1)

What are the connotations of "u'Mah ha'Aretz asher hu Yoshev bah, ha'Tovah hi Im Ra'ah"?

1.

Rashi: 'Does the land possess fountains and good healthy deep-water springs'?

2.

Ramban #1 (citing Ibn Ezra): 'Is the air good and is the water drinkable'?

3.

Ramban #2: 'Is it in general, a good land that produces a lot of fruit (incorporating good and luscious produce of all kinds 1 ), or a bad one'?

4.

Seforno: 'Does it contain streams of water, and what quality iis the water'? 2


1

Refer to 13:20:1:2.

2

Seforno: As the Torah specifically writes in Eikev Devarim, 8:7.

2)

Having stated ?u?Re?isem es ha?Aretz Mah hi? ? in Pasuk 18 - why did Moshe need to add ?u?Mah ha?Aretz ? ??

1.

Rashbam: ?ha?Aretz? in Pasuk 18 refers to the southern-most uninhabited parts of Eretz Cana?an, which the spies would arrive at first, whereas ?ha?Aretz? in the current Pasuk refers to the inhabited areas ? as the Pasuk continues ?asher hu Yoshev bah?.

3)

Why did they need to know ?ha?Tovah hi Im Ra?ah??

1.

Ramban (in Pasuk 2): The parts of the land that were bad 1 they would leave for later and first capture the parts that were good. 2

2.

Rashbam: The amount of food the land produces will determine how much they will need to prepare when going into battle.


1

Ramban (Ibid.): Which Moshe said with reference to "ba'Negev" in Pasuk 17.

2

Ramban (Ibid.): We see that in practice, Yehoshua did not capture all the areas of the land.

4)

What are the connotations of "ha'be'Machanim Im be'Mivtzarim"?

1.

Rashi (citing Targum Onkelos) and Seforno: He meant to ask whether they lived in open cities or in fortified ones. 1


1

Refer to 13:18:2:1*. Seforno: See Shoftim, 5:7.

5)

Seeing as Hashem already told them that the land is good, why did Moshe say "ha'Tovah Im Ra'ah"?

1.

Rashi (in Devarim 1:23): Because Yisrael asked to send spies to see if it is good or not, and Moshe only agreed because he expecting them to retract.

2.

Moshav Zekenim (citing R. Eliezer of Garmaiza): He asked whether the land is good for its residents. Some lands are good and fat, yet they produce weak and ill people. The spies stated that it consumes its residents - intimating that foreigners who come to settle there, who were not raised there from their youth, cannot survive in it.

Sefer: Perek: Pasuk:
Month: Day: Year:
Month: Day: Year:

KIH Logo
D.A.F. Home Page
Sponsorships & DonationsReaders' FeedbackMailing ListsTalmud ArchivesAsk the KollelDafyomi WeblinksDafyomi CalendarOther Yomi calendars