Commentary for Numbers 15:2

כי תבאו WHEN YE ARE COME [INTO THE LAND] — He brought them the good tidings that they would enter the land.

WHEN YE ARE COME INTO THE LAND OF YOUR HABITATIONS. After He had assured the children [of those who had left Egypt] that they would come into the Land,¹⁷⁶Above, 14:31. He completed [telling] them the laws of the offerings, and that they should bring the drink-offerings when they enter the Land. Perhaps this [section] was [told to them] now in order to console them and give them an assurance [that they would indeed take possession of the Land], for they began to give up hope, saying: “Who knows what will happen in such a long time — after forty years — for may be the children will also sin?” Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, saw fit to comfort them, for by commanding them precepts which are applicable [only] in the Land, He thereby was assuring them that it is clearly destined by Him that they will come into and inherit the Land.
Now He commanded them concerning the drink-offerings [that they were to bring] in the Land when making burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, since in the wilderness they had no duty to bring drink-offerings except with the continual [daily] burnt-offering, concerning which it is said, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink-offering for the one sheep;¹⁷⁷Exodus 29:40. for there it is said [that it be brought continually every day] at the door of the Tent of Meeting before the Eternal, where I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee.¹⁷⁸Ibid., Verse 42. Similarly the princes when bringing their dedication-offerings¹⁷⁹Above, 7:12-83. did not include amongst them drink-offerings.
Now our Rabbis differed on this matter. Some of them said in the Sifre¹⁸⁰Sifre, Shelach 107. that Scripture here teaches us that they only became obliged to bring drink-offerings from the time that they came into the Land onwards etc.; but some of them said that it is [only] the individual who was not obliged to bring drink-offerings [together with his offering] until they entered the Land [but public offerings were always accompanied by drink-offerings].
He also completed [here] the laws relating to the priests by commanding the [duty of the] dough-offering,¹⁸¹Further, Verses 17;21. which was not applicable in the wilderness, for it was already known that the heave-offering and the tithes do not apply there, since such produce was winnowed by non-Jews and [grown] outside the Land of Israel. There is also a difference in the opinion of the Rabbis¹⁸²Sifre, Shelach 110. concerning the [law of the] dough-offering [which is different from that of tithes etc.], namely that they became subject to the law of the dough-offering as soon as they entered the Land, but were not liable to [separate] tithes and the heave-offering until after [the fourteen years of] the conquest and settlement [of the Land].

כי תבואו אל ארץ מושבותיכם, "when you will come to the land of your habitations, etc." When G'd saw the despondency of the Jewish people over the decree that He had issued against them to wander aimlessly in the desert for forty years, He provided some encouragement for their hearts by instructing them in commandments which would apply only once they lived in the land of Canaan. G'd wanted to keep this prospect before their eyes in order to make their lives more meaningful. If one knows that at the end of a certain period of time one will experience fulfilment of one's hopes then the time lag until then becomes less onerous. G'd made sure to write אשר אני נותן לכם, "which I am about to give to you," although the generation He addressed had already been described as carcasses. He taught the people that the accomplishments of the children reflect credit also on their parents seeing the children are meant to be the extension of their parents.

כי תבואו אל ארץ מושבותיכם, “When you will come to the Land of your dwelling, etc.” Nachmanides writes that after Hashem had reassured the children of the generation who had experienced the Exodus that they, at any rate would inherit the Promised Land, the Torah completes the legislation about both the public and private offerings. The Torah specifically introduces the subject of חלה, the setting aside of a small portion of any dough for the priest, Hashem’s representative on earth, as symbolic recognition that even basic foodstuffs such as bread that man toiled to produce are, in the final analysis, a gift from the Creator. [I elaborated on the theme with my own words. Ed.] Ibn Ezra writes that the reason why these paragraphs were appended at this juncture was to cheer up the younger generation who had to face the premature death of their parents as a result of the debacle with the spies. The Torah reassured them that they, at any rate, would come to the Holy Land, and legislation at this time applicable only in the Holy Land, would lift their spirits. I believe (Ibn Ezra continuing) that more is involved here. On the one hand, this sin -as opposed to the golden calf where only a small percentage of Jews actually took active part, -had involved the entire people, and they had been saved from immediate death only by Moses prayer. It was appropriate therefore to write legislation dealing with both inadvertent sin, (compare verse 22) and to provide a mechanism for obtaining forgiveness. (Verse 25) At the same time, the Torah added technical details about offering gift-offerings, מנחות which henceforth were to be added to all burnt offerings and meat-offerings. In addition the Torah spelled out what would happen if the sin were to be committed deliberately. Furthermore, the legislation about ציצית, fringes, was introduced as an act of G’d’s mercy, as these fringes were to remind the wearer when he looked at them that he must not commit sins against his Creator. Finally, we have a report about an Israelite who deliberately violated the Sabbath legislation and who was executed as a result after the method of execution had been spelled out by G’d. (Verse 32-36)

