{"id":52930,"date":"2019-04-02T17:30:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T14:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=52930"},"modified":"2022-10-25T16:58:26","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:58:26","slug":"spies-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/spies-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Spies? Again!?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[806,401,405,807],"acf":{"old_id":"52930","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":42027,"related_cahpter":"189","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Joshua - weren\u2019t we burned before with this espionage thing?","content":"<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cJoshua son of Nun sent two spies from Shittim, saying, \u201cGo, survey the land, and the city of Jericho.\u201d So they set out\u2026. \u201c (Joshua 2:1)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wait, one second. Joshua is sending spies to check out the land? This doesn\u2019t sound right\u2026isn\u2019t this the same Joshua who went in with the spies in Deuteronomy, which resulted in a monumental calamity for the Israelites? \u00a0Doesn\u2019t he remember? Doesn\u2019t he know the risks? How could he send spies again?!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, a careful reading of the two stories in Tanach will notice some major differences. First the number: Moses sent 12 spies to scout out the land of Canaan. Joshua sends 2. Then there&#8217;s the\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nature of these spies<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Moses sent in the heads of tribes. Joshua simply sent spies. We have no idea of their status.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And there\u2019s one glaring difference staring the reader in the face. The text uses an odd word to describe the spies being sent: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cheresh<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The meaning of this word in this verse is hard to understand. The word literally means deaf (or silent). Are we to understand that Joshua sent deaf spies? Rashi tries to understand this word and comes up with two possible readings:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He sent spies in and told them to act deaf. If people thought they were deaf, they would be more free to share information around them that they otherwise would keep secret.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He sent them in the guise of pottery sellers (playing on the similarity between the words Cheresh \u2013 deaf, and Cheres \u2013 pottery). If they came as peddlers, no one would assume their presence in Canaan was odd. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of these differences in the mission are trying to tell us something very important. Of course Joshua was aware of the last time spies were sent to check out of the land of Israel \u2013 he was there, how could he forget! And of course he knew all the risks associated with it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But this didn\u2019t stop Joshua. Joshua specifically looked back on his past for guidance, but didn\u2019t stop there. He took what worked, took the positive messages of his past, and he innovated. He changed the mission in ways that he believed could make it successful this time. He isolated the problems in the previous mission and made the appropriate changes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joshua\u2019s sending spies, and really, the entire book of Joshua is teaching the reader an important lesson about how we are to relate to a troubled past. Joshua is clear \u2013 the past cannot be swept away and forgotten about entirely. We need to take a look at the past, and use it as a building block for our future, to be able to appreciate how the past has shaped our present, and be open to growing and changing because of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joshua sent spies, and this time it was successful. He looked back at his past and grew with the lessons it taught him. In life, we should always strive to do the same. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Escape from Rahab&#8217;s House, as in Joshua 2, Woodcut for &#8220;Die Bibel in Bildern&#8221;, 1860 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":52931,"id":52931,"title":"jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld","filename":"jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/spies-again\/jo2-spies-schnorr_von_carolsfeld\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo2-spies-schnorr_von_carolsfeld","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":52930,"date":"2019-04-02 14:28:24","modified":"2019-04-02 14:29:59","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":746,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld-300x241.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":241,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld.png","medium_large-width":746,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld.png","large-width":746,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld.png","1536x1536-width":746,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld.png","2048x2048-width":746,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld.png","post_full_size-width":746,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo2-spies-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld-523x420.png","home_baner-width":523,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Spies? 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