Devarim 1:37, 3:26 and 4:21 – Why was Moshe unable to go to the land of Israel?

Devarim 1:37 records within Moshe’s recollection of the sin of the spies and between two verses that state that Calev and Yehoshua would be able to go to the land of Israel, that Moshe told the people that G-d was angry at him because of them and this is why he was unable to go into the land of Israel. The inability of Moshe to go to the land of Israel is quite tragic for Moshe since this was the goal of his mission starting from the third chapter of the book of Shemot.

Yet, 1:37 is difficult to understand since the verse implies that the reason that Moshe was unable to go to the land of Israel was due to the sin of the people by the spies since the context of the verse, if not the verse itself, was Moshe’s recollection of the people’s sin by the spies (Bemidbar 13,14). However, how did Moshe sin in that incident? Also, Bemidbar 20:12 (and see also Bemidbar 27:14) records that Moshe was punished that he could not go to the land of Israel for his actions when the people requested water by Mei Merivah (see our discussion on Bemidbar 20:6-13, “Moshe’s sin?”), and not due to the sin of the people by the spies.

Subsequently, 3:26 records that Moshe told the people again that G-d was angry (depending on how one explains the word va-yitaber) at him on their account and therefore G-d would not listen to his prayers to go to the land of Israel. This verse does not seem to be related to the sin of the spies or to the incident at Mei Merivah. Why should G-d be angry at Moshe due to the people?

Afterwards, 4:21 records that Moshe told the people again that G-d was angry with him, but this time it was due to the words of the people, and hence he could not go to the land of Israel. This verse is unrelated to the sin of the spies or Mei Merivah. Instead, the verse relates Moshe’s inability to go to the land of Israel to the words of the people, what words?

From all three verses, we see that in Moshe’s speeches to the people in Devarim, Moshe was ignoring the incident of Mei Merivah.

There are several answers as to why the books of Bemidbar and Devarim seem to give different reasons for why Moshe was unable to go to the land of Israel.

One possible answer is that had the people not sinned by the spies, Moshe would have gone to the land of Israel, and the events recorded in Bemidbar 20 concerning Mei Merivah would not have happened. Thus, maybe one could argue that the ultimate reason why Moshe was not able to go to the land of Israel was the sin of the spies. Yet, still it was not the people’s fault that Moshe sinned by Mei Merivah, even if the people had sinned by the spies.

A second answer (see Y. Leibowitz, 1990, pp. 146-149) is that really Moshe was punished that he could not go into the land of Israel due to the sins of the people. This answer ignores the events in Bemidbar 20, unless one claims that Moshe’s actions there show that he was unable to lead the next generation and hence he had to suffer the punishment of the previous generation. Yet, Moshe seemed to have been a very effective leader of the people in several events after Mei Merivah, as for example in the battles with Sihon and Og, and the incident with the snakes, Bemidbar 21:4-9, 21-35. In addition, Bemidbar 20:27 and Bemidbar 27:14 indicate that Moshe sinned by Mei Merivah and his actions were not just a case of poor leadership.

A third idea (see Rashi on 3:26) is that in Devarim, Moshe was saying, admittedly not so explicitly, that he had sinned in Bemidbar 20 due to the people. It was not just that the people demanded water, but maybe Moshe and Aharon's sin by Mei Merivah was their re-action to the people's complaint for water that Moshe and Aharon gave the impression that they were trying to get water for the people, instead of telling the people to rely on the mahn (see our discussion on Bemidbar 20:2-5, 21:5, “Water in the desert”). Maybe in Devarim, Moshe was saying that G-d was angry with him for going to the ohel moed in Bemidbar 20:6 and for giving the impression that he was going to plead with G-d on behalf of the people. Devarim 3:26 would then mean that G-d was angry when I (Moshe) tried to help you (the people get water) that Moshe spoke to G-d for the people’s sake. Or, following this approach, maybe Moshe was saying that he hit the rock instead of waiting for the water to come out since the people were pressuring him to get the water from the rock. This approach negates any connection between Moshe’s inability to go to the land of Israel and the sin of the spies.

