Shlach
The spies were sent to Canaan, somehow for our own good: shlach-l’cha is an echo of the lech-l’cha with which G-d starts the conversation with Avram.
But why is Canaan the Promised Land? What makes Canaan supposed to be the place for Avraham’s descendants?
Might the reason date back to the first mention of Canaan?
Immediately after the Flood: Noah becomes drunk, and one of his sons, Ham, violates his father. The other two sons cover their father, and Noah, once recovered, does not hold back:
[Noah] said, “Cursed be Canaan [Ham’s son]; The lowest of slaves Shall he be to his brothers.” And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; Let Canaan be a slave to them. May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be a slave to them.”
Avraham was Shem’s descendant. So promising the land of Canaan to Avraham may have been simply because of Noah’s curse?!
The simplicity has its own layers of further simplicity: Noah’s curse of Canaan was because Canaan’s father violated Noah. And Canaan is also the land of sexual violence and deviancy:
You shall not copy the practices of … the land of Canaan to which I am taking you … None of you shall come near anyone of his own flesh to uncover nakedness: I am the LORD. Your father’s nakedness, and the nakedness of your mother, you shall not uncover.
The nation of Canaan is described as acting just as its ancestor, Ham, had done.
So when G-d talks to Avraham out of the blue, maybe G-d’s choice of the land of Canaan is no accident or coincidence. Is G-d fulfilling Noah’s blessing of Shem (Avraham’s ancestor) to enslave and destroy the sexual deviancy of Shem’s brother Ham (and his son Canaan, in turn)? Are Avraham’s descendants to bring that blessing and curse to fruition?
If this is right, is there further meaning in understanding the names of Noah’s sons?
Ham in the Torah means “heat” and “Father-in-Law” – it refers to the inexorable and impersonal power of the sun’s rays (both after Avraham’s circumcision and the force that melted away the manna when the sun rose), as well as the disproportionate power of a father-in-law (Yehudah, who rules Tamar’s life, is called Tamar’s “Ham”. That the story of Tamar uses “Ham” to describe her father-in-law suggests that Tamar is similarly railing against Yehudah’s abuse of his power.) So is it any surprise that the father of the man who rapes Dina is named Hamor, containing the same name as his ancestor, Ham? Using power for sexual ends is a natural desire for any powerful person.
Yafeth is connected to the word for “attractive,” something or someone that is desired because of its beauty: Sarah, Rachel, Joseph, a beautiful war captive, and, with no credit to Pharoah’s preferences, the cows in Pharoah’s dream.
And Shem means “name,” and it refers to status or influence or honor. Think of the men of shem who seek status above all else.
Together, do the names of Noah’s sons represent the three things men crave above all else: power, beauty, and status? Of these, the last, Shem, is the least physical or tangible. Doesn’t Shem represents the realm of ideas and influence, where Avraham’s descendants hold the most sway?
By condemning power, Ham incarnate, is Noah’s curse saying that the world of words and ideas should be more important than those who stand for the raw exercise of power?
Season of the Grapes?
The text tells us: And it was the season of the first grapes.
Why? What is the purpose of this detail?
Well… there are two key words: “first” (bikkurim) and “grapes” (anavim).
Could it all be a test? And a test that reminds us of earlier tests connected to these words?
The first test was bikkurim, when Abel brings the bikkurim, the first (not the best) fruit, understanding that G-d wants a relationship that includes gratitude, while Cain, by paying G-d off, was merely acknowledging G-d’s power.
Abel was right, Cain was wrong. Is the test of the spies to see if the spies see things as Cain did, or as Abel did?
As for grapes… Noach is the first person to plant grapes. And grapes lead to alcohol, diminished capacity, and broken relationships.
Except when grapes do not:
Then the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph. … its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”
The dream of the butler was the prophecy that in three (hundred years) the Jewish people would become ripe and fat, and delivered into G-d’s hand! Thus, grapes refer to redemption! They connect to promises being fulfilled, of divinely-decreed destiny that saves the people.
So on the one hand, grapes represent the potential for catastrophic danger, especially if we block our cognitive capabilities. And on the other hand, grapes can refer to our deliverance, to an ongoing and connected relationship in the hands of G-d. Don’t grapes symbolize a potent risk and opportunity?
So together, first grapes might be to remind us of the tests of both bikkurim and anavim. Is the Torah telling us with these words that the spies were tested?