Psychological Portrait of the 10 Spies

The Ramban shares a very interesting analytical perspective of the raison d'être, or rather, agenda, of the spies. The spies had a vested interest, writes the Ramban, in not entering the land of Israel. 

Rather than taking a pragmatic approach, i.e. the spies wanted to maintain their stature, or the spies were afraid of the spiritual challenges of the land, or even, the spies were afraid of an unmediated relationship with God, the Ramban simply focuses on the psychological dynamic at play, and the conflict between the 10 tribes, and Moshe, and Calev and Yehoshua. 

The 10 tribes shared a very honest account of the land, its proportions, risks, dangers and pitfalls. Where, then, did they go wrong? "But." That's right. The word, "but," in Hebrew, is no other than "efes," nothing. In other words, the spies said, "There is no way other than my own." The land, they shared, could under no circumstances be surmounted. 

Then, the Ramban shares, despite the attempt of the spies to disparage the land, the public at large were not fully convinced - at which point, states the text, the spies returned to their tents and continued in smaller quarters to corral support, until they succeeded in turning the tide in their favor, at which point, cries were then heard from the encampment. Their agenda played out, according to plan, but with the horrible, disastrous effects that would permeate throughout our nations until the present day. 

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