(1) The whole community lifted up and gave forth their voices, and the people wept that night. (2) All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” the whole community shouted at them, “or if only we might die in this wilderness! (3) Why is the LORD taking us to that land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be carried off! It would be better for us to go back to Egypt!” (4) And each man said to his fellow, “Let us appoint a chief and return to Egypt.”
וכתיב (במדבר יד, א) ותשא כל העדה ויתנו את קולם ויבכו העם בלילה ההוא אמר רבה אמר ר' יוחנן (אותו היום ערב) תשעה באב היה אמר להם הקב"ה אתם בכיתם בכיה של חנם ואני קובע לכם בכיה לדורות
And it is further written: “And all the community lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night” (Numbers 14:1). Rabba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: That night was the night of the Ninth of Av. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: You wept needlessly that night, and I will therefore establish for you a true tragedy over which there will be weeping in future generations.
כל העדה. סַנְהֶדְרָאוֹת (תנחומא יב):
The whole community — This refers to the Sanhedrin (Midrash Tanchuma, Shlach 12).
(ג) וע"ד הקבלה ותשא כל העדה כנסת ישראל שכתוב בה (הושע יד) כל תשא עון וקח טוב, ומזה לא אמר וישאו כל העדה. (ד) וכן רמזו חכמי האמת במדרשם באיכה רבתי בכה תבכה בלילה, קרי ביה בכה תְבַכֶה. פירוש שהוא לשון יוצא, בכה ומבכה כנסת ישראל עמה, שנאמר ותשא כל העדה. ויהיה רמז הכתוב ותשא כל העדה, כנסת ישראל שהיא כל העדה, ויתנו את קולם מלאכי השרת, ויבכו העם אלו ישראל....
A kabbalistic approach: The words the whole community lifted up refer to the Assembly of Israel [the spiritual entity that corresponds to the Jewish people]. As it says there (Hos. 14:3), lift away guilt and take what is good, and here it does not say they lifted up [but instead uses the singular form]. There is also an allusion to this in Midrash Eicha Rabbati, which suggests that the word they wept be read as they caused to weep. This interpretation means that the spiritual counterpart of the Jewish people will have cause to weep at the conduct of its people on earth, as it says, the whole community lifted up. And other allusions in this verse: the phrase they gave forth their voices refers to the ministering angels joining in that weeping, whereas the words and the people wept refer to the Jewish people in the desert weeping....
ד"א לכך פרט אנשים, לפי שארז"ל (ילקו"ש פנחס תשעג כז) האנשים היו שונאים את הארץ ואמרו נתנה ראש ונשובה מצרימה (במדבר יד ד) והנשים היו מחבבות הארץ ואמרו תנה לנו אחזה (שם כז ד) וע"כ אמר הקב"ה לפי דעתי שאני רואה בעתיד היה יותר טוב לשלוח נשים המחבבות את הארץ כי לא יספרו בגנותה, אבל לך לדעתך שאתה סבור שכשרים המה ואתה סבור שהארץ חביבה עליהם תשלח אנשים וזהו שלח לך לדעתך אנשים, אבל לדעתי היה יותר טוב לשלוח נשים כאמור.
Send for yourself men. Another interpretation. "Men" were specified for this reason: because, as the Sages said (Yalkut Shimoni 773) the men hated the land and said, Let us appoint a chief and return to Egypt (Num. 14:4), but the women loved the land and said, Give us a portion (Num. 27:4). Therefore, the Holy Blessed One said, “According to My opinion, since I see into the future, it will have been better to send women, who love the land, because they will not defame it. But for you, according to your opinion, since you think they are fit, and you think they love the land, send men.” This is the meaning: Send for you—according to your opinion—men, but in My opinion, it would be better to send women, as mentioned.
ובאלה לא היה איש וגו'. אֲבָל עַל הַנָּשִׁים לֹא נִגְזְרָה גְזֵרַת הַמְרַגְּלִים, לְפִי שֶׁהֵן הָיוּ מְחַבְּבוֹת אֶת הָאָרֶץ, הָאֲנָשִׁים אוֹמְרִים נִתְּנָה רֹאשׁ וְנָשׁוּבָה מִצְרַיְמָה, וְהַנָּשִׁים אוֹמְרוֹת "תְּנָה לָּנוּ אֲחֻזָּה", לָכַךְ נִסְמְכָה פָרָשַׁת בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד לְכָאן (תנחומא):
But there was no man remaining [of those whom Moses and Aaron had counted.... except for Caleb and Joshua] — no man; but the doom that was decreed upon the incident of the spies had not been applied to the women, because they held the Promised Land dear. The men had said Let us appoint a chief and return to Egypt (Num. 14:4), while the women said, Give us a portion [in the Land] (Num. 27:4). On this account, too, the chapter regarding the daughters of Zelophehad follows immediately here (Sifrei Bamidbar 133:1).