The Inner Theme? Shelach

Are there hidden Torah themes? Does the Portion Shelach’s “Twelve Spies Tale” contain such a mystery theme?

The major theme of Shelach is leadership. Tribal leaders botch a spy mission. Its consequence was the Israelite’s forty years of wilderness wandering.

While The Twelve Spies Tale’s focus is on leaders, a hidden sub-theme appears. Detective work is required.

Shelach

The Torah Portion Shelach begins with the tasking. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men and let them scout the land of Canaan that I’m giving to the children of Israel. You shall send one man for each tribe of his fathers, everyone of them a Chieftain.” Numbers 13:1-2.

The list of spies was as follows: “For the tribe of Reuben, Shamua son of Zaccur. For the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori. For the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh. For the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph. For the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun. For the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu. For the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi. For the tribe of Joseph: of the tribe of Manassed, Gaddi son of Susi. For the the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli. For the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael. For the tribe of Naphtali, Nabhi son of Vophsi. For the tribe of Gad, Geuel, sone of Machi.” Numbers 13:3-15.

Upon review, we see no spy from Levi. What’s with the mission omission?

Analysis

The Levite’s absence can be explained with Occam’s razor. The notion that “more straightforward explanations are, in general, better. That is, if you have two possible theories that fit all available evidence, the best theory is the one with fewer moving parts.” Philosophyterms.com

With this in mind, the simple explanation for the Levite absence was that the mission’s “scouting” concerned tribal land inheritance. Since the Levite tribe was not eligible for land inheritance, Numbers 18:20, the mission was of no interest to them.

A counter-argument can be made in favor for Levite participation. The Levite’s zealousness and willingness to exact violence for the goodness sake of would certainly make them mission worthy, i.e. Golden Calf incident in which they assisted Moses in rooting out the idolaters. Thus, the spy mission was like The Lord of the Rings’ fellowship going to Mordor without the Hobbits.

The Levites also had an interest in the Promised Land. Both the Tabernacle’s location and its surroundings were to be their particular future concern.

So, why were they left out? Did it relate to problematic tribal relations?

Book of Judges

The theme of tribal strife is supported in the Book of Judges. Judges contains multiple stories exposing the Levite’s unusual relations with the other tribes.

The tale of Micah’s idol involves an apparent Ephraimite who made a graven image. Micah, a person of wealth, created a personal place of worship. He even employed a Levite to be his personal priest. After acquiring the man, ” …Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.”

The story suggests that the Levites were viewed by other tribes as both a novelty and a good luck charm. The Levite involvement of the graven image suggests that they were susceptible to being influenced.

Micah’s tale goes even farther down a rabbit hole. Five men spying for the tribe of Dan take the idol with the priest to serve another tribe. The Levite is told by the Dannites “Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?” It is reported that the priest was very pleased. He took the ephod, the household gods and the idol and went along with the people.”

This event is capped off with the readers discovering that it is Moses’ descendants who is leading the idolatrous practice.

In another Judges’ tale, a Levite’s concubine is sexually attacked by Benjamites. In a story with strong connections to the Tale of Sodom and Gemorah, wicked city dwellers demanded to have sex with the Levite. In that instant, it is the concubine who is set out to the crowd. She is raped and abused. She dies.

In a horrific scene, the Levite “[w]hen he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel.”

This act inspired a call for justice. “Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”

As a result, the other tribes battled the Benjamites because of their refusal to turn over the culprits involved in the incident.

While the second story evidences the Levite as e mistreated stranger, it also shows that this stranger was capable of arousing a sense of justice among the tribes.

Conclusion

The Book of Judges offers up a time in which there was no king and people did as they pleased. One could argue that the other tribes served as a corrupting influence upon the Levites. They were viewed as novelties, and as something of good fortune. They, however, had the capability of stoking the call for justice.

It is posited that the spy mission would likely have been a greater disaster had there been Levite involvement. Their uniqueness could have led to disastrous results. The Levite reaction to the leadership fail could either have been one of zealous rebuke. It also could have resulted in an utter fail. In essence, there was too much to risk by having Levite participation. Moral authority was existentially threatened.

Had a Levite been involved, Moses plea for the Lord to forgive the Children of Israel for the failure may not have been successful. The best of his best would have failed him.

In sum, a sub-theme of problematic tribal relations is to be appreciated within the Twelve Spies story. While Joshua and Caleb succeeded as leaders in the botched mission, the missing Levite is telling for many reasons.

Be well!!

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