What did the Cana'ani, king of Arad hear that caused them to attack?
Rashi #1 and Ramban #2 (both citing Rosh Hashanah, 3a): They heard that Aharon had died and that the Ananei Kavod had departed ? and they thought that they now had Hashem's permission to fight Yisrael. 1
Ramban (based on Targum Onkelos): They sensed when the Meraglim came. Now Melech Arad heard that Yisrael returned to the place from which they sent Meraglim. 2 These Cana'anim followed their path until they came to Machaneh Yisrael. 3
See Torah Temmah, note 1.
Bechor Shor: They assumed that Yisrael came there to fight, because the spies told them it this is the place from which to attack.. (Even though Yisrael went to Hor ha'Har before the Cana'anim arrived, since the Cana'anim came for war, they pursued Yisrael to fight them. - PF)
Kadesh is Kadesh Barne'a, on the border of Eretz Yisrael, from where they sent the Meraglim. The Cana'anim went to Kadesh, and could see where Yisrael went since the Cloud had leveled the ground for Yisrael. They followed the path until Hor ha'Har, and attacked there. (PF)
Who was the "king of "Arad"? Where was Arad?
Rashi, Ramban #2, Rashbam and Targum Yonasan: Refer to 21:1:3:1*.
Ramban #1 (according to Targum Onkelos) and Seforno (by implication) 1 : Arad was on the west side of the Yarden, and the king of Arad was one of the kings of Cana'an, 2 who crossed the Yarden to attack Yisrael. 3
Rashbam: They were Cana'anim who lived in the south next to Amalek. 4
Rosh Hashanah, 3a: Sichon, Arad and Cana'an are one and the same: ?Arad? ? beause they were like a wild ass in the desert (?Arod?); ?Cana?an? ? the name of the kingdom, nd ?Sichon? ? his name. 5
Ramban: See Yehoshua, 12:14 & Mas'ei Bamidbar, 34:2. This also explains why the Torah writes that they 'heard'. See also Ramban DH 'Vayishma ha'Cana'ani' and 've'ha'Nachon be'Einai' ? who elaborates.
Rashbam: As the Torah states in Sh'lach-l'cha, 14:43.
See Torah Temimah, note 2.
Why does the Pasuk add "Yoshev ha'Negev"?
Rashi, Ramban #1 (citing Rosh Hashanah, 3a) and Rashbam: This indicates that it was not really the Cana'anim 1 who attacked, but Amalek, 2 whom the Spies described as "living in the south". 3
Ramban #2: Refer to 21:1:2:1.
Targum Yonasan: It refers to Amalek (who joined with the Cana'anim to attack Yisrael - Targum Yonasan in Masei, 32:40, and) who came to rule in Arad when he heard that Aharon had died, and that they were now in the same location where they had sent the spies and rebelled against the Master of the World.
Rashi: And the Pasuk refers to them as Cana'anim, because they spoke in the Cana'ani language (Refer to 21:1:4:1 & 33:40:1:1 and see Peirush Yonasan there). Yalkut Shimoni: They are called 'Cana'ani', because, although Yisrael were forbidden to fight Eisav, now that Amalek attacked a second time, Hashem said that they were no longer like Edom, but rather, like the Cana'anim, whom they were commanded to destroy.
Rashi: Amalek is Hashem's eternal 'strap of punishment' against Yisrael, who is always ready to attack them.
Rashbam: Next to Amalek. See Sh'lach-l'cha 13:29.
If the Pasuk is referring to Amalek, why did they speak the Cana'ani language?
Rashi: In order to trick Yisrael into thinking that they were Cana'anim, and would therefore pray to Hashem to deliver the Cana'anim into their hands - and they weren't Cana'anim. 1
Rashi: However, when Yisrael saw that they spoke like Cana'anim but were dressed like Amalekim, they Daveneed without mentioning a name, as the next Pasuk states.
What are the implications of "Derech ha'Asarim"?
Rashi #1 and Rashbam: It means that they travelled via the south, from where they had sent the Meraglim. 1
Rashi #2: It refers to the way of the great 'Tayar' (trecker - the Aron) that traveled "three days ahead of them to search out for them a resting-place." 2
Ramban (interpreting Targum Onkelos): The Cana'anim were aware of the spies that Yisrael sent forty years earlier, and the king of Arad now followed the same route to attack Yisrael.
Targum Yonasan: Refer to 21:1:3:3.
Yerushalmi Yoma 1:1: It refers to the great treker (?ha?Tayar ha?Gadol?) 3 - Aharon, in whose merit the Cloud traveled before Yisrael - and who had now died. 4
Rashi and Rashbam: As the Pasuk states in 13:22 - See Rashbam. Rashi (in Yeshayah, 59:10): It is as if it had written 'Derech ha'Tarim", without the 'Alef' See Rashbam
See Torah Temimah, note 3.
What are the implications of "va'Yish'b mimenu "Shevi"?
Rashi: It means literally, that they took one captive - a slave-girl 1 .
Ramban: It means that they took a few captives, 2 whom Yisrael subsequently retrieved when Hashem delivered them into their hands.
Targum Yonasan: In fact, they took many captives from Yisrael, and "Shevi" is a collective noun.
Gitin, 38a: It teaches us that a Nochri aquires a Yisrael with regard to the work of his hands. 3
Ramban: Not one Yisrael was killed. And the same applies to all the wars of Mitzvah in Moshe's lifetime, except for when after they sinned before the first war with Amalek (after they tried Hashem - ? Beshalach, Sh'mos 17:7), and the Ma'apilim (after the Meraglim - when they disobeyed Hashem's command not to fight).
Ramban: Which the Torah relates because it prompted Yisrael to make the Neder stated in the Pasuk.
See Torah Temimah, note 4.
Why did Hashem allow the Cana'anim to take captives from Yisrael?
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes that they heard that Aharon had died and that the Ananei Kavod had departed. Why did he not explain simply, that they heard that Yisrael came?
