יושב הנגב, “who resided in the southern part of the Land of Canaan;” in other words, Amalek; we have proof that Amalek resided in that part of the land from Numbers 13,29, from the report of the spies. If these people were indeed Amalek, why did the Torah not call these people by their real name but called them Canaanites? [Amalek is descended from Esau, i.e. is a Semitic tribe. Ed.] When G-d saw that Amalek attacked the Jewish people a second time, He said to Israel: “they are not out of bounds to you as are the Edomites, although genetically they are as close to you or even closer than the Edomites, Amalek having been a grandson of Esau. You may, or even must destroy them, in due course. What applies to the Canaanites, i.e. that any of them who do not voluntarily leave their land you have to kill, men women and children, applies to them also. (Compare Rashi, who says that the Israelites mistook these attackers for Canaanites as they had dressed as such. They had done so in order to cause the Israelites to pray to G-d to help them against the Canaanites, not against the Amalekites.) Rashi apparently did not accept the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer hakalir, in his liturgical prayer recited on Parshat Zachor, according to whom, on the contrary, the King of Arad (Canaanite) and his soldiers wore the uniforms of Amalekites. Some commentators on this paragraph understand our verse as having omitted a word, i.e. “and Amalek,” after the word “Arad,” in our verse. We have indeed found elsewhere that the tribe of Canaanites under the control of the I King of Arad, lived in close proximity to the Amalekites. (Compare (Numbers 14,25) Compare also verse 45 there.

דרך האתרים, the correct spelling ought to be התארים, the letters having been inverted similar to when we find כבשים spelled as כשבים, (sheep) or שמלה as שלמה (garment). Compare Joshua 15,9: ותאר הגבול, “and the boundary curved, i.e. was inverted;” When the Amalekites heard that the Israelites had marched around the territory of Edom from north to south, as stated in Numbers 21,4, they concluded that they would now attack from the southern region of Edom. They used this as an opportunity to attack them as they had displayed fear of the Edomites.

ויקרא שם המקום חרמה, “Israel called the name of the place where this occurred: Chormah, “utter destruction.” It is not to be confused with a place by an identical name referred to in the Torah in Numbers 14,45.

ויסעו מהר ההר, “they journeyed on from Hor Hahar;” the Torah now returns to the subject which had been interrupted when it described the detour around the territory of Edom. It had been interrupted by the report of the death of Aaron and the battle against Amalek as a result of that.

מהר ההר דרך ים סוף, “from Hor Hahar, in the direction of the sea of Reeds, i.e. from north to south in order to detour around Edom. This was not a detour around Mount Seir, of which we are told in Deuteronomy 2,1. Here we are speaking of the twenty first year of the Israelites, immediately after the nineteen years the Israelites had remained in Kadesh Barnea the point from which the spies had been sent out. After that they detoured around the territory of Edom until they came to the Kadesh in the desert of Tzin. The detour around Edom occurred in the fortieth year after the Exodus, and was due to the King of Edom’s refusal to grant the Israelites the right to use his territory as transit toward the Jordan river. They also detoured around the southern part of the Kingdom of Moav, as the Torah had not given them the right to harass that country, as we read in Judges 11,17. When they arrived at a place called Ovot, (verse 10) which was located at the south eastern corner of the Kingdom of Moav, they turned north and turned left in the direction of the river Arnon, as we read in verse Deuteronomy 919. The number of way stations during that period, have not been enumerated, although each has been mentioned in Parshat Massey, but some may have had more than one name. (Numbers 33,4143).

ותקצר נפש העם בדרך, “and the people became impatient because of the length of the way.” The root קצר in the sense of impatient, occurs also in Exodus 6,9, when the people did not respond to Moses’ promises, i.e. ומקוצר רוח, “on account of an impatient spirit.” In this instance, the lengthy and strenuous detour around the boundaries of the Kingdom of Edom had tried their patience to breaking point. Rashi explains why the meaning of the word could not possibly be the “shortness of the way,” as after 38 years plus they perceived themselves as getting further away from their destination rather than closer to it. An alternate interpretation: The protective clouds shielding the people from the hot rays of the sun had ceased to function, as a result of Aaron’s death as these had been due to his merit, just as the water supply had been due to Miriam’s merit.

