Numbers · Chapter 14

And the whole congregation arose and raised their voices, and the people wept that night.

כל העדה ALL THE CONGREGATION — This refers to the Sanhedrin (Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 12; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 4:13 and Note thereon).

AND THE PEOPLE WEPT THAT NIGHT. The meaning thereof is that the spies went into the [people’s] tents towards evening, after they left Moses, and in the morning they [the people] rose early and they all murmured against Moses and against Aaron [as related in Verse 2]. And likewise Moses said, and ye murmured in your tents, for it was in their tents that they spoke words of a murmurer. Now our Rabbis have said: [“That day was the ninth of Ab. Said the Holy One, blessed be He:] ‘They wept for no good reason; therefore I will establish [that day as one for] weeping throughout their generations’.” But I do not know from what allusion in this section [of the Torah] the Rabbis deduced this interpretation. It is, however, a clearly-expressed verse [in the Book of Psalms]: Moreover, they scorned the desirable Land, they believed not His word. And they murmured in their tents, they hearkened not unto the voice of the Eternal. Therefore He swore concerning them, that He would overthrow them in the wilderness, and that He would cast out their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the lands. Perhaps this [interpretation of the Rabbis concerning the destruction of the two Temples on that night of weeping] is derived from the verse which states, But your little ones, that ye said would be a prey, which means: “But as for your little ones — it will be as you said, they will be a prey when the time of their visitation comes, for I shall visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. — them will I bring in now so that they will just know the Land, but they will not possess it [uninterruptedly] for all time.” Scripture only refers to such matters by means of allusion, for it does not want to decree evil categorically, unless it is a rebuke predicated on a condition.

"Their voice" — this is the object of the verb "and she raised" (וַתִּשָּׂא), and likewise of "and they gave" (וַיִּתְּנוּ).

ותשא כל העדה…ויבכו העם, And the whole community raised their voice and the people wept. The Torah adds the word "and the people," and did not content itself with reporting those who raised their voices. This is to tell us that it was not the whole community which wept on that night. The entire nation raised their voice (against Caleb, etc.) after the spies had succeeded in inspiring fear in them, but only part of the people actually wept. Another method of interpreting this verse is based on Sotah 35 and Taanit 29. According to the Talmud, G'd told the people that seeing they had wept without good reason on that night (the 9th of Av), G'd would give them adequate reason in the future to weep on that date (the annivesary of the destruction of the Holy Temple). The words: "the entire community raised its voice," is an allusion to the unwarranted raising of their collective voice which eventually resulted in the people who lived during the destruction of the Temple weeping over its loss. Had the Torah simply written: "the people wept on that night," we would have understood this as referring to the people who had raised their voice at the beginning of the verse.

ותשא כל העדה ויתנו את קולם, “The entire assembly raised its voice,“ According to the plain meaning of these words the people commenced crying in the evening and kept crying all night long. We know that the spies had returned close to nightfall bringing with them a special kind of darkness, similar to the one we experience on the night of the ninth of Av when we mourn the destruction of the Temple. The prophet Jeremiah (Lamentations 1,2) refers to the repeated crying of the Jewish people on that night. Midrash Eicha Rabbati (1,28) points out that the dates when the people cried mentioned by Jeremiah coincided with the date they cried on this occasion. How is the date of this occurrence arrived at? According to Taanit 29 Moses constructed the Tabernacle during the first year of the Exodus and put it together during the second year when he also sent out the spies. The cloud lifted off the Tabernacle on the twentieth of the second month in that year. The month of Iyar is always only 29 days long. The Torah testifies (10,11) that the people commenced their journey away from Mount Sinai on the twentieth of that month and that they traveled for three days in the first instance. The first of these three days does not count in the calendar as it was identical with the day on which the cloud had lifted. According to Rabbi Chama in the name of Rabbi Chanina this (the third) was the day on which the people already departed from their obedience to G’d, as the Torah mentions in Numbers 11,4 that the rabble among them lusted after various cravings, which in turn caused even the elite (בני ישראל) to commence crying from discontent. This occurred on the 22nd day of Iyar. The meat provided by G’d as a result of this rebellion lasted for 30 days (11,20) which brings us to the 22nd day of Sivan. The Torah then mentions that further travel was delayed while Miriam was isolated for seven days (12,15) which brings us to the 29th day of Sivan. This is the day when Moses dispatched the spies who returned after 40 days, i.e. the 9th day of the month of Av. The month of Sivan had thirty days whereas the month of Tammuz had 29 days. This would mean that the spies actually stayed away only thirty nine days if they returned on the ninth of Av. The Talmud raises this point. The answer given is that during that particular year the month of Tammuz had thirty days so that the ninth of Av occurred on the fortieth day of the spies’ departure. The scriptural reference to this unusual length of the month of Tammuz is provided by Lamentations 1,15: “He proclaimed a set time against me to crush my young men.” This “time” was the thirtieth day of Tammuz which caused the spies’ return to occur on the fateful ninth of Av. When the Torah wrote in our verse that the entire congregation raised their collective voice in weeping, the reference is to the calendar date, the ninth day of Av. Rabbi Yochanan quotes G’d as saying that seeing that on the occasion of the spies’ report the people spent the night weeping without cause, He would give them cause to weep on a future occasion on that same date, i.e. the night of the destruction of the Temple. Starting from that night, the people would have many occasions to weep; this accounts for the repetition of the words בכה תבכה,“you will weep repeatedly, in Lamentations 1,2. Our sages in that connection also understand the repetition of these two words as referring to the weeping for the destruction of the first Temple as well as the weeping for the destruction of the second Temple. Midrash Eicha Rabbati 1,24 also comments that the repetition refers to weeping for the destruction of the Northern Kingdom (10 tribes which preceded the destruction of the Kingdom of Yehudah) and that for the destruction of the latter kingdom. Similarly, the words refer to separate weeping for Jerusalem and Zion respectively, i.e. the loss of our physical and our spiritual capital respectively. We have evidence that the destruction of the first Temple occurred at night as this is mentioned explicitly in Jeremiah 39,4: “When King Tzidkiyahu of Yehudah saw them, he and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the double walls.” Jeremiah had already prophesied (Jeremiah 6,5) “up, let us attack by night, and wreck her fortress!” The destruction of the second Temple also occurred at night as the Talmud Taanit 29 interprets Jeremiah 6,4: “alas for us! For the day is declining, the shadows of the evening grow long,” as a reference to the destruction of the second Temple. When the wicked Titus destroyed Jerusalem and set it ablaze the Jews fled to the camp of Titus’ army and were exiled from their city. There were a number of Arabs in that army and they kidnapped 400 Jewish children and carried them to the sea at night and shipped them to their homeland as prisoners. (Gittin 57). The children debated among themselves if to commit suicide by jumping ship. They were afraid to lose their share in the world to come if they would commit suicide. To this argument other boys replied that there is a verse (Psalms 68,23):”The Lord said: ‘I will retrieve from Bashan, I will retrieve from the depth of the sea.’” [They meant that their share in the world to come would not be forfeited. Ed.] When the girls heard this they immediately jumped overboard drowning themselves. When the boys observed this they said to themselves that if even the girls who are no strangers to being sexually abused prefer death to being violated, they, the boys, who are not usually exposed to sodomy [an Arab specialty, Ed.] must certainly prefer death to such indignities being perpetrated upon them. All these tragic events occurred at night as a punishment for the weeping of the children of Israel on the night after the return of the spies. Even the eventual destruction of the Temples and the dispersion of the Jewish people was decreed on the night mentioned in our verse. This is the meaning of Psalms 106,25-27: “they grumbled in their tents and disobeyed the Lord. So He raised His hand in oath to make them fall in the wilderness. To disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them through the lands.” The prophet Ezekiel also refers to this when he says in Ezekiel 20,23: “However, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the lands.” So you have clear proof from all three parts of the Bible that this night was predetermined to become a night of weeping for the Jewish people throughout the generations. A Midrashic approach to our verse (Tanchuma Shlach 12): The wording of our verse corresponds to Jeremiah 12,8: ”My own people acted toward Me like a lion in the forest; she raised her voice against Me, therefore I have rejected her.” The voice they raised against G’d at that time became the cause of their future disasters. Concerning this generation Isaiah 17,11 says: “On the day that you plant, you see it grow, on the morning you sow you see it bud, but the branches wither away on a day of sickness and mortal agony.” The prophet describes that while in the process of attaining their goal as a people, the Jewish people’s budding future was cut short by the tragic events of the ninth of Av of the second year of their wandering. The Midrash continues that on that night the decree that the Temples were going to be destroyed was already decreed by G’d as retribution for the unjustifiable weeping which occurred on the night described in our verse here. The verse in Psalms 106 we quoted is understood by the Midrash as equating the raising of Israel’s voice to the raising of G’d’s hand (oath) in a gesture decreeing reason for weeping in the future. Jeremiah 11,17: “verdant olive tree, fair, with choice fruit. But with great roaring sound He has set it on fire, and its boughs are broken.” The prophet means that the sound of the multitude in weeping on that night precipitated the eventual destruction of the Temples alluded to as olive leaves in the beginning of the verse. A kabbalistic approach: The words כל העדה in our verse refer to the כנסת ישראל, the Jewish people as a spiritual concept, a spiritual entity. This approach is also alluded to in Midrash Eicha Rabbati where the author suggests that the word tivkeh is understood as capable of being vowelized so that it be read as tevakkeh, a transitive form of the verb בכה, to weep. It would then mean that the spiritual counterpart of the Jewish people will have cause to weep at the conduct of its people on earth. The additional words ויתנו את קולם, they raised their voices, would refer to the ministering angels joining in that weeping, whereas the words ויבכו העם, refer to the Jewish people in the desert weeping. The words בלילה ההוא, in that night, are to tell us that all these decrees were formulated during that night.

And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them: Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or in this wilderness — would that we had died!

לו מתנו means WOULD THAT WE HAD DIED.

"And they murmured" (וַיִּלּוֹנוּ) — from the Nif'al binyan; it belongs to those doubled-letter verbs that appear to form a complete Nif'al.

וילונו על משה ועל אהרן; who were G’d’s delegates charged with taking them out of Egypt and with saving them from fear of death in the desert; they claimed that all that Moses and Aaron had done was only in order to deliver the people into the hands of the Emorite.

וילונו על משה ואהרון, They murmured against Moses and Aaron, etc. The reason why the Torah repeats the fact that the entire people joined in that murmuring, once referring to them as "all the children of Israel," and once as "the entire community," is to make a distinction between the two requests the people voiced. The entire people of Israel were complaining; however the nature of the complaint was voiced against Moses by the people who represented the community. These people told Moses that their first choice of evil would have been to die in Egypt before the Exodus rather than be faced with death now after a futile march through the desert. Seeing that they did not have this choice having already left Egypt, the next worse fate they could wish for was to die a natural death in the desert. This was at least a viable option. They complained why G'd apparently had chosen to let them die an even worse death, i.e. at the hands of the Canaanites when they would attempt to dispossess them. In that event their wives would be taken prisoner, their children would become loot, etc. The words הלא טוב לנו mean: "would we not be better off to die in Egypt peacefully after G'd would bring us back there?" They would be prepared to return to Egypt in order not to die in battle and for their families to become prisoners? After all, it was possible that the Egyptians would not kill them when they returned there. At any rate, they did not mind that G'd would decree that they should die a normal death in the desert rather than that they would fall in battle for an objective they could not hope to achieve.

ויבכו העם בלילה ההוא, “The people spent that night weeping.” The spies had returned to their respective tents in the evening after having made their report to Moses, and on the following morning the people voiced their complaints against Moses and Aaron en masse. Moses referred to that fateful night in Deuteronomy 1,27 when he reminded the people with the words ותרגנו באהליכם, “you slandered in your tents.” Compare Proverbs 18,8 where דברי נרגן, are mentioned by Solomon in that context. [See Alshich’s commentary on that verse. Ed.]

And why is Hashem bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become prey. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?

AND WHY DOTH THE ETERNAL BRING US UNTO THIS LAND, TO FALL BY THE SWORD? OUR WIVES AND OUR LITTLE ONES WILL BE A PREY. They did not mention the false report [of the spies] about the Land, saying that the Land miscarrieth and is bad, because the people hid this statement [of the spies] from Moses, since the delegates themselves had not said so when they brought back word to him and to all the congregation, for Moses and Aaron would have testified against them that they spoke falsely. The spies themselves hid this from Moses, fully realizing that he knew the nature of the Land from Egypt and Midian which are near to it, as I have explained. Therefore the spies [only] told the people this evil report in their tents, in a secretive manner. Now Moses said in the Book of Deuteronomy: And they brought us back word, and said: ‘Good is the Land which the Eternal our G-d giveth unto us.’ Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Eternal your G-d. The meaning thereof is that the spies did [indeed] tell Moses and Aaron and all the congregation that the Land is good, and surely it floweth with milk and honey, and the people rebelled against the commandment of the Eternal in not wanting to go up because of the statement [of the spies] that the people that dwell in the Land are fierce — for G-d hath power to help, and to cast down, as is stated clearly there, The Eternal your G-d Who goeth before you, He shall fight for you. Therefore, since there was nothing to deter them [in the Land itself] except for the strength of the people, they should have trusted in the Name of G-d, for the battle is the Eternal’s. And we do not have to say [as does Rashi] that Moses said this [And ‘they’ brought us back word, and said, ‘Good is the Land etc.’] only about Joshua and Caleb, for why should the people listen to two [spies] and not believe [the report of] the ten! Moreover it says there [in Deuteronomy 1: 23]: and I took twelve men of you, and it is with reference to [all twelve of] them that he [Moses] said, and they brought us back word.

"To return to Egypt" — this is an infinitive-noun [shem ha-po'el], as in "I am not able to rise" and "the king cannot stand up with him."

ולמה ה' מביא אותנו, what sin did we commit against Him that He made the effort to bring us to this crisis by using you two as His instruments? They thought that these present troubles were all retribution for the abominable things they had been doing while in Egypt, or on account of some other cause they were not aware of which had caused G’d to hate them. We know that they had concluded that G’d must hate them from their own words in Deuteronomy 1,27: “because G’d hates us He took us out of Egypt in order to deliver us into the hands of the Emorite.”

!הלא טוב לנו לשוב מצרימה, “would it not be better for us to return to Egypt!” When an Israelite died in Egypt, at least he had someone to leave his estate to either to children, relatives, or at least to friends. Who could he leave it to in the desert? It would all go to the enemy.

ולמה ה' מביא אותנו אל הארץ הזאת לנפול בחרב, “and why does Hashem bring us to this land to fall victim to the sword?” The people did not describe the land negatively, as had the spies to them, as they did not want to reveal to Moses that the spies had described the land as consuming its inhabitants. They did not do so, as the spies themselves had not voiced that sentiment in the presence of Moses and the whole community. They were well aware that Moses had first hand knowledge of the land of Canaan from the time he had been raised in Pharaoh’s palace, and the years he had spent in Midian, a land bordering on the land of Canaan. Had they stated as fact the accusation of the spies that the land consumed its inhabitants, Moses himself would have called them liars, testifying that he knew different. This is also why the spies had not dared to voice such an accusation in Moses’ presence. In fact, when Moses recalls the events which happened here almost 40 years later in Deuteronomy, he phrased it as follows: “וישיבו אותנו דבר ויאמרו 'טובה הארץ מאד אשר ה' אלוקינו נותן לנו', “they brought back word to us and they said “the land Hashem is giving us is very good.” Moses continues there saying that in spite of this “לא אביתם לעלות ותמרו את פי ה', “you did not want to ascend and you rebelled against G’d’s command.” (Compare Deut. 1,25-26) According to what had transpired in public the only reason that the people did not want to ascend was that the people in that land had been described as עז, powerful. Seeing that the only reason the people refused to ascend was that they were afraid of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan they displayed a lack of trust in Hashem who had up unto that moment overcome every obstacle that had lain in their path. There is no need to understand the people’s refusal as a lack of confidence in Joshua’s and Calev dissenting report, as if that were the issue, why should the people accept 2 men’s views over that of a clear majority of 10? The Torah had written that Moses had dispatched 12 men, so that when he referred to their report in Deut. 1,25 he clearly referred to the majority report.

And they said to one another: Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.

נתנה ראש LET US MAKE A CAPTAIN — Understand this as the Targum does: Let us appoint a chief — i.e. let us set a king over us. But our Rabbis explain the word ראש to denote idol-worship (i.e. that they intended to turn to idolatry) (cf. Sanhedrin 107a).

And Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces before the entire assembled congregation of the children of Israel.

THEN MOSES AND AARON FELL ON THEIR FACES. The reason for this was that they saw that the people were about to decide to appoint a leader and return [to Egypt] immediately; so the righteous ones [Moses and Aaron] arose and prostrated themselves with their faces on the ground saying to them, ‘I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly,’ and let this be no stumbling-block unto you. Therefore it says [that they fell on their faces] before all the congregation of the children of Israel, for it was for their sake that they prostrated themselves on their faces [imploring them to abandon their plan to return to Egypt]. Similarly, and he [David] fell on his face to the ground and bowed down three times [before Jonathan, is an expression of conciliation and supplication]. And the meaning of the word liphnei [“before” — ‘before’ all the assembly] is like lahem [“for them” — to implore them, for their good, to renounce their plan of returning to Egypt]. Similarly, And his brethren also went and fell down ‘l’phanav (‘before’ him) [also means “to” him — Joseph — to beg him for forgiveness]. There are many examples of this usage.

"And Moses fell" — of his own will.

ויפול משה ואהרן על פניהם, when they saw the truth of (Kohelet 1,15) Solomon’s famous proverb that מעוות לא יוכל לתקן, that “when something has been twisted out of shape it can not be straightened out again.” The Talmud Sanhedrin 19 illustrates this when relating that the entire Sanhedrin out of fear of the King Yannai, perverted Torah law and only Shimon ben Shetach had the courage to tell the king the truth about Torah law on the issue under discussion, which would have embarrassed the king. Shimon ben Shetach appealed to heaven to uphold the one who had interpreted correctly. Thereupon the angel Gavriel killed the entire Sanhedrin, except Shimon ben Shetach. However, in order for such a tragedy not to occur again, the ruling that the king must testify and must be judged by his peers was revoked for the future.

ויפול משה ואהרן על פניהם לפני כל קהל עדת ישראל, “Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the entire congregation of the community of Israel.” They bowed their faces to the ground in full view of the whole community. The matter is comparable to Samuel I 20,41 ויפול לאפיו ארצה וישתחו שלש פעמים, David bowed with his face to the ground three times, (in taking his leave from Yonathan) [according to our author the expression in our verse above is also one describing deference. Ed.] When Moses and Aaron saw that the people had made up their minds to select a new leader and to head back toward Egypt, they bowed down imploring them not to commit such a grave wrong, one that would become a terrible stumbling block for them. Seeing that all the people were involved, Moses and Aaron made certain that their appeal would be heard by all those assembled.

And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of those who had scouted the land, tore their garments.

"And Joshua son of Nun" — Joshua is mentioned first because of the greatness of his rank.

ויהושע בן נון וכלב בן יפנה מן התרים, and Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Yefuneh who had been part of the team that toured the land, etc. Who did not know that these two had been part of the team? Why did the Torah have to mention this? The reason is that the Torah wanted to justify that these two men rent their garments in grief over what their colleagues had done. Some of the Israelites might have seen such an action as something presumptuous seeing that none of the elders had seen fit to rend their clothing. The Torah therefore had to tell us that the reason that Joshua and Caleb rent their garments was not that they felt superior to the elders, etc., but that they had experienced the beauty of the land of Canaan, something even Moses had not seen with his own eyes. They had greater reason to mourn what they stood to lose than anybody else. They also hoped to lend emphasis to their feeling of disgust that their colleagues had despised the land of Canaan by publicly rending their garments in the sight of all the Israelites. This was the most potent protest against what the ten spies had said that they could think of.

And they said to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, saying: The land that we passed through to scout it — the land is exceedingly, exceedingly good.

IT IS ‘M’OD M’OD’ (AN EXCEEDING) GOOD LAND. The reason [for this emphasis] is in order to contradict the false report [of the spies] and to state that it is not [a Land] that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, for the air is good, and it is a Land flowing with milk and honey.

הארץ אשר עברנו בה לתור אותה, to investigate both the country and its inhabitants, in accordance with Moses’ instructions “you will take a look at the land what are its characteristics and the people who dwell on it” (13,18). טובה הארץ, concerning what you have charged us to investigate the land, we testify that it is a good land, exceptionally good, without drawbacks. We do not agree with our colleagues who, although testifying that the land was good, added the reservation that the “land consumes its inhabitants.” Concerning what my colleagues have said: about the land “consuming its inhabitants, we can testify כי לחמנו הם, “they are our bread,” they will not even have the courage to frontally face us, the very opposite of our colleagues’ saying that they are a “tough people.”

ויאמרו…לאמור. They said…to say: What is the meaning of the word לאמור after the Torah has already told us to whom Joshua and Caleb addressed themselves? Perhaps Caleb and Joshua used this expression referring to the ten spies who had admitted that the land was indeed excellent, flowing with milk and honey. Whereas the ten spies described this excellent land as unattainable in order to justify their report, Joshua and Caleb used the excellence of the land as a reason to extol it. The word לאמור then means "to extol" much as in Deut. 26,27. טובה הארץ מאד מאד, "the land is indeed very good." They wanted to contradict the claim that the land consumes its inhabitants. This is why they said twice מאד, to say its fruit was good and it was pleasant to live in that land. Concerning the number of impediments which the other spies had enumerated they said that with G'd's help none of these factors mattered. They interpreted what they had seen to mean that G'd had already given the land to them on a platter.

טובה הארץ מאד מאד, “the land is very very good!” They repeated the adjective twice in order to counter as much as possible the impression the spies had created that the land was devouring its inhabitants. Not only was the fruit very good, but also the climate is very good and that it why it was flowing with milk and honey.

If we find favor before Hashem, He will bring us into this land and give it to us — a land that produces milk and honey.