A fourth possibility is that really the sin of Moshe that determined that he would not be able to go to the land of Israel was when he doubted G-d’s ability to provide the people meat in Bemidbar 11:21-23. In our discussion on Bemidbar 11:10-29, “Moshe’s reaction to the people clamoring for meat,” we suggested that Moshe was not punished for this doubt since G-d had mercy on him since he was depressed at that time. A different reason could be that at that time, the people were just about to go into the land of Israel, and hence Moshe could not have been replaced then. This immunity ended when the people sinned by the spies, and in the aftermath of the sin of spies, the Torah never states that Moshe was to be able to go the land of Israel. Thus, according to this possibility, it was the sin of the spies that caused Moshe not to be able to enter the land of Israel. How then do the events at Mei Merivah relate to Moshe not being able to go to the land of Israel? While it seems that Moshe sinned in that incident, it hard to understand how this sin was so severe that he should be punished that he could not go to the land of Israel.  Accordingly, maybe one can understand that Moshe’s “major” sin was by Bemidbar 11:21-23, but once Moshe was not punished for this, then a “new” sin had to happen even it was not that severe. This new sin was either that he hit the rock or hit it twice or relayed the complaints of the people to G-d, but the sin was sufficient to allow the punishment of his actions in Bemidbar 11:21,22 to re-surface.

If this approach is correct, then in 1:37, Moshe stated that G-d was angry with him due to the sin of the spies since due to that sin, his immunity was removed, and G-d could then “display” his anger even due a minor sin. Afterwards, in 3:24, Moshe stated how he recognizes G-d’s great powers, and this was to rectify his sin from Bemidbar 11:21,22, but this was not sufficient as Moshe stated in 3:26. Finally in 4:21, Moshe refers to the sin of the people by their speaking and maybe this refers to their sin of stating that they wanted to appoint a person to take them back to Egypt, Bemidbar 14:4.

With this approach we can understand why Moshe told the people three times in Devarim that he was being punished because of them. He was being punished since they had sinned by not going into the land of Israel, and he did not want them to repeat this sin.

A fifth (and I think the best) way to understand why Moshe could not go to the land of Israel is that there are two separate issues in Bemidbar and Devarim. Bemidbar 20:12 states that because Moshe sinned by Mei Merivah he was unable to take the people into the land of Israel, which means that he was no longer going to be the leader of the people to take them into the land of Israel.  Similarly, Bemidbar 27:12-14 recalls the sin at Mei Merivah, and then Bemidbar 27:15-17 records Moshe’s request for G-d to appoint a new leader since the sin by Mei Merivah meant that he was not going to be the leader of the people to take them into the land of Israel.

On the other hand, in Devarim, Moshe was not attempting to rescind G-d’s decision that he would not lead the people into the land of Israel, but he was asking G-d to be able to go into the land of Israel as a private citizen. This is clearly stated in 3:21-25. In 3:21, Moshe recalled that he had appointed Yehoshua to be the leader of the people to take the people into the land of Israel, and then 3:25 records that Moshe asked just to be able to walk through the land. Note the Talmud, Sotah 14a, records that Rav Simlai states that Moshe did not want to enter the land of Israel to eat its fruits, but to fulfill the commandments that are related to the land of Israel. However, the simple reading of 3:25 is that Moshe just wanted to walk and see the land that he been striving to get to for forty years.

Moshe’s request to just walk through the land of Israel did not contradict G-d’s decree in Bemidbar 20:12 since he was not asking to be the leader of the people to take the people into the land of Israel. Accordingly, in Devarim 1:46, 3:21-26 and 4:21, Moshe was referring to his desire to go to the land of Israel, but not to be the leader of the people.  Maybe Moshe thought he deserved his punishment not to continue being the leader of the people or maybe he had no desire to continue being the leader of the people.

