Wise Plans Can Fail:

Caleb and the Spies  

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

God did not tell Moses to spy out the land of Canaan (Israel). God simply told the Jews to go in and conquer it (Deut. 1:8). However, the Jews insisted on a reconnaissance mission, to which Moses agreed, but God did not (Deut. 1:23, Rashi). Thus, the mission expressed distrust in God. From their very request, Moses understood the nation had great insecurities, explaining why Moses prayed that Joshua be saved from the evil counsel of those spies. Moses did not reject the reconnaissance mission, because had he refused, the nation would grow suspicious. 

The twelve spies spied-out Canaan for forty days. Except for Joshua and Caleb who defended God and a successful conquest, the ten evil spies returned with an evil report, and incited a riot, frightening the people with the reports of “giants who eat the inhabitants of the land.” Caleb hushed the people before Moses and said, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it” (Num. 13:30).

Rashi comments:  

“Caleb hushed the people before Moses” — This means he silenced them that they should hear what he was going to say about Moses. He cried aloud saying: “Is this the only thing the son of Amram (Moses) has done to us?!" One who heard him thus speaking believed that he was about to disparage Moses, and because they felt negative towards Moses through the spies’ statements, all of them kept silent to hear Caleb’s disparagement. However, Caleb said: “Did not Moses also divide the Red Sea for us, and bring down the Manna for us, and collect the quails for us?!”

Caleb tried, but failed in defending Moses. The Jews sinned by believing the spies’ negative report of the land. They were sentenced to 40 years in the desert, except for Joshua and Caleb, about whom God said the following: 

But My servant Caleb, because he was imbued with “another” spirit and remained loyal to Me—him will I bring into the land that he entered, and his offspring shall hold it as a possession (Num. 14:24). 

Rashi comments:

The word “another” suggests that Caleb was filled with a twofold spirit — one with which he spoke to the spies (with his mouth), and another spirit which he concealed in his heart. To the spies he (lied) saying, “I am with you in your counsel”, while in his heart he had the intention to tell the truth, and it was only on this account that he possessed the power to silence the people (Ibid.).

Rashi explains God’s meaning: due to Caleb’s dual personality Caleb was able to silence the people to hear him. As the evil spies and the frightened nation thought Caleb too was against Moses and God, when Caleb called to the people, all turned quiet as the nation thought he would disparage Moses even further. The nation was insecure like the spies, and sought even more attacks on Moses to justify their fears. One who speaks Lashon Hara acts the same. Maimonides says, 

Who is a gossiper? One who collects information and [then] goes from person to person, saying: "This is what so and so said;" "This is what I heard about so and so" (Hilchos Dayos 7:2). 

The gossiper is too insecure to make accusations on his own, as he might be doubted and be ostracized. He craves social approval, he is a weak mind. But as he hates the victim of his gossip, and must disparage him, he seeks others to side with him, making it harder for the public to say he is wrong. The spies and the nation did the same. The spies rallied the nation behind their insecurities, and the nation sought to hear Caleb disparaging Moses. 

And it was only on this account that he possessed the power to silence the people

Rashi teaches that as Caleb fooled the spies during the 40 day mission, all those around him thought Caleb would disparage Moses, so they all let him speak. Caleb then defended Moses and God. This was Caleb’s plan from the outset. Although already knowing the spies were biased against the land prior to the mission, Caleb joined the mission for the only way to defend the land as good, was only if he was an eyewitness. Otherwise he could not credibly oppose the spies when they returned with an evil report. 

We see that Moses only prayed for Joshua that he should be saved from the evil counsel of the spies, but Moses did not pray for Caleb. This must be because Moses saw that Caleb was independent enough and did not need a prayer to guard him. Certainly Caleb too detected the same evil intent that Moses saw in the ten spies. Therefore, Caleb had a plan to lie to the spies while he was with them for those 40 days, knowing full well that the spies would come back and accuse Moses and lie about the goodness of Canaan. By fooling the spies, Caleb would have to have the ability to speak, and counter their lies. The ability to counter them only existed because they thought that he too was agreeing with their evil counsel. Thus, they gave him time to speak up. But had the spies seen that Caleb was not with them in their evil counsel, either they would have killed him (Joshua 14:7, Radak), or they would never have let him talk upon their return to the people with their report. 

Caleb’s plan was wise, but it failed due to the evil hearts of the spies and the nation.