Why Send Spies

The Alshich makes a comparison between Moshe Rabbeinu’s sending the spies, and Yehoshua’s decision to also send spies before conquering Jericho.

It is somewhat surprising that Yehoshua would take the risk of a very negative outcome, as occurred in Moshe’s time.

In actuality, they both had the same goal. Both Moshe and Yehoshua were hoping that their respective spies would reveal the mood in the enemy camp.

When they would learn just how frightened the local inhabitants were, it would give reassurance to the nation, that they would be successful in conquering the land.

Yehoshua felt it was worth the risk to send the spies, because he was concerned that Israel lost its Divine protection because of the sin of Baal Peor.

It was clear that the inhabitants of Jericho were in great fear of Hashem and the Jewish people. Had the spies in Moshe’s time been objective, they would have revealed the same fear of Am Yisrael. Instead, because of their lack of faith, they were the ones gripped with fear.

This same test of the enemy took place during the life of the judge, Gideon.it also happened with Shaul’s son, Yonatan, who went behind enemy lines.

We see this numerous times in Tanach when the enemies of Israel are gripped with fear. It is very likely that we are witnessing this same awe for Israel today.

We are truly living in amazing times. We only need to open our eyes to realize just how amazing these times are. May all of our enemies be smitten with fear as we conquer them and drive them out of our land.