With regard to 1:37, while the broader context of the verse is the recollection of the sin of the spies, the verse does not refer to the sin of the spies. Instead, the verse is between the verses stating that Calev (as a private citizen) and Yehoshua (as the people’s leader) would go to the land of Israel, and just as Calev and Yehoshua were not punished for the sin of the spies, so too Moshe was not punished for the sin of the spies. Instead, Moshe mentioned his inability to go into the land of Israel at that point as a way of boosting the people’s support for Yehoshua that Yehoshua was to lead the people and not him, see the following verse, 1:38.

Why then in 1:37 did Moshe state that G-d was angry at him because of the people? G-d’s anger refers to G-d’s refusal to allow Moshe to enter the land of Israel even as a private citizen and the phrase because of the people means that Moshe’s inability to enter the land of land as a private citizen was for the benefit of the people. This benefit was that even if Moshe went into the land officially as a private citizen, still his presence would impinge on Yehoshua’s ability to lead the people which would harm the people.

Why could Moshe not go to the land of Israel as a private citizen and just promise to keep quiet? The answer is that the people would not have allowed him to retire peacefully. They would have complained to him about Yehoshua, as they always complained. Accordingly, 3:26 records that G-d said that Moshe could not go into the land of Israel, even as a private citizen, G-d’s anger, but this was for the benefit of the people. Similarly, in 4:21, Moshe was saying that the people’s words made G-d angry with him. The people’s words were their common practice to complain, and again G-d’s anger is G-d’s refusal to let Moshe go to the land of Israel. Again, the idea is that because the people regularly complain (their words) this meant that if Moshe was in the land of Israel, even as a private citizen, the people would have complained to Moshe about Yehoshua’s leadership and these complaints would have reduced Yehoshua’s effectiveness as the leader of the people.

Bibliography:

Leibowitz, Yeshayahu, 1990, Notes and remarks on the weekly parashah, translated by Shmuel Himelstein, Brooklyn: Chemed Books.

Bemidbar 13:2 and Devarim 1:22,23 - Whose idea was it to send the spies?

Devarim 1:19-45 records Moshe’s recollection of the sending of the spies 38 years earlier. It has long been noted that there are several differences between the account of the spies in Bemidbar 13,14 and Moshe's retelling of the incident in Devarim 1. Perhaps the most obvious difference in Moshe's retelling of the sending of the spies is that Devarim 1:22 records that Moshe stated that it was the people who requested for the spies to be sent, while Bemidbar 13:2 records that G-d told Moshe to send the spies.

Rashi (on Bemidbar 13:2, and for a more recent versions see Samet 2002) explains that the people first requested from Moshe to send spies, and then Moshe asked and received G-d's permission to send the spies. Yet, if both G-d and the people desired for the spies to be sent, why did Bemidbar 13 only refer to G-d's authorization and not the people's request while in Devarim, Moshe only referred to the people's request and not G-d's authorization? N. Leibowitz (1980a, pp. 16-25) explains, based on the Ramban's comments on Bemidbar 13:2, that in Bemidbar the Torah did not record the people's request for the spies since it was "natural and understood" while in Devarim, Moshe only referred to the people's request for the spies since he wanted to emphasize the people's responsibility for their sin.

I doubt that the people had the gumption to take the initiative and propose to send spies. Prior to the incident of the spies, we read how the people were crying for meat, Bemidbar 11:4, and their re-action to the report of the spies show that they had not lost their slave mentality. If the people really initiated the sending of the spies, then this fact should have been recorded in Bemidbar. In addition, my understanding is that the sending of the spies was a test to see if the people were ready to enter the land of Israel, had they lost slave mentality or not, see our discussion on Bemidbar 13:1,2 "A test," http://www.lobashamayim.blogspot.co.il/2009/06/bemidbar-131-20-shelah-test.html. Accordingly, I believe that it was G-d who initiated the sending of the spies, as recorded in Bemidbar 13:2.

How then can we explain Moshe's statement in Devarim 1:22? My guess is that after Moshe heard the command from G-d to send the spies he told this to the Jewish people, and their response is recorded in Devarim 1:22. The people were "agreeing" to the idea to send the spies, though the spies would have been sent even if they had not "agreed." In addition, the people proposed their own reason why to send the spies. G-d had not given a reason why the spies were to be sent, and the people on their own said, 1:22, "that the spies should explore which is the best road to travel on…" Moshe was very happy with the people's response, Devarim 1:23, since this was an indication that maybe the people were ready to enter the land of Israel, but, alas, they were not.