כי אין לחם....ונפשנו קצה בלחם הקלוקל, “for there was no bread (that was the product of the earth) and the insubstantial bread from heaven (the manna) the people had become fed up with.”The expression קצה is familiar to us from when Rivkah experiencing so much tension with her daughters-in-law, the wives of Esau, told her husband that if Yaakov were to marry wives from a similar background she would become fed up with living. (Genesis 27,46, קצתי בחיי.)

בלחם, “with the bread;” the letter ב at the beginning of this word has the vowel patach to show that a certain well known “bread” was meant.

הקלוקל, as in Ezekiel 21,26: קלקל בחצים, “like flashing arrows,” a simile for the word בדולח, “shining crystal,” a word used by the Torah to describe the appearance of the manna in Numbers 11,7. An alternate interpretation: the word is a variation of קלקול, as in Jeremiah 4,24: וכל הגבעות התקלקלו, “and all the heights, (low hills) are disintegrating.” They are not providing man with strength.

את הנחשים, “the snakes.” According to Rabbi Yudan, the Torah, by not writing: נחשים, but הנחשים instead, claims that the cloud over the Jewish camp as long as Aaron had been alive, used to burn the snakes, and thus make them harmless, as far as the Jewish people were concerned. Now that Aaron had died there was no remedy against being bitten by snakes. They became frequent sources of harm.

את הנחש, “the snake;” sometimes the word נחש appears in the singular, and sometimes in the plural mode. This is not unique, as we experienced it with the frogs in Exodus 8,2, also.

נחש נחשת, “a copper snake.” This metal was chosen, as, when polished, it shines and reflects light and therefore is highly visible. We know this from Ezekiel 1,7, where the prophet describes his vision of angels whose hooflike feet were described as sparkling like burnished copper. Even though the area of the Israelites camp was three miles square, anyone who had been bitten by a snake could see the copper snake that Moses had mounted on a pole.

והביט אל נחש הנחשת, “and when he looked at this replica of a copper coloured snake (he would live);” looking at this phenomenon automatically would make such a person think of heaven, and that his only hope for surviving the snakebite would come from heaven. (Rashi). The reason that G-d chose this particular phenomenon was to remind the victim that the cure for his ailment had to be found in reversing the source of his affliction.[Just as the original sin by the first woman was described as caused by a snake who had seduced the first woman, so this source had to be discredited in the eyes of the afflicted person as symbolising that he had allowed himself to sin just as the first woman had been guilty of believing the snake, a mere creature, rather than the command of its Creator. Ed.] The miraculous powers of the Creator to heal, would best be demonstrated if it was shown that He could use the source of the affliction as the medicine that would cure it. [I have departed from the author’s use of the “chisel,” which to this Editor is rather meaningless, although it was taken from the commentary of B’chor shor. Ed.]

ויסעו בני ישראל ויחנו באובות. The Jewish people continued journeying and they encamped at Ovot. Their previous encampment had been at Punan as reported in Numbers 33,43.

ויסעו מאובות, “They journeyed on from Ovot;” from this point onwards they turned in a northerly direction. The text proves that this took place here, as the next encampment is described as being at B’iyey Haavarim which is located facing the territory of Moav which was to the east.

ויחנו בעיי העברים, “they made camp at a location known as B’iyey Haavarim. According to Rashi, this was a place from which it was easy to cross to the land of Canaan, and it was near Mount Nebo, the mountain containing Moses’ unknown grave. Moses viewed the land of Israel from the summit of that Mountain. The author speculates that what is reported here took place before the conquest by the Israelites of the lands of Sichon and Og to the west of this location, reported later in this chapter. It appears as if Mount Nebo is not mentioned until after 3 further encampments as explained in the portion Massey, and as far as Rashi explaining further that Mount Nebo intervened between Moav and the Emorites, perhaps prior to the war between Sichon and the first king of Moav this may have been so. But during that war, Sichon appropriated his whole land from him commencing from Mount Nebo as far as the river Arnon. (compare verse 26) The letter ע in בעיי, may have substituted for the letter א here.

