!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.

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

(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.”

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.

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.”

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)

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

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.”

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.].

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.

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.

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.]

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

ויכום, the Amalekites defeated them.” ויכתום, “the Canaanites beat them.”