The words of the spies were heard by willing ears. The people believed
them implicitly, and when called to task by Moses, replied: "O our
teacher Moses, if there had been only two spies or three, we should
have had to give credence to their words, for the law tells us to
consider the testimony of even two as sufficient, whereas in this case
there are fully ten! [530] Our brethren have made us faint of heart.
Because the Lord hated us, He hath brought us forth out of the land of
Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us." By
these words the Israelites revealed that they hated God, and for this
reason did they believe that they were hated by Him, for "whatever a
man wisheth his neighbor, doth he believe that his neighbor wisheth
him." They even tried to convince Moses that God hated them. They said:
"If an earthly king has two sons and two fields, on watered by a river,
and the other dependent upon rains, will he not five the one that is
watered by the river to his favorite son, and give the other, less
excellent field to his other son? God led us out of Egypt, a land that
is not dependent upon rain, only to give us the land of Canaan, which
produces abundantly only if the rains fall." [531]
Not only did the spies in the presence of Moses and Aaron voice their
opinion that is was not advisable to attempt conquering Palestine, but
they employed every means of inciting the people into rebellion against
Moses and God. On the following evening every one of them betook
himself to his house, donned his mourning cloths, and began to weep
bitterly and to lament. Their housemates quickly ran toward them and in
astonishment asked their reason for these tears and lamentations.
Without interrupting their wailings, they answered" "Woe is me for ye,
my sons, and woe is me for ye, my daughters and daughters-in-law, that
are doomed to be dishonored by the uncircumcised and to be given as a
prey to their lusts. These men that we have beheld are not like unto
mortals. Strong and mighty as angels are they; one of them might well
slay a thousand of us. How dare we look into the iron faces of men so
powerful that a nail of theirs is sufficient to stop up a spring of
water!" At these words all the household, sons, daughters, and
daughters-in-law, burst into tears and loud lamentations. Their
neighbors came running to them and joined in the wails and sobs until
they spread throughout all the camp, and all the sixty myriads of
people were weeping. When the sound of their weeping reached heaven,
God said: "Ye weep to-day without a cause, I shall see to it that in
the future ye shall have a cause to weep on this day." It was then that
God decreed to destroy the Temple on the ninth day of Ab, the day on
which Israel in the wilderness wept without cause, so that this day
became forever a day of tears. [532]
The people were not, however, content with tears, they resolved to set
up as leaders in place of Moses and Aaron, Dathan and Abiram, and under
their guidance to return to Egypt. [533] But worse than this, not only
did they renounce their leader, but also their God, for they denied Him
and wished to set up and idol for their God. [534] Not only the wicked
ones among them such as the mixed multitude demurred against Moses and
Aaron, but those also who had heretofore been pious, saying: "Would to
God that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would to God we had died
in this wilderness!" When Joshua and Caleb heard these speeches of the
people teeming with blasphemy, they rent their garments and tried to
restrain the people from their sinful enterprise, exhorting them
particularly to have fear of the Canaanites, because the time was at
hand when God had promised Abraham to give the land of Canaan to his
descendants, and because there were no pious men among the inhabitants
of the land for whose sake God would have been willing to leave it
longer in their possession. They also assured the people that God had
hurled from heaven the guardian angel of the inhabitants of Palestine,
so that they were now impotent. [535] The people, however, replied: "We
do not believe you; the other spies have our weal and woe more at heart
than you." [536] Nor were the admonitions of Moses of more avail, even
though he brought them a direct message from God to have no fear of the
Canaanites. In vain did he say to them, "He who wrought all those
miracles for you in Egypt and during your stay in the wilderness will
work miracles for you as well when you will enter the promised land.
Truly the past ought to inspire you with trust in the future." The only
answer the people had to this was, "Had we heard this report of the
land from strangers, we should not have given it credit, but we have
heard it from men whose sons are our sons, and whose daughters are our
daughters." [537] In their bitterness against their leaders they wanted
to lay hands upon Moses and Aaron, whereupon God sent His cloud of
glory as a protection to them, under which they sought refuge. But far
from being brought to a realization of their wicked enterprise by this
Divine apparition, they cast stones at the cloud, hoping in this way to
kill Moses and Aaron. This outrage on their part completely wore out
God's patience, and He determined upon the destruction of the spies,
and a severe punishment of the people misled by them. [538]