משם נסעו, “from there they continued their journeys;” The word “there,” refers to B’iyey Haavarim.

ויחנו בנחל זרד, “they encamped in the valley of the river Zered.” In Parshat Massey, however, we read that the Israelites first came to Divon Gad, but there only land locations are mentioned, whereas here rivers are mentioned also. The reason may be that the Torah was interested here to report what occurred at Beer.

ויחנו מעבר ארנון, “they encamped across from the river Arnon.” If the Torah had written instead: בעבר ארנון, this would have meant that they had had free choice where along the banks of the river Arnon to make camp. The letter מ in stead of the prefix ב, means that they had only been able to make camp on the part of the banks of that river which came from the boundary with the Emorites, as Rashi has explained.

מעבר ארנון, where across from that river? The part in no man’s land, desert, where it had left the boundary of the territory belonging to the Emorites. Apparently, there was a small island in the middle of that river that afforded a relatively easy passage across the river, in a neutral area between the territory of the Emorites and that of Moav. This is what is referred to as Almon Divlatayma in Numbers 33, 46. The river Arnon was the boundary between these two kingdoms.

כי ארנון גבול מואב בין מואב ובין האמורי, “for Arnon was the boundary between the Emorites and the Moabites.” In earlier times, the territory of Moav had extended in a westerly direction to the river Jordan and in a northerly direction as far as Mount Nebo, which used to be the boundary with the Kingdom of Sichon. The latter had conquered a large slice of the original kingdom of Moav, (which due to that fact had no longer been included in the Moabite territory G-d had put out of bounds to the Israelites). This has been documented in verse 26 of our chapter.

על כן, “this is why” concerning the territories forbidden to the Israelites to conquer or harass, “it is stated in the book documenting the wars of the Lord, etc.” There are numerous books dating back to that period which have become lost in the course of the centuries in which more of the accomplishments of the Israelites in warfare had been preserved, including this war. Also numerous of the poems of King Solomon and his many parables have become lost throughout those centuries, though the people had been aware of their existence at one time. The book that indicated the boundaries of the lands that they were prohibited from entering was called מלחמות ה׳‎ “wars conducted with the approval of the Lord.” We recall that Avigayil had said to David in Samuel I 25,28: כי מלחמות ה' אדוני נלחם, “my lord (David) has fought wars for the sake of the reputation of the Lord.” יאמר, “it is said;” the letter א in this word is vocalised with the vowel patach, (not tzeyre).

את והב בסופה, “Vaheiv” is the name of a location at the extreme end of the territory of Moav, a place that the Israelites had crossed and where miracles had been performed for them similar to the ones at the sea of reeds. Compare a reference to this in what Balak told Bileam about the location at that time of the Israelites’ camp. (Numbers 22,5.)

ואשד הנחלים, this was another location that the Israelites were not allowed to invade as part of it was overhanging airspace belonging to the Moabite Kingdom.

ומשם, “and from there,“ i.e. from the boundary of Moav; the warning against harassing that nation becomes effective extending as far as the place known as Beer, which is identical with Kadesh, which is part of Edom, where G-d gave them the well.

אז, “then,” i.e. after G-d had provided them with the well from which to slake their thirst, they broke out in a song of thanksgiving. This song has not been recorded at the time it had been sung because at the same time this location had become the one at which both Moses and Aaron had been punished. When the time came to make a specific reference to that well, the Torah also reported this song that the Israelites had sung. An alternate interpretation about the meaning of the line: 'בספר מלחמות ה, “in the Book recording the wars of the Lord:” This book was comparable to the Book of Chronicles kept by every nation in which a record has been made of all the wars between one nation and its neighbours, in which its victories have been recorded.

