(17) When Moses sent them to scout the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negeb and on into the hill country, (18) and see what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? (19) Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified? (20) Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not? And be courageous and bring back some of the fruit of the land.”—Now it happened to be the season of the first ripe grapes.
12 (Numb. 13:17) “When Moses sent them […] then he said unto them, ‘Go up here into the Negeb”: Why [first] into the Negeb? Because this is what the merchants do. They show the inferior goods first, and after that they show the best. (Vs. 18) “And you are to see what the land is like”: Three times did Moses tell them, “look over the Land of Israel” (in vss. 18, 19, 20). Why? The first, he said, “See what the land is.” He said to them, “Observe the land. There is land that raises strong men, and there is [land] that raises weaklings. There is also [land] that raises armies, and there is [land] that diminishes armies.” Thus did he charge them (in Numb. 13:18), “as for the people who dwell in it, are they mighty [or] weak?” (Numb. 13:19) “And what of the land, is it good or bad […]?” And how will you know about their strength? (Numb 13:19 cont.) “Are they in camps or in strongholds”: If they dwell in camps, they are mighty and depend upon their strength; but if they are in strongholds, they are weak and have fearful hearts. (Numb. 13:20) “And what of the land, Is it fertile [or lean]”: [How do we determine] whether its fruits are light or fat. He said to them, “Look at its stones and pebbles. If they are of flint, they are fat; and if they are of clay, they are lean.” (Ibid., cont.) “Now the time was the time for the first-fruits of the grapes”: From here you learn that [the month of] Tammuz is never without figs and grapes.
The correct interpretation is that whether it is ‘good’ includes all good things, and in the word ra’ah [or ‘bad’] are included all evils. [If so, the question arises why Moses continued with the apparently superfluous command to find out whether the Land is fat or lean, since it is already included in the phrases good and bad?] It is possible, however, that a good land is fruitful and its fruits are fat, and it produces fat products such as balsam and oil, dates and figs and similar things. But [it is also possible] that it is good and yet lean, and always needs rain, and must be hoed and fertilized very much, and its fruits have a tendency to be dry although they are better and last longer than the fat ones. In such a land are to be found very many “lean” fruits, such as nuts, almonds, apples, carobs and fruits of the forests. Thus [by saying that the spies are to ascertain whether the Land is fat or lean Moses] meant “whether it is a fat land, as valleys are, or a lean land like the mountains.” Onkelos, however, translated [whether it is fat or lean as] “whether it is rich or poor,” for there are countries whose inhabitants are rich because of the low prices prevalent among them, and their neighbors trade with them in all the good things found among them, and there are some countries whose inhabitants are dependent upon their neighbors and their inhabitants are of small power, although they are good [lands] and not at all bad.
‘And be ye of good courage’, and bring [of the fruit of the Land]. This means that they are not to be afraid when taking of the fruit of the Land that they might be recognized by the people as spies.
Rava says: Job lived at the time of the spies. This is proven by the fact that it is written here: “There was a man in the land of Utz, whose name was Job” (Job 1:1), and it is written there: “Whether there are trees [eitz] in it” (Numbers 13:20). Is it comparable? Here the word is Utz, whereas there the word is eitz. This is what Moses said to Israel, i.e., to the spies: Is that man named Job still alive, he whose years are as long as the years of a tree and who protects his generation like a tree?
(9) a land without scarcity where you may eat food and not lack anything; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper.