Sotah 34B

כחנייתן עברו. לדברי רבי אלעזר ברבי שמעון ⁠— בזה אחר זה עברו.

the Jewish people crossed in the same formation as they camped. It was necessary for the water to stand only 12 mil high to allow for the entire encampment to pass through the Jordan. According to the statement of R' Elazar, son of R' Shimon, who said the water stood at a height of over 300 mil, the water had to reach these heights to allow for enough time for everyone to cross the Jordan, as they crossed one after the other.

וחד אמר: בין מר ובין מר כחנייתן עברו. מר סבר: אדם קל, ומר סבר: מים קלים.

And one says: According to both this Sage and that Sage, they crossed in the same formation as they camped. However, one Sage, R' Yehuda, holds that a person moves faster than water, and one Sage, R' Elazar son of R' Shimon, holds that water moves faster than a person does.

״שלח לך אנשים״, אמר ריש לקיש: ״שלח לך״⁠ — מדעתך. וכי אדם זה בורר חלק רע לעצמו? והיינו דכתיב: ״וייטב בעיני הדבר״. אמר ריש לקיש: ״בעיני״, ולא בעיניו של מקום.

§ Since the Talmud mentioned the cluster of grapes that the spies brought back from Eretz Yisrael, it continues discussing the story of the spies. It is stated in the Torah that God told Moses: “Send you men” (Numbers 13:2). Reish Lakish says: “Send you” means that you should send them at your own discretion and not as a divine command. As, if it were a divine command, does a person choose a bad portion for himself? Since God knew the nature of these spies and that they would ultimately slander the land, He certainly would not have sent them Himself. And this is the meaning of that which is written in the passage where Moses retold the story of the spies: “And it was good in my eyes” (Deuteronomy 1:23), and Reish Lakish says: The implication of these words is that it seemed good “in my eyes,” but not in the eyes of God.