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.

“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.

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.

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.