The expression: את והב (verse 14) is to be understood as being a single word, just as the word אתיהב, where the letter ו has been exchanged for the letter א. We have a parallel for this in Genesis 45,1 where Joseph is described as misrepresenting himself with the word: בהתודע, a word from the root ידע. Another example of such an unusual construction is found in Genesis 27,29, where Yitzchok in his blessing to Yaakov is quoted as saying: הוה גביר לאחיך, “be senior over your brothers.” We would have expected the word: היה instead of הוה. It, i.e. the word והב is intended as an alternative to נתינה as in “gift,” as in Numbers 26,62, כי לא נתן להם נחלה, “for no ancestral piece of land had been given to to them.” The Targumim, translators into Aramaic, render the word נתן there as אתיהב. Here where we hear about the defeat of the King of Moav against Sichon of the Emorites, the words ואת והב בסופה, mean that that king at the end of that war had had to cede lands to the victor.

This included the valley of the river Arnon. The well (through the rock) from which the Israelites were provided with water after Miriam’s death therefore was directly connected to what had once been Moav.

חפרוה שרים, ”which the princes had dug;” the “princes” mentioned in this poetic song are Moses and Aaron, who had hit the rock. It was they that had been commanded to speak to the rock. (20,8)

במחוקק במשענותם, “with the scepter and with their staffs.” By striking the rock they made a deep impression on it, and split it. The expression מחק occurs in this sense in Ezekiel 8,10: מחוקה על הקיר, “depicted (engraved) over the whole wall.”

וממדבר מתנה, “and from the desert to Matanah.” This still refers to the previous phrase, i.e. ויחנו בעבר ארנון אשר במדבר, “they encamped in Ever, which is situated in the desert.”From this Ever in the desert which is identical with Almon Divlataymah, they came to Matanah, which is identical with place a called Mount Haavarim in the portion of Massey (Numbers 33,47). The reason why the place was called Matanah, was that it was from here on in that the Israelites began to receive the gift of the land of Israel. The reason that the expression which we have so become used to, i.e. ויסעו ויחחנו, “they journeyed, they encamped,” is not used here, is that the people were still standing in Ever of Arnon in the desert as reported in the Book of Deuteronomy 2,26: ואשלח מלאכים ממדבר קדמות אל סיחון (Moses speaking) “I sent out messengers to Sichon from the desert k’deymot. i.e. from the desert to the east of his land, as opposed to: “from the desert to the south of his land.” In that chapter reference is made to the conquest of the lands of Sichon and Og.

וממתנה, “and from Matanah;’” they came to Nachaliel, the word being a combination of river and valley. In Numbers 33,48, the Torah refers to this as the Israelites journeying from the chain of mountains known as Harey Haavarim.” From that point onwards, the Israelites made camp in the wilderness also known as שדה מואב, “the field or fields” of Moav. This was the last place where they made camp before crossing the Jordan river into the Holy Land.

ומנחליאל, “and from Nachaliel;” they spread out from there to Bamot, called בית הישימות in Numbers 33,49. The Emorites would refer to places where they worshipped their idols: Bamot, “elevated places,” whereas the Israelites called the same sites Beyt Hayeshimites, “houses of desolation.” Our sages in the Talmud tractate Avodah Zarah, folio 46, go into more detail about all this.

ומבמות, and from “Bamot” the Israelites spread out into the valley referred to in Numbers 33,39, as “Avel Hashittim.” The word; avel means: valley, steppe.

