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I wanted to leave my readers with the question of what exactly Calev learned by going to Chevron. My greater point was that, faced with a dilemma of what to do, he did not simply rely on what he knew but desired to gain as much knowledge as he could so that the decision he would make would truly be the best one that he could make. Yet what exactly was this final information that he gained in Chevron that led him to challenge the thoughts of the other meraglim?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that the meforshim all point to the fact that Chevron was uniquely built up and was an outstanding area for the people who lived there. What dawned on me, though, while reading this is that Calev was still able to find the Ma'arat Hamachpeila, the final resting place of the Avot and Imahot. Why were they still identifiably there given the advancements of the specific society that surrounded them? It was in the realization of the miraculous in this regard that, I believe, led Calev to truly understand the significance of Eretz Yisrael to God. The other meraglim may have had good arguments why the nation should stay in the desert not enter the land -- for every other Torah reason it would clearly be better to be directly connected to Hashem through a life totally immersed in His direct, perceivable involvement. The problem is that they did not fully understand the importance of connecting to the land -- the reason for which God began the whole Exodus trek in the first place.
Rabbi Ben Hecht