Numbers 14: We Have to Go Back

Chaos reigns in the Israelite camp following the report of the spies. The people are distraught, and Moshe and Aaron are besides themselves. The only ones trying to rally the people are Yehoshua and Calev. Moshe is able to rally, but his argument to save the people is more of a guilt trip to God than a defense of the masses. Ultimately, God decides to punish the people by decreeing a 40-year sojourn in the wilderness. The only two that will survive are Yehoshua and Calev. There are many references in this chapter to the time period just around the exodus as a way to frame the tragic fall of the people from that momentous moment to now. Some examples: The opening verse describes the crying “The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night.” (verse 1)Contrast “that night” with “that day” from the introduction to Az Yashir: “Thus God delivered Israel that day from the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea” (Exodus 14:30).The people complain that God took them out of Egypt just to be killed by the sword (verse 3).Contrast this with Moshe and Aaron’s retort to Pharoah: “They answered, ‘The God of the Hebrews has become manifest to us. Let us go, we pray, a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to our God lest he strike us down with disease or the sword.’” (Exodus 5:3).While complaining about entering the land “And they said to one another, ‘Let us head back for Egypt.’” (verse 4)Contrast this with the people talking to one another about the manna. “When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘that is the bread which God gave you.” (Exodus 16:15).After the people complain that they want to return to Egypt- a reverse course- “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembled congregation of Israelites." (verse 5)Contrast this with the “assembled congregation of Israelites” commanded during the first Passover. “You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight” (Exodus 12:6).Calev and Yehoshua defend the land saying it is exceedingly good- using the double Hebrew word “meod” (verse 14).Contrast this with the propagation of the Israelites in Egypt. “But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly (meod meod), so that the land was filled with them.” (Exodus 1:7).Finally, Amalek appears again twice in this chapter- as the reason that God tells the people to turn around—(verse 25)—and as a raiding party that defeats a group of Israelites who try to buck the damnation and carry on to the land anyway:וַיֵּרֶד הָעֲמָלֵקִי וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּהָר הַהוּא וַיַּכּוּם וַיַּכְתֻּם עַד־הַחָרְמָה׃ (verse 45)Contrast this with the miraculous victory by Yehoshua over Amalek in Exodus 17:8. וַיָּבֹא עֲמָלֵק וַיִּלָּחֶם עִם־יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּרְפִידִם׃. Why would the text have all of these references? Perhaps the text is trying to highlight the fall of the people who two plus years earlier had just been part of the miraculous exodus from Egypt. The great highs of that day are not repeated as the lowest of the lows. This group left Egypt but their new fate is to die in the wilderness and never reach the land that was promised. This contrast also brings to mind the kinah קינה ל״א – Esh Tukad B’Kirbi from Tish abaav that contrasts the highs of the exodus with the lows of the destruction. It is no surprise that the Midrash explains that that the very first verse that says they cried on that night is a reference to the future destruction of the temple that God decreed would happen on the day the people cried for he false report of the spies.