אשר בשדה מואב ראש הפסגה, “that is in the field of Moav, by the top of the Pissgah; the word ומבמות which introduced this phrase means combined: “the elevation in the field of Moav which is beside the top of summit, which in turn looks down on pney hayeshimon, is the great desert.” Seeing that at one time this tract of land had belonged to Moav, it was still described by the Torah as such, as it had been known as such by the Israelites who were familiar with the region. This is also why the Torah still speaks about ערבות מואב, “the region formerly belonging to Moav, and still referred to by many as such.”A different approach to these verses commencing with וממדבר מתנה. The well of which the Israelites spoke in their song had great significance seeing that in a desert, a place completely devoid of water, they had been provided with ample water completely free of charge, i.e. as a gift, .מתנה

וממתנה נחליאל, “and from the place called Matanah as far as Nachaliel” there could not be found any other wells capable of supplying the water needed for the Israelite nation. Once they had received this gift of water from G-d, the river Arnon swelled way beyond its normal flow. (B’chor shor)

The letter י in the word נחליאל, is superfluous, just as it is superfluous in Psalms 123,1 היושבי בשמים, and in Psalms113,5, 113,6. The ending אל in the word expresses strength, as it does in Ezekiel 17,13: ואת אילי הארץ לקח, “and the mighty of the land he took away.”We also find this spelled out in Numbers 20,11 where the Torah stressed that a large amount of water came forth, i.e. far more than was needed. [there was no other reason to emphasize this just as it was not emphasized in Exodus 17, 6, where Moses had struck a rock for that purpose a first time. Ed.]

וישלח ישראל מלאכים, “Israel sent messengers;” in a different report in Deuteronomy 2,26 we are told that Moses sent messengers. Our sages conclude from this that two letters were sent to Sichon, one by Moses asserting Israel’s peaceful intentions when traversing his territory, the other by Israel, threatening war. (no source quoted). The second certainly sounds very peaceful. Ed.]

לקראת ישראל המדברה “in the direction of the Israelites, toward the desert.” We had been told that they had encamped in the desert at that time in verse 13 of our chapter.

מארנון עד יבוק, “from Arnon to the river Yabok.” Both the land of Moav and the land of the Bney Ammon are situated east of the land of Canaan (the west bank of the Jordan). The lands of Sichon were in between the land of Moav and Bney Ammon. Just as Sichon had taken land from Moav from the southern region along the river Jordan as far north as the river Arnon, so he had taken land from the Bney Ammon from the north as far as the river Yabok. As a result of this it had become permitted to the Israelites to take away these lands from Sichon, as they no longer were considered as either belonging to Moav or the Bney Ammon. In the words of our sages in the Talmud tractate Chulin folio 60, “Ammon and Moav had been cleansed by Sichon.”

כי עז גבול בני עמון, “for the border between the Bney Ammon was strong; but south of the river Yabok Sichon had not been able to conquer, as that region was easier to defend, the river acting as a formidable obstacle.

על כן יאמרו המושלים, “this is why the people speaking in parables (Bileam and B’or according to Rashi)) would say, etc.” B’or was the father of Bileam whom Sichon had hired to curse Moav. (Tanchuma, Chukat, section 24)

באו חשבון, “come to Cheshbon to dwell there!” It will be built up now that it has come under the rule of Sichon. As long as it had been under the rule of Moav, people were afraid to settle there as the King of Moav did not offer much in the way of protection to his subjects.

תבנה ותכונן, “let it be rebuilt and firmly established!” More so than previously.

עיר סיחון, “Sichon’s capital!”

כי אש יצאה מחשבון, “for a fire has gone out from Cheshbon. The inhabitants of Cheshbon rebelled against your king of Moav.

להבה מקרית סימון, “a flame from the city of Sichon;” i.e. the city that has now become Sichon’s. עיר סימון, “Sichon’s capital!”

בעלי במות ארנון, “the lords of the high places of Arnon.” Our author, quoting Samuel II 6,2, understands the word בעלי here as referring to a plain or plateau. In other words, the lands described here were all relatively high, though level.

אוי לך מואב, “woe unto you, Moav;” this is all part of the parables referred to earlier.