'אם חפץ בנו ה, if the Lord has taken a liking to us. True, the goodness of the land depends in great measure on G’d taking a liking to us, as we know that this is a land which is constantly under G’d’s supervision so that disobedience to His laws will be promptly punished. All of this had been spelled out in Deuteronomy 11,12-13. והביא אותנו אל הארץ הזאת, the very reverse of what our colleagues testified when they claimed “we cannot ascend against this people.” (13,31) The fact is that these people will not even offer us any resistance, as mentioned already in Exodus 15,16 “they will keep as silent as a stone until Your people o Lord have passed.” In fact, even forty years later when the people finally were poised on the borders of the land they did not encounter a single security fence of other defensive structures which these people had erected during the forty years that they had expected the Israelites to invade their land. ונתנה לנו, we are certain of this because we have seen that not a single one of them has enough spirit left to confront us, they are only thinking of fleeing. ארץ אשר היא זבת חלב ודבש, the land itself is productive without input by farmers”. The expression: “flowing with milk and honey” is applied to produce growing in the forest in Samuel I 14,25 וכל הארץ באו ביער ויהי דבש על פני השדה, “everybody came to the forest and the field was full of honey.” This would not have been possible if there had been anything inferior in that soil. [the author, of course, understands the word “honey” as hyperbole for excellent produce, in contrast to most commentators who understand it literally. Ed.]

אם חפץ בנו השם, "If G'd delights in us, etc." They were clever to present G'd's attitude to the Israelites as something still doubtful. They did this in order to have a chance to finish what they had to say without hostile interruptions. They succeeded in this and the people waited with their attempt to stone them until after they had completed their speech. This is where we ought to ask why the Israelites did not try and stone them already at the beginning of their words seeing they said nothing different in the course of their speech than what they had said at the beginning. We must therefore assume that the conditional word אם at the beginning of Joshua's words gave the people hope that he too would come up with something negative before concluding what he had to say. הוא זבת חלב ודבש, "it flows with milk and honey." They underlined their statement with the word הוא, to show that no other country could claim to match the excellence of the land of Canaan.

אם חפץ בנו ה, “if Hashem had really been fond of us, He would not allow us to die in the desert.”

Only against the Word of Hashem do not rebel, and you — do not fear the people of the land, for they are delivered into our hands. Their strength has departed from them, and the Word of Hashem is our support. Do not fear them.

אל תמרדו [ONLY] REBEL NOT YE [AGAINST THE LORD], and consequently ואתם אל תיראו YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO FEAR [THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND]. כי לחמנו הם FOR THEY ARE BREAD FOR US — i.e. we shall consume them as bread. סר צלם THEIR DEFENSE (lit., shade) IS DEPARTED [FROM THEM] — i.e. their shield and their strength is departed from them: the virtuous among them are dead; one of them was Job, who had protected them by his righteousness (Sotah 35a; cf. Bava Batra 15a). [Another explanation is: the shade (protection) of the Omnipresent is departed from them]. (Cf. Psalms 121:5).

ONLY REBEL NOT AGAINST THE ETERNAL. This means that [Moses and Aaron told the people]: “Your being afraid [to go up] because of the strength of the people that dwell in the Land is [in itself] a rebellion against the Glorious Name, for it was not because of your [own] strength that you came out of Egypt, but it was the hand of the Eternal that hath dealt wondrously with you. And He has assured you that He will drive them out from before you; if so, believe [in Him] and you will succeed.” They [Moses and Aaron] continued: neither fear ye the people, for they are bread for us, meaning that “even in the natural course of events and through normal methods of [warfare as practiced in] the world, they will fall before us, for the fear of us has overcome them and they will let us consume them like bread.” TZILAM’ (literally: “their shadow”) IS REMOVED FROM THEM. “That is, their shield and their strength [are departed from them]. The worthy ones among them have died. Another interpretation: the shade (protection) of G-d is departed from them.” This is Rashi’s language. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that “tzilam means the buckler and shield which form a shade [and protection] to people in battle, and they [Moses and Aaron] are thus saying that our fear has fallen upon them, so that they will not take buckler, shield nor helmet to arm themselves and fight against us.” He has explained it well. But it is possible that Scripture is alluding to the well-known fact that there will be no shadow over the head of a person who is [destined] to die that year, on “the night of the seal.” Therefore it says: “their ‘shade’ is already removed from them, meaning that death has been decreed upon them, and the Eternal is with us, for it is He Who dwells in our midst and does miracles and wonders for us in the eyes of all who behold us; therefore, fear them not.” Or it is possible that the verse alludes to the princes above [in heaven], for no nation falls unless its prince falls first, as it is written, The Eternal will punish the host of the high heaven on high etc., and afterwards, on the kings of the earth upon the earth, and as is explained in the Book of Daniel. Thus the verse is saying: “the power under whose protection the nations [in the land of Canaan] live is already removed, and the Eternal Who lowered them is with us, therefore fear them not.” And thus the Rabbis said in Midrash Shir Hashirim: “And the shadows flee away. These are the princes of the nations and their angels,” for they are the protection over the nations. I have already mentioned this in other places.

"For they are our bread" — we shall consume them like bread; and similarly, "those who devour my people eat bread." "Their shade has departed" — for a warrior who has no shield to protect him and to be a shade for him, his heart will be fearful.

אך בה' אל תמרודו, if you indeed want the soil of this land to correspond to your fond hopes of it, it is incumbent upon you not to rebel against G’d, something you have been told about repeatedly. (compare Deuteronomy 11,13-14 lines we recite at least twice daily.) ואתם אל תיראו, if you do not rebel against the Lord He will bring you there and you will have no reason to be afraid of anything, for they are our bread, we have seen with our own eyes that they did not even dare to attack the 12 of us. 40 years later Rachav the innkeeper of Jericho testified that the people were still terribly afraid of the Israelites, none of them summoning enough spirit to go to war against this people. (Joshua 2,11) סר צלם מעליהם, we have seen that they have decided to abandon all armed resistance, reminiscent of what we read in Kings II 7,15 when the armies of Aram had abandoned all their equipment in headlong flight, when they had merely imagined that they were being attacked.

ואתם אל תיראו, "As to you, do not be afraid, etc." They admitted that any other nation would have reason to fear the inhabitants of the land of Canaan but not the Israelites. They added the letter ו before the word אתם, to say that though the people had accepted the majority report, this did not make it too late for them to change their minds and display faith in G'd. כי לחמנו הם, "for they are our bread." The reason Joshua and Caleb compared the Canaanites to bread is explained by the Kabbalists. The latter have researched the kind of foods animals exist on and have tried to gain an insight into the significance of the respective animals' food supply. After all, had He but wanted to, G'd could have created the animals in such a way that they did not have to depend on food at all. We know that there are species which feed merely on the spirit (air) which serves such creatures as food. Seeing this is possible, why did G'd not make the Israelites independent of food and all that its preparation entails so that they could devote their entire lives to Torah study and the performance of the commandments? Not only that, but had we been created as independent of a food supply, we would not have been exposed to many of the potential pitfalls different kinds of food represent for us. I would have answered that if we had not been created in such a way that we are dependent on food for our existence, we would not have been able to fulfil all the commandments in the Torah which deal with certain foods. Our dependence on certain foods enables us to perfom the various commandments in the Torah which are related to food. The Kabbalists (Shaar Hagilgulin chapter 4 by Rabbi Yitzchak Luria) did not answer our question in this vein. They have added an additional dimension which makes us perceive the lives of all creatures as more meaningful. All living creatures are perceived as achieving a higher level of sanctity by means of the food they consume. The very act of consuming the food helps the inherent level of sanctity they possess to become more manifest through being crystallized. This concept applies even to the "unclean" animals. None of the wicked people, not even Satan himself, is totally devoid of a certain degree of sanctity. In fact, the only reason a wicked person or Samael can continue to exist is this element of sanctity which he contains. The moment this element of sanctity is lost, the entire creature is lost, disintegrates. The same Kabbalists say in chapter 18 of the volume quoted above that it is this element of sanctity which is responsible for these creatures being able to perpetuate themselves when they mate with one another. This is explained in chapter 18 of the volume we quoted above. The spark of sanctity inside a creature is to be viewed as similar to a magnet, i.e. אבן שואבת, a stone possessing the power to attract. This concept helps us understand a saying in Shabbat 34 that when Rabbi Simon ben Yochai looked at a certain person, who ...

(Joshua and Caleb speaking) כי לחמנו הם , “they are just as if our bread, ready to be consumed. This expression describing enemies as if already utterly defeated, is based on Deuteronomy 7,16: ואכלת את כל העמים “you will consume all the nations.” סר צלם מעליהם, “their protective shadow has already been removed from them. The Torah describes any “shield,” intended to protect as צל, “shadow.”

אך בה' אל תמרודו, “Only do not rebel against the Lord!” This verse teaches that a nation afraid [of other nations, Ed.] is an act of rebellion against the Lord. We have a verse in Proverbs 29,25 in which Solomon expresses a similar sentiment, i.e. “man’s fear becomes his own trap, he who trusts in the Lord will be safeguarded.” This fear may lead the frightened person to forget about G’d altogether. This is what the prophet Isaiah 51,12-13 had in mind when he said: ”what ails you that you fear man who must die like grass? You have forgotten the Lord your Maker!” סר צלם מעליהם, “their protective shadow has departed from them.” The protective force active on behalf of the Canaanites in the celestial regions is referred to by Calev as “shadow.” This is because its function in protecting the people it represents is similar to the function of the shade which protects against excessive heat. Basically, Calev was telling his compatriots that the collapse of a nation on earth is preceded by the collapse of its celestial representative; this is the meaning of the men who had fallen like flies whom the spies had seen. Calev added the word מעליהם, which can be translated as “from above them,” i.e. the protective force in the heavens. A Midrashic approach found in Song of Songs on chapter 2,20: “and the shadows have departed:” This is a reference to all the nations of the world. Nachmanides explains the words: “their shadow has departed from them,” to mean that their shadow had been removed from their heads. He refers to a kabbalistic tradition that on the night of Hoshanah Rabbah, the 21st of Tishrey when the seal is attached to the fate of the individuals for the coming year, anyone whose shadow cannot be seen in the moonlight is slated to die during the course of that year. That calendar date corresponds to the 26th day after G’d commenced creating the universe. Calev meant to say that death had been decreed for these people already on the previous 21st of Tishrey. Although Calev did not spell this out in so many words, this is what he alluded to. This is also the allusion contained in Song of Songs 2,17: “until the day blows past and the shadows have fled.” Solomon meant that when a person’s “day,” i.e. his lifetime on earth, approaches its end this is signaled by his shadow departing from him first. This “shadow” comes closer to the Lord (the Ineffable Name י-ה-ו-ה whose numerical value is 26, corresponding to the 26th day after commencement of the creation). When David writes this “name” it also is described as ה' צלך, “the Lord is your shadow” (Psalms 121,5). Actually it would have been sufficient to refer to ונס הצל, “the shadow (sing.) departed, fled.” The reason Solomon spoke about צללים, “shadows” in the plural, is that every human being has two shadows (compare Yevamot 122). The regular shadow is the one visible when the sun shines. The “secondary” shadow is the one visible at night. [The Talmud distinguishes between the ability of demons to cast a shadow, suggesting that they can cast a shadow when impersonating persons by day, but cannot do so at night. Ed.] When reflecting on the reason for these phenomena perhaps we must consider that any creature on this terrestrial earth is equipped with a shadow, even plants and inert objects. This is because the light of the sun penetrates into their domain when it shines from the domain of the planets into one that is not its own. Seeing that at that time the sun is like an invader into a foreign domain, it does not have the power to deprive the creatures on earth of their shadows. Rather, the sun itself is pushed aside by these shadows, i.e. the sun’s rays cannot reach areas in the shade. The fact is that shadows appear in areas designated for the sun to illuminate with its rays. G’d did not want that anyone of His creatures should interfere with the rightful domain of another creature. In order to make this clear, each creature has been equipped with its personal, individual shadow as proof of its entitlement to a certain place on earth. When the shadow of someone’s head is missing at night (not distinguishable), this indicates that the person or creature it belongs to has been deprived of this space on earth, will die during the course of the year after the night of Hoshanah Rabbah when such a decree has been issued. The moon became the manifestation of this decree as it had been appointed to exercise supervision of the living creatures on earth, something well known in scientific circles. Personally, I am surprised why it was necessary for the Torah to write such words as: “their protective shadow has departed from them, whereas the Lord is with us do not be afraid of them.” After all, if the Lord is with us what does it matter whether their protective shadow had departed or had not departed? Is G’d then unable to be with us unless their protective shadow had departed from them? Is not the power of the G’d of Israel greater than the protective angels assigned to any other nation or combination of nations? Have we not been told in Deut. 32,32 “not like our Rock is their rock? The answer to these questions is that Calev meant to say: “you have no reason to fear either them (the Canaanites) or their protective celestial representatives.” This is all included in the plural of “do not be afraid of them, i.e. either their terrestrial phenomena or their celestial protectors.” Calev then proceeded to supply the reason for his confidence by saying they should not be afraid of the inhabitants of this land seeing “they are our bread.” They had become “our bread” as their protective “shadow” had already departed from these people, i.e. their power in the celestial spheres had expired. The only reason the Jewish people had been afraid of these Canaanites was on account of their celestial protective angels. Calev countered this argument as invalid seeing “the Lord is with us,” and the Lord is stronger than any celestial force these people could call upon to help them. The Lord and His celestial court can defeat these people even while their protective angels were still active; therefore, Calev said: “you have no reason to fear them.” It is also possible to interpret the words: “for they are our bread,” as a reference to the merit the Israelites possessed as evidenced by their fulfilling the commandment of eating matzah and dwelling in huts at the appropriate time. The word צל, would refer to the shade provided by the covering of the Sukkah. Whereas these people had forfeited the protection of their angels, we could count on the protection of the Lord by dint of having fulfilled the commandments of matzah on Passover and the dwelling in flimsy huts relying only on G’d’s shade to be our roofs. This thought has been paraphrased by David in Psalms 121,5 when he said: “the Lord is your guardian, the Lord is your protection at your right hand.” In view of these considerations, “you have no reason to fear them.”

אך בה' אל תמרודו!, “Only do not become guilty of rebelling against Hashem!” By being afraid of the strength of the inhabitants of that land you have rebelled against G’d, for you know very well that you did not leave Egypt by having defeated the Egyptians. It had all been Hashem’s doing. He has promised you that you will conquer the land of Canaan, and you have no reason to doubt that. ואתם אל תיראו את עם הארץ כי לחמנו הם, “and you must not be afraid of the people of the land for they are our bread!” Even if we were to confront them without miraculous help from Hashem, they will fall victim to us as they are already scared of us and have lost their former courage, making them as easy to devour as bread. סר צלם מעליהם, “their protection has already departed from them.” Rashi explains the word צלם, their shade, as a simile for their celestial, horoscope, i.e. the angel provided for them in the heavens. The most able warriors that these people possessed have already died. Another explanation would understand the word צלם as a reference to the time when these people basked in G’d’s shade, i.e. G’d’s protection. Nachmanides, in referring to Ibn Ezra’s commentary that the word צלם is an alternative for מגנם, “their shield,” understands the absence of such a shield now as the absence of fear. The Canaanites had become infected with a fear of the Israelites who had for the last two years defeated every attempt to harm them. As of now the people are not even prepared to battle us with their protective shields held in their hands. It is possible that Moses’ words hinted at a tradition we have that on the night of Hoshanah Rabbah people who are slated to die during that year cannot find a shadow of their heads when they go out looking for it in the moonlight. Moses paraphrased this by saying publicly that these people if they looked for such a shadow of their heads would not find it, and that this would make them even more afraid of their fate. Yet another possible meaning of Moses’ choice of simile, is an allusion to the protective angel that G’d has assigned to each nation, an angel that is always withdrawn prior to the demise of that particular nation. G’d had withdrawn that angel from the Egyptians prior to their drowning in the sea.

סר צילם מעליהם, they have no more shelter behind which to take refuge, for all the inhabitants of the land are quaking in their boots, have lost their self confidence after they had heard that G’d had split the sea for you and drowned the Egyptians. Rachav, 40 years later,still relates to the spies that even then the impact of that miracle had not faded from the consciousness of the Canaanites (compare Joshua 2, 9-11).

And the whole congregation said to stone them with stones, when the Glory of Hashem appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

לרגום אתם [BUT ALL THE CONGREGATION BADE] TO OVERWHELM THEM WITH STONES — them viz., Joshua and Caleb. וכבוד ה׳ AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD [APPEARED IN THE APPOINTED TENT] — i.e. the cloud descended there (Sotah 35a).

"To stone them" — [that is,] Joshua and Caleb.

ויאמרו כל העדה לרגם אותם באבנים, The whole congregation said to stone them. Why did the people not react in a similar fashion as soon as Caleb said in 13,30: "we can certainly go up and inherit this land?" Presumably the people did not pay any heed to the testimony of a single individual, as such testimony is halachically meaningless when the witness is confronted by two or more witnesses disputing what he said (compare Deut. 19,15). Now that Joshua had joined Caleb, the two represented a valid set of witnesses and the fact that they were outnumbered was halachically irrelevant (compare Makkot 5). In law, the two sets of testimony ranked equally. As a consequence, the two testimonies cancel each other out so that legally speaking the people did not have whom to rely on. Feeling frustrated, the people wanted to kill the witnesses who made up the minority report. We also need to know why Joshua and Caleb did not invoke the rule we have just mentioned which would have invalidated the testimony of the ten spies? Perhaps they were afraid that the people would consider Joshua's testimony as prejudiced inasmuch as he was Moses' personal valet ever since his youth.

And Hashem said to Moses: How long will this people provoke anger before Me, and how long will they not believe in My Word, with all the signs that I have performed among them?

עד אנה means HOW LONG (while אנה is used of place — “where”, עד אנה denotes time - "until when"). ינאצני means [HOW LONG] WILL THEY PROVOKE ME TO ANGER. בכל האתות FOR ALL THE SIGNS — This means: On account of all the signs which I have done for them they ought to have believed that I possess the ability to fulfill My promise.

"Will they despise Me" (יְנַאֲצוּנִי) — equivalent to "will they anger Me"; it has many parallels. And the meaning of "in his midst" — the language indicates that they had originally been of one heart for good.

?עד אנה ינאצוני, “What is the limit of their spurning Me? How long am I supposed to tolerate the disdain with which they treat Me? ?ועד אנה לא יאמינו לי, How many more miracles must I perform for them until they will rely on My word?

ויאמר ה׳….עד אנה ינאצוני העם הזה, G'd said to Moses: "how long will this nation continue to spurn Me?" G'd's question was intended to forestall Moses praying on behalf of the people; it is similar to G'd having said הניחה לי, "let Me be," when G'd had told Moses about the golden calf (Exodus 32,10). The absence of the word לאמור in our verse is a hint that Moses should not speak. עד אנה ינאצוני…ועד אנה לא יאמינו בי, "how long will they spurn Me and not have faith in Me?" If the people spurned G'd, what is the point in complaining about their not having faith in Him? Perhaps the expression "spurn" refers to the spies, whereas the statement about the people lacking in faith refers to the people at large. Another interpretation understands that the words ינאצוני were directed at the people who did not only throw stones at Joshua and Caleb but even at the cloud which enveloped them, i.e. at G'd Himself (Sotah 35). Other Israelites were merely afraid of the Canaanites but did not engage in activities which gave vent to their frustration. G'd described this latter group of people as the ones who did not have faith in Him. Both categories of people qualified for the pestilence G'd was about to unleash at the Israelites. He used the word אכנו, "I will smite them," when describing how He would punish the ones guilty of spurning Him, whereas He used the term אורישנו, "I will destroy them," when addressing the ones who displayed acts indicating that they spurned the Lord. The latter punishment included forfeiting the world to come. The ten spies themselves suffered both penalties as we can see from verse 37. Sanhedrin 108 makes it clear that the ten spies have forfeited life in the hereafter. When the Torah speaks of G'd wanting to make a new nation out of Moses, a nation more powerful than the Israelites of that time, this meant that G'd would provide Moses with spiritual powers he had not possessed up until that moment. The word ממנו means that the new Jewish nation would emerge as a continuation, i.e. re-incarnation of the present Jewish people. Their souls would undergo a process of transmigration to be able to emerge as a spiritually stronger nation. These verses may also be understood as an attempt by G'd to present stronger arguments than the ones Moses had rejected at the time of the golden calf episode when G'd had once before proposed to make a new Jewish nation with Moses as their founder (compare Exodus 32,10). G'd reinforced the argument He had used to Moses at the time of the golden calf episode by pointing out that the people's behaviour had not improved in the interval. עד אנה, "how long is this supposed to go on?" They have spurned Me time and again so that there is no more any excuse to overlook their conduct. When G'd mentioned this He forestalled Moses who would have referred to G'd's image being denigrated if He allowed these people to be wiped out after all their misdemeanours. The Egyptians would not be able to say that G'd had alr...

עד אנה ינאצוני העם הזה ועד אנה, “how long will this people provoke Me, and how long, etc.” The sages of the Midrash (Tanchuma Shelach 12) said that G’d said: “I had to exclaim My displeasure in two exclamations” (twice the words עד אנה), therefore they will have to exclaim their frustrations when being exiled to four different empires. The four occasions when these exclamations are found as being made by the Jewish people are found in Psalms 13,2-3: “how long, O Lord; will You ignore me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long will I have cares on my mind, grief in my heart all day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand?” The second exclamation by G’d was in verse 27: “how long will this evil congregation provoke complaints against Me?” David paraphrased the exclamation by the Jewish people as retribution for causing G’d to make this latter exclamation in Psalms 6,4: “my whole being is stricken with terror, while You, Lord, O how long?” בכל האותות אשר עשיתי בקרבו, “through all the miracles I performed in its midst?” Significantly, G’d did not say: “in your midst,” plural, but “in its midst, singular?” According to the plain meaning of the text the reference is to the time when all the people were united, of one mind, in their devotion to the Lord. A Midrashic approach to this wording based on Bamidbar Rabbah Shelach 16,15: the word “in its midst,” means that the people did not even have to turn around in order to witness the miracles G’d was performing. The meaning of the words קרב וכרעים is used in the Talmud Yuma 75 as an allusion to the manna being food which was totally absorbed by the bodies of the people eating it, there being no excrement, waste material from it. If this is true, the question is why the Torah legislated in Deut. 23,14 that the soldiers should be equipped with tools to bury their excrement in the earth in order to maintain the holy nature of a Jewish encampment even during war? What excrement did the soldiers have to bury, seeing they ate manna? Answer: they had to bury the excrement of the food they had purchased from the surrounding nations and had eaten it. Another view expressed on this subject is that even that food was absorbed totally together with the manna. However, when the Israelites had allowed themselves to become lax in their performance of the commandments the manna also did not dissolve completely. G’d said to them: “I have taken the trouble to enable you to stand in front of Me just like the ministering angels (who do not excrete) and now you have forced Me to legislate to bury your excrement three miles away from your camp!” This is the meaning of the words in Numbers 33,49: “they camped by the river Jordan as far as Beyt Hayeshimot until the plains of Shittim, the plains of Moab.” [Although the commandment to take a shovel in addition “to your weapons” was written in connection with soldiers going out in a war of aggression, the questioner implies that the rule to bury excrement outside the Jewish camp applied to all the Israelites also in times of peace. Ed.] Rabbi bar Chana said that he had personally seen the site where the Israelites had encamped near Beit Hayeshimot and it was three miles distant from the banks of the Jordan .

