What Made Joshua and Caleb Different?
Ten of the twelve spies came back with a defeatist and demoralising report. The people are strong. The cities are well fortified. There are giants there. It is a “land that devours its inhabitants.” We are not up to the task. Compared to the locals, we are like grasshoppers (Num. 13:31–32).
They were, as it happens, completely wrong. But that made little difference under the circumstances. They had fulfilled their mission and delivered their report and who could gainsay them? Two of the twelve, however, did: Joshua and Caleb. Caleb stilled the people initially, saying, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Num. 13:30). Then as the people spoke about appointing a new leader and going back to Egypt, the two of them stood and addressed the crowd:
If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them. (Num. 14:8–9)
This took courage of a high order. First, they knew they were a minority: two against ten. What did they know that the others did not? Second, the crowd was in a dangerous state. The people had been weeping. They were already saying, “If only we had died in Egypt.” They were angry with Moses and Aaron, who themselves had fallen prostrate rather than confront the people. Caleb and Joshua were on the verge of being stoned by the mob (Num. 14:1–10). What gift, what strength of character, did they have that the other ten spies – themselves princes, chieftains, leaders – did not?
Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck has written a fascinating book, Mindset,1Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (New York: Ballantine Books, 2007). on why some people fulfil their potential while others do not. Her interest, she says, was aroused when she observed the behaviour of ten-year-old children when given puzzles to solve. Some, when the puzzles became difficult, thrived. They relished the challenge, even when it proved too hard for them. Others became anxious. When the puzzles became hard, they were easily discouraged.
She wanted to understand why. What makes the difference between people who enjoy being tested and those who do not? What makes some people grow through adversity while others become demoralised? Her research drove her to the conclusion that it is a matter of mindset. Some see their abilities as given and unalterable. We just are gifted or ordinary, and there is not much we can do about it. She calls this the “fixed” mindset. Others believe that we grow through our efforts. When they fail, they do not define this as failure but as a learning experience. She calls this the “growth” mindset.
Those with a fixed mindset tend to avoid difficult challenges because they fear failure. They think it will expose them as inadequate. So they are reluctant to take risks. They play it safe. People with the growth mindset react differently. “They do not just seek challenge, they thrive on it. The bigger the challenge, the more they stretch.” When do people with the fixed mindset thrive? “When things are safely within their grasp. If things get too challenging…they lose interest.”2Ibid., 21–22.
Parents can do great damage to their children, she says, when they tell them they are gifted, clever, or talented. This encourages the child to believe that he or she has a fixed quantum of ability. This discourages them from taking risks. Such children say things like, “I often feel that my parents won’t value me if I’m not as successful as they would like.” The result is that they tend to stay away from challenges they fear they may fail. They become risk-averse.
Parents who want to help their children, she says, should praise them not for their ability but for their effort, for their willingness to try hard even if they fail. Dweck quotes a great basketball coach who used to say to his players, “You may be outscored, but you will never lose.”3Ibid., 210.
If they gave of their best, they might not win the game but they would gain and grow. They would be winners in the long run. The fixed mindset lives with the constant fear of failure. The growth mindset does not think in terms of failing at all.
Applying this logic to the spies, we see something fascinating. The Torah describes them in these words: “All were men [of standing]; they were heads of the Israelites” (Num. 13:3). They were people with reputations to guard. Others had high expectations of them. They were princes, leaders, men of renown. If Dweck is right, people laden with expectations tend to be risk-averse. They do not want to be seen to fail. That may be why they came back and said, in effect: We cannot win against the Canaanites. Therefore we should not even try.
Now consider the two exceptions, Caleb and Joshua. Caleb came from the tribe of Judah, and Judah, we learn in the book of Genesis, was the first baal teshuva.4See Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation: Genesis – The Book of Beginnings (Jerusalem: Maggid, 2009), 311–314.
Early in life he had been the one who proposed selling Joseph into slavery. But he matured. He was taught a lesson by his daughter-in-law, Tamar. He confessed, “She is more righteous than I am” (Gen. 38:26). That experience changed his life. Later, when the viceroy of Egypt (Joseph, not yet recognised by the brothers) threatened to hold Benjamin as a prisoner, Judah offered to spend his life as a slave so that his brother could go free. Judah is the clearest example in Genesis of someone who takes adversity as a learning experience rather than as failure. In Dweck’s terminology, he had a growth mindset. Evidently he handed on this trait to his descendants, Caleb among them.
As for Joshua, the text tells us, specifically in the story of the spies, that Moses had changed his name. Originally he was called Hoshea, but Moses added a letter to his name (Num. 13:16). A change of name always implies a change of character or calling. Abram became Abraham. Jacob became Israel. When our name changes, says Maimonides, it is as if we or someone else were saying, “You are not the same person as you were before.”5Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Teshuva 2:4.
Anyone who has experienced a name change has been inducted into a growth mindset.
People with the growth mindset do not fear failure. They relish challenges. They know that if they fail, they will try again until they succeed. It cannot be coincidence that the two people among the spies who had the growth mindset were also the two who were unafraid of the risks and trials of conquering the land. Nor can it be accidental that the ten others, all of whom carried the burden of people’s expectations (as leaders, princes, men of high rank), were reluctant to do so.
If this analysis is correct, the story of the spies holds a significant message for us. God does not ask us never to fail. He asks of us that we give of our best. He lifts us when we fall and forgives us when we fail. All He asks in return is that we acknowledge our failures. This gives us the courage to take risks. That is what Joshua and Caleb knew, one through his name change, the other through the experience of his ancestor Judah.
Hence the paradoxical but deeply liberating truth: Fear of failure causes us to fail. It is the willingness to fail that allows us to succeed.