Parashat Shelach

(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 take pains to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”—Now it happened to be the season of the first ripe grapes.

(18) את הארץ מה הוא AND SEE THE LAND; WHAT IT IS — There are countries which rear strong people and there are countries which rear weak people; there are such as produce a large population and there are such as produce a small population.

(19) החזק הוא הרפה WHETHER THEY ARE STRONG OR WEAK — He gave them a sign: if they live in open cities they are strong, since they evidently rely on their own strength, but if they live in fortified cities they are weak (Tanchuma).

(1) הבמחנים — The Targum rendering is: “whether in open places” i.e. in cities open and exposed — without a wall.

(2) הטובה הוא WHETHER IT IS GOOD, through possessing springs and other good and healthy supplies of water.

(1) היש בה עץ WHETHER THERE ARE TREES IN IT [OR NOT] — i.e. whether there is a righteous man amongst them who will protect them by his merits (cf. Bava Batra 15a).

(18) וראיתם את הארץ מה היא. If it is mostly populated in open cities or walled cities, like fortresses.

(19) ואת העם היושב עליה, to find out if the ecological conditions favoured successful settlement in cities. In other words, if sick people would be referred by their physicians to such cities and to such a climate to help them regain their health. They would judge this by the appearance of the inhabitants of such cities; if they appeared healthy, strong, of good posture, etc. They would also observe if the people were numerous, had large families, or if somehow they were few in numbers. Large numbers of people, and people looking strong and fit, would indicate that the climate was good and favoured large-scale settlement.

(1) הטובה היא, was the water supply plentiful and not contaminated. Moses had stressed in Deuteronomy 8,7 that G’d was bringing the people to a location which was “good” in the sense that it possessed brooks and rivers with pure water.

(2) הבמחנים, if they lived in open cities, a sign that they felt secure, not expecting any war,

(3) אם במבצרים, or in walled, fortified towns, suggesting that the inhabitants were afraid of being invaded. Compare Devorah’s song in Judges 5,7 where she bemoans the fact that her people had ceased to live in open cities.

(1) השמנה היא, does it possess riches, surpluses, as Moses said in Deuteronomy 8,9 לא במסכנות תאכל בה לחם, “where you will eat bread without having to stint.”

(2) היש בה עץ, are there fruit trees, such as grape vines, fig trees, pomegranate trees and olive trees.

(1) Did the spies despise the land of Israel, or did they merely reject G'ds leadership?

(32) אכלת יושביה [A LAND] THAT EATETH UP THE INHABITANTS THEREOF — “In every place which we passed we found them (the inhabitants) burying their dead". — But, as a matter of fact, the Holy One, blessed be He, did this (caused many deaths amongst them at that time, and so the Canaanites were engaged in burying their dead) for the best, in order to occupy them busily with their mourning so that they should pay no attention to these (the spies).