אשר עשיתי בקרבו, “which I have performed in its midst.” Moses employed the singular mode when speaking of the Jewish people, as at one time they had been a united people. At that time that had been a sign that they were a people loyal to their G’d and His Torah.

I will strike them with death and destroy them, and I will make you into a people greater and mightier than they.

ואורישנו is an expression for “driving out” (here, driving out from the world, destroying). — And if you ask what I will do regarding the oath I have sworn to the Patriarchs (viz., to give the Land to their children; cf. Exodus 6:3—4), then I reply: ואעשה אתך לגוי גדול I WILL MAKE OF THEE A GREAT NATION — [whereby My oath will be fulfilled] since you are one of their descendants (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 13).

אכנו בדבר, as we read in Deuteronomy 2,15 “and also the Lord’s hand came upon them until He had rooted them out from the camp to the last man.” (the generation of the people who had accepted the majority report of the spies) ואורישנו, I will see to it that they have to leave what should have been their inheritance to others. This was similar to what Rashi (based on the Talmud Baba Batra) explained about the dead inheriting the living at the time when the land of Israel was parceled out to the various tribes. By means of the stratagem G’d fulfilled what He had promised in Exodus 6,8: “I will give to you the land as an ‘inheritance.’

אכנו בדבר ואורישנו, “I will strike them with a pestilence and destroy them.” G-d intended to do this so that no enemy will be able to boast that he has defeated G-d’s people.

And Moses said before Hashem: The Egyptians will hear, for with Your might You brought up this people from among them.

ושמעו מצרים WHEN THE EGYPTIANS SHALL HEAR IT — i.e. when they hear how you are killing them, [as stated in the previous verse]. כי העלית — The word כי here is used in the sense of אשר, “that”, and the meaning is: they have seen that Thou broughtest them forth in Thy great strength from their midst, and when they hear that Thou art killing them they will not say that it is because they have sinned against Thee, but they will say that against them Thou wast able to fight, but against the in habitants of the Land of Canaan, however, Thou wast unable to fight; and this is the meaning of —

AND THE EGYPTIANS SHALL HEAR ‘KI HE’ELITHA’ IN THY MIGHT. “And the Egyptians shall hear that you have killed them. Ki he’elitha. The word ki [here] means ‘that,’ [the meaning of the expression thus being:] ‘they have seen that Thou broughtest them up in Thy might from among them, and when they hear that You have killed them they will not say that [it is because] they sinned against You, but [they will say] that against them [the Egyptians themselves] You were able to fight, but not against the inhabitants of this land [of Canaan].’ And this is the meaning of [the phrase]: and they will say ‘el’ the inhabitants of this land — what will they say concerning them? That which is stated at the end of the subject: Because the Eternal was not able to bring this people into the Land — because the inhabitants of the land are strong and mighty, and Pharaoh [alone] is not like thirty-one kings [who ruled in the land of Canaan].” This is the language of Rashi. If so, the expression ‘el’ yosheiv [literally: ‘to’ the inhabitants] will be like ‘al’yosheiv, (“concerning” the inhabitants), and there are also many such examples. In my opinion, [however], Moses our teacher did not mean [to say] in [presenting] this argument that [the Egyptians will say that] the Canaanites are strong and mighty in battle and that Pharaoh [alone] cannot be compared to thirty-one kings — for G-d had smitten the Egyptians with a plague and killed their firstborns in one moment, and brought upon them great punishments out of heaven, [so they knew] that it is but a light thing in the sight of the Eternal to destroy the strong and mighty by a plague, just as [He can destroy] the feeble and weak, [by means of special plagues]. But the meaning of this prayer [of Moses] was as if to say: “The Egyptians will think and say that the gods of Canaan have power to save the inhabitants from Your hand, since You executed judgments on the Egyptians and their gods before You brought this people out of their midst, but You could not do the same to the Canaanites and their gods. Thus this will constitute a profanation of G-d’s Name, and the hands of the idol-worshippers will be strengthened!” If so, it is possible that the expression, and they will say ‘el’ the inhabitants of this land is to be understood literally, that is, the Egyptians will say “to” the people of the land of Canaan, “Because the Eternal was not able etc., for surely god is in you, there is no other god.”

"And Egypt will hear that You brought up" — its meaning is "and those whom You brought up." After he said "and they will hear," and then said "to the inhabitants of this land" — that is, the land of Canaan — he explained what they heard; therefore he says again "they will hear that You, Hashem, Your glory is in the midst of this people."

ושמעו מצרים, Moses thought that when G’d had said: “I will smite them with pestilence” that He had in mind to strike all of them immediately, simultaneously. He therefore felt impelled to question what would this do to G’d’s great name? Surely, he argued, the Egyptians would ascribe this to G’d’s impotence in making good on His promise to this people, 'מבלתי יכולת ה' להביא את העם וגו, they would claim that G’d’s power did not include dealing with the Canaanites. Seeing that the Egyptians are aware of the effort You expended in liberating them from slavery in Egypt, and they are further aware that You have made the seat of Your residence on earth in their Tabernacle, the mere thought that You would now kill them on account of a sin would never occur to them

ושמעו מצרים, "and when Egypt will hear, etc." Why did Moses add the conjunctive letter ו at the beginning of the word ושמעו, seeing this is the first comment Moses permitted himself after He heard G'd's reaction? Moses simply should have said: ישמעו מצרים, "Egypt will hear, etc." Furthermore, what did Moses have in mind when he said כי העלית? If he meant that the Egyptians would hear about G'd having taken the Israelites out of Egypt this does not make any sense at all. The Egyptians had been the first to witness G'd's miracles and the Exodus, after all! Besides, how does the killing of the Israelites contribute to the Egyptians' hearing about the miracles G'd employed to orchestrate the Exodus? If Moses intended to describe who these Egyptians were who would hear about these miracles of G'd, the question is whether there were any other Egyptians who could have heard about G'd's actions at that time? Even assuming there were such Egyptians, Moses' words clearly referred to the Egyptians with whom we are familiar. The answer must be connected to why Moses did not use the same arguments he had used after the sin of the golden calf. It is true that I have explained on the words עד אנה ינאצוני that G'd had spoken these words to prevent Moses from again advancing an argument he had used successfully at that time. Nonetheless, Moses had been at liberty to use the argument of זכות אבות, the merit of the patriarchs in conjunction with the argument that G'd's effforts would be perceived as having been futile. The combined arguments would help ward off an evil decree at this time. However, Moses was very clever; he used the conjunctive letter ו to indicate that this was only an additional argument to others he would present. He emphasised that the Egyptians would most certainly hear about the demise of the Jewish people. The reason was that G'd had expended so much effort at the time to remove the Jewish people who had been an integral part of Egyptian society מקרבו, from within its midst. Whereas the whole world knew about the miracles G'd had performed at that time, the impression it had made on the Egyptian neighbours of the Israelites was far more pronounced. They would certainly follow the fortunes of this people to find out exactly how they progressed ever since they left Egypt. The word כי in כי העלית must be understood to mean "because," rather than "that." Another way of explaining the letter ו is to provide an answer to why Moses appeared concerned only about the impression the demise of the Jewish people were to make on the Egyptians and not on the other nations. He explained this by saying "for You have elevated this nation from amongst its midst." The Egyptians -as opposed to any other nation- were well aware that the Israelites could never have revolted successfully and have escaped from their enslavement if G'd had not literally "lifted the Jewish people out of their midst." Once they would hear about this people dying en masse they would...

כי העלית, “although You have brought them up, etc.;” according to our author, the meaning of the word כי here is the same as the word אשר, “which or whom.”

ושמעו מצרים כי העלית בכוחך את העם הזה מקרבו ואמרו אל יושבי הארץ הזאת מבלתי יכולת ה', “when Egypt will hear (about this) people whom you have taken out of Egypt with Your powerful hand...and they will tell the other nations that this was due to G’d’s inability, etc.” After the Torah had mentioned about the Egyptians hearing, the Torah continues outlining the nature of the intimate relationship between G’d and the Jewish people, by pointing out that the entire people had seen G’d’s revelation with their own eyes. According to Nachmanides the mention of the word עין here is essentially the same as מראה. The word appears in a similar sense in the description of the appearance of the manna in Numbers 11,7. A similar meaning of the word occurs in Ezekiel 1,27 where the prophet describes his vision of the angel he had seen who came to destroy the city of Jerusalem. Thus far Nachmanides. From the fact that both here and after the threat of wiping out the Jewish nation after the sin of the golden calf Moses each time used the argument of how such an event would diminish G’d’s image in the eyes of the Egyptians, one might conclude that had it not been for this consideration Moses would have acquiesced in the destruction of the Jewish people, and would have accepted G’d’s proposal to make a new Jewish people with himself as the founding patriarch. Such an assumption is completely erroneous as Moses had already linked his own death to the death of the Jewish people asking G’d to wipe him out of G’d’s history-book if He were to kill the Jewish people rather than his living to witness such a disaster (Exodus 32,32). When Moses appears to harp on the impression the demise of the people of Israel would make on the Egyptians and other nations, the point was that the deities of the Canaanites would be enhanced in the eyes of the Egyptians and they would ascribe superior power to them. G’d’s exertion of power in orchestrating the Exodus would be perceived as the maximum the Jewish G’d was capable of. If, nonetheless, the Israelites would not arrive at their destination, they would conclude that the deities of the Canaanites had the power to save themselves and their people from the hands of the Jewish G’d. This in turn would be a grave desecration of the name of the Lord and instead of the Exodus and all that took place in connection with it bringing the nations closer to monotheism the opposite would occur and the belief in certain deities would be immeasurably strengthened. G’d’s monopoly of power as recently manifested when He split the sea, etc., would be undercut. Moses rejected the proposal to become the founding father of a new Jewish nation as it would have been an act of desecrating the name of G’d to countenance the destruction of the Jewish people. Our sages said in Berachot 32 that as soon as G’d had told Moses to descend from the mountain as “your people have become corrupt,” his strength was greatly weakened just like that of a female. Why did the sages make this comparison to a female? They meant that just as the female receives, is passive by nature and receives all its strength through the male, Moses as the leader of a corrupt nation had become exposed as no better than a female, i.e. his greatness depended on the stature of the Jewish people, his charges. The peoples of the world would no longer perceive him or the Israelites as “males” but as female. The great Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet, may he live long, perceives this weakening of the power as referring to the perception of G’d’s power by the Egyptians who would no longer see in Him the prime force of the universe as they had done since the Exodus, but would conclude that the Jewish G’d was also only a secondary and not a primary source of power.

Moses said to God, “Then the Egyptians will hear, etc.” These verses need explanation, because Then the Egyptians will hear must necessarily be interpreted as referring to the killing, as Rashi explains. If so, the text should have immediately said after Then the Egyptians will hear, “and they will say to the inhabitants of this land.” Why does it say and the nations will say? If this refers to the Egyptians, why are they now simply called nations? And if this refers to the inhabitants of the land, why did it change their designation? Beyond this, the language is somewhat jumbled. I decided to seek assistance from what the Abarbanel wrote on the verse But as I live, and as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth. A king of flesh and blood takes revenge for two reasons: first, because he fears that today or tomorrow he might die and not see his revenge in his lifetime; second, because he fears that his enemy might flee to another place and he won’t be able to kill him. Therefore it says, But as I live, says the Lord — from My perspective there is no hindrance to postponing the punishment. Furthermore, the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth — so where can they flee from My presence? Therefore I will extend their time to 40 years, during which their sin will be cleansed. This is what Moses meant by and You kill this people as one man. If You destroy them in an instant, then You will act like a man who rushes to take revenge because of these two concerns. But You are God, not man — why should You rush to take revenge? And according to this, it can be explained that the Egyptians would not say “because of the Lord’s inability.” For they saw with their own eyes His power, blessed be He. And this is what is meant by And the Egyptians shall hear — when they hear about the killing, then they will speak to the inhabitants of this land, etc. And what is inserted between the connected phrases, the statement for You brought up in Your strength, etc., is giving a reason for the negation. Why would they not say “because of inability”? Because they saw that You brought up in Your strength, etc. Therefore, they certainly would not say because of the Lord’s inability, but they would say something else. And to whom would they say it? To the inhabitants of this land, those who are nearby. And why would they speak specifically to them? They have heard that You, O Lord, etc. For those nearby would have certainly heard that You, O Lord, are God and not a man, and there is no escape from You, for eye to eye You are seen, O Lord. Living and existing forever, and Your cloud stands over them, etc. And if so, whether in encampment or in travel, the pillar of cloud is with them, and where can they flee from Your presence? And You kill this people as one man — how can You act like a mortal man who rushes to take revenge in his anger? It would be shameful and outrageous to attribute such a quality to You, blessed be He. And this entire narrative is about they have heard that You, O Lord are God and not a man, yet You kill this people as one man. And what is inserted between the connected phrases — that eye to eye You are seen, O Lord, etc. — is to explain the two attributes mentioned in the verse But as I live, and the glory of the Lord shall fill the whole earth. For they are also alluded to in the statement that eye to eye You are seen, O Lord, and Your cloud stands over them, etc. And all these verses speak about what the nearby ones will tell among themselves, that is, Egypt with the inhabitant of this land, for they cannot say “for lack of ability” because they all saw and heard that He brought them up from Egypt with His might. And this is the key point: The more they see the power of God and His ability, the more they have reason to complain and say: How is it possible that He who is God in the midst of the land, who is seen eye to eye and whose cloud does not depart, would kill the people as if He were merely a mortal man? But those far away who have heard Your fame — although it’s possible they haven’t heard about all the mighty hand that God performed in Egypt, but only heard that there is a God who swore to Israel to bring them to the land — they will not be astonished about and You killed the people as one man. Instead, they will express a different kind of heresy, and this is what it means when it says and the nations will say — meaning those far away — because of God’s inability, etc. And although You said I will make you into a great and mighty nation, and thus eventually they will see God’s ability, nevertheless, in the meantime, God’s name will be desecrated because for many days they will be without the true God before I become a great nation. Therefore, and now — immediately in this generation — let the power of God be increased, for it is proper and right that even at this time, the power of God should be increased to nullify the words of the distant nations. God is slow to anger, etc. — to nullify the words of the Egyptians who said and You killed the people as one man. And God said: I have forgiven according to your word. In several places, they interpreted this verse regarding the incident of the Golden Calf, meaning that from the time of Egypt until now, I have forgiven according to your word, but from here onward, there is an accounting and I will not forgive completely. And He gave a reason for this: and they have tested Me these ten times, therefore I waived [their punishment] for them in the merit of Abraham who was tested with ten trials, but from then on this merit is exhausted, therefore I will collect My debt little by little. Although in the tractate Arakhin (15a) they also counted the incident of the spies among the ten trials, nevertheless, according to the simple meaning, we can say in place of the spies [incident], and they journeyed from the mountain of God (Numbers 10:33) — [meaning] away from following God. On the level of allusion [remez], it is possible to explain that eye [ayin, which is also a letter with a numerical value of 70] to eye refers to that which trough the merit that Israel received the Torah, which is expounded in seventy facets, they merited the eye of the Lord is toward those who fear Him (Psalms 33:18). And this is the interpretation of the verse (Isaiah 52:8) For eye to eye they shall see when the Lord returns to Zion. As our Sages of blessed memory said (Eruvin 65a), “When wine enters, secrets come out.” Wine is [numerically] seventy and secret is [numerically] seventy, because redemption is “the secret of the Lord to those who fear Him,” as it is written (Daniel 12:9), For the matters are closed and sealed. And when the wine of Torah, which has seventy facets, enters Israel, then the secret of redemption will come out and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed (Isaiah 40:5). This is what it means when it says, For eye — the redemption which is a secret — with eye — in the merit of the wine of Torah — they shall see when the Lord returns to Zion. And this is easily understood.

ושמעו מצרים, “when the Egyptians will hear (about this).” According to Rashi, Moses was referring to the Egyptians hearing abut G’d having killed the Jewish people. כי העלית, “whom You have brought up, etc.” According to Rashi the word כי in this instance means the same as אשר, which, whom. Nachmanides adds that if so, the word אל יושב in verse 14, normally understood as “to the inhabitants, etc.”’ must be understood as על יושב, “concerning the inhabitants.” He therefore prefers to interpret that Moses’ intention when giving this answer, was not that the Canaanites would conclude that they had been perceived as brave and powerful and could not be compared to the Egyptians who did not have 31 kings to lead them, and who on account of their having only one king could be defeated by the G’d of the Israelites. The Egyptians, according to Nachmanides’ interpretation of Moses’ argument, would assume that the demise of the Jewish people would prove that the deities of the Canaanites were more powerful than those of the Israelites. The Jewish G’d, they would reason, had prevailed only over relatively weak nations, nations whose deities had proved inferior. This would constitute a major desecration of G’d’s great name, and would strengthen all the pagan nations in their mistaken beliefs. When we consider matters in this light, the words אל יושב may be understood at face value, i.e. that the inhabitants of Egypt would say to the inhabitants of Canaan that what happened had revealed the weakness and inadequacy of the G’d of the Jews who had mistakenly been perceived as invincible.

And they will say to the inhabitants of this land — who have heard that You, Hashem, are He whose Shechinah dwells in the midst of this people, that with their own eyes they behold the Shechinah of the Glory of Hashem, and Your cloud overshadows them, and in a pillar of cloud You go before them by day and in a pillar of fire by night —

ואמרו אל יושב הארץ which is the same as על יושב הארץ THEY WILL SAY CONCERNING THE INHABITANTS OF THIS LAND — What will they say concerning them? That which is stated at the end of the paragraph, (v. 16): 'מבלתי יכולת ה “Because the Lord was unable etc. … [he hath slaughtered them in the wilderness]”. — The connection between that verse and what preceeds is as follows: Because they have heard that Thou, O Lord, dwellest in their midst and that Thou appearest to them face to face and all this is in an affectionate manner (i.e. all this is evidence of the affection in which Thou holdest them), and until now they had not realized that Your love for them had been withdrawn.

THAT THOU, ETERNAL, ‘NIR’AH’ (HAST BEEN SEEN) EYE TO EYE. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that “[this verse is to be understood in the light of what it says], And the appearance of the Glory of the Eternal etc. in the eyes of the children of Israel. Nir’ah is a verb in the past tense, and it means ‘Thou hast been seen.’ Similarly, ‘v’neisha’ar’ ani [is like v’neisha’arti — ‘and I was left’]. So also, for ‘umlal’ ani [is like umlalti — ‘I have languished away’] because the letter lamed is vowelled with a long pathach.” A’YIN B’A'YIN’ (EYE TO EYE). The double use of the word eye [in this phrase] has been explained by commentators as indicating human [behavior], for the eyes [of a speaker] look into the eyes of the listener to whom he is speaking. A similar case is the verse, Face to face did the Eternal speak with you. And by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], the word a’yin is an expression for “vision,” [“appearance,” as in these verses:] ‘v’eino k’ein’ (and the appearance thereof was as the appearance of) bdellium; and I saw ‘k’ein’ (as the appearance of) electrum. The verse here is thus stating: “inasmuch as Thy Great Name is seen through the appearance of an appearance;” and this is also the meaning of the verse with reference to Ezekiel, And the appearance of the vision which I saw was like the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar.

"That eye to eye" — referring to the Glory that the elders witnessed, or to the appearance of Hashem's Glory before the eyes of Israel; the latter is the more correct. "Is seen" (נִרְאָה) — a past-tense verb; its meaning is "You, Hashem, have been seen"; similarly "and I remained" (וְנִשָּׁאֵר אָנִי); and likewise "for I am wretched" (כִּי אוּמְלַל אָנִי), on account of the lamed being in patah gadol. "Standing over them" — while they were seated.

אשר עין בעין נראה, the entire verse illustrates graphically the visual experiences Israel had enjoyed in its relationship with G’d something that would make their committing the kind of sin on account of which their G’d would wipe them out unthinkable. [I paraphrased here. Ed.]

ואמרו אל יושבי הארץ הזאת, and they will say to the inhabitants of this land, etc. The Torah fails to mention what precisely the Egyptians would tell the Canaanites. If the Torah meant that they would tell the Canaanites about G'd's inability, etc., these words should have been appended in the following sequence: "they will say to the inhabitants of the land of Canaan that G'd was unable, etc." The word ושמעו should have appeared at the beginning of the verse, not after "the inhabitants of this land." We therefore must understand the verse as follows: ואמרו, when the Egyptians will hear about the fate of the Jewish people they will attribute this to their G'd's inability to overcome the Canaanites though He had been able to overcome them at that time. The Egyptians could construe two possible reasons for the demise of the Jewish people. 1) They did not qualify for the miracles it would take for their G'd to overcome the Canaanites. There is no comparison between overcoming the single Egyptian nation and overcoming of seven powerful nations such as the Canaanites. The fact that the Jewish G'd had overcome Egypt does not prove that He is omnipotent seeing that the Egyptians were far weaker than the Canaanites. G'd was not fond enough of the Israelites to orchestrate the type of miracles needed to overcome the Canaanites. 2) G'd did love the people sufficiently; however He was not powerful enough to overcome the Canaanites. This is why Moses said: כי אתה ה׳ בקרב העם הזה, "for You O Lord are in the midst of this people." Moses meant that G'd should not allow the Egyptians to conclude that the Canaanites too were beloved of G'd and that is why He did not disinherit them. The Egyptians were well aware of how beloved the Jews were in the eyes of G'd. If G'd did not bring them to the Holy Land and rather killed them, this could only be interpreted by them as proof of His impotence in the matter.