אבדת עם כמוש, “you are undone people who worship Kemosh.” Do not be amazed at the word אבדת which usually means: “you are lost;” in this instance it means the same as in Micah 7,2 אבד חסיד מן הארץ, “the pious have vanished from the earth;” they have not literally disappeared, but have become passive as if they did not exist. The same applies to the Moabites now under the rule of Sichon.

נתן בניו פליטים, “he has made its sons fugitives;” a reference to the under age male children in Moav who though they escaped his sword have been turned into fugitives. They were allowed to grow up as prisoners in Sichon’s palace, as the Moabites saw no other way to keep them alive.

ונירם אבד חשבון עד דיבון, “in the meantime) we (the Israelites) came and threw over the rule of Sichon, not only Cheshbon has perished but even Divvon.”

The word ניר, means: ”heir;” in the meantime no heir is left of the original Moabites (Compare Kings I 11,36, for the meaning of the word ניר.) An alternate interpretation. The word ניר, is derived from ירה, “to shoot, to throw,” as in Exodus 15,4: ירה בים, “He tossed into the sea.” In other words, the Israelites are boasting that they had tossed the Emorites, etc., out of their land, or in ordinary Hebrew, ונשליכם. If you were to explain our verse according to the Targum, the letter ו at the beginning should have a short vowel patach, instead of the regular patach. Still another interpretation: the word ניר is a variant of חרישה, “the act of ploughing,” as in Jeremiah 4,3: נירו לכם ניר, “break up the untilled ground!”

ונשים, “we laid waste;” related to שממה, desolation.” The Israelites declare that they plowed over all the structures of the former inhabitants. [unlike what happened on the west bank of the Jordan when they captured all the Canaanite infrastructure 100% intact, and could make immediate use of it. Ed.]

ויירש את האמורי, “and drove out the Emorite.” The word is read as if it had been spelled ויורש, “and inherited.”

ויפנו ויעלו, “they turned around and ascended;” in a northerly direction. Seeing that anyone who walks from the south of the land of Israel northward must automatically be ascending, [as is due to the topography of the terrain, Ed.] he must ascend via Bashan, the land ruled by King Og. Seeing that the Kingdom of Og has been described as part of the land of Canaan, the commandment to kill anyone from that Kingdom who did not voluntarily leave, man woman or child; the Israelites did not send a letter offering to cross his land peacefully only in transit. (compare Deuteronomy 20,16) [The commandment not to allow survivors also applied to the Emorites, i.e. to Sichon and his country. Og, personally, a survivor of the deluge according to tradition, obviously could not have been a Canaanite, as they did not exist at that time. Ed.] Sichon, on the other hand, ruled over some lands that were not originally Canaanite, such as parts of Moav and Bney Ammon.

ויצא, “he (Og) came forth, provocatively, in a hostile manner.” Our author refers us to his having explained why Og lived as long as he lived, i.e. at least 850 years. (Genesis 14,13)

אל תירא אותו, “do not fear him!” Rashi explains that the reason why Moses was afraid of Og was that the merit of having alerted Avraham to Lot having been taken prisoner by the armies of Kedorleomer might have protected him. This seems highly unlikely, as Rashi himself explains elsewhere that Og far from having noble intentions, wished Avraham dead, so that he could marry Sarah. We therefore must look for a different reason why Moses would have feared him. In the Talmud Horiot folio 10, we have a statement that a person should engage in Torah study even if his intentions are not wholly religiously motivated. As a proof the Talmud cites that the 42 sacrificial animals that Balak, who had hired Bileam to curse the Jewish people, offered to the Jewish G-d was rewarded by Ruth the Moabite, and ancestor of the Messiah through her great grandson David would be born and be married to Boaz. Moses was similarly concerned that if Og had survived thus far, G-d had had a mission in mind that he must fulfill and that mission had not yet been fulfilled by him. Only after G-d had set Moses’ mind at ease did he cease worrying about the outcome of the military encounter that was imminent. It was only after G-d reassured him that his mind was set to rest about the imminent military encounter involving also such a giant.