The commentators all address the similarities and differences between Moshe's spies and Yehoshua's spies. We would like to focus on a certain point not normally addressed.

In both cases the Tanach identifies the place from where the spies were sent: "When I sent them from Kadesh-barnea" (Bamidbar 32:8); "When Hashem sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the Land' ... you rebelled against the word of Hashem" (Devarim 9:23). In Yehoshua, also, the Haftorah opens, "Yehoshua bin Nun dispatched two men -- spies -- from Shittim." (Yehoshua 2:1)

It would seem that it is unnecessary to mention the place from which the spies were sent. Sometimes a person has to flee from his place, and does not care to where -- then the Torah identifies the point of departure. Sometimes it is important that a person be in a certain place, which he would reach from wherever he is -- then the pasuk only mentions the destination. In the pasuk, "Yaakov left Be'er Sheva and went to Charan," both the point of departure and the destination are identified because Yaakov fled for two reasons: 1) To honor his mother and flee from Esav, and therefore, "Yaakov left Be'er Sheva." 2) To honor his father and marry, and therefore, "he went to Charan." In regards to the spies, though, the important point was to see and scout the land, whereas from where the spies set out does not seem related to the issue at all! Why, then, is the issue stressed in the Tanach regarding both Moshe's spies and Yehoshua's spies?

Apparently, the point of departure is not a trivial detail, but a central component of the two missions. Moshe's spies, who failed in their duty, left from Kadesh, and perhaps the meaning of this name is one of the reasons for their sin. In contrast, Yehoshua's spies, who left from Shittim, took with them a lesson from the event of the place and the meaning of the name Shittim, and this helped them succeed in their mission.

One of the explanations given in the Zohar for the sin of the spies finds the root of the sin in ga'avah (conceit). "They said, if Yisrael enters the Land, we will cease being the heads, and Moshe will appoint other heads, since in the desert we merited to be the heads, and in the Land we will not merit." (Zohar Shemot 108b) The Sfat Emet explains that the princes were not truly haughty, G-d forbid, and when they said, "in the desert we merited to be the heads," they spoke about Klal Yisrael. In the desert they were all on the level of "itaruta dele'eila," and all were considered "heads." The spies refusal to enter the land was because they didn't want G-d to change this manner of Guidance with that of "itaruta deletata" upon entering the land. (This change is expressed in the well known differences between the level of Moshe and the level of Yehoshua: prophecy vs. wisdom, written Torah vs. oral Torah, sun vs. moon, Shabbat vs. Mo'ed, the generation of the desert vs. the generation of the entering the land.) However, we cannot avoid the simple meaning of the Zohar, and even if we accept the explanation of the Sfat Emet, apparently deep down there was some slight tint of pride.

Perhaps this is the hinted to in the name "Kadesh;" they considered themselves holy. "For the entire assembly -- all of them -- are holy," and they didn't understand that Am Yisrael's holiness emanates specifically from the hidden, physical service of G-d, which is only possible in Eretz Yisrael. On the pasuk, "People of holiness you shall be to Me" (Shemot 22:30), the Kotzker Rebbe says, "I have enough angels!" The sin of Moshe's spies was "they carried it" -- with high thoughts that because of the sanctity of the people it is better to stay in the clouds of glory in the desert.

In contrast, Yehoshua's spies left from Shittim, where Israel succumbed to the sin of lust. Bila'am's advice to King Balak of Moav, "Their G-d hates immorality" (Sanhedrin 106a), and the looseness of the daughters of Moav, headed by Kozbi bat Zur, caused many casualties in Israel. The name "Shittim" connotes foolishness and craziness and also the twist from the straight path, which is called znut. On the pasuk, "Any man whose wife shall go astray ("tisteh")" (Bamidbar 5:12), Rashi explains: "Adulterers do not commit adultery until a "ruach shut" (foolishness) enters them ... 'Tisteh' -- stray from the path of zniut." A "shoteh" is a person who swerves from the straight path and goes here and there, and this is the idea of a "sotah."

Pinchas stopped the plague and rectified the sin of Shittim, and therefore was worthy of departing from the Shittim to the house of Rachav the prostitute, and to withstand a similar test there. However, he already proved that he was capable of halting the plague of lust, and therefore he draws his strength from the Shittim to fulfill the mission in peace without spiritual harm, even though they came to Rachav, who was excessive in her prostitution. (See Zevachim 116b, Ta'anit 5b) On the pasuk, "The woman had taken the two men and had hidden him" (Yehoshua 2:4), Rashi comments about the grammatical inconsistency: "There are verses that talk about the plural in singular. There is also a Midrash R. Tanchuma : They [the two spies] were Pinchas and Calev. Pinchas stood before them and they did not see him, because he was like an angel."

In my Sefer, "Yonah: Prophecy and Rebuke," I mentioned that the word "Shittim" belongs to the class of "fluid" words, which have contradictory connotations. Shittim is, on the one hand, a term of sotah, shoteh, shut, etc., but also means straightness. A "shitah" is also a straight line, such as a line in a Sefer Torah, and also a consistent and straight way: the shitah of the Rambam, so-and-so leshitato. The Mishkan was also built of upright "Shittim" trees.

Chazal say, "They sinned at Shittim and were healed at Shittim." The cross from the Shittim of sin to the Shittim of healing is through the departure of Pinchas and Calev to Rachav the prostitute specifically from the Shittim. Yoel (4:18) prophesizes that in the future, "A spring will go out from the House of Hashem and water the Valley of Shittim." The sin of conceit -- lack of modesty of Moshe's spies, is rectified by the control of lust -- the modesty of Yehoshua's spies: "They sinned at Shittim and were healed at Shittim."