“And they cut … a cluster of grapes … And they spread word of the land … to Bnei Yisrael saying … ‘It’s a land that consumes its inhabitants … And there we saw … giants … And we were in our eyes as grasshoppers and so we were in their eyes.’ ”
(Bamidbar 13:23–33).
What were these great luminaries the nesiim complaining about? Why was it so terrible that the fruit was large or that giants lived there? Is there any difference to Hashem if He vanquishes a giant or a mosquito?
However we understand their conflict better in the continuation of their description: “And we were in our eyes as grasshoppers.” The nesiim contrasted the greatness of the land to their own puniness. They felt incapable of elevating themselves to the supernatural status that befits inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael. (Rabbi Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi Bircas Mordechai)
I was only four years old at the time but I remember the incident clearly. My mother bought us a story tape that all my siblings enjoyed. But one day the cassette disappeared. Everyone searched for it but it had simply vanished.
Create a free account to keep reading.
