When man’s body respects the wise disciple of himself, meaning that it is important to him that he engages in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], it is because he does not rebuke it on spiritual matters, meaning that his wise disciple is not telling the body that we must work in order to bestow.

When the wise disciple tells him that all his actions should be with the aim not for his own benefit, then the townspeople, meaning the body, called “small town” (Ecclesiastes 10), hate the wise disciple, since if he says to the body, meaning the will to receive, not to work for its own sake, it objects.

In other words, if his own body agrees to his work, it is a sign that he is not walking on the path of truth. Then, when he sees that the body disagrees and argues, “What is this work for you?” to this comes the answer, “What does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear Me.” At that time, a person becomes needy of the Creator’s help so he can walk on the path of truth. And when he makes an honest prayer then “He who comes to purify is aided.”

The Zohar says that by being given a soul from above, he has the strength to walk on the path of truth. It follows that by this he has the qualification of the Kelim so he can be rewarded with the soul of the Creator shining within him, for only by this can we walk on the path. Thus, when he walks on the path of Torah and Mitzvot and does not have interferences from the body, he has no need to be rewarded with the soul of the Creator from above.

“All are people,” meaning they were all righteous and the heads of Israel, but they took a bad counsel. They said, “If Israel entered the land, we will be overthrown from being heads, and Moses will appoint other people” (The Zohar, Shlach Lecha, Item 30).

Thus, the question is, If they were righteous, why did they take a bad counsel? According to what is explained in several places, Israel walking in the desert and eating bread from the sky is regarded as “covered Hassadim [mercies].” When they are heads, they will influence the general public to walk on the straight path.

But the land of Israel is the quality of Malchut, which is “revealed Hassadim,” and they cannot be the heads. Moses will appoint such heads that belong to revealed Hassadim, and since revealed Hassadim are received in vessels of reception, he says that they will be utterly unable to receive in order to bestow. This is why they thought that this was a dangerous path to walk in—to use the vessels of reception.

This is called “slander,” when they said the truth. Thus, what is their sin? It is that they only had to believe that although by nature it is impossible for man to be able to receive in order to bestow, the Creator can help them be rewarded with it. Thus, within reason, the spies were truthful, but the above reason was missing—that the Creator could help them merit it.

This is why slander is so difficult, for although it is true, since it extends from the root of the spies, that a person thinks that he cannot walk on the path of truth, what derives from this is that he cannot walk above reason.