ואמרו, “and the Egyptians will say, etc,”אל יושבי הארץ, “to the inhabitants of this land, etc.”What are they going to tell them? Because of G-d’s inability, etc.” (B’chor shor)

אשר עין בעין, “who appeared eye to eye.” Nachmanides refers to the commentators who understand this phrase as describing that G’d, when performing the miracles for His people, appeared to them as visible as when one human being sees another human being performing acts which used to be considered as beyond human capacity. The expression would be parallel to the expression פנים בפנים דבר ה' עמכם, “face to face did Hashem speak to you.” He suggests as a possible alternative interpretation of this expression that it describes a great vision, great spectacle, the word being used in a manner similar to when the Torah described the appearance of the manna as being ועינו כעין הבדולח, in Number 11,7, where it meant “its appearance was like the gemstone known as bedolach.”

ואמרו אל יושב הארץ הזאת, the Egyptians will say concerning the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, as Rashi explained on verse 13 (that the Jewish G’d was unable to cope with the Canaanites)

if You kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard the report of Your might will say:

והמתה את העם הזה כאיש אחד IF THOU PUTTEST TO DEATH ALL THIS PEOPLE AS ONE MAN — i.e. suddenly; then, because of this the nations who have heard the fame of Thee [will say as follows]:

"And the nations that have heard Your renown" — the Egyptians, and also the Canaanites, and others as well.

והמתה…כאיש אחד, "and You kill them..all at the same time, etc." Moses revealed here that he did not plead for G'd to forgive the Israelites their sin; he only pleaded that the retribution should be such that it did not result in a desecration of G'd's name in the eyes of the nations. This is why he emphasised the words כאיש אחד, "as one man." ואמרו הגוים, "and the Gentile nations will say, etc." Moses did not only refer to the Egyptians but to all the nations who would hear about the fate of the Jewish people. לאמור, to say; this word again means "something elevated," as we explained on 14,7. All the people who had thus far looked upon the G'd of the Hebrews as a supreme deity would now revise their estimate of G'd's capabilities if they heard that this G'd had wiped out His people as one man. Moses added the letter ו at the beginning of the word אמרו in order to indicate that he referred to all the Gentile nations not only to the Egyptians. Another reason for the open-ended word לאמור is that Moses did not know precisely what the Gentiles would say and in what order. When Moses spoke about what the Gentiles would say, i.e. ואמרו, he did not imply that they would be justified in what they would say. He was only concerned that they would say it anyway.

'Because there was no ability before Hashem to bring this people into the land that He had promised them, He slew them in the wilderness.'

מבלתי יכלת וגו׳ BECAUSE THE LORD IS UNABLE etc., — “He is unable to bring them into the land on Canaan because the inhabitants of the land are strong and mighty; and besides, one king, Pharaoh, is not like thirty-one kings, who inhabit Canaan”. — This is what they will say concerning the inhabitants of this land (these kings): מבלתי יכלת because He had no power to bring them into the Land He hath slaughtered them (Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 13). יכלת is a noun form.

"Could" (יָכֹלְתָּ) — a noun [form], like "until the waters dried up" (עַד יְבֹשֶׁת הַמַּיִם); it is not a term of measure as in the midrashic exposition. "And He slaughtered them in the wilderness" — the meaning is that He killed them; he says "slaughtered" because of the wilderness, for that is where flocks are pastured.

מבלתי יכלת, "due to an inability, etc." This may either mean that the people would believe that G'd never had such power or that He had lost such power due to old age, etc. (compare Psalms 14,1). Either way, Moses could not envisage a greater desecration of G'd's Holy Name than to allow people to arrive at such conclusions. העם, the people, etc. This verse is intended to counter G'd's intention to create a new nation from Moses' descendants. Moses argued that even this would be a desecration of the Lord's name. As long as G'd had not brought the nation to the land of Canaan His image would remain tarnished. Refer to what I have written on the word ושמעו on verse 13. The thrust of Moses' argument was that even though the Israelites had spurned their G'd, if He would retaliate by killing them in one fell swoop this would be a desecration of His name, world wide. When the Torah wrote in verse 13 "Moses spoke to G'd," the words "to G'd" may be a hint that his concern was for the damage killing the Israelites would do to G'd, i.e. to His image in the world.

Now the Torah explains first what would prompt the Canaanites to say what Moses assumed they would be saying if G’d were to wipe out the Jewish nation. They would recall that they had heard about what G’d had done on behalf of the Jewish nation, how He had displayed so much fondness for them in the manner in which He had redeemed them from their slavery in Egypt. If, in spite of this, He had now killed them in one fell swoop, this was not because He suddenly hated them, but because He realised that He could not keep His promise to them, being unable to overcome the 31 kings who banded together to resist the invasion of their country. Moses appeals for G’d to reconsider so that His Holy name would not be desecrated by the nations.

'מבלי יכולת ה, “because of the Lord’s inability, etc.” the surrounding nations would not interpret G–d’s wiping out the Israelites as an act of punishment, because they had angered Him, but as an admission of His inability to fulfill His promise to them to bring them to the Land of Canaan. After all the gentile nations had had ample opportunity to have seen how much G–d loved His people as was described in verse 14. Therefore the only explanation of the demise of the Jewish people they could accept would be His inability to make good on His promise.

And now, may the power before Hashem be greatly magnified, as You have spoken, saying:

('יגדל נא כח ה — LET THE STRENGTH OF MY LORD BE GREAT — by fulfilling Your statement.) כאשר דברת לאמר ACCORDING AS THOU HAST SPOKEN, SAYING — And what is the utterance which Thou hast spoken?

AND NOW, I PRAY THEE, LET THE POWER OF THE ETERNAL BE GREAT, ACCORDING AS THOU HAST SPOKEN, SAYING. “And what is that utterance? The Eternal is long-suffering — both to the righteous and to the wicked. When Moses ascended to heaven [to receive the Torah], he found the Holy One, blessed be He, writing: The Eternal is long-suffering. Whereupon he [Moses] said to Him: ‘To the righteous.’ But G-d answered him, ‘Also to the wicked!’ Moses then said, ‘The wicked — let them perish!’ Whereupon G-d said to him: ‘By your life! You will [eventually] need to resort to this’ [attribute — that G-d is long-suffering even with sinners]. When the Israelites had sinned because of the golden calf and spies, and Moses prayed to G-d that He be long-suffering with them, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, ‘Did you not tell Me that this is [only] for the righteous!’ Whereupon Moses answered Him, ‘But did You not tell me that it is also for the wicked. Let then the power of the Eternal be great to do as You have spoken.’” These are the words of Rashi, based on the interpretation of Agadah. The way of Truth you will recognize because G-d’s Name in this context is written with Aleph Daleth (A-donoy) — [a Name which alludes to the attribute of judgment], and Moses meant to say that the greatness be in the power which is mercy, since it was the attribute of judgment that was directed against them. Now Moses mentioned among the [Divine] attributes long-suffering, and plenteous in loving kindness, but he did not mention “truth” [although it is also one of the Thirteen Attributes], for according to the attribute of truth they would have been guilty. Nor did Moses mention keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, because Moses did not pray [for mercy] here on the basis of the merit of the patriarchs, and [therefore] he did not mention Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at all in this prayer. The reason [for not mentioning them] was because the Land was given to the patriarchs, and it is from them that they were to inherit it, but they rebelled against their ancestors, and did not want the gift which the patriarchs desired very much, so how could he say now, [Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants,] to whom Thou didst swear by Thine own self, … and all this Land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, since they were saying: “We do not want this gift!”Moses [mentioned here the attribute of forgiving iniquity and transgression but he] did not say and sin, because these people were wilful transgressors and sinners. But I do not know why he did not mention [the attributes] merciful and gracious. Perhaps Moses knew that judgment was directed against them and He would never forgive them; therefore he prayed only that [G-d be] long-suffering, and should not destroy them as one man, and should not slay them like sheep in the wilderness where they would die in a plague. And since Moses only prayed now for [G-d to be] long-suffering, G-d said to him, I have pardone...

"Let it be great, I pray" (יִגְדַּל נָא) — this is close in sense to "long-suffering," for anyone who is long-suffering possesses great strength to break his anger. The proof is: "as You have spoken, that You are long-suffering." I have explained these attributes in the portion of Ki Tissa.

'יגדל נא כח ה, to suppress the demands of the attribute of Justice.

ועתה יגדל נא כח השם, "and now, I pray, let the Power of the Lord be great!" We need to analyse why Moses said: "and now," as well as why he said that G'd's power should appear great although He had not done anything to demonstrate wherein His power was so great. The word יגדל implies that G'd would perform some act which would enhance people's awe for His power. Why did Moses use the word נא in the middle of the verse? If it were meant as a plea he should have started the sentence with that word. If it meant something like "now," he had already said ועתה. Furthermore, what did he mean by the words כאשר דברת, as You have said?" What had G'd said, and when did He say it? What is the meaning of the word לאמור? To whom was G'd supposed to say this? Seeing that Moses had been clever in his argument about the damage to G'd's world-wide image which killing the Israelites would entail, he added that there was another advantage for G'd if He would allow His anger to dissipate and let the Israelites enter the land of Canaan, an advantage that G'd had not enjoyed previously. The advantage to G'd would be that in view of the exaggerated report of the toughness of the inhabitants of that land G'd's power would indeed be perceived as great when He demonstrated it by helping the Israelites to conquer them. Moses added: כאשר דברת. This is a reference to the first verse in our portion where G'd's reason for despatching the spies is described as "to tour the land I am about to give them." We explained there that the land was not subject to conquest by the Israelites and could only be attained by them as a gift from G'd. G'd Himself had told Moses at the time to point this out to the Israelites. This was the meaning of the word לאמר in 13,1. The meaning of the word נא is "now." Moses repeated this word. We have beeen told in Bereshit Rabbah 21,6 that the word ועתה invariably means that G'd provided an opening for man to do תשובה, to repent. Moses apologised so to speak for having said things to G'd about Him which should not be said by any human being although he had only paraphrased what he presumed that the Gentiles would say. We find an analogous situation in the Talmud when witnesses were required to repeat the exact words they heard a blasphemer say before such a blasphemer could be convicted (Sanhedrin 60). The witnesses in question have to rend their garments in grief and remorse at the words their mouths had to utter. Moses did something similar and that is why he added the word ועתה in addition to the word נא. He may also have hinted that the word ועתה represented the remorse of the Israelites who prayed that G'd's power would be perceived to be great henceforth and that G'd should accept their repentance. We are told in Berachot 34 that repentant sinners are on a morally higher plateau than people who have never sinned. The reason is that G'd's name is sanctified more when the world perceives that sinners have changed their ways. Moses alluded to this ...

יגדל נא כח ה, “let the power of Hashem be great!” Moses prays that G-d’s attribute of Mercy be more powerful than His attribute of Justice; the source of this argument is found in Proverbs 16,32: טוב ארך אפים מגבור, “he that is slow to anger is better than he who is mighty.”An alternate interpretation: Moses refers here to what he imagined the nations as saying when faced with the disappearance of the Jewish nation. He is challenging G-d to prove to all those who do not believe in G-d’s ability to let the Jewish people conquer the Canaanites and dispossess them, that they are indeed capable of doing just that. כח ה, the name of G-d here is the one we spell with the letter ד, i.e. adonay. כאשר דברת, “as You have said.” (During the episode of the golden calf.) There are minor differences between what was said then and what is recorded now. These differences are immaterial, as in almost all cases in the Torah when something is repeated the two versions are not absolutely identical

ועתה יגדל נא כח ה', “and now may the strength of My Lord be magnified, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the text Moses meant that anyone who possesses the attribute of being slow to anger (extreme patience) possesses the strength to conquer his anger; Moses therefore added: “as You have spoken, saying,” referring to the attributes of His which G’d had revealed to him after the episode of the golden calf. This is why he immediately added mention of the attribute ה' ארך אפים, “the Lord is slow to anger.” The reason he added the word לאמור was to show that this attribute would be invoked in a time of distress. This is similar to a statement by our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 70,1 on Genesis 28,20 וידר יעקב נדר לאמור, “Yaakov vowed a vow saying,” is quoted as meaning that he found himself in a state of distress. The word לאמור is understood as referring to future occasions when Jews would find themselves in distress and when the making of a vow to invoke G’d’s assistance is advised by Yaakov as being appropriate. A Midrashic approach based on Bamidbar Rabbah (16,22): The words “let Your strength be magnified” mean that Moses pleads that the attribute of Mercy should prevail over the attribute of Justice at all times in the future. Consider the fact that the letters א-ד in the word א-ד-נ-י as well as the letter י in the word יגדל are written in larger size letters. [I have found editions with a larger י in the word יגדל whereas I have not found the word א-ד-נ-י spelled different from normal. Ed.] At any rate, the author uses the larger letter י in the word יגדל as an allusion that the attribute of Mercy as represented by that letter י should always be in the ascendancy. This may be understood in terms of a parable. A friend of the bride (king’s daughter) entered the palace in order to sing the praises of the king’s daughter. When he entered the king’s chamber he found the king and the judges discussing some misdemeanor the daughter had been guilty of. The friend was now in a quandary as to how to proceed. He said to himself that if he would plead her case before the king the judge would be affronted, whereas if he pleaded her case in front of the judge the king would be affronted. What did he do? He pleaded the case before both the king and the judge addressing the king first. This is why the letter י as an allusion to the attribute of Mercy is spelled in larger script to indicate that Moses first addressed the attribute of Mercy before pleading with the attribute of Justice which was dealing with the Israelites’ sin. As a result of this ingenious approach the “king” i.e. the attribute of Mercy, immediately responded favorably saying: “I have forgiven in accordance with what you have said.” A kabbalistic approach: The words יגדל נא כח א-ד-נ-י mean that the latent power reposing in the attribute of Mercy should be reinforced so that it will not escape into the highest regions of the heavens, [a withdrawal from mankind or the people of Israel of that attribute. Ed.] The whole matter may be understood thus: when the Jewish people perform the commandments and therefore the will of the Lord, G’d will “ride the heavens,” as Moses said in Deut. 33,27 “He rides the heavens with your (Israel’s) help.” Israel’s conduct exerts influence on the manifestation of G’d’s powers. This is the meaning of Psalms 60,14 באלו-הים נעשה חיל, “we will perform valiantly for the sake of the Lord.” On the other hand, when the Jewish people do not observe the commandments He distances Himself from those of His attributes which are invoked often on behalf of Israel. This is the meaning of Deut. 33,29: ובגאותו שחקים, “He will adopt a haughty attitude by withdrawing to the level of the celestial domains known as Shechakim.” In other words, Israel’s sinful conduct causes the manifestations of G’d’s powers to wane. The meaning of the word יגדל in our verse then is that G’d’s powers should become manifest in ever greater measure. Another reference to the ability of the Jewish people to “weaken” the apparent power of G’d is found in Deut. 32,18 where Moses describes the rebellious Jewish people as causing צור ילדך תשי, “you caused the Rock Who gave birth to you to become ‘weak.’” Seeing that at this point the Israelites had all become guilty of death, Moses was forced to pray that the manifestation of G’d’s power should be great. In Psalms 40,17 David uses a similar language when he concludes with the word יגדל as the word the people who are in search of the Lord are to use when they look for G’d’s help. The experts in Kabbalah have used the term עזר when referring to the drawing forth of G’d’s abundance on behalf of man (Shabbat 89). This is what is meant by the Talmud when we are told that when Moses ascended Mount Sinai he found that G’d was busy tying “crowns” to the various letters in the Torah. When Moses failed to extend a greeting to G’d, G’d asked him if in his city it was not customary to extend greetings to someone when one meets him. Moses replied that it is presumptuous for a slave to open his mouth in greeting to his master. G’d responded that in spite of this dictum it had been up to Moses לעזרני. [This word is usually translated as “to assist Me.” Ed.] In kabbalistic terms the word means “to provide a reason for My abundance to be channeled to my creatures.” When Moses ascended the Mountain a second time, he said: ועתה יגדל נא כח א-ד-נ-י upon arrival. So in our verse too the meaning of these words is that Moses appealed for G’d’s largesse to become manifest as proof of His power. We are faced here with the failure of Moses to invoke another one of the attributes G’d had taught him after the debacle with the golden calf, I refer to the attribute ה' אל רחום וחנון, “the Lord is a gracious and merciful G’d.” He also did not invoke the attributes ואמת ונוצר חסד לאלפים, “Truth, preserving kindness and for thousands of generations.” He also failed to invoke the attribute called חטאה in Exodus 34,4 (a reference to G’d’s willingness to forgive unintentional sin). If Moses failed to mention the attributes we just mentioned, this was not an oversight but was quite deliberate. Moses taught us a lesson in how to structure our prayers and into the manner a supplicant has to pray if he wants his prayers to find a favourable echo in G’d’s ears. Moses invoked here only six of the thirteen attributes G’d had taught him as potentially designed to appease His anger. He omitted seven of these attributes. The reason he did not mention the attributes ה' אל רחום וחנון is because these attributes are invoked on behalf of people who are confident that their merits exceed their demerits. The Jewish people’s merits at this time were clearly in the minority and any mention of these attributes of G’d would have been provocative rather than designed to appease G’d’s anger. He did not invoke G’d’s attribute of אמת, Truth, as according to the standards of that attribute the Jewish people would clearly have been guilty of death. The attribute of “truth” is part of the attribute of Justice. Our sages in Avodah Zarah 4 explained that the meaning of that attribute is that G’d does not go beyond the boundaries of what is coming to a person, He does not extend latitude beyond the requirements of Justice. In this instance (in the words of Jeremiah 7,28) “truth (faithfulness) had perished, vanished from their mouths.” How could Moses therefore invoke such an attribute at this time? Moses also did not invoke the attributes נוצר חסד לאלפים, seeing that at this time Moses did not invoke the merits of the patriarchs as he had done in the case of the sin of the golden calf. After all, the people’s sin had been their contempt for the very land which the patriarchs had chosen as their homeland. It would have been disastrous to invoke the patriarchs as support for a people who had just rejected the values the patriarchs had held dear. Neither did Moses invoke the attribute חטאה as the sin they were guilty of now was deliberate, not due to oversight or carelessness. Moses did have to invoke the ineffable name י-ה-ו-ה however, as this was the first name given to him in the list of the thirteen attributes. According to Rosh Hashanah 17, the reason that this name is repeated in the list of the thirteen attributes in Exodus is that this name is invoked first before repentance has taken effect and again after the sinner has repented. The message of G’d is that as David phrased it in Psalms 145,9 “G’d is good to all His creatures,” i.e. He is not prejudiced against the sinners. Moreover, once the sinner has repented G’d will accept this repentance even if in the overall balance of that person’s deeds the demerits outweigh the merits. G’d hopes that His mercy will result in the sinner confessing his other sins also and restructuring his lifestyle. In this respect G’d is different from a human king who will always remember and consider in the back of his mind that someone whom he had pardoned a trespass had been guilty of that trespass at one time. [Forgiveness is an exclusive attribute of G’d; it is not given to man to “forgive” in the sense of blotting out the sin in his mind. This is why Yaakov did not tell the brothers to ask Joseph’s forgiveness. Ed.] In this instance Moses invoked the ineffable Name only once as at this time the Israelites had not yet repented at all. G’d’s Ineffable Name could be invoked after the sin had been committed even without repentance having occurred yet. [This was a new dimension of G’d’s reaction to sinners, i.e. that His basic relation to them had not changed. Ed.]. There was another reason why Moses mentioned the Ineffable Name here only once. Moses appealed to the Lord in His capacity as the Supreme King, from whom all attributes emanate. He was hopeful (but not certain) that the people would repent. In the event that their repentance would not be forthcoming immediately, Moses appealed immediately to the attribute of ארך אפים, reminding G’d that He extended His patience both to the sinners and the righteous. This is why he referred to the wordאפים in the plural, i.e. wrath against the wicked or against the righteous who had become guilty of sin. Not only this, added Moses, but “You are רב חסד, “abundant in kindness,” i.e. if someone’s merits and demerits are in balance You tip the scales in his favour, even if he did not do repentance. If such a person did תשובה, You forgive him for both his intentional sins and even the ones which represented acts of insurrection against You, עון ופשע. Those who do not repent do not qualify for such forgiveness, i.e. לא ינקה, He does not consider such a person as completely cleaned from sin, ever. Nonetheless, He does not wipe them out together with their offspring but waits several generations פוקד אבות על בנים to see if subsequent generations will find their way back to the Lord. Seeing that G’d had previously revealed these attributes to Moses, he could now argue that to kill the people by pestilence would negate some of these attributes which G’d had taught him to use in prayer. G’d could, however, without violating His principles, exact punishment from the children and subsequent generations a little at a time as He Himself had said. To this plea G’d responded by saying: “I have forgiven in accordance with your words.” Moreover, if they had any residual claim on unused merits of the patriarchs-here described as חסד- G’d promised to preserve this for many future generations [instead of squandering it now, Ed.] However, G’d would not pardon this sin forever and as a result they would die in the desert and perish there. G’d would allow the children and grandchildren to complete the journey to the Holy Land in accordance with His principle of suspending certain judgments for up to four generations. Part of this promise entailed that the Jewish people would have many occasions to weep on the anniversary of this night as we have outlined before. This was the downside of the words פוקד עון אבות על בנים, that G’d would delay exacting the balance of the punishment due and not canceled. Moses was astute enough not to ask for forgiveness for the sin of the people as he realised that what had happened here was totally unforgivable. This is why he phrased his prayer in such a way that the punishment should be exacted over a period of time instead of all at once. In recognition of the careful way Moses had phrased his prayer G’d responded immediately by saying: “I have forgiven,” but “only on the terms you have spelled out yourself.” The people, however, who had been eye witnesses to all of G’d’s miracles could not be allowed to see the land that G’d had intended to give them. Shemot Rabbah 8,13 understood the additional words כאשר אמרת in G’d’s response as referring to the sin of the golden calf. Our sages understand the: “I have forgiven,” which G’d said at the end of the third 40 days which Moses spent on the mountain when he received the second set of Tablets, as a contrast to the sin of the spies. G’d told Moses (here) that whereas I have forgiven the sin of the golden calf in accordance with your plea and arguments, I have not and will not forgive this sin and the people old enough to be accountable will die in the desert. The fact is that though the words: “I have forgiven in accordance with your words” have been written here in connection with the sin of the spies, they really apply to the sin of the golden calf. A Midrashic approach, based on Mechilta Yitro Bachodesh 9: the word כדברך in addition to the word סלחתי is similar to when Pharaoh told Moses כדברך, i.e. it is a form of admission. When the master agrees with conditions set by his servant such a servant is indeed blessed. (the reference is to Moses accepting Pharaoh’s request to delay removal of the frogs until the following day; Exodus 8,6) In this instance G’d, the master, accepted the servant Moses’ conditions.

