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.]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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:

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

וארון ברית ה' ומשה לא משו, “while the Ark of the covenant of Hashem and Moses did not move.” The Torah mentioned the Ark at the beginning of the verse; we find a similar expression in Samuel I 4,11 when the Ark was taken to battle by the two sons of Eli and captured by the Philistines. The basic difference between here and there is that the two sons of Eli were killed, which is the reason that they were mentioned by name only at the end of that verse.