Introduction to Parashat Hashavua
Yeshivat Har Etzion

PARASHAT SHELACH

The Sequence of the Tribes

Part 2

By Rav Michael Hattin

INTRODUCTION

God spoke to Moshe saying: "send men on your behalf to search out the land of Canaan that I am giving to Bnei Yisrael.  Send one man from each tribe, and each one of them a leader."  Moshe sent them from Midbar Paran according to God's command, and all of them were chieftains of the people.  These were their names: for the tribe of Reuven – Shamu'a son of Zakur; for the tribe of Shimon – Shafat son of Chori; for the tribe of Yehuda – Calev son of Yefune; for the tribe of Yissachar – Yigal son of Yosef; for the tribe of Efraim – Hoshea son of Nun; for the tribe of Binyamin – Palti son of Rafue; for the tribe of Zevulun – Gadiel son of Sodi; for the tribe of Yosef, for the tribe of Menashe – Gadi son of Susi; for the tribe of Dan – Amiel son of Gemali; for the tribe of Asher – Setur son of Michael; for the tribe of Naftali – Nachbi son of Vofsi; for the tribe of Gad – Geuel son of Machi.  These are the names of the men that Moshe sent to search out the land, and Moshe called Hoshea's name "Yehoshua."

Moshe sent them to search out the land of Canaan.  He said to them: "go up by the south and ascend into the hill country.  Search out the terrain; ascertain whether the inhabitants are weak or strong, few or numerous.  Determine if the land in which they dwell is good or not, and if the cities in which they dwell are unfortified or walled.  See if the land is fertile or arid, forested or barren; be courageous and take from the fruits of the land."  During that time, the grapes were beginning to ripen." (Bemidbar 13:1-20). 

            These twelve men, all of them leaders among the Israelites, traveled to Canaan charged with the duel mandate of reporting on the land's natural abundance as well as ascertaining the strength of its inhabitants' defenses.  After forty days of discovery, they returned to the expectant masses.  While the spies bore redolent fruits attesting to Canaan's fertility, these were presented coupled with fearful reports of "great and fortified cities (defended by) the offspring of giants."  And as the resolve of the people of Israel quickly began to crumble, ten of the spies concluded with damning words of discouragement: "We will not be able to engage them in battle, for they are stronger than us!" (13:31).

            The rest, as they say, is history.  These ten spies went on to sate their citizens with further tales of terror, with frightening and disheartening reports of a harsh land populated by invincible inhabitants, while only two had the audacity to oppose the ominous report of their craven colleagues and to claim that with God's help the "very good land" could be conquered.  These two were none other than Yehoshua bin Nun of the tribe of Efraim, and Calev son of Yefune of the tribe of Yehuda.  But their impassioned pleas to the people to trust in God and to have confidence in themselves were soon drowned out by the panicked din of Israel's sobs.  In desperate dejection, the people cried out that night to God and then uttered the ineffable: "let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt!" (14:4).  In the end, that entire generation was condemned to perish in the inhospitable wilderness, to suffer the inevitable consequence of their rejection of the land, while their infamy was etched in Jewish consciousness forevermore:

"All of the congregation lifted up their voices, and the people cried that night" – Said Rabba in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: that very night was the night of the ninth of Av.  God said to them: You have cried out for no reason, but I will designate it for you to cry out for generations! (Talmud Bavli, Tractate Ta'anit 29a).

But even while the other ten members of the spy mission perished by Divinely initiated plague and all of the adult Israelites were destined to die in the wilderness, Yehoshua and Calev were given a pledge that they would survive to one day enter the bountiful land:

God said:…"as surely as I live, the glory of God will fill the world.  All of the men who saw My glory and My signs that I performed in the Egypt and in the wilderness – who nevertheless tested Me these ten times and did not listen to My words – they will not see the land that I swore to their ancestors.  All of those that blasphemed Me will not see it.  But My servant Calev, because he was possessed by a different spirit and followed after Me completely, him I will bring to the land to which he arrived, and his descendents will inherit it! "(Bemidbar 14:21-24).