יגדל נא כח, to restrain Your anger. We know from Solomon in Proverbs 16,32 that “it is better to practice restraining one’s anger, than to display brute force as a proof of one’s power. Ruling one’s spirit is better than conquering a city.”

'ועתה יגדל נא כח ה, “and now I pray let the Power of the Lord be great;” Moses considers a display of being able to suppress one’s anger as the greatest proof of greatness. Our sages in Ethics 4,1, have defined the term גבור, “hero,” as someone who can conquer his emotions when they threaten to overrule his intellect. This is what Solomon already taught us in Proverbs, 16,32: טוב ארך אפים מגבור, “he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty.” כאשר דברת לאמר, “as You have declared, saying:” Moses refers to Exodus 33,13: where he had spoken to G–d asking Him to reveal to Him His way of reacting to the people’s sins if and when they would occur. He had requested that G–d reveal to him all of His attributes relevant to judging His creatures. At that time, when the glory of Hashem, passed by him while he was hiding in the cleft of a rock, one of the attributes G–d had revealed to him was the one known as ארך אפים, “slow to anger.” At this point Moses did not remind G–d of His attribute רחמים, “the Merciful One;” on that occasion both of theses attributes had to be called upon, whereas here there was no pointing referring to any attribute other than that of Mercy. He also did not refer to the attribute אל, G–d in His capacity of judge, seeing that he could not hope that G–d would completely ignore the people’s lack of faith and their having accused Him of hating them. He could only ask G–d to temper His anger by limiting the penalty. Moses concentrated on those attributes which, if displayed by G–d at this time, would preserve the people’s future, even if the people personally guilty of accepting the slander of the ten spies would obviously have to pay a price, i.e. they had rejected the Holy Land, therefore G–d would accept their rejection of it and not make them live in it. Our author details why Moses refrained from mentioning any Divine attribute which would prove counterproductive if Moses would refer to it.

Hashem is slow to anger and abounds in doing good and truth, forgiving iniquity and rebellion, and granting pardon for sins to those who return to His Torah; but those who do not return He does not acquit — visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the rebellious children, to the third generation and to the fourth generation.

ה' אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם “The Lord is long suffering” towards both the righteous and the wicked. When Moses ascended to Heaven to receive the Law he found the Holy One, blessed be He, engaged in writing: “The Lord is long-suffering”. He asked, “Surely only to the righteous?” The Holy One, blessed be He, answered him, “To the wicked also!” Whereupon Moses said: “The wicked — let them perish!” He (the Lord) replied to him: “I swear by your life that you shall eventually need this thing (the extension of My mercy also to the wicked)”. When the Israelites sinned at the incident of the Golden Calf and at that of the spies, Moses offered prayer before Him, with mention of God’s attribute of ארך אפים (of His being long suffering). The Holy One, blessed be He, then said to him: Did you not say, “Surely only to the righteous!?” Whereupon Moses replied, “But did You not tell me, ‘To the wicked also’?” Let then — Moses added — the strength of My Lord be great [even as Thou didst say] — by fulfilling Thy statement and not mine! (Sanhedrin 111a). ונקה AND HE CLEARS those who repent, לא ינקה BUT DOES NOT CLEAR those who do not repent (Yoma 86a; cf. Onkelos and Rashi on Exodus 34:7).

פוקד עון אבות על בנים, this may extend until the fourth generation, i.e. if the fourth generation of the original sinner will still continue in the wicked ways of their forbears that will make the measure of sin of those families in the third generation so full that it has become irreversible and G’d will take the appropriate action. If the sons and grandsons continued in the evil ways of their forbears but not until the fourth generation, G’d will suspend retribution to see how the fourth generation would conduct themselves before exacting retribution.

ה׳ ארך אפים, The Lord is slow to anger, etc. Why did Moses not invoke all of the thirteen attributes G'd had taught him after the sin of the golden calf? We may understand this in accordance with Rosh Hashanah 17. We quote: "ה׳, ה, I am the Lord before man sins as well as after he has sinned and has repented his sin." In my commentary on Exodus 34,6 I have quoted what the Rosh has to say on this subject as well as my own understanding of it. You have learned that the attribute of Mercy has to be invoked on behalf of man even before he has sinned. In this instance Moses had to invoke that attribute only after the sin. This is why he said השם only once. Tossaphot in Rosh Hashanah 17 quote both the Rosh and comments by Rav Nissim according to whom the first word השם in Exodus 34,6 is not part of the 13 attributes at all. It is only inserted to tell us who it is that is reciting the remainder of the attributes. Accordingly, there was never a reason for Moses having to say השם השם. We only need to understand how Rav Nissim could disagree with all the earlier authorities. Perhaps we should understand Rav Nissim to mean that he explained what the other authorities had said. When they referred to the two words השם referring to G'd's attribute of Mercy before the sin and after the sin which the sinner repented respectively, they meant to tell us that the quality of G'd's mercy has not changed because man sinned. G'd tells us that there is no new element in His attribute of Mercy as a result of man having sinned. This consideration may also help us answer the question of the Rosh. The latter had asked why G'd's attribute of Mercy needs to be invoked before the sin at all. Actually, it does have to be invoked even then. You will note that Moses also skipped three more attributes of the 13 attributes G'd had revealed to him; he did not mention either קל, רחום, or חנון. The reason was that these three attributes need to be invoked only if someone either finds himself in trouble already and has no means of extricating himself. Or, it may be invoked on behalf of someone already suffering severe pains; it may also be invoked on behalf of someone totally deprived of any of the good (pleasant) aspects of life. Moses commenced with invoking G'd's patience, ארך אפים, which is something He extends even to deliberate sinners. We are told in Sanhedrin 111 that when Moses ascended to the celestial regions in order to receive the Tablets, he found G'd occupied writing the word ארך אפים. He assumed that G'd meant that He extended His patience to the basically Torah-observant people. G'd corrected him saying that he extends His patience even to the habitual sinners. Moses objected saying that those ought to be wiped out. G'd told Moses that he would soon learn that even the habitual sinners had need of this attribute of His. When Israel sinned, G'd asked Moses: "did you not say that I should be patient only with the righteous?" Moses retorted: "Did You not tell me that ...

ה׳ ארך אפים, “the Lord is slow to anger;” Moses does not mention the attribute “el” here in connection with erech apayim, though it usually is mentioned. The reason for this is that it normally reflects aspects of G-d’s power, and Moses did not want G-d to display His power against Israel. He also did not mention the attributes of rachum v’chanun aspects of G-d’s mercy and grace, as these attributes are used when describing G-d as bestowing gifts on mankind, as we know from Psalms 37,21: וצדיק חונן ונותן, “and the righteous excels in generosity and keeps giving.”Moses did not beg G-d to show his people favoritism, but he wanted Him to grant forgiveness on the basis of the attribute: emet, “truth,” but on the basis of what is known as lifnim mishurat hadin, somewhat beyond the strict requirements of justice. However, the word אמת describes absolute truth, without allowances being made for special considerations of the person or persons being judged. (compare b’chor shor on Leviticus 5,15.) An alternate interpretation: the reason why Moses omitted to refer to G-d’s attribute of truth is that he did not want G-d to employ that attribute as it had been mentioned by G-d when He said: “I will smite them with pestilence,” which would have been what the Israelites deserved at that stage. [after all, surely G-d would not have exceeded the application of pure justice as represented by emet, truth. Ed.] Moses also did not invoke G-d’s attribute of נוצר חסד, “storing up good deeds,” performed in the past by the party or parties being judged. G-d had told Moses, that on the contrary, the people had tested Him beyond endurance already 10 times [and had certainly used up any reservoir of goodwill they had built up in the past. My words. Ed.] וחטאה, “an inadvertent transgression;” Moses could not invoke this attribute of G-d as what the people had just become guilty of could never be called “inadvertent.”

ה', the attribute of G’d as the Eternal; The Holy name is not repeated here as it had been when Hashem revealed 13 of His attributes to Moses in Exodus The reason is that in that context it meant that Hashem is and remains Hashem before man sins as well as after he has sinned and before he has repented. G’d is ready to forgive man’s error, as long as man displays remorse. This was an attribute that it was appropriate to stress in context of the sin of the golden calf as in Exodus 34 the people had already repented and done what they could to cleanse themselves of their sin. In our context, at the time when G’d responds to Moses, the people had not yet become penitents, hence the attribute Is mentioned only once. ארך אפים ורב חסד, “slow to anger and abundant in kindness.” Nachmanides draws attention to Moses not referring to the attribute אמת which G’d had also revealed to him in Exodus 34. He could not do so now, as seeing that the people had not yet repented, Moses could not invoke an attribute of G’d which comes into play only after the people had owned up their own version of אמת, truth, by having sincerely repented. Moses did not mention such attributes as נוצר חסד לאלפים, “Preserver of kindness for thousands of generations” (Exodus 34,7) either, as he did not invoke the merit of the forefathers in his present prayer. Moses had not referred to Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov in his prayer on this occasion at all, seeing that the land had been deeded to these patriarchs and the people’s sin here consisted of their rejecting this very inheritance. Moses did not mention the attribute known as חטאה at this juncture either, as that attribute could be invoked only if the sins committed had been committed inadvertently. When sins were committed knowingly, or even in a spirit of rebellion against G’d, it would have seemed frivolous to mention that attribute. I am not sure why Moses did not invoke the attributes of רחום וחנון on this occasion. Perhaps it is because he was aware that the entire scenario was one in which dominance had been given by G’d already to the attribute of Justice. There could no longer be any point in appealing to G’d’s attributes of pity, etc, as those attributes presuppose at least some redeeming aspect in what the sinner had done. He did mention G’d’s attribute of ארך אפים, inordinate amount of patience when dealing with sinners, which manifested itself here by the people not dying all at once, but their punishment being spread over a period of 38 years. In deference to Moses’ invoking only the attribute of G’d’s patience, G’d responded by saying: “I have forgiven, in accordance with your words,” i.e. by spreading the decree of death in the desert over a whole generation. (Verse 20) Moses also did invoke the attribute known as פוקד עון אבות על בנים, that G’d remembers the sins of the fathers to their children, [another kind of deferment of punishment, i.e. if the fathers had been punished in full, the children would never have been born to them before they died. Ed.] when He decreed that for having wept when they had no reason to weep, they would have to weep for many hundreds of years on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, something they would have reason to weep about if they reflected on their history. At any rate, as mentioned, G’d’s response to Moses’ prayer was:

ונקה לא ינקה, “and He will not let a guilty person be exonerated completely without having paid a price for knowingly having sinned.” [This is the standard explanation of this expression. Ed.] Our author- if I understand him correctly,- understands it as G–d saying that the world we live in will never be completely free of deliberate sinners. He used Jeremiah 30,11 as his proof for this interpretation. The Prophet there says: ויסרתיך למשפט ונקה לא ינקך, (after having wiped out the sinful nations) “but I will not let you go unpunished, but I will chastise you in measure”. פוקד עון אבות על בנים, “visiting the sins of the fathers on the children;” this is another aspect of G–d’s attribute of Mercy, that He delays punishing the fathers, waiting if the children or grandchildren will return to Him before carrying out the punishment that had been deserved by them. In Exodus 34,7, where the list of G–d’s attributes first appears, the wording isבני בנים , “grandchildren,” not “children,” as here. In both instances, the point G–d makes is that while He may delay exacting punishment, depending on the severity of the sin in question, He will not allow sins that are not repented to go totally unpunished.

Forgive now the sins of this people according to the greatness of Your goodness, and as You have forgiven this people from Egypt until now.

"Forgive, I pray" — since we find that after he said "if they shall see the land" He said "I have forgiven as you asked," we learn that the word "forgive" means a lengthening of wrath [deferral of punishment], and similarly "and he shall be forgiven" — until he makes complete repentance. "According to the greatness of Your kindness" — by virtue of Your great kindness. "And as You have borne" — in the sense of "one who bears iniquity." "Until now" — until this place, or from the day they went out of Egypt until this very day; for הֵנָּה can denote a place — as in "they have come here this night" — and also a marker of time, as in "I have not seen him until now"; I have already explained this.

סלח נא לעוו העם הזה, “please forgive the deliberately committed sin of this nation!” This is a reference to the sin of the spies; וכאשר נשאת לעם הזה ממצרים ועד הנה, “just as You have upgraded the sins of the nation ever since they left Egypt especially the episode of the golden calf, [by remembering their lowly origins. Ed.].

And Hashem said: I have forgiven according to your word.

כדברך [I HAVE FORGIVEN] ACCORDING TO THY WORD — i.e. because of what you have said, “Lest they say: ‘Because the Lord was unable, etc.’”.

סלחתי כדברך. As you said when I mentioned smiting them all with pestilence. Even when I said this, I had not intended to smite them all simultaneously; I had intended to let them all die, little by little, in the desert, preventing them from crossing to the land of Canaan.

ויאמר ה׳ סלחתי כדברך, G'd said: "I have forgiven according to your word." G'd meant that He had not forgiven the sin absolutely, only, -as Moses had asked- that He would not kill them as one man. This was in response to Moses' argument that otherwise G'd would be perceived as unable to conquer the Canaanites. At any rate, He would invoke His attribute of ארך אפים by spreading the punishment over 40 years. The following verses are all illustrations of what G'd meant by invoking His attribute of ארך אפים on the one hand, and swearing an oath that all of the people would suffer retribution on the other. Another meaning of the word כדברך could be that G'd responded only because of Moses' having pleaded on behalf of the people, as well as the fact that one of Moses' arguments had been the presumed reaction of the Gentile nations if G'd were to wipe out the people all at once. We have already explained that Moses described the Gentiles' reaction as being either that G'd had ceased to be powerful, or that His powers sufficed only to overcome the Egyptians, not the more powerful Canaanites. G'd said (verse 23) ואולם חי אני, "in fact I am very much alive," in response to the Gentiles who would presume G'd to have faded away. Concerning the alternative reaction by the Gentiles that G'd did not have the power to disinherit the Canaanites, He said וימלא כבוד ה׳ את כל הארץ, that at the end of the period of retribution for this sinful generation He would demonstrate to one and all that He did have the power to carry out what He had said, that the seven Canaanite nations would be wiped out. G'd based His alternative plan of retribution and a degree of pardon for the Jewish people only on the honour He wished to bestow on Moses whose pleas He did not want to be perceived as having been rejected.

סלחתי כדבריך, “I have forgiven, as you yourself have said,” i.e. the episode of the golden calf. Now, however, I am unable to do so. And have to demand what is My due. An alternate interpretation: “in accordance with your request.” G-d refers to two occasions when He had forgiven the Jewish people, once during the episode of the golden calf, and now for the sin of the people being misled by the majority report of the spies. On the first occasion His forgiveness had been more comprehensive, i.e. He had used more of His attributes in doing so. This is why He adds the words: “according to your words.” You yourself, by appealing to only a part of the attributes I have taught you to use when the need arises to appeal to Me, are in agreement that this situation cannot be compared to the incitement of the mixed multitude at the time when you had not returned from Mount Sinai for over forty days, and they thought you might not be able to return. G-d reminded Moses that he himself had agreed that the rules of justice were not to be bent, by omitting to appeal to this. The author continues to find hints of this in the difference of the spelling of the word כדברך without the plural letter י i.e. כדבריך, which the rules of grammar would have dictated as the correct spelling. By condemning the generation of male adults who had left Egypt at the Exodus to die only gradually, about two and a half percent a year, G-d demonstrated that the principle of considering the positive accomplishment of the past generation when dealing with the younger generation had been considered by Him even here.

סלחתי כדבריך, “I have forgiven in accordance with your own terms.” The “forgiveness” referred to the people as a whole, meaning that He would not smite the people with pestilence immediately, and His forgiving the people would result in their children, at least, inheriting the land that had been promised to their fathers. However, He decreed that their carcasses would all be buried in the desert, each one of them dying at a predetermined date already set by G’d at this time. In the Book of Deuteronomy Moses makes mention of the prayer he had prayed on behalf of the errant people at the time of the golden calf, and he also mentioned his prayer on behalf of Aaron at that time. He did not, however, refer to the prayer he had offered on behalf of the people on this occasion. The reason is that Moses had not prayed to G’d to forgive the sin of the people, but that he had only tried to get G’d to temper the punishment. He had tried to invoke the attribute of ארך אפים so that He would defer the impact of His decree over a longer period of time. Had he mentioned his prayer to the generation of the children in Deuteronomy, these children most likely would have criticized him for not having appealed on behalf of their parents in stronger language.

סלחתי כדבריך; I forgive immediately. The word is phrased in the past tense, just as Avraham had said to Ephron נתתי כסף השדה, “I have given the money for the field,” when he had not done so yet at all. He had meant that he had held the money available for the moment it would be required. Similarly, G’d had held His forgiveness in reserve awaiting the pretext to trigger it. (Genesis 23,13) כדבריך, I will not punish and kill them immediately, but will spread the punishment over the next forty years.

'ויאמר ה, “Hashem said (in response to Moses’ plea): “I have forgiven in accordance with your words.” G–d teaches Moses that He has set aside a date in the calendar reserved for forgiving, i.e. the day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.” This Day will serve as the day for forgiveness throughout the generations. To the question whence we know that G–d forgave the people the sin of the golden calf on that date, we derive this from when Moses had asked G–d to act as He had done “when the people had recently come out of Egypt,” (verse 19). The day G–d had forgiven that sin had also been the tenth day of the month of Tishrey. Furthermore, G–d having said to Moses here: כאשר אמרת “as You had said,” is a clear reference to the first time G–d had forgiven the people as a whole.

But as I live, the Glory of Hashem fills all the earth —

ואולם BUT, means , (I will not slay them), but this will I do unto them (what is mentioned in v. 22 ff.). חי אני AS TRULY AS I LIVE — This is the formula of an oath: Just as it is true that I live and that all the earth is filled with My glory, so, indeed, will I fulfil regarding them My threat “that all the men who have seen etc.”. [אם יראו את הארץ — This verse is out of order: Its connection with what precedes it is as follows: As truly as I live, I swear that all the men who have seen My glory etc. shall not see the Land, “and yet My Glory shall fill the earth”, since My Name will not become profaned through this plague which I proposed to bring upon them by people stating: “Because the Lord is unable to bring them into the Land etc.” since I shall not then be killing them suddenly, as one man (v. 15), but during a prolonged period of forty years — little by little].

AS I LIVE. “This is an expression of an oath. AND ALL THE EARTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH THE GLORY OF THE ETERNAL. 23. IF THEY SHALL SEE THE LAND. This is an inverted verse [and the sense of it is as follows:] As I live, says the Eternal, [I swear] that all those [that have seen My Glory … and did not listen to My voice — Verse 22], if they shall see the Land [Verse 23], and My Glory shall fill [all] the earth [Verse 21], so that My Name will not become profaned through this plague, [by the nations] saying: Because the Eternal was not able to bring them [into the Land], since I shall not kill them suddenly as one man, but over a delayed period of forty years, little by little.” This is Rashi’s language. But it is not correct at all. Rather, these verses omit the oath [itself] out of respect to Him Who is on high, [and the meaning thereof is as follows]: “As I live and all the earth shall be filled with My Glory — if all these men who have tested Me shall see the Land, this matter shall not be so!” Similarly, As I live, saith the Eternal … If ye come into the Land omits the [Divine] oath [meaning: “If they shall come into the Land, it shall not be so!”] Similarly we find verses speaking of a human being which shorten the oath: G-d do so unto me and more also, where Scripture did not want to set forth the imprecation. G-d do so unto the enemies of David, and more also — here the verse omits the blessing. Similarly we find that Caleb said to Joshua, Thou knowest the thing that the Eternal spoke unto Moses the man of G-d concerning me and thee, and it is written there, And Moses swore on that day, saying: Surely the land whereon thy foot hath trodden shall be an inheritance to thee and to thy children forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Eternal my G-d. This refers to that which is written here, But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the Land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it. And Caleb [in the Book of Joshua, quoted above] mentioned an oath [and Moses ‘swore’] in connection with this promise, because it is all joined to the verse, But in very deed as I live, which is an oath, as I have explained [above]. Caleb said, and Moses swore because Moses mentioned the oath. And by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], But in very deed as I live — and all the earth shall be filled with the Glory of the Eternal constitutes a promise to Moses about forgiveness, the verse stating that all the earth shall be filled with His Glory through the seed of these people, but not through them [the generation of the exodus].

"As I live" — its meaning is: as surely as I live, so shall My word stand firm. "And all the earth shall be filled" — "and as My glory has filled all the earth"; the more likely reading is that this is future, meaning: this I will do so that My glory will be known in the world.

ואולם חי אני וימלא כבוד ה' את כל הארץ, “I swear that just as I am the G’d Wo Am alive and Whose glory fills the whole earth, etc.” כי כל האנשים, the ones who are twenty years and over אם יראו את הארץ, that they will not get to see the land. This is one of the examples where the word אם is not followed by a תנאי כפול, i.e. spelling out both what will happen if the conditions of an agreement are met and what will happen if the conditions are not met. Other examples are found in Genesis 14,23 when Avraham refuses to allow the King of Sodom to “give” him the victor any of the spoils of war. Samuel I 19,6 also has such an unaccompanied word אם, letting the reader arrive at his own conclusions.

ואולם חי אני, “But, as I am alive, etc.” Rashi understands this phrase as an oath, claiming that it is an incomplete, truncated phrase and actually continues to the end of verse 23 Nachmanides writes concerning Rashi’s interpretation that it is not an oath, and that the Torah deliberately refrained from quoting G’d as having said anything that could be interpreted as an oath, as it would be unseemly to quote G’d as having sworn an oath unless He himself said so specifically. [Remember that the words quoted here, were spoken by Moses. When G’d utters an oath, He is quoted directly, as in Genesis 22,16 בי נשבעתי נאום ה', “I have sworn by My own self, etc. Ed.] According to Rabbi Chavell, Nachmanides means that if the words וימלא כבוד ה' את כל הארץ would not be part of an oath they should have appeared only at the conclusion of verse 23. Appearing as they do where they do, means that they are the rationale why G’d does not kill all the people now, as if He were to do so, the argument which Moses had portrayed the Egyptians as using to demonstrate G’d’s impotence to defeat the Canaanites would gain public support world-wide. When an ordinary person commences a sentence in a manner similar to the above, i.e. כה יעשה לי אלוקים, “may G’d do such and such to me,” and he leaves the other half of the sentence unspoken, this is also to be interpreted as a לשון שבועה, a formula of an oath, according to Nachmanides. (Compare Samuel II 3,35, Kings I 2,23)

ואולם, however.

