[(Numb. 14:11:) HOW LONG WILL THIS PEOPLE SCORN ME?] Moses said to the Holy One: So what do you want? He said to him (in vs. 12): I WILL SMITE THEM WITH PESTILENCE AND DISPLACE THEM. THEN I WILL MAKE YOU INTO A NATION THAT IS GREATER AND MORE NUMEROUS THAN THEY. Moses said to him (in vss. 13–14, 16): WHEN THE EGYPTIANS HEAR WHAT HAPPENED, FOR YOU DID BRING THIS PEOPLE UP THROUGH YOUR POWER FROM THEIR MIDST, THEY WILL SAY UNTO THE INHABITANTS OF THIS LAND…. BECAUSE THE LORD WAS NOT ABLE TO BRING THIS PEOPLE INTO THE LAND…. So would not the nations of the world say: The gods of Canaan are stronger than the gods of Egypt?¹³ Why? The gods of Egypt are of irrigated land, but those of Canaan are of land watered by rain (i.e., of Ba'al). (Numb. 14:14, 16:) THEY WILL SAY UNTO THE INHABITANTS OF THIS LAND….. BECAUSE THE LORD WAS NOT ABLE TO BRING THIS PEOPLE INTO THE LAND…. (Numb. 14:16:) BECAUSE HE WAS NOT ABLE (yekholet), i.e., because he did not have the means to supply enough food, he brought them out to have them die in the desert. Now the word, yekholet can only refer to food, since it is stated (in I Kings 5:25 [11]): AND SOLOMON GAVE HIRAM TWENTY THOUSAND MEASURES OF WHEAT AS FOOD (makkolet) FOR HIS HOUSEHOLD.

footnotes: ¹³ Numb. R. 16:25; cf. above, Numb. 4:24 and the note there; below, Numb. 4a:19.