V. 2. דבר וגו׳ כי תבאו וגו׳. Bereits Schmot 29, 40 und 41 sind נסכים als stete Begleiter des Tamidopfers angeordnet, sowie sie denn auch für die מוספין Kap. 28, 29 noch besonders ausgesprochen sind. Nach Kiduschin 37 a u. b (siehe Raschi und תוספו daselbst ד׳׳ה לא קרבו) spricht auch unser Kapitel zunächst von קרבנות יחיד, und ist dort darüber eine zweifache Auffassung überliefert. Nach ר׳ ישמעאל wären in der Wüste nur קרבנות צבור von נסכים (wie תמיד ומוספים; — siehe Menachot 45, 6 שכל האמור בחומש הפקודים קרב במדבר) begleitet gewesen. Die hier ausgesprochene Verpflichtung, auch jedes קרבן יחיד, das auch בנדר ונרבה gebracht werden kann, also עולה und שלמים mit נסכים zu begleiten, habe erst בארץ, und zwar nach ירושה וישיבה, כי תבאו nach vollendeter Eroberung und Niederlassung begonnen, eine Bedingung, die in dem אל ארץ מושבותיכם ihren Ausdruck habe, wonach die hier gegebene Bestimmung an ביאה וישיבה geknüpft ist. In den vierzehn Jahren der Eroberung und Teilung, שבע שכבשו ושבע שחלקו in welchen das משכן nur eine provisorische Stätte in גלגל hatte und במות מותרות waren (siehe Dewarim 12, 8 u. 9) wurden bei קרבנות יחיד noch keine נסכים gebracht. Es trat diese Pflicht erst משעת איסור במות ein, als das משכן eine bleibende Stätte in Schilo erhielt. Nachלא קרנו נסכים (של יחיד) במדבר ולא בבמות יחיד :ר׳ ישמעאל . Nach ר׳ עקיבא jedoch wäre die hier auch für קרבנות יחיד gebotene נסכים-Pflicht ebenso wie die bereits für קרבנות צבור bestandene, sofort in der מדבר in Kraft getreten, קירבו נסכים במדבר, und wäre mit dem כי תבאו אל ארץ מושבתיכם vielmehr להטעינה נסכים בבמה קטנה, d.h. die Bestimmung ausgesprochen, dass selbst כי תבאו, wenn sie das Land betreten, und dann, während der שבע שכבשו ושבע שחלקו, während des Provisoriums in גלגל, die במות יחיד überall, בכל מושבתיכם, in den verschiedenen Niederlassungsörtern gestattet sind, auch dort überall selbst בבמת יחיד die Pflicht der נסכים bleibt. (במת יחיד heißt במה קטנה im Gegensatz zu dem מזבח im משכן, der בשעת היתר הבמות als Nationalaltar,במת צבור auch במת גדולה heißt. – Sebachim 111 a).

כי תבואו אל ארץ מושבותיכם,”when you come to the land of your permanent settlement, etc.;” what is the reason that this paragraph has been inserted at this point in the Torah? If anything, the legislation added here would not be applicable for at least another forty years! The people at this stage were so frustrated that they did not believe they would ever get to the Land of Canaan and settle there, as they might become guilty of so many more sins, looking back at the less than two years they had been out of Egypt, and what had befallen them during that short period. The wording of the paragraph, i.e. G–d’s promise to Moses at this point, was meant to reassure them that unless the settlement of the people in their ancestral homeland would become a fact, what would be the point in introducing legislation that is capable of being applied only after they were settled in that land? Moses relayed this legislation to the present generation in order to convince them that their children would definitely become residents of the Holy Land.

דבר אל בני ישראל, “speak to the Children of Israel!” When G-d saw that finally they had acknowledged their wrongdoing and had repented, and had mourned appropriately, He spoke to them on the subject of sacrificial offerings to be offered once they had settled in the land of Israel....

Another reason why the Torah wrote here נותן לכם, "am about to give you," may be based on Sanhedrin 90 where the Talmud raises the question "where it is written in the Torah that there will be a resurrection?" The Talmud quotes Exodus 6,4: "and I will also keep My covenant with them (the patriarchs) to give the land of Canaan to them." The fact that the Torah did not write "to you," seeing the living Israelites were being addressed, proves that the patriarchs will be resurrected. In our verse the Torah addresses "carcasses." The verse makes sense only if it presumes that these "carcasses" will be resurrected and will take possession of their land.

אל ארץ מושבותיכם, “to the land wherein you will settle;” but while in the desert, these sacrifices are not welcome. These sacrifices are effective only for sins committed inadvertently; you however, have committed the sins fully aware of what you had done.