Numbers 13:2

Send, for yourself. Why is the chapter of the spies adjacent to the chapter of Miriam? Because she was punished over the matter of her slanderous conversation about her brother, and those wicked men saw, but did not accept reproof.

Send, for yourself. According to your opinion I do not command you. If you wish, send. Because the Israelites came and said, ‘let us send men before us,’ as it is said, “all of you approached me, etc.” Moshe conferred with the Shechinah. He (Hashem) said, ‘I told them that it is good, as it is said, “I will bring you up from the suffering of Egypt, etc.” By their lives! I’ll give them an opportunity for error with the report of the spies, so that they will not inherit it.

Send thou keen-sighted men who may explore the land of Kenaan, which I will give to the children of Israel; one man for each tribe of their fathers, thou shalt send from the presence of all their leaders.

Send forth: First God said to the Israelites "Go up and conquer."The Israelites then said to themselves: "Let's send people first." After this, God said: "Send forth men."

SEND ‘LECHA’ (THEE) MEN. “As you see fit. I do not command you [to send them], but if you wish [to do so], send them. [G-d said this] because the Israelites came [to Moses] and said, Let us send men before us, etc.’ as it is said, And ye came near unto me every one of you, etc.’ and Moses inquired [what to do] of the Divine Presence, whereupon G-d said: ‘I told them [at the time of the exodus] that it is a good [Land], as it is said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt … [unto a Land flowing with milk and honey]. which is taken from Verse 8, ibid. By their lives! I will give them an opportunity to fall into error through the incident of the spies, so that they should not come to possess the Land.’” This is Rashi’s language, from the words of Agadah.
Here one may ask, if this is so, then Moses himself sinned in this matter, as it is said, And the thing pleased me well!? And furthermore why did he tell [the spies] to find out about the Land, whether it is good or bad, since he had already been told at the beginning that it is a good Land, and a large one??” (Gur Aryeh). Moreover, what did the spies do [wrong], since Moses told them, And see the Land what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and he said to see about the cities [that they dwell in] whether in camps, or in strongholds, and at the least they had to give him an answer to [the questions] that he commanded them [to find out about]! And what was their trespass, and what was their sin when they told Moses, Nevertheless the people that dwell in the Land are fierce, and the cities are fortified, and very great? Did he then send them on the understanding that they would give him a false report! And do not think that their trespass consisted only in their report that it is a Land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof,, Verse 32. for prior telling this to the people, Caleb already quarrelled with them!, Verse 30. It is thus clear that before the spies made this derogatory statement about the Land, the people already did not want to go there. The trespass of the spies could therefore not have consisted only of their report that it is a Land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof! And likewise it is written, [that the people said], Our brethren [i.e., the …

כל נשיא בהם. The principal meaning of the verse is as follows: you should take as the twelve representatives, one of each tribe, men whose heart was set on going on to the Holy Land. You should select volunteers, willing to act as spies. From among all these volunteers you are to select the ones who appear most suitable to you. Seeing that what was required were stout-hearted men, physically strong so that they could carry with them samples of the produce of the land, G’d did not mention them by name, as He had done when he appointed the 12 princes who were to be leaders of each tribe. G’d also appointed by name the next generation of such tribal princes, the ones who would enter the Holy Land together with their respective tribes.

כל נשיא בהם, the tone-sign under the word כל spells out its meaning. Each one of these 12 had volunteered for the assignment. In recognition of this he was accorded the title נשיא,“prince.” We encounter a similar meaning of the word כל in Psalms 8,7 כל שתה תחת רגליו, “laying “all” (the world) at his feet.”

שלח לך אנשים, do not allow the selection of these men to be made by the people themselves! We know from Deuteronomy 1,22 that the initiative of sending out spies came from the people and that Moses was put under pressure to do this. G’d was cautioning Moses that by allowing the people to select the spies themselves, that if they chose unsuitable candidates and they came back with a faulty report, the people would blame G’d for what was wrong with the country instead of the inadequate ability of the spies to correctly evaluate what they had seen. Once the blame would be laid at G’d’s doorstep it would be impossible to do teshuvah. In the event, the people did teshuvah when they said “we have sinned against You,” as reported in Deuteronomy 1,41 As far as the spies whom Moses sent out were concerned, while it is true that they were guilty in bringing about the refusal of the people to undertake the campaign to conquer the land, and all this was due to a lack of faith in G’d, they did report truthfully on the excellence of the land and they brought back with them proof of it. (compare verse 27) where they are quoted as having said that not only was the land good, but it was a land flowing with milk and honey; In Deuteronomy 1,25 Moses also agrees that they had reported on the excellence of the land. Their fault lay in their asserting that the country could not be conquered by the Jewish people. Once the people realised that the problem had been their own lack of faith and not any shortcoming they had ascribed to G’d, the way was paved for repentance to become acceptable. They immediately reversed themselves, offering to ascend and to participate in the conquest of the land. (compare verse 41 in our chapter) They prayed and cried to G’d regarding their sin, but G’d did not accept their prayer. Their sin had consisted of a desecration of the Lord’s name in public, something that cannot be atoned for except after the death of the guilty party. G’d had already alluded to this in Exodus 32,34 in connection with the sin of the golden calf when He had said וביום פקדי ופקדתי, “on the day when I mete out justice (literally “remember” i.e. review the deceased deeds, etc.) I will also judge, etc.” In other words, this atonement is reserved for people only posthumously.

'איש אחד, איש אחד וגו, “one man each, etc.” no spy was dispatched from the tribe of Levi, seeing that this tribe would not receive an ancestral portion of land in the Holy Land.