כלי יקר — וישלח אתם משה ממדבר פארן על פי ה'

Q — Rashi reads 'שלח לך' as 'לדעתך' — meaning the spy mission was *not* Hashem's command but a concession to Yisrael's request. So how can the very next verse say 'וישלח אתם משה ממדבר פארן *על פי ה''*?

A — Kli Yakar parses the grammar surgically: 'על פי ה'' modifies not 'וישלח' but 'ממדבר פארן.' The mission was *not* Hashem's will, but the *location* of departure was. Hashem allowed the mission grudgingly, but specifically wanted it launched from Midbar Paran — even though many more stations lay between there and Eretz Yisrael, and it would have been better strategically to send the spies from closer in. Why specifically Midbar Paran? Because that camp came immediately after Chatzerot, where the מעשה של מרים had just occurred. The freshness of Miriam's tzaraat (for לשון הרע about Moshe) was supposed to deter the spies from speaking לשון הרע about Eretz Yisrael. They forgot the lesson.