ואולם חי אני, “Nevertheless, as truly as I live for ever,” this is a formula for an oath. Hashem does not spell out the details of this oath. He contents Himself with warning Moses that He has to be concerned with insuring that the whole earth will become filled with His glory. This is one of the reasons why the Jewish people have to be given the land He had promised that Avraham’s children would inherit. If this were not to happen His name would indeed become desecrated; therefore the children of the generation that had been redeemed from Egypt would be the ones that would prove that He had fulfilled this promise. The men who had been redeemed as adults from Egypt, however, could not be allowed to do so, seeing that they who had experienced all the miracles G–d had performed for them in Egypt had still not inspired them with sufficient faith that He could make them defeat the Canaanites. Their children who had not witnessed all these miracles would do so, however.

for all the men who have seen My Glory and My signs that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested before Me these ten times and have not heeded My Word —

וינסו— Take the passage as what it literally implies: AND THEY HAVE TESTED [ME]. זה עשר פעמים TEN TIMES — twice at the Red Sea, twice in the case of the “Manna”, twice in the case of the “quails” etc., as is to be found in the Treatise Arakhin 15a.

"These ten times" — the meaning is: many times; ten is mentioned because it is the sum of the [first] reckoning, for it is the last of the units and the head of the tens, which belong to the second tablet [of the place-value system].

ולא שמעו בקולי, "and who did not listen to My voice." Inasmuch as the Jewish people had previously been granted the privilege to be personally addressed by G'd at Mount Sinai, G'd now was very angry that they had not listened to His voice at this time.

וינסו אתי, “they put Me to the test” The word here is used as equivalent to ויכעיסו, “They made Me angry.” Compare Onkelos on Genesis 40,6, where the word for זועפים is translated as “angry,” נסיסין. This is why the letter ס in this word has a dot, to show that it is a variation of the usual meaning.

כי כל האנשים, “for all the men, etc.” The meaning of כי in this instance is the same as אם, “if.” The meaning of these verses is: “I swear by the fact that I am alive forever and the earth is full of My glory that all these men who have seen My glory will not see the land, etc.” The wording is the formula appropriate for an oath. However, the words which appear to be missing have been omitted in order for G’d Himself not even to mention His “inability” as a supposition as this would not be deferential and in keeping with G’d’s honor (based on Rashi). Nachmanides also writes, after quoting Rashi and rejecting his approach prefacing his remarks על דרך האמת, i.e. the kabbalistic approach, that the words חי אני were spoken by the כנסת ישראל, as part of the promise to Moses accompanying the words “I have forgiven as you said,” that whereas if He were to allow this generation to live the earth would not then be filled with His glory. He would, however, let the children live and be the replacement of the fate intended for their parents, i.e. to conquer and settle in the land of the Canaanites, the land promised to the patriarchs. When that would occur the whole earth would be filled with G’d’s glory. [This would not be an oath then but would contrast the dishonorable death of the parents with the glory-filled lives of their children which would reflect G’d’s own glory. Ed.] The words כבוד ה' in our verse as being spoken by the כנסת ישראל, is not unique. We have several examples in the Bible of such wording, such as in Psalms 104,31 יהי כבוד ה' לעולם, “may the glory of the Lord endure forever,” where the speaker is the כנסת ישראל. The words חי אני are equivalent to אלו-הים חיים,”by the living G’d.” This expression or almost identical expressions occur in Joshua 3,10; Judges 8,19; as well as Daniel 12,7. When the expression חי נפשך (Samuel I 1,26) occurs it describes the domain בינה in the emanations, the domain in which vows originate.

עשר פעמים, not literally, but meaning “many times.” We have encountered such expressions in Genesis 31,7, as well as in Leviticus 26,26, and in Job 19,3. In neither instance is the word עשר to be understood literally.

they shall not see the land that I promised to their fathers; and none of those who have provoked anger before Me shall see it.

אם יראו means THAT THEY SHALL NOT SEE. לא יראוה THEY SHALL NOT SEE IT — i. e. they shall not see the land.

NEITHER SHALL ANY OF THEM THAT PROVOKED ME SEE IT. This means “for none of them that provoked Me shall see it.” And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented: “any that provoked Me of their children,” but this [explanation] makes no sense. Perhaps this expression [neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it] alludes to the generations who were to be exiled from the Land [at the time of the destruction of the First Temple], as our Rabbis have said, and it is here that He fixed that night [of the ninth of Ab] as one of weeping throughout their generations, for [on that night] He will remember their first punishment.

"And all My despisers" — from among their children.

וכל מנאצי לא יראוהו, also their sons who at this time had not reached the age of 20 but would be among those who disdain Me in the future, will also not be granted the privilege of seeing the Holy Land. Examples of this decree were the men who died during the uprising of Korach and had been under the age of 20 (at the time of the Exodus), as well as the people who died at Shittim 38 years later because of their involvement with the Moabite women, as well as the people who died before Moses could erect the copper snake. The people concerned had not been involved in rejecting the land of Israel at the time when the spies made their report as they were under age. (compare Numbers 21,6 and 25,9)

אם יראו…וכל מנאצי, "Surely they shall not see….any of those who have spurned Me." Why did G'd have to especially mention the people who had spurned Him? Who would have dreamt that those people would be exempt from this retribution? Perhaps they had to be mentioned seeing that G'd had spoken of a people who had tested Him already on ten different occasions. We might have thought that all those who had not been guilty ten times, such as the people who had not yet been 20 years of age at the Exodus, would have been exempt from this oath that they would die in the desert. G'd therefore made it clear that even these young people were included as they had spurned G'd on this occasion. The people described here as having spurned G'd are the ten spies as well as the people who had thrown stones at the cloud behind which Joshua and Caleb had taken cover (compare Sotah 35). Our verse may also have introduced a new dimension of punishment of the spies. Seeing they were not worthy of the land, they had forfeited their share in it. This is why we are told in Baba Batra 117 that the descendants of the spies did not take part in the distribution of the land under Joshua. They received shares based only on the size of the families of their grandfathers. The remainder of the generation who were now slated to die in the desert received their share of the Holy Land based on their present family status, i.e. how many male children they had. The verse ends with the promise that "My servant Caleb as well as his descendants will inherit their shares in the land."

וכל מנאצי, “and all those who provoke Me.” This is a reference to any children or grandchildren of the generation which was to perish in the desert. [I suppose the interpretation is based on the repetition of this expression concerning whom G’d had already decreed death in verse 11. Ed.] This is also an allusion to the weeping which would occur on that night in subsequent generations, all the exiled Jews who would not enjoy the good fortune to see the Land of Israel.

וכל מנאצי לא יראוה , “all those who anger Me shall not see it.” Seeing that G’d had already said that the present generation would not be able to set eyes on the Holy Land, Ibn Ezra understands the words here as applying to their children, in the event that these or some of them would anger G’d. Perhaps these words contain a hint applicable throughout the generations that would also apply to all the Jews who would experience exile in the future. Unless they did not anger G’d, they could not hope to be redeemed and would have to spend the 9th of Av each year weeping for the fate that they still endured and which had its roots in the events in our portion. In other words, this “weeping for generations,” was potentially imposed at this point.

But My servant Caleb, because a different spirit was with him and he wholeheartedly followed My fear, I will bring him into the land into which he came, and his children shall possess it.

רוח אחרת [BUT MY SERVANT CALEB, BECAUSE HE HAD] ANOTHER SPIRIT [WITH HIM] — The word “another’ suggests that he was filled with a twofold spirit — the one to which he gave utterance (lit., one in his mouth), and another which he concealed in his heart. To the spies he said, “I am with you in your counsel”, whilst in his heart he had the intention to tell the truth, and it was only on this account that he possessed the power to silence them (the people), as it is said, (Numbers 13:30) “And Caleb silenced [the people concerning Moses]” (cf. Rashi on that verse), for they thought that he would say the same as themselves (as the spies). It is this that is alluded to in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 14:7) where it states that Caleb said “And I brought him (Moses) word again as it was in my heart” — but not as it was in my mouth (i.e. not what I had said to the spies) (Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 10). וימלא אחרי AND HE HATH FOLLOWED ME FULLY (lit., he hath filled to go after Me) — i.e. he hath filled his heart with the intention to follow Me; — this is an elliptical sentence (the word “his heart” is omitted). אשר בא שמה [HIM WILL I BRING UNTO THE LAND] WHEREUNTO HE WENT — Hebron shall be given to him (cf. Rashi on v. 22). יורשנה — Understand this as the Targum does: “and his seed shall drive it (the population of the land) out” i. e. shall drive out the Anakim and the other people that are in it. — One should not give the rendering ירתינה, “they will possess it”, in the Targum except in place of the Hebrew יִירָשֶׁנָּה (in the Kal, whilst the Hiphil, as here, denotes to drive out).

BUT MY SERVANT CALEB. He did not mention Joshua, for He explained to Caleb his reward [for his trust in G-d], namely that he would inherit the Land wherein he went, but Joshua’s reward — that he would be the successor to Moses — was not fitting to be specified at this moment [since Moses was still to be the leader for many years]. Now Scripture mentioned [Caleb’s name] first, as it says, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun, because he was the first to contradict the spies, [as it is said], And Caleb stilled the people. But Moses said, And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh lived from the men [mentioning Joshua first], because of the great degree of Joshua’s wisdom. And since [both] Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel to plead before Him, the communication here was addressed to Aaron as well, but the command was [only] to Moses, Say unto them, since he was superior in prophecy.

"But My servant Caleb" — he mentions him alone because it was Caleb who stilled the people (וַיַּהַס כָּלֵב). The Levites and the priests are not included in the oath, for no prince among them went as a spy; and furthermore [the oath is worded] "for all your counted ones, for all your number" — even though the priests were not present among them, the Levites were in fact numerous. "A different spirit" — as opposed to the spirit of the spies. "And he fulfilled after Me" — he followed My words and fulfilled them, affirming that the land is very good and there is no slander in what he said.

וזרעו יורישנה; Calev’s children will not only take possession of their share in the Holy Land, but will pass on their share to his descendants in future generations. This is different from the other members of the present adult generation who, though not taking possession of any part of the land themselves, assigned it to their children by reason of having become the “original” (potential) owners at the time they left Egypt. Their children “inherited” by a Divine decree only, as opposed to Calev’s children, etc. (compare verse 12)

ועבדי כלב, "and My servant Caleb, etc." Why did the Torah not mention Joshua also at this juncture? The word היתה requires analysis as do the words וימלא אחרי as well as the letter ו in והביאותיו. The Torah wanted to explain why G'd decided to refer to Caleb as "My servant," an exceptional compliment. Although also Joshua did not spurn G'd, Caleb was possessed of a totally different spirit. He had not needed the prayer of Moses to enable him to resist the influence of the other ten spies. Caleb had at one time during the mission experienced the רוח אחרת, i.e. the evil spirit which filled the other spies. He had gone to the graves of the patriarchs in order to recharge his spiritual batteries before he would succumb to the wiles of the evil urge. וימלא אחרי, "He decided to follow Me." The Torah describes how Caleb decided to follow his good urge rather than his evil urge. Man is subject to two advisors. One advises him to follow G'd's wishes, the other advises him to assert his independence. If one decides to resist the urge to commit a sin it is accounted as if one had fulfilled one of G'd's commandments (Kidushin 39). Joshua had not been in a similar dilemma as he had never been tempted to be disloyal to G'd and to act illogically, due to Moses' prayer on his behalf. We have a verse in the Book of Samuel which describes a mystical dimension concerning the prayer of a צדיק such as Moses. It suggests that such a prayer may exert influence on a person's moral tendencies. This is based on Samuel II 23,3 צדיק מושל יראת השם, "the righteous exercises some control concerning matters of reverence for the Lord." Seeing that Caleb's resistance to the evil urge under circumstances of great provocation was unaided by external factors, he is described similarly to Moses, i.e. that he was G'd's servant. The Torah adds that G'd would bring him to the land he had already come to (once). The Torah hints here at the inner struggle that had preceded Caleb's deciding to remain loyal to G'd. This struggle may be described as Caleb praying on his own behalf. G'd promises that although Caleb was already 40 years old at the time and conquest of the land of Canaan would now be delayed by at least 40 years, Caleb would live long enough to be among those who would take part in that conquest. This is the only time in recorded history that G'd promised someone that he would live for at least another 40 years. Perhaps G'd had to describe Caleb as "My servant" in order to justify this extraordinary promise. This was a promise by G'd that Caleb would not forfeit his status as a צדיק during the 40 years the Israelites would wander in the desert. I was asked once how one can reconcile the statement in Shabbat 30 that when David asked G'd to know when he would die and G'd's reply that He does not reveal such information to any living human being nor does He tell him how many years he will live, with the fact that He told King Chiskiyahu that he would have another 15 years to li...

ועבדי כלב, “but My servant Caleb,” there was no need for G-d to mention Joshua by name here seeing it was he who would lead the people into the Holy Land. An alternate interpretation: There was no point in mentioning him, seeing that he had no children who would receive an ancestral share of that land. The Torah could not have written of him that his descendants would inherit their share of the land וימלא אחרי, “he followed Me fully;” he completed Moses’ task, My messenger’s task, trying to make him more effective. The use of the root מלא in the same sense as translated here is not unique; we find an example of it in Kings I 1,14: ואני אבוא אחריך ומלאתי את דבריך, “and I will come immediately after you and confirm and reinforce your words.”(The prophet Natan to Batsheva, mother of Solomon) וזרעו יורישנה, ”and his seed will inherit it.” The root ירש in the transitive mode is used here to mean “inherit,” in other words: “and I will cause his seed to leave it as an inheritance [To more distant generations also. Ed.]

רוח אחרת עמו, “who was imbued with a different spirit,” the word אחרת is relative, i.e. a spirit different from that of the ten spies. The Torah reminds us that the righteous person is “different” from the wicked person. The Torah first uses the word in connection with the third son of Adam and Chavah, Sheth, whom his mother describes as זרע אחר, “a different seed” (Genesis 4,25). Sheth was the righteous person who replaced Hevel both of whom were “different” from Kayin who was wicked. “Goodness” is essentially different from “evil.” Similarly, ”evil” is essentially different from “goodness.” This is the reason idols are described as אלוהים אחרים, “different” gods rather that “other” gods. When the word אחר occurs in connection with someone or something evil, it means “good” by comparison to the evil person. והביאותיו אל הארץ אשר בא שמ'ה וזרע'ו יורישנ'ה. והעמלק'י “And I shall bring him to the land where he has been (already) and his offspring shall possess it.” And the Amalekite, etc.” Here too is an example of the letters of the Ineffable Name appearing in reverse order (the last letters in the last four words of the caption; compare author on Genesis 11,9) This is an allusion to the fact that at that time the attribute of Justice was poised, ready to strike the Israelites. This is why it was decreed that the Israelites make a permanent home in the desert and that they would even retrace their steps in the direction of the sea of Reeds. This also why, when they were willing and anxious to proceed forward and ascend the mountain (as the spies had done), Moses warned them not to commit a sin by violating G’d’s commandment and embark on an undertaking that was doomed (41). The meaning of the words יושב בעמק, applied here to the areas inhabited by the Canaanite and the Amalekite, is not the usual “in the valley,” but “sitting ready to ambush you.” This is why G’d instructed them to change direction to save them from such attacks seeing He, G’d, would not protect them now by means of a miracle.

ועבדי כלב, “but My servant Calev, etc.” The Torah, at this point, does not mention Joshua, as it concentrates on promising Calev his share in the Promised Land, whereas seeing that Joshua would in due course become Moses’ successor, mentioning his share in the Promised Land at this stage would have been inappropriate. The reason why Calev is mentioned here ahead of Joshua is that he spoke up against the other spies first. When Moses refers to what had occurred here in verse 38, he mentions Joshua first, saying: “but Joshua son of Nun and Calev son of Yefuneh survived of all these men, etc.” He accorded Joshua precedence as he was endowed with greater wisdom than Calev. 14, 25. והעמלקי והכנעני יושב בעמק, “The Amalekite and the Canaanite dwelled in the valley. This sounds somewhat strange seeing that a few verses later (14,45) we are told that the Amalekite and the Canaanite who dwelled in the mountain descended.” This teaches that the Amalekite and Canaanite joined forces and descended to the valley in order to mount an attack on the Israelites from a position of ambush.

Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley. Tomorrow turn and journey for yourselves into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.

והעמלקי וגו׳ AND THE AMALEKITES [AND THE CANAANITES DWELL IN THE VALLEY] — This is not a mere statement that they dwell there; it is a warning: If you go there they will kill you, since I shall not be with you. מחר פנו TOMORROW TURN YOU — i.e. turn backwards, וסעו לכם AND JOURNEY [INTO THE DESERT etc.].

"The Amalekite and the Canaanite" — he [the Canaanite] is the Amorite, for every Amorite is a Canaanite; and Scripture was not concerned with distinguishing him [the Amorite] separately, because of the Amalekite — who is of the sons of Shem — and Canaan, who is the father of the Amorite, [being] of the sons of Ham. And similarly [it says] "the Amalekite and the Canaanite came down," and the proof is that [elsewhere] it says "the Amorite came out" without mentioning the Amalekite — for the Amorite is the principal [force]. "Dwelling in the valley" — to ambush you. Some say: even though the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, turn toward the Sea of Reeds and do not fear. But behold, Israel did not repent, and therefore Hashem spoke.

והעמלקי והכנעני יושב בעמק, "And the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley." The reason the Torah provides this detail at this juncture, as well as the reason for the conjunctive letter ו at the beginning of the word והעמלקי is that G'd had decided that the entire generation would not enter the Holy Land and would die in the desert. He said that He would not kill them all at the same time as will be spelled out in subsequent verses. One might have assumed therefore that the Israelites would remain in their present location during the entire forty years. The Torah had to provide a rationale why it was not practical for the Israelites to remain in the same location during all this time. They were liable to fall victim to attacks by the Amalekites or Canaanites. We do not provoke Satan at a time when we are in danger (Tanchuma Vayigash 1). This is why G'd told the Israelites to move from that area already on the morrow. Whereas it is true that we find that the Israelites lingered at Kadesh for many years (Deut. 1,46) and the sages say that this was a period of 19 years, this occurred on their way back at a time when the effect of their sin had already worn off and half the people guilty of that sin had already died. The reason for the letter ו in the word והעמלקי is to connect our verse to verse 23, אם יראו את הארץ. G'd advised that He added another stricture, namely the immediate departure from their present encampment although they were not headed for their ultimate objective, the land of Canaan.

והעמלקי, “and the nation of Amalek, etc.” G-d now reciprocated what the spies had done. They had intimidated the Israelites by pointing to the Amalekites as powerful adversaries; G-d does the same to the people now. והכנעני, “and the Canaanite; “actually both the Canaanite and the Emorite, who was one of the Canaanite tribes. יושב בעמק, “who dwells in the valley.” This sounds somewhat puzzling, seeing that a few verses later these people are described as descending (verse 45.) What the Torah had meant was that most of the Canaanites were dwelling in the valley, but the ones dwelling in the mountains would attack and overpower any Israelites daring at this time against the wishes of G-d to engage them in war. It is also possible that although these tribes dwelled in the valley they had moved out of their homes to higher ground in order to have the advantage over any Israelites who would have to climb in order to engage them in a fight. It was not unusual to plant ambushes as we know from Psalms10,8, ישב במארב חצרים, “dwelling in an ambush in isolated areas.” מחר פנו וסעו לכם, “tomorrow turn, and start journeying;” in this instance the word מחר is not to be understood as literally: “tomorrow,” but as “soon.” Actually, according to our sages the people stayed at Kadesh for 19 years. This is how they interpreted the line in verse 48 which described them as staying there for a long time. Use of the word as meaning something in the distant future is familiar to us from Exodus 13,14: כי ישאלך בנך מחר, “when your son will ask you מחר” [the son could not do this until after the parents having settled in the land of Israel prepared to observe the Passover. Ed.] המדברה דרך ים סוף, “toward the desert in the direction of the sea of reeds.” to circle Mount Seir, as we find in Deuteronomy, in order to complete the decree that “your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years.”

והעמלקי והכנעני יושב בעמק, “The Amalekite and the Canaanite dwelled in the valley. This sounds somewhat strange seeing that a few verses later (14,45) we are told that the Amalekite and the Canaanite who dwelled in the mountain descended.” This teaches that the Amalekite and Canaanite joined forces and descended to the valley in order to mount an attack on the Israelites from a position of ambush.

והעמלקי, “and the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the alley;” a number of commentators are puzzled by this statement as in verse 45 of this chapter the Amalekite and the Canaanite are described as “descending” from the mountain; according to the plain meaning of the text, we must assume that the Amalekites and Canaanites in anticipation of an invasion by Israel had taken up position on high ground in order to ambush the Israelites from there. A more mystical interpretation would be that although G–d meant to punish these people, He did not enjoy doing this, and made them take a route toward the desert which would afford some chance of escaping.

And Hashem spoke with Moses and with Aaron, saying:

וידבר השם, G'd said, etc. From the wording of this verse one might get the impression that G'd only now addresses Himself to the nature of Israel's sins and the retribution it is about to receive. This is not so, however, seeing that G'd had already been doing just this starting with verse 11. The reason the Torah appears to repeat these things is because up until now G'd had said these things to Moses in a private conversation. Only now does G'd give instructions to Moses and Aaron i.e. לאמור to communicate all this to the Israelites at large. When you review the chapter up until this verse you will note that the word לאמור did not appear once.

וידבר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן, “Hashem spoke to Moses and Aaron.” Seeing that both Moses and Aaron had fallen on their faces, in this instance Hashem also addressed Aaron directly, in order to give him the strength to get up from the ground on which both had fallen. The command Hashem issued in verse 2 was addressed only to Moses, seeing he was the major prophet of the two.

How long shall this wicked congregation, who are murmuring against Me — the murmuring of the children of Israel that they murmur against Me — be endured? It is heard before Me.

