Grasshoppers and Ants

... and we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers

and so we were in their eyes.      Numbers 13:33

          Midrash Aggada wonders how the ten spies knew how the Canaanites perceived them. There is psychological truth in the ten spies’ report: since their self-image was as grasshoppers, they were so perceived by the inhabitants of the Land.

            Rashi comments that the spies said:

‘We heard the Canaanites say ‘there are ants walking through the vineyards.’”

            There are those who edit Rashi’s comment, replacing the words “ants” with “grasshoppers,” the word used in the verse. However, my father suggested that Rashi takes the psychological point one step further: due to their low self image, the spies were perceived as being even less than they perceived themselves. They were not even grasshoppers, but mere ants in the eyes of the Canaanites.

            Beyond their awful sin of speaking ill of the Land, the ten spies were guilty of a gross distortion of the proper self concept of an Israelite in relation to the Promised Land. In Parashat Beḥukotai, God says to His nation Israel:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would not be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke, so that you can walk upright (komemiut).                    Leviticus 26:13

                                     

The Midrash [Breishit Rabba 20:5; Bemidbar Rabba 13:12] explains the simple meaning (p’shat) of the word “komemiut:” “With erect stature and fearing no creature.”

            Based upon this, we can understand that it is not sufficient for the Nation of Israel simply to enter its Land, but we must enter with upright stature and fearing no one. In this, the ten spies failed miserably.

            Rabbi Menaḥem Kasher, in the notes to his work Torah Shleima, adds an explanation of the Midrashic comment:

The Israelites must appreciate their status as the sons of the Living God and may not be meek … nor may they fear any creature.

            Based upon Rabbi Kasher’s comment, “komemiut” takes on an aspect of faith as well: we must enter the Land fully aware that we are the nation chosen by God, to whom He gave the Land. In essence, Israel’s failure to express “komemiut” represents a failure in our belief in God.

            It is therefore likely that the sin of speaking ill of the Land is intimately related to the ten spies’ low self image. Had the spies entered the Land in a state of “komemiut,” they would have understood what Joshua and Caleb understood, “for God is with us.” [Numbers 14:9]

            Indeed, Joshua and Caleb made it clear that the basis of the difference between their minority report and the majority report of the ten spies is the dimension of faith, as they said “Do not rebel against the Lord.” [ibid.]

            The fact that the ten spies entered the Land as grasshoppers is the source of “weeping for generations.” [The language of the Talmud, Ta’anit 29a]