Commentary for Numbers 13:23

זמורה (lit., AND THEY CUT DOWN FROM THENCE) A BRANCH [AND ONE CLUSTER OF GRAPES] — i.e. a vine branch with a cluster of grapes hanging from it (not as the text might suggest, that they cut a branch and they cut also a cluster of grapes),

With a cluster of grapes hanging from it. [The meaning is] as if Scripture had written “from there they cut off a branch with one cluster of grapes” rather than interpreting [that they cut off] “a branch” by itself and a “cluster” by itself; for if so why would they have cut off the branch at all, since it had no fruit.

V. 23. שכלn (siehe Bereschit 27, 45), זמרה (siehe Bereschit 43, 11), מוט (siehe Wajikra 26, 13).

ויכרתו משם זמורה ואשכול, “they cut from there a branch with a cluster of grapes.” From this little detail we are to learn two lessons, (i.e. from the letter ו at the beginning of the word אשכול). They made a pole to carry the cluster by.

וישאהו במוט בשנים AND THEY BARE IT UPON A POLE BETWEEN TWO — From what is implied in the statement “And they bare it upon a pole”, do I not know that it was carried by two men”? why then does it add the word ‎בשנים?‎ It means, not as you assume, “by two men” but “upon two poles”. How was that done? Eight of the spies bore the cluster of grapes. Besides these, one spy took the fig and one the pomegranate, but Joshua and Caleb did not take anything (although all of them were bidden to do so; cf. v. 20), because the very essence of their (the other spies’) intention was only to bring an evil report: “Just as its fruit is extraordinary in size, so is its people extraordinary in size”. — Now if you wish to know how much was the burden of each of them, go and learn from the weight of the stones which they erected at Gilgal; for it is related (Joshua 4:5 and 20) that each man lifted by himself one stone from out of the Jordan on to his shoulder, and set it up at Gilgal; — and our Rabbis ascertained the weight of each stone to be forty Seahs, and it is an accepted fact that a load which a person can by himself lift up on to his shoulder is only the third of the load he can carry if people assist him in lifting it up (Sotah 34b).

Do I not know that it was with two? Meaning that when it is written “they carried it,” it implies that there were two, given that the minimum number of plural (i.e. they) is two. Why then does the Torah say “two”? The reason why Rashi did not explain this on the verse (apparently, in the text of Rashi that the Sifsei Chachomim had, this is a continuation of Rashi’s previous comment), is because one would have said that “two” refers to the branch — that they carried the branch on one pole and the cluster of grapes on another. However according to the explanation that there was a branch with a cluster of grapes hanging from it, one concludes that the branch and the cluster are one. Therefore there is a difficulty as to why is it written “two,” and Rashi answers that it was with two poles.

וישאוהו במוט בשנים, “they bore it on a pole between the two of them. The pomegranates and the cluster of grapes were carried separately by different men.

Eight took the cluster. Meaning that when Moshe said “take from the fruit of the land” (v. 20) it implied that they should take some of every fruit, so why did they only take three types, as the Torah writes “one cluster of grapes … some figs and some pomegranates.” Rather it is certain that “eight took one cluster…” Rashi then explains why they did not take from every fruit, for surely Moshe had said to take from all of the fruit. He explains that it was “since the sole purpose of the others…” For if they had not intended to deliver a slanderous report, they should not have taken a whole cluster of grapes, and they would have been able to take all of the [other kinds of] fruits of the land, or they should not have taken a cluster at all. You should know that they intended to deliver a slanderous report, because we say in the Gemara (Sotah 34a) that “if you want to know [how much one of them weighed]…” But one could ask: What can you learn from the stones that that they erected in Gilgal? Perhaps there is a difference and here they were not carrying a load commensurate to their strength. Rather it is certain that the inference here is because if they had not carried commensurate to their strength, why did they take only three types of fruit? Thus it is certain that they intended to deliver a slanderous report. Re’m quotes the Gemara and Rashi in Maseches Sotah which explain all of this.