לעדה הרעה וגו׳ [HOW LONG SHALL I BEAR] WITH THIS EVIL CONGREGATION — This refers to the spies (not to the whole congregation); from here we learn that an עדה, “a congregation” is technically a gathering of at least ten persons (Megillah 23b). אשר המה מלינים [THIS EVIL CONGREGATION] WHICH MAKE the Israelites MURMUR עלי AGAINST ME. את תלנות בני ישראל אשר המה THE MURMURINGS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHICH THEY, the spies, מלינים MAKE them MURMUR עלי, AGAINST ME, שמעתי I HAVE HEARD.

?עד מתי לעדה הרעה הזאת, even though I have forgiven them in accordance with your own stipulation not to decree immediate death for them, instead of letting all of them die already now, I did not include the actual spies themselves in this partial forgiveness. אשר המה מלינים עלי, seeing they were the ones who orchestrated the people slandering Me. They are directly responsible for the sin committed by the multitude. They do not deserve any extension of their lives, I will punish them immediately; concerning them I utter an oath

עד מתי לעדה הרעה הזאת, "How long will this evil congregation, etc." The "evil congregation" referred to here are the ten spies. This view is confirmed by Sanhedrin 108. G'd continues: את תלונות בני ישראל; this is a reference to the rest of the people. The words עד מתי imply that even now the spies were still exerting their evil influence on the people preventing them from identifying with G'd. This is the reason that G'd calls these ten men עדה רעה, an evil congregation. When G'd says אשר המה מלינים עלי, He underlines that not only are these people wicked themselves but they attempt to turn the Israelites into wicked people. את תלונות בני ישראל שמעתי, "I have heard the complaints against Me by the children of Israel." It was necessary to inform us that G'd heard, i.e. He only heard the complaints of the Israelites, not the wicked words of the spies. The meaning of the verse is as follows: "The complaints of the Israelites which have been inspired by the spies I have heard, whereas I have not listened to the spies who have inspired these complaints." The words of the spies were so despicable that G'd did not even want to consider if there was any basis for them that He could find an excuse for.

Say to them: As I live, declares Hashem, surely as you have spoken before Me, so will I do to you.

חי אני AS TRULY AS I LIVE — This is a formula of taking an oath: If I do not do so, then — if this were at all possible to say of God — I do not live. כאשר דברתם AS YE HAVE SPOKEN … [YOUR CARCASSES WILL FALL IN THE WILDERNESS] — because you made the request of Me: “Would that we had died in this wilderness” (Numbers 14:2).

IM LO’ (IF NOT) AS YE HAVE SPOKEN IN MINE EARS. The meaning thereof is as an expression of wonder: “Will I not do to you as ye have spoken?” Such is the way of the [Sacred] Language: [Thou art sent] not to many people of an unintelligible speech and of a slow tongue, whose words thou canst not understand. ‘Im lo’ (would they not) have hearkened unto thee if I sent thee to them? Similarly, ‘im lo’ (if not) as I have thought did it come to pass?

חי אני נאם ה' אם לא וגו, whenever we find two successive negatives this is equivalent to a positive statement. [the word אם as well as the word לא are each understood as a negative. Ed.] כאשר דברתם באזני, a reference to verse 2 in which the people are reported as wishing that they had died already in Egypt and inverse 3 when they had prematurely bemoaned their wives and children as becoming part of the Canaanites booty in the war they anticipated losing. G’d also refers to what the spies themselves had said when they described the land of Canaan as “consuming its inhabitants” (13,32). G’d would see to it now that all these statements would become self-fulfilling prophecies. כן אעשה לכם; not all at once but at intervals. This is what prompted the psalmist in Psalms 106,26 to say: “So He raised His hand in oath to make them fall the wilderness; to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the land.” Also the prophet Ezekiel sees in the present decree something that had repercussions throughout the ages when he said (Ezekiel 20,23) “also I raised My hand in an oath already in the desert, saying I will scatter them among the nations.” [our author sees in the punishment meted out at this time a parallel to that meted out at the time of the sin of the golden calf where G’d had reserved the right to spread the retribution throughout history in order not to have to wipe out the people then and there as they had deserved. Ed.]

אמר אליהם…כאשר דברתם, "say to them…as you have spoken, etc." Here G'd relates to the fears the Israelites had expressed, sentiments which G'd had heard and decided to address. As a result, He limited the ages of the people who would die in the desert to those who were over the age of twenty. G'd never allowed the spies themselves to be informed of the decree He was about to hand down as they died a miserable death within the sight of all the Israelites.

אם לא כאשר דברתם באזני כן אעשה לכם, “if I shall not do to you as you have spoken in My hearing.” The wording is to be understood as a rhetorical question. “You will see if what you have accused Me of will not turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy?”

In this wilderness shall your corpses fall — all your numbered ones, according to your full count, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me.

וכל פקדיכם לכל מספרכם AND ALL OF YOU THAT WERE NUMBERED IN ANY COUNTING OF YOU — i.e. all that are numbered of you in any census (מספר) in which you are numbered, as, for instance, on going to or coming back from war, or when giving the shekels: all who are numbered in all these censuses shall die, and these are, everyone מבן עשרים שנה וגו׳ FROM TWENTY YEARS OLD AND UPWARDS — The age is expressly mentioned to exclude the tribe of Levi because those who were numbered of them were not from twenty years old and upwards (but they were either numbered from one month old — cf. Numbers 3:40, or from thirty years old; Numbers 4:3) (Bava Batra 121b).

"Your corpses" — the bodies. "You murmured" (הֲלִינֹתֶם) — derived from the root of "and they murmured" (וַיִּלּוֹנוּ) against Moses.

מבן עשרים שנה..אשר הלינותם, "from the age of twenty and up..because you have complained against Me." We must try and understand why G'd said אשר הלינתם. If the word אשר is to be equivalent to על אשר (the way we have translated it), then there is nothing new here. G'd had mentioned this already in verse 27! It appears that these words were necessary in view of G'd having spoken of the decree applying to the people who were twenty and over. We might have interpreted this to mean that anyone 20 years of age at the time of the decree was included in the decree that he had to die in the desert. As a result, men who had not been twenty years old at the time of the Exodus would be included in this decree. To make it clear that this was not so, the Torah says אשר הלינתם, people who were 20 years old from the time you started complaining, i.e. immediately after the Exodus. If anyone of the complainants had been twenty years old at the time he complained, he was now included in the group of people to whom this decree applied. This is precisely what G'd had meant when He told Moses in verse 22 that the Israelites had tested Him already ten times. Perhaps the generation in question did not notice this nuance of the verse as to who was and who was not included in the decree and they thought that the decree applied only to people who had turned twenty as of that day. As a result of such a faulty interpretation they examined who had died in the fortieth year of their wanderings on the night of the ninth of Av. They found then that not a single one had died on that night. When they checked for the next 5 nights and found that not a single Israelite died during those nights either, they declared the 15th of Av of that year as a day of rejoicing concluding that the decree had come to an end (compare introduction to Midrash Eycha Rabbah.) It is difficult to understand why they should have expected anyone to die during the night of the ninth of Av in that year unless they had misunderstood the meaning of who was included in the description "from twenty years and over." Possibly, G'd had couched the decree in a language which permitted more than one interpretation, something G'd is fond of doing on occasion. The reason G'd couches something in ambivalent language is to allow for a more lenient interpretation if the people deserve it, or for a more stringent interpretation in the event the people do not deserve it. A classic example of what I have in mind is Genesis 2,17 where G'd warned man not to eat from the tree of knowledge on pain of death. The "death" warning is phrased as follows: "for on the day you eat from it you will surely die." This could be taken to mean that death would be practically instantaneous, i.e. the very same day, or it could be taken to mean that on that day man would become mortal but that death might still be a long way off and that the "day" G'd spoke of was the amount of time He considered a "day" in His calendar, i.e. 1000 years in ou...

מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה, “from twenty years and up.” Seeing that this was the age at which the male Israelites began to bear arms, it was that group who had been afraid to rely on G-d’s help.”

במדבר הזה יפלו פגריכם, “your carcasses will drop in this desert.” It appears that the Israelites’ guilt in this episode could be divided into three levels. Some of them had wept, some of them had complained against Moses and Aaron saying: “if only we had died already.” The third level consisted of the people who had said: “let us appoint a leader and head back for Egypt” (verse 4). The reason the Torah mentions the word “your carcasses” three times is to allude to these different levels of the people. The choice of the word “your carcasses,” which at first glance seems very harsh, is actually the reverse. It means that only the bodies of these people would die, they would not lose their entitlement to life in the hereafter. (Compare Rabbi Eliezer in Sanhedrin 105 and 110). This allusion is repeated in verse 35: “in this desert they will expire and there they will die.” The words: “all of you who have been numbered for military service,” mean that the Levites were excluded from this decree as they had not been part of the army and when they had been numbered the babies of one month old were already included in that count (Baba Batra 121).

You shall not enter the land concerning which I swore by My Word to settle you in it — except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

"I lifted My hand" — an expression in human terms, for the heavens are above. "Except for Caleb" — Caleb is mentioned first because he was the first to still [the people] (וַיַּהַס).

אם אתם תבואו אל הארץ, “if you are going to enter the land, etc.” This statement by G’d was addressed to both Moses and Aaron and they were to convey this message to the people as G’d added (verse 28) by saying אמור להם, “say to them.” It is possible to argue that seeing this instruction was addressed to both Moses and Aaron that they themselves were included among the people who would not be allowed to enter the Holy Land. In fact Moses himself had already alluded to the fact that he would not enter the Holy Land in Exodus 15,17 when he said: “You will bring them and You will plant them firmly on the mountain of Your inheritance.” He had not said: “I will bring them, etc.” Even though both Moses and Aaron were totally righteous at this time and no decree had been issued against either of them they did not want to enter the Holy Land and thereby show up their charges the Jewish people as inadequate by comparison to their leaders. This is why they would die in the desert. Seeing that Moses and Aaron tied their fates to that of their people, when the time for the resurrection arrives both they and their people will ascend to the Holy Land under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Seeing that Moses had actually longed to enter the land for the purpose of performing the commandments which could not be performed outside it, he would be granted even greater insights at the time of the resurrection to reward him for this pious wish. People who have kept all the commandments that it is possible to keep are entitled to such greater insights. The generation of the people who had witnessed the revelation at Mount Sinai had achieved greater insights and will participate in the resurrection regaining or surpassing their former stature at that time.

And your little ones, whom you said would become prey — I will bring them in, and they will know the land that you rejected.

וטפכם אשר אמרתם לבז יהיה, "And as to your children of whom you said they will become prey, etc." Seeing that G'd had said He would do to the people in a manner corresponding to what they had said, and they had said that evil would befall their children if they listened to Caleb and Joshua, G'd now specifically exempts those children from the curse that they would not enter the Holy Land. The Torah adds the conjunctive letter ו in front of the word והבאתי אותם, "and I will bring them," to tell us that not only will these children not become prey, but they will inherit the land their parents should have inherited.

והבאתי אותם וידעו את הארץ, “I shall bring them and they shall get to know the land.” It is noteworthy that G’d did not say that these children will inherit the land. The word וירשו, “they will inherit,” would imply many generations of tenure of the land. The choice of the word וידעו by the Torah is a veiled hint that even later generations may face exile from the Holy Land.

But your corpses — yours — shall fall in this wilderness.

ופגריכם אתם — Understand this as the Targum does: (“But your carcasses — those of you — they shall fall in this desert”). Because in the previous verse He said of the children that He would bring them into the Land, and it wishes to state now: “but you will die”, this idiom is appropriate here — to say the word אתם (in addition to the personal suffix in פגריכם, in order to stress the contrast).

"And your corpses" — meaning: you yourselves.

ופגריכם אתם, "As to you, you are already carcasses, etc." Why did the Torah have to write this verse, seeing it had already told us in verse 29 what would happen to the parents of these children? Perhaps the Torah intended to inform us that the children would not be allowed to carry the bones of their parents into the Holy Land with them, as the children of Israel had done with the bones of Joseph and those of the other tribes (Joseph's brothers). The Torah may also have intended to tell us about another dimension of the death of this generation. Not only would their bodies die in the desert but they would experience an even greater indignity in that their very bodies would become the property of the שר המדבר, the spirtually negative force which rules over the desert. Scholars who have researched this matter agree that there is no more demeaning experience than to be told that after one has become a carcass one will yet experience another "fall." This is why the Torah speaks of פגריכם..יפלו, "your carcasses will fall." If the word "you will fall" had applied only to their actual death, the word "you will fall" should have preceded any word which described the death. To make this point very clear, the Torah wrote: "you who are already carcasses will fall." Clearly, this phraseology refers to something demeaning that will happen to their bodies after their deaths. The Torah is at pains to add the word אתם, "you," to prevent us from interpreting the verse as speaking of something that would happen to the grandchildren of the present generation. In view of the fact that grandchildren are often described as children, seeing the son is part of his father, the Torah was careful to prevent any misunderstanding by writing אתם. I have heard in the name of scholars who have been expelled from Castilia that they interpreted the word אתם as a reference to Moses and Aaron whose death in the desert G'd had also decreed. Seeing G'd was addressing Moses and Aaron at the time, He used the word אתם when referring to what would happen to them personally. G'd provided a reason for His words when He concluded (verse 35) by saying: אם לא זאת אעשה לכל העדה הרעה הזאת…יתמו ושם ימותו. This can be understood as similar to the way Bamidbar Rabbah 19,13 explains Deut. 33,21: ויתא ראשי עם. The Midrash explains that the reason Moses was buried on the East Bank of the Jordan was to enable the generation of the spies to be resurrected at the time Moses would be resurrected. If Moses and Aaron had not died in the desert, the people would have thought that Moses led a new generation into the land of Canaan and thereby fulfilled his life's mission, whereas the generation which died in the desert was lost forever. Moses had to die and be buried in the desert to keep alive the tradition that eventually he himself would lead the generation he had led out of Egypt to the Holy Land at the time of the resurrection. This is, of course, merely an allegorial interpretation. It is quite in...

ופגריכם אתם, “and you who are already corpses;” this verse has been truncated, and it should really have been written in the reverse order, i.e. ואתם פגריכם, “and as for you, your carcasses etc.” This is also what Rashi had in mind when he wrote: “as per the Targum, your carcasses.”

פגריכם אתם, “your carcasses;” the meaning is that you are already like carcasses although you may feel perfectly healthy at this time. You will lie down some night and never wake up in the morning.

And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years and shall bear your sins, until your corpses are consumed in the wilderness.

ארבעים שנה [AND YOUR CHILDREN SHALL WANDER IN THE DESERT] FORTY YEARS — None of them was to die younger than 60 years old (Bava Batra 121b). For this reason a period of forty years was decreed for their wanderings in order that those who were at that time 20 years old (and only those from twenty years old and upwards came under this decree; cf. v. 29) should reach the age of sixty (the average age of man; cf. Moed Katan 28a and Tosefta Yoma 4:10. s. v. ומיתה). The first year that they were in the wilderness was included in the forty although it preceded the sending forth of the spies (which took place in the second year), because from the moment they made the Golden Calf this decree entered the mind of God, but He waited for them (postponed their punishment) until their measure of sin should be full. This is the meaning of what is stated, (Exodus 32:34) “And in the day when I shall visit — viz., at the incident of the spies — I shall visit their sin (that of the Golden Calf) upon them”. And, here, indeed, it states, (v. 34) “ye shall bear your iniquities” (in the plural) suggesting two sins; that of the Calf and that of the murmuring. — In the calculation it (Scripture) regards in the years of their lives a part of the year (of the sixtieth year) as the whole of it, and as soon as they entered their sixtieth year those who were now twenty years old died (Tanchuma 4:4:13). ונשאו את זנותיכם AND SHALL BEAR YOUR WHOREDOMS — Understand this as the Targum does: and they shall bear your guilt (cf. Targum on ונשא את עונה, Numbers 30:16, and Rashi on that verse).

"Your children shall be shepherds" — for it is the way of a shepherd not to stand and rest in one place; and proof is [the verse] 'like a shepherd's tent.' "Your harlotry" — that they went whoring from after Me and said, 'Let us appoint a head.'

ונשאו את זנותיכם, suffering for your faithlessness against me when you had said: “let us appoint a leader to take us back to Egypt ” (verse 4).

יהיו רועים, “they will be wanderers;” this is meant literally, i.e. like sheep that are wanderers, [not like shepherds, Ed.] Sheep do not wander in one direction but often cross areas that they had fed on earlier in the season. Your children will also be nomads like those sheep.

יהיו רועים במדבר, “will roam in the wilderness, etc.” Just as a shepherd does not remain stationary in the same location but guides his flock to different pastures, you will be searching out places to make camp.

רועים במדבר, they will derive their livelihood in a manner similar to sheep who wander all over to find grass to graze on. Similarly, the Israelites will move about somewhat aimlessly in the desert during these years.

According to the number of days that you scouted the land — forty days — a day for a year, a day for a year — you shall bear your sins forty years, and you shall know the consequence of your murmuring against Me.

את תנואתי [AND YE SHALL KNOW] את תנואתי — You shall know (realise) that you have removed your heart from following after Me. תנואה is an expression for “removing”, similar to (Numbers 30:6) “for her father hath removed her (הניא) from her vow” (cf. Rashi on that verse, where he quotes this phrase).

"That you scouted" — in the imperative form. "My thwarting" (תְּנוּאָתִי) — [as in] "אֲנִיא my word" or "who can thwart Me?" — the meaning being that [they] broke My oath, as in "and if he thwarted [her]."

במספר הימים, we have a rule in halachah that שלוחו של אדם כמותו that when one appoints someone to act on one’s behalf the appointee is regarded as an extension of the one who appointed him. The spies had therefore not acted on their own, but as the people’s agents. Hence Moses, i.e. G’d, addresses the people as the instigators of this disaster. Their initial sin had consisted in wanting to find out if the land could be conquered. יום לשנה, on a specific day each year, i.e. the ninth of Av, according to the sages in Taanit 30. תנואתי; you will find out what it means to try and thwart My plans. (a reference to verse 43 when this “self-fulfilling “ prediction came true.).

**בְּמִסְפַּ֨ר הַיָּמִ֜ים**, “corresponding to the number of days;” with the letter *bet* [rather than a *kaf*, but still indicating "corresponding to" rather than "in"]. וידעתם את תנואתי, “so you shall know My displeasure.” You claimed that I had planned to kill you by the enemies’ swords in order not to have to bring you to the Holy Land; now you will experience the reverse; you will live out your lives but to no purpose.

יום לשנה יום לשנה ”a day for a year, a day for a year.” We would have expected the Torah to write the opposite, i.e. “a year for a day,” i.e. that the punishment for each day the spies had spent traveling the land and planning to slander it would be that the people would have to spend an additional year in the desert. Theirs would be nomads’ tents which flutter in the wind, an existence daily reminding them of their insecurity on earth. Not only that, but according to the context of the story mention of the punishment should have preceded mention of the sin. If the Torah wrote the verse in the manner it did it was to teach us something about G’d’s mercy which is manifest even while He metes out punishment. When the Torah chose the wording: “a day for a year,” we must consider the fact that seeing the land of Israel has been described as an area of 400 by 400 miles, approx, this is an area which the spies could not possibly have covered in the space of a mere forty days. However, seeing G’d had known in advance that He would have to decree the punishment mentioned, He telescoped the distance under their feet so that they could cover it in such a short period of time. This is why G’d said: “a day for every year,” i.e. just like a father who is forced to inflict a blow on his son. He does not inflict a cruel blow but is as considerate as possible. The meaning of the verse therefore is: “here I have reduced the extent of your punishment as much as is possible by shortening the time you (the spies) needed to traverse the land so that it took only forty days. “

“A day for a year, a day for a year.” It should have said “a year for a day, a year for a day,” and furthermore, isn’t the measure of goodness greater than the measure of punishment? So how could their punishment be multiplied to a year for a day? And when it says in the number of days it should have said “like the number” with the letter kaf [meaning “similar to”]. And why does it repeat and say you shall bear your iniquities forty years when it has already mentioned their punishment? And our Sages said (Taanit 29a) that this day refers to the ninth of Av, for on it they wept needlessly and it was established as a day of weeping for generations. Therefore, on every ninth of Av, they would bury their dead, which is why it says a day for a year, meaning that in each year you shall bear your iniquities for one day. And by way of homiletical interpretation, it seems to me that it can be explained, that the main intention of the spies in spreading an evil report about the land was to give themselves an excuse to say Let us appoint a head and return to Egypt. They knew that long ago Egypt had been sentenced to be desolate for forty years, as written in Ezekiel (29:12), shall be desolate for forty years. And Rashi explains there that it was decreed upon them a famine of forty-two years corresponding to the three times the dream was written seven cows, seven ears of corn, but they only experienced two years, because when Jacob arrived the famine ceased, and they remained liable for another forty years, as Rashi explained. According to this, there is room to explain that the spies also knew that the Egyptians had to pay a debt of forty years, either to be desolate for forty years, or to experience forty years of famine. Therefore, they went for forty days to tell the Israelites that “these forty days in which we saw the danger of a land that devours its inhabitants are worse for us than the forty bad years decreed upon Egypt.” Therefore, they said, Let us return to Egypt. For it would be better for us to be in the desolation of Egypt for forty years than those forty days in which we were in danger of death and bereavement in the land. Therefore it was said, according to the number of days in which you spied out the land, forty days, so that a day would correspond to a year of Egypt, saying that a year in Egypt is better than a day in the Land, even a year of famine or desolation. And this is the meaning of a day for a year, a day for a year — that is, for the year, a year of Egypt. Therefore you shall bear your iniquities for forty years, corresponding to those forty bad years of Egypt which you chose to be there, in siege and distress, rather than a day in the Land. Therefore, you will be in siege and distress in the desert for forty years. And this is a precious interpretation.

I, Hashem, have decreed by My Word: Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation that has gathered against Me — in this wilderness they shall be consumed and there they shall die.

"Who assembled against Me" — those who said to stone Hashem's servants because they spoke of Hashem's glory. "In this very wilderness" — each one's end will be fulfilled in it, for there each one's end will come. "And there they shall die" — all of them, close to [their allotted] end.