In Bemidbar 13, the Torah did not record that the people had "agreed" to send the spies since the sending of the spies was not due to the initiative of the people as even had they not "agreed," Moshe would still have sent the spies. Thus, their "agreement" was not important to the historical record of the sending of the spies, and in Bemidbar 13 the stress is on the historical account of the events. Most likely there were other conversations between Moshe and the people about the spies that were not recorded in the Torah. In addition, coupled with the people's statement to send spies was their rationale for the spies, and had this rationale been recorded in Bemidbar 13, then readers of the Torah would have assumed that the reason for the spies was the people's rationale, to find the best way to travel, but really the sending of the spies was to test whether the people had lost their slave mentality or not.

In Devarim the people's "agreement" to the sending the spies and not G-d's command to send the spies was mentioned for two possible reasons. One, as explained by N. Leibowitz, the goal was to emphasize the people's responsibility for the sin of the spies. Two, it is possible that some of the people had become bitter about the incident of the spies. After spending forty years in the desert, the people might have wondered why did G-d tell them to send the spies? Did G-d not know that the people of Canaan would scare the spies? Thus, in Devarim Moshe did not want to mention that G-d had commanded Moshe to send the spies, and instead he recalled that the people had "agreed" to send the spies. Hence, the people cannot blame G-d for entrapment, but instead they were to understand that they had failed by accepting the report of the spies. Also, as the people were about to enter the land of Israel, Moshe wanted them to know that it was permitted to send spies to explore the land so he recorded here how they wanted to send the spies to explore the land and that he was happy with the offer.

Devarim 1:9-18 - The appointment of judges when the Jewish people were in the desert

The book of Devarim consists mostly of Moshe speaking to the Jewish people in the 40th year the people were in the desert, and Devarim 1:9-18 records that one thing that Moshe spoke about was his recollection of the appointment of judges when the people first came to the desert. The appointment of judges is also recorded in Shemot 18:13-26, and there are several differences between the description of this process of appointing the judges as recorded in Shemot 18:13-26 with Moshe’s recollection of this process in Devarim 1:9-18.

The major difference between these two descriptions of the process of appointing judges is that in Devarim 1:9-18, the aspects of the judicial system that Moshe stresses is that a judicial system punishes people for their misdeeds as a type of warning to the people not to sin again by refusing to enter the land of Israel. On the other hand, in Shemot 18:13-27, the stress is on the need for a judicial system, and not on the punitive aspects of the system. This distinction can be discerned by analyzing the differences between the sections. In addition, while Shemot 18:13-23 records Yitro’s suggestions concerning the judicial system, which was in the third month of the first year of the people’s stay in the desert, the actual appointment of the judges was only at later time, see our discussion on Shemot 18:13-27, “Yitro’s visit to Moshe and the need for a judicial system.” When Moshe implemented the system, he made several changes from Yitro’s suggestions.

One difference between Shemot 18:13-27 and Devarim 1:9-18 is that in Shemot 18:13-27 it is Yitro who suggested to Moshe to establish a legal system while Yitro is not mentioned in Devarim 1:9-18. Why was Yitro's role excluded in Devarim 1:9-18? Yitro was included in Shemot 18:13-27 since he was a foreigner, and the fact that he knew of how a judicial system should function showed that the existence of a legal system is a universal need. However, in Devarim 1:9-18, Moshe wanted to recall the punitive role of the judicial system, and was not concerned with who suggested the establishment of a judicial system. Thus, the fact that Yitro suggested the system could be excluded from the recollection of the event. In addition, it could be that Moshe did not mention Yitro’s name in Devarim since Moshe had made several changes when he implemented the judicial system in the desert.

