as a literary unit.

^[6] Baruch Levine believes that in the original version the people suggest sending scouts to the land. This tradition is extant in Deut. 1:22 and shows that the author(s) of this account was unfamiliar with the priestly reworking of the story evident in Num. 13:1-17a, 21, 25-26, see his Numbers 1-20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York, Doubleday, 1993), 347. Moshe Weinfeld offers three ways to account for the discrepancy in who initiates the spying mission: “(1) Deuteronomy represents a tradition that is different from that of Num 13:1 (the Priestly source); (2) the traditions complement each other; that is to say, the people asked for spies and their request was approved by God; and (3) the author of Deuteronomy changed the original tradition on purpose. In accordance with this view, the sinful act of the spies could not have been sponsored by God.” See Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1-11 (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 144.

^[7]

 ^יז) וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח אֹתָם֙ מֹשֶׁ֔ה לָת֖וּר אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֗ם עֲל֥וּ זֶה֙ בַּנֶּ֔גֶב וַעֲלִיתֶ֖ם אֶת־הָהָֽר: ^יח) וּרְאִיתֶ֥ם אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ מַה־הִ֑וא וְאֶת־הָעָם֙ הַיֹּשֵׁ֣ב עָלֶ֔יהָ הֶחָזָ֥ק הוּא֙ הֲרָפֶ֔ה הַמְעַ֥ט ה֖וּא אִם־רָֽב: ^יט) וּמָ֣ה הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הוּא֙ יֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּ֔הּ הֲטוֹבָ֥ה הִ֖וא אִם־רָעָ֑ה וּמָ֣ה הֶֽעָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁר־הוּא֙ יוֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּהֵ֔נָּה הַבְּמַֽחֲנִ֖ים אִ֥ם בְּמִבְצָרִֽים: ^כ) וּמָ֣ה הָ֠אָרֶץ הַשְּׁמֵנָ֨ה הִ֜וא אִם־רָזָ֗ה הֲיֵֽשׁ־בָּ֥הּ עֵץ֙ אִם־אַ֔יִן וְהִ֨תְחַזַּקְתֶּ֔ם וּלְקַחְתֶּ֖ם מִפְּרִ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ…

 This command comes for the J or non-P text.

^[8] Gaining the ability to distinguish between “good and bad” by eating fruit alludes to the dilemma of Eden (Gen. 2:5-3:24).

^[9] Ilana Pardes identifies this as a disruption of memory: “The only past the spies evoke is a pre-patriarchal one…The history of the patriarchs is provocatively eclipsed as another continuity between the nefilim and the inhabitants of Canaan is established” (The Biography of Ancient Israel: National Narratives in the Bible  [Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000],109.)

^[10]

 אמרו ונהי בעינינו כחגבים אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא ויתרתי עליהם אלא וכן היינו בעיניהם יודעים הייתם מה עשיתי אתכם לעיניהם מי יאמר שלא הייתם בעיניהם כמלאכים.

^[11] In Biblical Hebrew, **lechem** often means food generically, rather than specifically “bread.”