Rabbinic Readings of the Spies’ Episode (Numbers 13–14)

Abstract Rabbinic literature and post-classical rabbinic writings depict the beliefs and concerns of the Jewish people in a plethora of scattered sayings and scriptural stories about the land of Israel retold from the late antique or early medieval perspective. Transmitted in texts redacted in the early Middle Ages, one such story is the retelling of the spies’ episode from Numbers 13–14. This essay discusses how the sages treated this scriptural narrative. The first part introduces the episode of the spies according to the narrative in the Hebrew Bible. The second part turns to the transformation of this story in rabbinic interpretation, examining its treatment in the Babylonian Talmud, Tanhuma, and Seder Eliyahu.