"And you came near to me, every one of you, and said: 'Let
us send men before us, that they may search the land for us
and bring us back word of the way by which we must go up,
and the cities to which we shall come.' " Devarim 1:22

The people approached in a disorganized and rushed
manner. The children were pushing the elders, and the
elders were pushing the leaders. -- Rashi

At this point, Moshe was beginning to review one of the
most tragic events in Jewish history. He was addressing the
people and pointing out how their decision to send the spies
displayed a great lack of trust in Hashem, and how their
believing the evil reports about Eretz Yisrael had caused
the trek through the desert and the death of a generation.
Surprisingly, however, we find that Moshe decided to mention
an additional detail which also showed some element of
indiscretion on the part of the people. Moshe took this
opportunity to criticize the people for their improper
approach toward him when they asked their question. "You
should know," Moshe said, "that there was a lot of pushing
and shoving in line! I saw some elders get bumped, and even
some of the leaders lost their place in line. That really
was not proper." At first glance, this criticism seems
absurd at this point. Moshe was dealing with one of the
most severe failures in our history! Is this the moment to
focus on such details as improper pushing in line?

This question is addressed by R' Itzileh of Volozhin.
Moshe knew that when he would tell the people that sending the
spies was a sin, they might retort and claim that their
intentions were indeed noble. They meant to send these men
to hear about the positive features of the land. It was the
spies who ruined everything. The people could claim that
they were victims, innocently fooled into believing the
misleading slander about the land. Moshe directly
confronted them and showed them that when a project is good
and proper, it is administered with thought and implemented
with restraint. When someone means harm, it often is
evident in the way in which he conducts himself as he
approaches the mission, often with confusion and with
inconsistency. This is what Moshe said. "It was obvious
from the beginning that you came to me with conspiring
intent and evil objectives. Your initial approach was all
wrong. Elders were trampled and leaders were treated with
contempt. Is this the manner in which an endeavor is
performed when it is truly for the sake of Heaven?" This is
one facet of what is meant when we say: "Derech eretz kadmah
laTorah." Let us merit to live up to the standards set for us by our sages. This display of care in the area of Bein Adom L'chaveiro should surely hasten the coming of Moshiach.