## Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Appendix to Sh'lach

###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Appendix to Sh'lach 4:1
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Appendix to Sh'lach 4:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Appendix%20to%20Sh%27lach/r/4:1)

[עד אנה ינאצוני העם הזה וגו']. אמר הקב"ה אני הייתי סבור ומקוה שאתם נעשים כאבות, שכתיב כענבים במדבר מצאתי ישראל כבכורה בתאנה בראשיתה ראיתי אבותיכם (הושע ט י), ולא הייתי סבור שאתם נעשים כסדום שנשרפו באש, שנאמר כי מגפן סדום גפנם ומשדמות עמורה [ענבימו ענבי רוש וגו'] (דברים לב לב), מדוע קויתי לעשות ענבים ויעש באושים (ישעיה ה ד), כסדום שנשרפו באש לכך נאמר עד אנה ינאצוני העם הזה.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
[(Numb. 14:11:) HOW LONG WILL THIS PEOPLE SCORN ME?: The Holy One said: I thought and hoped that you would become like the ancestors, of whom it is written (in Hos. 9:10): I FOUND ISRAEL LIKE GRAPES IN THE DESERT; I SAW YOUR ANCESTORS AS THE FIRST FRUIT ON A FIG TREE IN ITS FIRST SEASON. I did not think that you would become like the inhabitants of Sodom, who were burned with fire. Thus it is stated (in Deut. 32:32): FOR THEIR VINE IS FROM THE VINE OF SODOM, EVEN FROM THE FIELDS OF GOMORRAH. [THEIR GRAPES ARE GRAPES OF POISON….] (Is. 5:4:) WHEN I HOPED FOR IT TO PRODUCE GRAPES, WHY DID IT PRODUCE SOUR GRAPES? You have become like the inhabitants of Sodom, who were burned with fire. It is therefore stated (in Numb. 14:11): HOW LONG WILL THIS PEOPLE SCORN ME?