Kommentar zu Bamidbar 33:53

והורשתם את הארץ (lit., ye shall drive out the land) — this means: and you shall dispossess it of its inhabitants, and then, וישבתם בה YOU WILL DWELL IN IT — i.e., you will be able to remain in it, but if not, you will not be able to remain in it.

AND YE SHALL DRIVE OUT THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND, AND DWELL THEREIN; FOR UNTO YOU HAVE I GIVEN THE LAND TO POSSESS IT. In my opinion this is a positive commandment,²⁴Among the great scholars who enumerate the individual 613 Commandments, Ramban was the first to mention this commandment [to conquer and settle in the Land of Israel etc.] as binding for all times. In his notes to Maimonides’ Sefer Hamitzvoth (Book of the Commandments), in the section on “additional” positive commandments, No. 4, Ramban discusses this opinion at length. Here in his commentary on the Torah, he mentions it briefly, relying presumably on his explanation in the work quoted above. in which He is commanding them to dwell in the Land and inherit it, because He has given it to them and they should not reject the inheritance of the Eternal.²⁵I Samuel 26:19. Thus if the thought occurs to them to go and conquer the land of Shinar or the land of Assyria or any other country and to settle therein, they are [thereby] transgressing the commandment of G-d. And that which our Rabbis have emphasized, the significance of the commandment of settling in the Land of Israel, and that it is forbidden to leave it [except for certain specified reasons], and [the fact] that they consider a woman who does not want to emigrate with her husband to live in the Land of Israel as a “rebellious [wife],”²⁶Kethuboth 110b: “If he wants to emigrate [to the Land of Israel] and she refuses, she may be forced to go there, and if she still refuses, she may be divorced without her kethubah (marriage contract — see Vol. II, pp. 385-386). and likewise the man²⁷“If she wants to emigrate [to the Land of Israel] and he refuses, he may be forced to go there, and if he still refuses, he must divorce her and give her the kethubah (ibid.). — the source of all these statements is here [in this verse] where we have been given this commandment, for this verse constitutes a positive commandment.²⁸“For all generations, every person being obliged in the performance thereof, even during the exile” (Ramban in his notes to Maimonides’ Sefer Hamitzvoth “additional” positive commandments, No. 4). This commandment He repeats in many places, such as Go in and possess the Land.²⁹Deuteronomy 1:8. “And when they refused to go up, it is written: but ye rebelled against the commandment of the Eternal your G-d (ibid., Verse 26 — Ramban on Sefer Hamitzvoth, ibid.). Rashi, however, explained: “And ye shall drive out the inhabitants of the Land — [if] you dispossess it of its inhabitants, then ye will be able to dwell therein, and to remain there, but if not, you will not be able to remain in it.” But our interpretation [of the verse] is the principal one.

והורשתם את הארץ, when you will wipe out the present inhabitants of that land your children will thereby acquire the right to treat it as their ancestral heritage. If you fail to drive out or wipe out the local population, the land will not become your heritage even though you have conquered it.

והורשתם את הארץ וישבתם בה, "and you will take possession of the land and dwell in it, etc." Rashi explains that the commandment is to drive out the people, whereas the words: "you will dwell in it" are a promise; Nachmanides explains that the commandment is to dwell in the land and that this verse is the halachic basis for Ketuvot 110 that הכל מעלין לארץ ישראל, "that one may force all the members of one's household to migrate to the land of Israel."

והורשתם את הארץ וישבתם בה, “you will take possession of the land and dwell thereon.” According to the opinion of Nachmanides this verse is one of the positive commandments in the Torah. This means that if, for some reason, the people would decide to conquer a different land and to settle there, they would be in violation of this positive commandment to settle in the Holy Land. The commandment to take possession of the Holy Land and to settle thereon is deemed so important that the Torah repeats it on several occasions. This is the reason why our sages stated that anyone leaving the Holy Land to take up residence elsewhere is equivalent to having chosen for himself an alien deity. (Ketuvot 110) Our sages deal at length with the subject of a wife who refuses to accompany her husband to the Holy Land, etc. The same debate is conducted if the wife wants to settle in the land of Israel and her husband refuses. Rashi does not interpret the words והורשתם את הארץ in the same manner, but sees the whole verse as describing the circumstances that make our settling in the land of Israel possible, i.e. taking possession of it, being undisputed owners. According to Rashi, unless we are in physical possession of that land, our living there will always be of a temporary nature.

והורשתם את הארץ, “you shall drive out the land.” The meaning is to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Once you have done this, you will be able to settle in it. If you fail to drive out the present inhabitants you will not be able to stay in the land for long.

Of its inhabitants. Because הורשה is an expression of expulsion, therefore when it is written את הארץ [lit. "[drive out] the land"] it means the inhabitants of the land.

V. 53. והורשתם את הארץ (siehe zu V. 52). Ihr müsst das Land erst durch Entfernung aller polytheistischen Spuren zu eurer ירושה fähig machen, dann erst könnt ihr euch darin niederlassen. So lange polytheistische Bewohner und polytheistische Denkmäler darin sind, ist eure ישיבה keine ישיבה (siehe zu Schmot 32, 12 f.). כי לכם נתתי וגו׳: nicht kraft eigner Machtvollkommenheit habt ihr das Land, es ist Gottes Wille und Gottes Macht, denen ihr das Land verdanket, und auch bei der Verteilung des Landes (V. 54) habt ihr nicht willkürliche Normen, sondern Gottes Weisung und Gottes Entscheidung zu folgen. Daher könnt ihr euch nicht der ersten Vorbedingung entschlagen, unter welcher Gott euch das Land überweist

You shall be able to endure there… For if not so, surely it is already written, “drive out” thus it should have continued, “You shall give [the land] as an inheritance…” Rather, this was said conditionally [i.e.] that if you drive them out you will be able to endure.

It would appear that Rashi referred to the plain meaning of the verse considering the conclusion of the verse which says: "for I have given it to you to dispossesss it (of its inhabitants)." If the commandment had been the dwelling in the land, the Torah should have indicated this by writing "for I have given it to you to dwell in it."