Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
The מְרַגְּלִים (meraglim, spies) describe Eretz Canaan as a land that eats up those who live in it: אֶרֶץ אֹכֶלֶת יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ (Bemidbar 13:32).
What does this mean?
בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁעָבַרְנוּ מְצָאנוּם קוֹבְרֵי מֵתִים, וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עָשָׂה לְטוֹבָה, כְּדֵי לְטָרְדָם בְּאֶבְלָם וְלֹא יִתְּנוּ לֵב לָאֵלּוּ.
“Everywhere we went we found people burying their dead.”
But the Holy Blessed One had done this to help the meraglim, so the people in the land would be busy with their mourning and wouldn’t pay attention to the meraglim!
According to the midrash that Rashi is quoting (from Bavli Sotah 35a), the meraglim saw many funerals while they were in Eretz Canaan. They thought this meant that the land caused many people to die.
But their interpretation of what they saw was wrong! In fact, all those funerals were a kindness from God. God had set it up this way so the people in Canaan would be distracted, and the meraglim would be able to pass through the land unnoticed.
- If things aren’t always what they seem to be, how much control do we have over whether we choose to see them in a good way or in a bad way?
- Why did the meraglim choose a negative interpretation of what they saw? Why is it sometimes hard to interpret what we see in a positive way?
- According to Rashi, the meraglim thought things were going really badly, but God was actually doing them a favor, and they didn’t even notice it. Are there favors God might be doing for you that you could notice a little more? Like what?
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