THE SEQUENCE OF THE TRIBES - REVIEW

            In years past, we have explored the sin of spies at length and readers are invited to consult the archived articles.  This week, we will pick up our discussion where we left off a number of weeks ago, as we consider once again the order of the tribes.  Recall that with the reading of Parashat Bemidbar, the Torah introduced us to the tribal leaders of Israel, who were listed in a specific order for the sake of conducting a national census of the people (Bemidbar 1:5-15).  But then as the census was undertaken according to tribe, the Torah provided us with a slightly different order (Bemidbar 1:20-43).  This was repeated with some variation in the discussion that followed concerning the tribal ensigns (Bemidbar 2:1-31).  We compared these lists to that one preserved towards the end of Sefer Bemidbar, recorded on the eve of another census some forty years later (Bemidbar 26:5-51).  We compared it as well as with the earliest lists, those that are preserved in Sefer Bereishit and pertain to the story of the birth of Yaakov's children (Bereishit 29:32-30:24) and to their descent to Egypt (Bereishit 46:8-27).  This latter list of tribes that descended to Egypt was repeated with variations at the opening of Sefer Shemot (Shemot 1:1-7).  On the whole, we discovered that there were significant differences between the orders of the tribes as they appeared in these various contexts.  We tabulated our results as follows:

ISOLATING THE DATA FROM SEFER BEMIDBAR

            Let us begin to analyze the data by isolating the information from Sefer Bemidbar, since it is in this book that the greatest number of references occurs.  We must, however, add one more section, namely the list of tribal leaders preserved towards the end of the Book.  At that time, after the end of the forty years of wandering, the people of Israel prepare in earnest to enter the land.  In a section reminiscent of our spies list but representing a complete reversal of its ominous and tragic dיnouement, the tribal leaders are once again recounted, this time in preparation for the allotment of the countryside of Canaan among the people (Bemidbar 34:16-29). 

            Of course, it should not surprise us that three tribes are entirely absent from this final list of Sefer Bemidbar – Levi, Reuven and Gad – since these were not slated to inherit a portion of land in the promised land of Canaan.  The tribe of Levi was designated as God's special share and denied a lot of terra firma so that they might more enthusiastically devote themselves to His service (see Bemidbar 18:2-24).  As for Reuven and Gad, they had already been assigned their share of the new land on the eastern side of the Yarden, after the conquest of the mighty Amorite kings Sichon and Og who had possessed it aforetime (see Bemidbar Chapter 32; 34:1-15).  Although part of the tribe of Menashe had also been designated to inherit the Transjordan, the bulk of the tribe crossed over and dwelt with their brethren in Canaan.  Hence, the tribe of Menashe is included in the list.  The list reads as follows:

God spoke to Moshe saying: These are the names of the men who will inherit the land with you – Elazar the priest and Yehoshua son of Nun.  You shall designate one prince per tribe, one prince per tribe, in order to allot the land.  These are the names of the men: for the tribe of YEHUDA – Calev son of Yefune; for the tribe of SHIMON – Shemuel son of Amihud; for the tribe of BINYAMIN – Elidad son of Kislon; a prince for the tribe of DAN – Buki son of Yogli; For the sons of YOSEF, a prince for the tribe of MENASHE – Chaniel son of Efod; a prince for the tribe of the children of EFRAIM – Kemuel son of Shiftan; a prince for the tribe of the children of ZEVULUN – Elizafan son of Parnach; a prince for the tribe of the children of YISSACHAR – Paltiel son of Azan; a prince for the tribe of the children of ASHER – Achihud son of Shelomi; a prince for the tribe of the children of NAFTALI – Pedahel son of Amihud.  These are the ones whom God commanded to distribute the land to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan (Bemidbar 34:16-29).

Let us once again tabulate the results, this time focusing upon Sefer Bemidbar exclusively and incorporating our new data:

GENERAL FEATURES

            We note immediately that the two census lists – the one from the opening of the book and the one towards its conclusion, the one that counted the generation that left Egypt and the one that enumerated the people poised to enter the new land – are almost identical.  Only one small variation exists between them and that is the r