The words “You murmured in your tents” refer to an additional complaint, one that was voiced privately. The Jewish people knew that Hashem “loved you,” and therefore they could not openly claim that Hashem hated them. They argued that Hashem hated them even though they loved Him, based on the saying, “What is in your heart toward your friend is what is in his heart toward you.” In truth, however, the Jewish people hated Hashem even though Hashem loved them.
Rashi comments on the verse:
“Because of Hashem’s hatred for us: But He loved you; it was you who hated Him. A common proverb says: ‘What is in your heart toward your friend is what is in his heart toward you.’
“Because of Hashem’s hatred for us, He took us out of Egypt: His taking us out was motivated by hatred. This may be compared to a human king who had two sons and two fields, one irrigated and one dependent upon rain. To the son whom he loves, he gives the irrigated field; to the one whom he hates, he gives the rain-dependent field. The land of Egypt is irrigated, for the Nile rises and waters it, while the land of Canaan is dependent upon rain. He therefore took us out of Egypt in order to give us the land of Canaan.”
Regarding Rashi’s comment beginning, “Because of Hashem’s hatred,” the commentators explain that Rashi is clarifying why the Jewish people thought Hashem hated them. It was because “what is in your heart toward your friend…” Similar to the idea that just as water reflects a face, one person’s feelings awaken corresponding feelings in another, since they hated Hashem, they assumed that Hashem hated them.
This explanation, however, requires clarification. The verse explicitly states that they believed Hashem hated them because He had taken them out “to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.” Furthermore, the words, “What is in his heart toward you,” imply that their assumption was actually correct. In the analogy, however, this was not true, for Hashem loved them.
Rashi’s following comment also requires explanation. The Re’em asks why Rashi says that their proof of Hashem’s hatred was that He gave them a rain-dependent field. Surely the claim that He brought them out “to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us” would indicate far greater hatred.
The explanation is that the central point of both of Rashi’s comments is contained in the opening words of the verse, “You murmured in your tents.” As Rashi explains, this refers to speaking slander and spreading an evil report.
At first glance, however, the account in Parshas Shelach states explicitly that the complaint was voiced before Moshe and Aharon in the presence of the entire congregation. Why, then, does this verse say, “You murmured in your tents,” implying that they spread the complaint among themselves in private?
We must therefore conclude that “You murmured in your tents” refers to an additional complaint beyond the one recorded in Parshas Shelach. The reason this complaint was voiced privately is that the Jewish people knew that “He loved you.” They therefore could not openly and explicitly claim that Hashem hated them.
This is the meaning of the common proverb cited by Rashi. The Jewish people claimed that Hashem hated them even though they loved Him. The truth, however, was that “what is in your heart toward your friend is what is in his heart toward you.” Here the proverb is to be understood literally, not in the sense that one person’s emotions produce corresponding feelings in the other. Rather, the grievance you claim that he holds against you is actually the grievance that you hold against him. The truth was that the Jewish people hated Hashem, even though Hashem loved them.
Rashi therefore continues in the next comment, “His taking us out was motivated by hatred.” Their complaint was not that the Amorites would destroy them. Had this been their true grievance, they would not have expressed it secretly in their tents, but openly and publicly.
Rather, their complaint consisted of a slanderous claim that they themselves knew was false. They emphasized only the advantage of Egypt, that the Nile rises and waters it, while concealing the fact that the Nile’s water had to be brought to the fields through human effort, “and you watered it with your foot.” At the same time, they concealed the advantage of Eretz Yisrael: “It drinks water from the rain of heaven.”
A further question nevertheless remains. If Hashem’s taking them out was motivated by hatred, why would He give them a land at all?
Rashi therefore continues with the parable of a king who had two sons. Since both were his sons, he was required to give each of them a field. The difference was that “to the one whom he hates, he gives the rain-dependent field.”
Accordingly, the verse contains two separate complaints, representing two different types of sin. The first complaint, caused by the incitement of the spies, reflected a lack of faith in Hashem’s ability to bring them into the Land. Privately, however, the Jewish people did believe that they would inherit the Land. Their complaint was that they were being given a field dependent upon rain rather than an irrigated field.
From the inner dimension of Torah: It is explained in sefarim that by saying, “Because of Hashem’s hatred for us,” the Jewish people caused the condition described by the verse, “How does the city sit alone,” whose initial letters form the Hebrew word eivah, hatred.
Rashi therefore emphasizes that even when there is a deficiency in the Divine service of the Jewish people, “He loved you.” There is never any weakening of Hashem’s love for the Jewish people. This awakens an open love for Hashem within the Jewish people, leading them to return to Him in teshuvah, and when the Jewish people do teshuvah, they are redeemed immediately.