Kedushas Levi on Parshat Sh'lach

(1) ha-Shem spoke to Moshe, saying, (2) “Send agents to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one participant from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.” (3) So Moshe, by ha-Shem’s command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran, all of them being men of consequence, leaders of the Israelites. (4) And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben...(6) From the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh....(8) From the tribe of Ephraim, Hosea son of Nun.... (16) Those were the names of the participants whom Moshe sent to scout the land; but Moshe changed the name of Hosea son of Nun to Yehoshua.

(17) When Moshe sent them to scout the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negeb and on into the hill country... (22) They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron, where lived Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the Anakites....

(22) Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send agents ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to.” (23) I approved of the plan, and so I selected from among you twelve participants, one representative from each tribe.

It is also stated with regard to the spies: “And they went up into the south, and he came to Hebron” (Numbers 13:22). Why is the phrase “and he came” written in the singular form? The verse should have said: And they came. Rava says: This teaches that Caleb separated himself from the counsel of the other spies and went and prostrated himself on the graves of the forefathers in Hebron. He said to them: My forefathers, pray for mercy for me so that I will be saved from the counsel of the spies. The Gemara explains: Yehoshua did not go to the graves of the forefathers because Moses had already prayed for mercy for him, as it is stated: “And Moshe called Hoshea son of Nun Yehoshua” (Numbers 13:16), meaning: God will save you [Ya yoshiakha] from the counsel of the spies. And this is the meaning of that which is written: “But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went” (Numbers 14:24), which implies that Caleb changed his mind over time. Joshua, however, was opposed to the intentions of the other spies from the outset.

13:16 “Moshe renamed Hoshea son of Nun, ‎Yehoshua.” Rashi comments on this verse that this ‎means that Moshe prayed that ha-Shem should protect him against ‎being swayed by the evil advice offered by the majority of the ‎men who were part of this mission.‎

This commentary is strange, as whence did Moshe know ‎already that these men would turn out to be spies counseling ‎that the land was beyond their ability to conquer? Surely, if ‎Moshe had been aware of the tragic outcome of this mission he ‎would never have allowed it to go forth? This is also why ‎‎Rashi says that at the time when this mission set out all the ‎members partaking in it were beyond suspicion of wanting it to ‎fail.

If Rashi is correct, we must then ask what made Moshe ‎pray for Yehoshua’s being protected against the “spies’” evil ‎influence?‎
It appears that the answer to the above questions is that ha-Shem ‎had told Moshe to send out men to “tour” the land of Canaan, ‎whereas in Devarim 1:22 when the whole incident is recalled ‎by Moshe he describes the initiative for this to have been the ‎people, who had, however, demanded that the mission be one of ‎spying, i.e. ‎ויחפרו את הארץ לנו את הארץ‎ “who will spy out the land ‎for us.”

The Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1,9 in relating to this ‎request states that just as a human being has 248 bones and 365 ‎tendons, so the earth is similarly made up of as many constituent ‎parts. [The text there only speaks about man and the ‎earth having certain organs in common. Ed.] It elaborates ‎by saying that just as the Torah speaks of ‎ערות הארץ, לב הארץ, ‏טבור הארץ, עין הארץ‎, “the nakedness of the earth, the heart of the ‎earth, the navel of the earth, an the eye of the earth, etc.; these ‎are only a few examples of the earth possessing parts which serve ‎it in a manner similar to the way that the bones and tendons ‎serve the human being.

It follows that when the Israelites perform ha-Shem’s ‎commandments on this land, that the land itself will develop a ‎fondness for this people. We are entitled therefore to view in the ‎expression ‎לתור את הארץ‎ (1:2, 1:17), Moshe’s way of instructing these men to ‎establish a personal relationship with this land based on Torah ‎‎(‎תור‎) observance. By doing so the Jewish people would assume the ‎role of dispensing spiritual largesse of their own to this land. The ‎land, seeing that it had become a recipient of largesse from the ‎Jewish people would also become indebted to them.

This explains ‎Moshe's command to the subterranean waters in the part of the ‎land of Canaan already captured by the Jewish people to give ‎forth its waters, i.e. Bamidbar 21:18‎, “then Israel sang this song: ‘spring ‎up O well-sing to it-, the well which the princes dug.’ The word ‎חפרוה‎ is derived from ‎חפר‎ “to dig,” and is completely analogous to ‎the expression ‎ויחפרו את הארץ‎ in Devarim 1:22 where we can ‎then translate it “in order to dig for us in the land.” The wish ‎expressed by the Israelites when singing this song was meant to ‎convince the earth of the land of Canaan (in this instance the east ‎bank of the Jordan) that complying with Israel’s request was for ‎its own benefit.‎ [Published as an incomplete text.]

(16) And from there to Be'er (lit. “well”) which is the well where ha-Shem said to Moshe, “Assemble the people that I may give them water.” (17) Then Israel sang this song:
Spring up, O well—sing to it—
(18) The well which the chieftains dug,
Which the nobles of the people started
With maces, with their own staffs...

(5) “And the earth abides forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4)....
Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: Everything that the Holy One blessed be He created in man, He created its parallel for the earth. Man has a head and the earth has a head [rosh], as it is stated: “[He had not yet made earth and fields, or] the beginning [rosh] of the dust of the world” (Proverbs 8:26). Man has eyes [einayim] and the earth has eyes, as it is stated: “They will cover the face [ein] of the earth” (Exodus 10:5). A person has ears and the earth has ears, as it is stated: “Listen, earth” (Isaiah 1:2). Man has a mouth and the earth has a mouth, as it is stated: “The earth opened its mouth” (Numbers 16:32). Man eats and the earth eats, as it is stated: “A land that consumes its inhabitants” (Numbers 13:32). Man drinks and the earth drinks, as it is stated: “[But the land]…by the rain of the heavens it drinks water” (Deuteronomy 11:11). Man vomits and the earth vomits, as it is stated: “So the land will not vomit [you out]” (Leviticus 18:28). Man has hands and the earth has hands [yadayim], as it is stated: “The land is spacious [raḥavat yadayim]” (Genesis 34:21). Man has thighs and the earth has thighs [yerekhayim], as it is stated: “I will gather them from the ends [miyarketei] of the earth” (Jeremiah 31:8). Man has a navel [tabbur] and the earth has a navel, as it is stated: “Dwellers in the middle of [betabbur] the earth” (Ezekiel 38:12). Man has nakedness and the earth has nakedness, as it is stated: “To see the nakedness of the land you have come” (Genesis 42:9). Man has feet and the earth has feet, as it is stated: “And the earth abides [omadet] forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4).29The term omadet literally means standing, implying that it has feet.