אני ה׳ דברתי אם לא זאת אעשה, "I the Lord have spoken, surely this I will do, etc." Why did G'd have to announce that it was He who had been saying all this? Did we not know this? What is the meaning of the words אם לא זאת אעשה? Why did G'd repeat שם ימותו, "they will die there?" This was implied already by the words "they will be consumed in this wilderness." I believe we have to approach this verse by concentrating on the attribute G'd applies to Himself here. He describes Himself as השם, i.e. as the attribute of Mercy. It is an announcement by G'd that the attribute of Mercy concurred with the decision of the attribute of Justice. G'd emphasised דברתי, "I spoke these harsh words," to show that even the attribute of Mercy had to associate itself with this decree. In the event that we would wonder how the attribute of Mercy could agree to subject the people of Israel to such harsh punishment, G'd said "if I do not do this, etc." He meant that If He did not now decree death but extended His patience even longer, in the end He would not only have to deny them life on earth now but He would have to deny them life in the hereafter. This would be due to future acts of spurning G'd of which the Israelites would become guilty. The words במדבר הזה יתמו "they will be consumed in this desert," mean that they would die in שלמות, i.e. that at the time of their deaths their bodies would expire, ושם ימותו, and in the hereafter their souls would die. The only way G'd could forestall such a development was to let them die in the desert now so that they would not also forfeit any chance at a life in the hereafter (according to the view expressed in Sanhedrin 108 that the generation of the desert had not forfeited their life in the hereafter).

אם לא זאת אעשה, “surely this I will do;” we have here three short verses all dealing with the same subject. 1) You will not get to see the land you were to have made your home in. 2) You will not even enter it. 3) This will include your whole congregation [the ones who were 20 years old at the time of the Exodus. Ed.] הנועדים עלי, “that have ganged up against Me.” They did so by trying to stone My representatives on earth. They traded My honour for something infinitely inferior.

אני ה' דברתי, “I the Lord have spoken, etc.” This expression is equivalent to the rendering of an irrevocable decree; seeing that it is accompanied by an oath it could not be revoked. Although it could not be revoked, it's application could be delayed. Moses’ prayer accomplished that execution of the decree was spread over almost forty years.

And the men whom Moses sent to scout the land, who returned and stirred the whole congregation against him by bringing out an evil report about the land —

וישבו וילינו עליו [AND THE MEN WHOM MOSES SENT TO SEARCH THE LAND] RETURNED AND MADE THE WHOLE CONGREGATION MURMUR AGAINST HIM — This meant: “the men whom Moses sent and who, when they returned (וישבו) from searching the Land, made the whole congregation murmur against him by making them utter an evil report, — those men died. Wherever the phrase הוציא דבה occurs it denotes instructing to speak — that people teach their way of speaking to a person that he may speak it (cf. Rashi on 23:31). Similar is, (Song 7:10) “causing the lips of those who are asleep to speak." (דובב) There may be one (a דבה, “an utterance”) for good, or there may be one for evil: and it is for this reason that it states here, “[even those men] that made the people utter evil speech about the Land”, because, as I have stated, there is a דבה which may be termed good. דבה is parlerie in O. F.; (Engl = utterance).

"And they caused murmuring against him" (וַיַּלִּינוּ עָלָיו) — a transitive verb governing two objects.

והאנשים אשר שלח משה, who at the time had been considered as loyal by him but had in the meantime become disloyal, become enemies by causing to make slanderers out of the whole elite of the nation (the word עדה is taken to refer to the members of the Supreme Court, Sanhedrin) and the leaders of the nation. They had stated that “the local inhabitants are stronger than we.” (13,31) they had intended to slander the land by this remark. They reasoned that during the time it would take the elders of the people to assimilate the information they had just received, they themselves would have time to speak to the ordinary people and to spread lies about the land of Canaan. They could not have gotten away with telling such lies to the elders who knew that these statements were lies.

והאנשים אשר שלח משה, And the men whom Moses had despatched, etc. This entire verse seems superfluous. We already know that Moses had despatched the spies and what the spies had done. Perhaps this verse wanted to inform us that although under normal circumstances G'd extends His patience also to sinners -as we explained on verse 18- in this instance G'd punished these men immediately. The Torah repeats the nature of their sin in order to explain why they did not deserve G'd's patience. There are five different circumstances which cause G'd to exact retribution without extending patience towards the sinner. 1) The sinner in question is a person of exceptional stature. When such a person rebels against G'd, He does not want to forgive him. After all, such a person should have known better and cannot expect to be judged by the same standards as an average person who commits a sin. 2) A person who has moved in a Torah-observant society and has abandoned this society to pursue a sinful conduct. 3) If someone experiences a strong urge not to commit a certain sin and he makes every effort to resist that urge and sins regardless of his primordial urge not to sin. The Talmud Menachot 44 illustrates this with the example of someone deliberately ignoring the warning by his ציציות not to go through with his intention to sleep with a certain harlot. 4) If the person involved not only sinned but caused others to sin. 5) If the nature of the sin is greater than normal; the Talmud in Sanhedrin 103 describes Amon the son of King Menashe as committing such a sin when he slept with his mother against her will. When his mother tried to dissuade him claiming he could not possibly derive any gratification from entering an area of her body which he had come out of at birth and which was unclean, he countered that his objective was not gratification but causing G'd to be angry. In our situation the Torah informed us that G'd did not extend His customary patience to the ten spies in question as they had been guilty of all the five factors we just enumerated. The Torah described the spies as והאנשים, to remind us that these men used to be looked up to as models of Torah-observance. Bamidbar Rabbah on our verse states that the term אנשים throughout Scripture means that such people were knwon for their exemplary conduct. 2) They were described as leaders of thousands, i.e. people looked up to them. They were despatched by a society, i.e. Moses and the children of Israel, all of whom were known to be a healthy Torah-observant environment. 3) Although they were exposed to great dangers in their mission as spies, they had themselves acknowledged that they only returned safely because they had experienced G'd's personal protection. In spite of this they had committed such an ugly sin. 4) The Torah tells us that they not only sinned themselves but caused the whole community to sin, i.e. וילינו עליו את כל העדה, "They caused the whole congregation to murmur against G'd." 5) By s...

והאנשים אשר שלח משה, “and the men that Moses had sent forth;” the spies, G-d did not let them live out their lives but killed them at once by a plague. וישובו וילינו, “made all the congregation murmur against him.” Once was not enough, but they repeated their negative attitude to conquering the land of the Canaanites.

רעה מוציאי דבת-הארץ, “spreading slanderous report about the land,” Nachmanides says that the “slander” mentioned here was their claim that the land consumes its inhabitants. This was an outright lie, as not only was the land full of people, but the spies themselves during the forty days they had spent in the land had not experienced any problems with their health. We have a record of Joshua describing the Land of Canaan as densely populated in Joshua The precise wording is עם רב כחול הים אשר על שפת הים לרוב, “a people as numerous as the sand on the beaches of the sea.” Rashi explains the words מוציאי דבת הארץ as causing people to speak fluently, i.e. in this case as harping on the negative aspects. On occasions, the same expression is used to describe someone constantly underlining the positive aspects of something. This is why the Torah had to add the word רעה when referring to דבת הארץ. Nachmanides counters that we have a statement in Pessachim 3 containing the word דבה, where it is clearly referring to negative comments without the word רעה being added. According to Nachmanides the reason the Torah did add the word רעה here although it had already been implied by the use of the word דבה, is to tell us of how much the spies overemphasized the negative aspects of what they claimed to have seen.

והאנשים אשר שלח משה, and who had in the meantime returned from the land of Israel, וישובו וילינו and had upon their return incited the people to voice their complaints, וימותו, they died forthwith. דבה, the word is related to דובב, as in Song of Songs 7,10 דובב שפתי ישנים, “He makes the lips of those who sleep (in their graves) move and articulate words.” [The author quotes more verses, i.e. Proverbs 11,10 Job 20,5, but I confess that I do not understand how they relate to דבה. Ed.]

those men who brought out an evil report about the land died in a plague before Hashem.

במגפה לפני ה׳ [EVEN THOSE MEN DIED …] BY THE PLAGUE BEFORE THE LORD — by that death which was fitting for them — measure for measure. They had sinned with their tongue, therefore their tongue grew long extending right down to their navels, and worms came from their tongue and entered their navels. This is the reason why it states, they died by “the” plague, and not בְּמַגֵּפָה by “a” plague; this, too, is the meaning of the words “before the Lord” (they died by the plague which was before the Lord) — by that plague which was fitting for them according to the methods of the Holy One, blessed be He, Who metes out “measure for measure” (Sotah 35a).

AND THOSE MEN, THAT DID BRING FORTH ‘DIBATH’ (AN EVIL REPORT) OF THE LAND, DIED. I have already explained that their severe punishment was because of the report which they spread that it is a Land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, which was a complete falsehood since the Land was full with many people, as it is written in the Book of Joshua, And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. And in the Torah it is written, and He shall cast out many nations before thee … seven nations greater and mightier than thou. The spies also emphasized the strength of the people, saying: the people are fierce, and they are very strong, and did not report back concerning the words of Moses who told them [to ascertain] whether they are few or many, but they told the people afterwards that the Land is one that eateth up the inhabitants thereof!Now Rashi commented: “Whenever Scripture uses the expression ‘he brings forth dibah’ it means bringing forth words which ‘capture’ a person so that he speaks about it, just like ‘doveiv’ (stirring) the lips of those that are asleep. And [the expression ‘bringing forth dibah’] may be for good, or for evil. That is why it says [the men … that did bring forth an “‘evil’ dibath” (report of) the Land], because there may be a dibah which is good.” [Thus far is the language of Rashi.] But it is written: he that bringeth forth ‘dibah’ is a fool, and this cannot [refer] to a good [utterance]. Similarly, bringing forth ‘dibah’ against the Land, and so also, ‘v’dibathcha’ (and thine utterance of ‘dibah’) he will not turn away — all signify speech of evil, as the term dibah itself connotes evil, and when Scripture uses the expression dibah ra’ah [“evil dibah,” as it does in our verse: and those men that did bring up ‘dibath ha’aretz ra’ah’ (an evil report of the Land) died] it is to emphasize the greatness of the evil that they did.

"And they died" (וַיָּמֻתוּ) — equivalent to מֵתוּ, "they died": in the plague, all of them at once.

וימותו האנשים מוציאי דבת הארץ רעה במגפה, from the type of pestilence which they claimed had caused the death of the people they had seen dying in the land of Canaan during their tour of exploration. (13,32) It was the kind of pollution in the air which kills almost instantly.

וימותו האנשים מוצאי דבת הארץ רעה, The men who had issued an evil report about the land died, etc. We have to understand this verse as follows: "The men who died were the ones who issued the evil report." We find a parallel construction in Psalms 9,17: בפועל כפיו נוקש רשע, "The wicked person is snared by his own deeds." The verse may also tell us why these people died by pestilence; this was an appropriate tit-for-tat because they had spread evil tales. The words davar, word, and dever, pestilence, are spelled identically. לפני השם, in the presence of G'd. The Torah means that they died before G'd's presence as represented by the cloud ascended again. The type of permission granted to the destructive forces in this instance differs from that given to the same forces when Aaron and Miriam had been guilty of slandering Moses. On that occasion the Tzoraat had not struck until after G'd departed. The fact that in this case G'd gave permission for the destructive forces to become active immediately indicates the seriousness of the sin of the spies.

במגפה לפני ה, “by a pestilence before the Lord.” The punishment was commensurate to their sin. They had sinned by abusing their power of speech with their tongues; this is why their death resulted from a plague which first attacked their tongues lengthening them until their navels. Then worms crawled out of their navels through their tongues (Sotah 35). This is why the Torah added the words: “before the Lord,” This is the way Rashi explains this verse.

And the men who spread evil reports of the land died. Their tongues extended to their navels, etc., because it is said, The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies (Psalms 58:4). When a baby is in its mother’s womb, the navel serves in place of the mouth because the mouth is closed and the navel is open. And since even in the womb they go astray… speaking lies, it is as if even in their mothers’ womb their mouths were open to speak falsehood and lies, and the navel was in place of the mouth. Therefore, their tongues extended to their navels because with every mouth they consumed and destroyed the land with their false tongues. The punishment was evident in these two places because they were the locations of the sin. Another explanation: Because the Land of Israel is called the navel of the earth (Ezekiel 38:12), as it is in the center of the inhabited world, like the navel is in the center of the body, therefore their punishment was manifested in the location of their navel, because they spoke slander about this land which sits at the navel of the earth.

But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived among those men who had gone to scout the land.

ויהושע וכלב ... חיו וגו׳ AND JOSHUA AND CALEB LIVED [FROM THOSE MEN] etc. — What is the force of חיו מן האנשים ההם (does it not state later on, Numbers 26:65, ‘‘And there was not left a man of them save Caleb the son of Yephuneh and Joshua the son of Nun)"? But the phrase teaches that they received the portion of the spies in the Land and thus remained alive, so to speak, in their stead (i.e. the text does not intend to state that they alone of all those men remained alive, but that they lived “from” the other men, i.e. from their portion in the Land) (Bava Batra 118b).

"And Joshua son of Nun" — Moses's words place Caleb before [Joshua].

ויהושע בן נון, And Joshua son of Nun, etc. Why was there a need to write this verse seeing the Torah had already written that the men who issued the slanderous report died? Besides, what is the meaning of the words מן האנשים, "from amongst the men, etc.?" The meaning will become clear when we recall a statement by the Talmud Baba Batra 121 that Yair son of Menashe was born while Jacob was still alive. The Talmud queries this seeing that this same Yair was among the people who entered the land of Canaan as we know from Joshua 7,5 where the men of Ai are reported as having killed about 36 Israelites during the latter's first attempt to conquer that town. The Talmud there suggests that the peculiar phrase כשלושים וששה איש, means that only one man was killed and that the man was Yair ben Menashe. The reason the Book of Joshua spoke about "approximately 36 men," is that this Yair was so outstanding a person that he was considered equal to half the members of the Sanhedrin of 71 sages, i.e. 36. At any rate, it is obvious that this Yair was far older than 20 years when he left Egypt. How is it that he was permitted to enter the land of Canaan? Rabbi Acha concludes from this example that G'd's decree to kill the men over 20 applied only to the men between the ages of 20 and 60, i.e. the men who would bear arms and who would have been in danger of being killed by the Canaanites in any attempt to conquer the land. Our verse hints at the conclusion Rabbi Acha arrived at in the Talmud. The reason that Joshua and Caleb were exempted from the decree although they were under the age of 60 at that time was because they had been part of the group of spies and had proven their loyalty to G'd. Had they not been מן האנשים אשר תרו, from amongst the men who toured the land, they too would have been affected by the decree that all men between 20 and 60 had to die in the desert even though they were righteous. Our verse hints at yet another comment we find in Chagigah 15 that the deserving person inherits also the place in the hereafter reserved for a person who forfeited it through having become wicked. The words מן האנשים allude to Caleb and Joshua inheriting the share the other ten spies would have inherited in the hereafter had they not spread slander about the land. They also took over the shares reserved for these spies inside the land of ארץ ישראל (compare Baba Batra 117).

And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men, etc. This entire verse seems superfluous — it is obvious that they lived, for they were not among those who spread the evil report. Rather, it alludes to what our Sages of blessed memory taught (Chagigah 15) that the righteous take their portion and the portion of the wicked in the Garden of Eden. Similarly, Joshua and Caleb received their own portions and the portions of the men who went with them to scout the land. This is the meaning of remained alive of those men [which can also be read as who lived from these men] — that they also received the portions of those men who went with them.

And Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying: Here we are, and we will go up to the place that Hashem has spoken of, for we have sinned.

אל ראש ההר [AND THEY … WENT UP] INTO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN — that is the route that leads up to the Land of Israel. הננו ועלינו אל המקום LO, WE ARE HERE, AND WILL GO UP INTO THE PLACE, viz., to the Land of Israel, אשר אמר ה׳ WHICH THE LORD HATH PROMISED to give us; thither will we go up, (and we will not return to Egypt). כי חטאנו FOR WE HAVE SINNED in that we said, (v. 3) “were it not better for us to return to Egypt?”

וישכימו בבקר ויעלו אל ראש ההר לאמור הננו, ועלינו אל המקום, וגו', “they arose early in the morning and ascended toward the top of the mountain, and they said: ‘here we are ready to ascend to the place, etc.” My sainted father the Ro’sh of blessed memory, could not come to terms with people who had said already that they wanted to appoint a new leader to take them back to Egypt having suddenly decided to make a 180 degree turn about, after it had already been decreed that they would die in the desert. Surely, in view of that decree, logic would have dictated that they make every effort to avoid doing something which is the opposite of their expressed wish, namely to return to Egypt. They seemed intent on embarking on a course of action that would hasten their death even more by confronting the Canaanites whom they had considered unbeatable. He explained that we must understand that ever since the Israelites had seen the Egyptian soldiers dead on the beaches of the sea, they had intended to return to an Egypt devoid of men, a rich country theirs for the taking, and had seen no point in journeying to the land of Canaan, a land populated by giants, a challenge that they had no stomach for. Every time there had been a problem, their desire to return to a defeated Egypt had come to the fore. Already in Exodus 15,22 we read that Moses had to forcefully compel the Israelites to turn towards the desert instead of returning as victors to a defeated Egypt. Finally, when they had come to the desert of Paran, they had agreed to send spies to Canaan in order to examine the feasibility of conquering that land. They had hoped that by reporting on the nature of the inhabitants in that country G’d might at least consent to their returning to Egypt, instead. When, in response to the majority report of the spies they had decided to appoint a new leader to lead them back to Egypt, this must not be understood as a rebellion, but as a request to G’d to allow them to return to Egypt where they hoped to live in peace without having to face a war of conquest. When they had now found out that this was not a viable option, they decided to accept the unpalatable alternative and with G’d’s help to conquer the Land of Canaan.

'אל המקום אשר אמר ה, and He commanded us to go there and to take possession of the land. כי חטאנו, when we believed the advice given by the spies.

And Moses said: Why do you transgress the decree of the Word of Hashem? It will not succeed.

והיא לא תצלח AND IT SHALL NOT PROSPER — What you are about to do will not be successful.

WHY NOW DO YE TRANSGRESS THE COMMANDMENT OF THE ETERNAL? This does not refer to the [Divine] decree which He mentioned [previously] that your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, but it means: “Why do ye transgress the commandment of the Eternal: for He has commanded me that you should not go up at all, that ye be not smitten down before your enemies.” And similarly Moses said in the Book of Deuteronomy, And ye deemed it a light thing to go up into the hill-country. And the Eternal said unto me: ‘Say unto them: Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.’ V’HI’ (AND IT) SHALL NOT SUCCEED. “This [attempt] that you are making will not succeed.” This is Rashi’s language. Or it may mean that “the violation of G-d’s commandment does not carry with it success,” as Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote. By way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala, this is like] ‘hi’ mithhalecheth’ (she moved to and fro) between the living creatures].

"It will not succeed" — the ascent to the top of the mountain will not succeed; or: transgressing the word of Hashem can yield no success.

?למה זה עוברים את פי ה' והיא לא תצלח; by defying G’d in this manner you will not merely be guilty of a sin due to your trying to indulge your whims, but to the sin of deliberately trying to cause G’d to become angry. (the worst category of sin)

את פי ה, “the Lord’s commandment?” He had told you that you would turn back in the direction of the sea of reeds, whereas you now insist on undertaking a military campaign against the Canaanites. (compare verse 25)

והוא לא תצלח, “and it will not succeed.” According to the plain meaning of the text these words mean that the plan to ascend the top of the mountain would not succeed. A kabbalistic approach: the word והוא refers to the words פי ה', “the commandment of the Lord,” mentioned in the same verse. The reason the word is spelled with the letter ו instead of the letter י which is the way we read it, is that it is an allusion to the interaction between the active force (male) and the passive force (female). According to Nachmanides who also uses a kabbalistic approach, the word והוא (spelling) is similar in meaning to the same word in Ezekiel 1,13 היא מתהלכת בין החיות, i.e. it is an allusion to the Shechinah, a manifestation of G’d perceived as “feminine.” Moses was telling the people concerned that the “feminine” presence of the Lord would not suffice to grant them success. [If I understood this correctly. Seeing the cloud remained over the camp the people had reason to believe that G’d was with them. Ed.]

והיא לא תצלח, ”this plan will not succeed.” Moses explained to these people that the fact that they planned to act against the wishes of Hashem doomed their attempt.

והיא לא תצלח, this way will not succeed.

Do not go up, for the Shechinah of Hashem is not among you, lest you be broken before your enemies.

אל תעלו כי אין ה׳ בקרבכם, "do not go up for G'd is not in your midst." Moses gave two reasons why the מעפילים should not attempt to invade the land of Canaan. 1) G'd was not in their midst. 2) Seeing that G'd was not in their midst, i.e. had not approved their plan, any attempt to invade the land of Canaan now would be an act of rebellion against G'd. You will find that Moses spells this out in Deut. 1,43 when he recalled to the new generation that he had warned their fathers at the time not to attempt to invade the land and thereby to rebel against G'd.

Go not up, for the Lord's Shekinah dwelleth not among you; and the ark, the tabernacle, and the Cloud of Glory proceed not; and be not crushed before your enemies.

For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you, and you will fall by the sword — because therefore you have turned back from the service of Hashem, and the Word of Hashem will not be your support.

כי על כן שבתם — means: for (כי) this will come upon you, because (על כן) ye have turned away etc. (cf. Rashi on Genesis 18:5 and Numbers 10:31).

"For therefore you have turned back" — since you have turned back, as in "for therefore I did not give her [to you]."

כי העמלקי והכנעני שם, "for the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there, etc." The meaning is clear: The ten spies had given as the reason that the people would be unable to conquer the land the very presence of the Amalekite and the Canaanite. In view of this, any attempt to invade that part of the land knowing that G'd was not in their midst was an act of rebellion as it reflected the fact that they relied on themselves rather than on G'd. Moses warned that the certain result of such an attempt would be that they would fall by the sword just as the ten spies had predicted.

כי על כן שבתם, “for you turned away from Hashem again.” The reason why the spies frightened you was in order to turn you away from G-d, and now when they succeeded you wanted to do this once more? Do you still not place your confidence in Him? The only reason why He is not going to be on your side is that you constantly rebel against Him! If you will again transgress against His commandment you will surely be defeated until the forty years He decreed will have passed.

כי על כן שבתם, the line has the word אשר missing; we find a similar construction with the missing word אשר in Genesis 39 4 where the Torah writes וכל יש לו בידו instead of וכל אשר יש לו בידו.