A second difference between the sections is that Shemot 18:13-27 records that prior to the appointment of the judges, Moshe sat all day in judgment but without complaining, while Devarim 1:12 records that Moshe complained that the work was too difficult due to the people's fights. Why was this difficulty not mentioned in Shemot 18? The answer is that in Shemot 18, the objective was to show how laws are necessary which is shown by the numerous conflicts that existed amongst the people. The important fact is that Moshe had to sit all day, not how difficult the job was for Moshe. However, in Devarim 1:9-18, Moshe recalls the fights of the people as a warning for them to behave. Just as the people should not fight amongst themselves, they should not fight with G-d by refusing to enter the land of Israel. In addition, in Devarim 1:12 when Moshe recollected the complaints of the people this was referring to the time after Yitro’s advice and prior to the implementation of the system, as we know from Bemidbar 11:11-15 that the complaints of the people wore him down by the second year of the people’s stay in the desert.

A third difference between the sections is that Devarim 1:13-15 records that the people had a role in selecting the judges, while Shemot 18:25 records that Moshe seems to chosen the judges by himself. Presumably, Moshe received help in selecting the judges, and this was a change he made to Yitro’s suggestions, but why was this information excluded from Shemot 18? Again, in Shemot 18, the stress is on the existence of the conflicts, while the discussion about the judges themselves can be minimized. However, in Devarim 1:9-18, Moshe was also recalling the implementation of the judicial system, which had involved the people. Moshe’s recollection of the people’s involvement in the choosing the judges might also have been a message to the people to remind them that they accepted the idea of the judicial system, that people are to be held accountable for their actions. Moshe was then hinting to the people that as you accept this idea on the human plane so too this idea applies on the divine plane.

A fourth difference between the sections is that the qualification of the judges in Devarim 1:15 is their intellectual ability, while Shemot 18:21 records Yitro’s suggestion that the qualification of the judges is that they should be morally upright. These qualifications are not contradictory because judges should have both characteristics, and the need for intellectual abilities is one of the changes that Moshe made to Yitro’s suggestions when he implemented the system, that he appointed judges who he thought were both honest and smart. Maybe Yitro only mentioned the need for honest judges since he was worried that people might think that Moshe was choosing cronies. Furthermore, Moshe did not have to recall that the judges who were chosen were thought to be honest since in Devarim 1:17 he recalled that he told the judges to judge honestly.

A fifth difference between the sections is that Devarim 1:17,18 records that Moshe recalled that he instructed the judges to judge each individual on the merits of the case, while in Shemot 18 no instructions are given to the judges except to bring hard cases to Moses. Why were these instructions mentioned in Devarim 1:17,18 not recorded in Shemot 18? Again, the point in Shemot 18 is not how the system functioned, just that there is a need for a legal system. Thus, Shemot 18:26 can simply state, that the judges judged. However, in Devarim 1, the idea is to show how a legal system functions, and thus, the specific instructions of how to judge shows that the system is functioning. In addition, the judicial rules mentioned in Devarim 1:17,18 correspond to the laws mentioned in Vayikra 19:15, and then Moshe can refer to these rules in Devarim since in the 40th year these rules were known by the people.

A sixth difference between the sections is that Devarim 1:15 refers to shotrim but this term does not appear in Shemot 18. Shotrim appear to be the enforcers of the legal system. Again, in Shemot 18, they could be excluded because the enforcement of the judicial decision was not the important message at that point. However, in Devarim 1, the fact that shotrim are mentioned demonstrates that with a judicial system people are punished for their misdeeds. In addition, this was one of the changes that Moshe added when he implemented the judicial system that he added the shotrim.

Consequently, the two recordings of the establishment of a judicial system have two different purposes. In Shemot 18, the message is that a legal system is needed, but the performance of the system was not crucial at that time. Instead, the message is that there is a need for laws as prelude to the Decalogue and the laws of the covenant, the ensuing chapters in the book of Shemot. On the other hand, in Devarim 1, the message was that a judicial system punishes people for their sins, and thus, it was important for the system to function since only a functioning judicial system can punish people. This message would serve as a warning for the people not to sin by refusing to enter the land of Israel since they would be punished for their actions if they sinned again.