Parashat Shelah tells the famous, tragic story of Het Ha’meragelim, the sin of the spies. Ten of the twelve spies returned with a frightening report about the Land of Israel, and convinced the people that they should not proceed into the land. The two dissenters, Yehoshua and Kaleb, insisted that Eretz Yisrael is a good land, and that with G-d’s help, Beneh Yisrael could capture it. G-d punished the people very harshly, immediately killing the ten spies, and decreeing that Beneh Yisrael would wander in the desert for forty years until that entire generation perished. Only Yehoshua and Kaleb would remain alive and enter the Land of Israel.
The Torah relates that Yehoshua’s name had been “Hoshea,” but Moshe changed his name of “Yehoshua” just before he and the other spies embarked on their mission. The Gemara (Sota 34b) explains that this name was given as a prayer that “Y-ah Yoshia’cha” – G-d should save Yehoshua from the evil plot of the ten spies.
Rav Yaakob Abuhasera (Morocco, 1806-1880), in Mahsof Ha’laban, offers a fascinating explanation for Moshe’s prayer. Tradition teaches that in the future, two leaders will arise – Mashiah Ben David, who will descend from King David, and Mashiah Ben Yosef, who will descend from Yosef. An enemy named Armilos will try to kill Mashiah Ben Yosef and thus interfere with the process of redemption. Rav Abuhasera writes that Moshe feared that the other spies would seek to kill Yehoshua – the representative of the tribe of Efrayim, which descended from Yosef – for refusing to go along with their scheme. If they succeeded, this could lay the groundwork for Armilos’ murder of Mashiah Ben Yosef; the murder of Yehoshua, the representative of Efrayim, would set a precedent for the future murder of Mashiah Ben Yosef at the hands of Armilos. This is why Moshe prayed for Yehoshua – not only for Yehoshua’s sake, but also for the sake of the future of Am Yisrael, to protect Mashiah Ben Yosef.
The Gemara also teaches that Kaleb, the other spy who dissented, and believed that Beneh Yisrael could conquer the land, had stopped in Hebron during his excursion through the land, to pray at Me’arat Ha’machpela, the burial site of the patriarchs. Rav Abuhasera explains that just as Moshe prayed for Yehoshua, Kaleb similarly prayed that he should be protected from the other spies, so that his descendant – Mashiah Ben David – would be protected, and would be able to bring the Jewish People’s redemption. The reason why he went specifically to Me’arat Ha’machpela is explained by the Arizal (Rav Yishak Luria, Safed, 1534-1572), who writes that Kaleb’s soul had previously belonged to Eliezer, the loyal servant of Abraham Abinu. He thus felt a connection to Abraham, and so he went to the patriarch’s gravesite to beseech G-d for special protection.
Although the sin of the spies was, as mentioned, a very tragic episode, it had a silver lining, as the lives of Yehoshua and Kaleb were spared. Beneh Yisrael would have to travel in the wilderness for forty years, but the future redemption was assured, as Mashiah Ben Yosef and Mashiah Ben David were now given protection.
Three times each day, we begin the Amida prayer by declaring that Hashem is “Elokenu V’Elokeh Abotenu, Elokeh Abraham, Elokeh Yishak V’Elokeh Yaakob” – “Our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers; the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Yishak, and the G-d of Yaakob.” We might say this prayer is our daily visit to Me’arat Ha’machpela, as we think about our righteous forefathers and invoke their merit – much as Kaleb did during his excursion through the land. This first blessing concludes by proclaiming, “U’mebi Go’el Li’bneh Benehem” – that Hashem will bring redemption for us, the patriarchs’ descendants. Just as Kaleb prayed for the protection of Mashiah Ben David, to allow the process of redemption to unfold, so do we, each day, invoke the memory and merit of our saintly forbears as we ask the Almighty to have compassion on us and deliver us from all our troubles.
May G-d grant us the ability to learn from and follow the example set by our righteous ancestors, so that we will worthy of our final redemption, speedily and in our times, Amen.