Biblical Ambassador

In his new office in Jerusalem, David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, has a huge, brightly colored painting of the 12 spies returning from the land of Israel, as told in the Book of Numbers.

The story is that the Israelites were nervous about the land to which God was sending them after the exodus from Egypt, and Moses chose one representative of each tribe to check it out. Ten came back with horror stories and fruit the size of their heads to show that the people there were giants who could never be defeated. Only Caleb and Joshua saw this the other way, saying “the land is very, very good.”