We know that from that Tisha B'Av that Bnei Yisroel heard and accepted the slanderous report of the spies, they began a 40-year death sentence, where a portion (15,000=1/40 of 600,000) of the nation was killed every subsequent Tisha B'Av until the whole male generation was wiped out...almost. In the 40th year, they lied down in the graves that they dug for themselves on Tisha B'Av (as they had done for the previous 39 years). The next morning, to their surprise, everybody rose up. Thinking they erred in the date, they repeated this "ceremony" each night until the 15th of Av, at which point the moon was full and they were certain that Tisha B'av had passed and that the decree has been rescinded. This is one of the reasons that Tu (ט"ו) B'av is celebrated.
The question is why did they earn a reprieve in that last year.
A possible answer that was offered was that in previous years every Jew that lied down secretly (or openly) prayed that he wouldn't be from those 15000 to die. In other words, he wished that another Jew died instead of himself. That in and of itself was another cause for his death. That last year, there were no "other" Jews left, thus nobody prayed that another Jew should die. As a reward for not having this negative thought G-d spared their lives.
Look at the value of each Jewish life.
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