Comentario sobre Josué 15:67

To the border of Edom. Close to the boundary of Edom.

Southward. Referring to the southern boundary of Eretz Yisroel.¹The wilderness of Tzin borders the territory of Yehudah on the south.

The extreme southern end. Referring to the very end of the boundary.

And their southern border was. Referring to the southern border of Yehudah.

From the end of the Salt (Dead) Sea. Referring to the southeastern corner of Eretz Yisroel as stated in Parshas אֵלֶה מַסְעֵי²See Bamidbar 34:12.

From the bay—of the sea.

And it extended southward to Maalei-Akrabim. The words: וְיָצָא, and it extended, וְנַסֵּב, and it encircled, and וְתָּאַר, and it encompassed, are used only in the place where the boundary line bulges outward, or is indented inward, and does not follow a straight line, and here it bulges outward and reaches to the south of Maalei-Akrabim, in the south of Maalei Akrabim. Thus Maalei-Akrabim is within the line, and [the line] passed it and continued westward,

To Tzin. (צִנָה) is the same as לְצִין , to Tzin. Every word that requires a lamed as, a prefix will have a hei as a suffix.

And went up. Whatever rises eastward towards Yerushalayim goes up higher; and from Yerushalayim and further it descends. From this we learn that Yerushalayim is higher than any place in Eretz Yisroel. Yerushalayim is actually not mentioned in the boundary since it was in the northern boundary of Yehudah³These verses discuss the southern boundary. as is stated later in this chapter.⁴See below verse 8.

And went up from the south to Kodeish-barneia. The line went from the south of Kodeish-barneiah; thus, Kodeish is within the [boundary] line.

And it passed Chetzron. He continues counting (the cities) westward until “and its boundary extended to the sea.”⁵See next verse.

Extended. The end of the border was at the Great Sea,⁶The Mediterranean Sea. which is the western border of all of Eretz Yisroel. Thus the boundary of Yehudah occupies the entire length of Eretz Yisroel from east to west and is located in the south of Eretz Yisroel.

The eastern boundary. Referring to the boundary line that stretches along the eastern border of Yehudah.

The Salt (Dead) Sea. It is located at the south eastern corner of the land, as stated in Parshas אֵלֶה מַסְעֵי⁷Bamidbar 34:12.

To the end of the Jordan. The width of the boundary of Yehudah is only that which is opposite the Dead Sea to the place where the Jordan empties into the Dead Sea, for the Jordan itself is also on the eastern border of the land of Canaan, as stated in Parshas אֵלֶה מַסְעֵי⁸Ibid. regarding the eastern border. The boundary descended to the Jordan and it extended to the Dead Sea, which is at the corner.

And the boundary of the north side. The border line stretching along the northern border from east to west goes from the bay of the Dead Sea, from the place where the Jordan empties into it, as we have said that the width of the eastern boundary ends there; and it goes up westward to Beis Chogloh, and then the boundary line passes to the north of Beis HaArovoh which is the south of Eretz Yisroel. Beis HaArovo therefore is included in the boundary of Yehudah within the boundary line.

The boundary went up to Even bohan. As the border line goes toward Yerushalayim, it becomes elevated⁹See Rashi to Verse 3. There is a difference of opinion regarding the name of the the place. According to Radak, the city was called Even, and the ruler of the city was a man by the name of Bohan, son of Reuvein. According to Metzudos Tzion, the city itself was called Even Bohan, and its ruler was a man called ben Reuvein.

The boundary went up to Devir from the Valley of Ochor. The Valley of Ochor was between Even Bohan and Devir.

And it turned northward to Gilgol. When it reached Gilgol, the boundary widens, and the borderline extends northward to Gilgol which is opposite Maalei-adumim, whose elevation [Maalei] is south of the Valley. The valley therefore is outside the borderline and is not within the boundary of Yehudah.

South of the Valley. It was a steep incline without water.¹⁰נַחַל is usually translated as a river, but since as Rashi comments, there was no water, he translates it as a valley.

To Ein-rogel A spring where laundry was washed, which is translated by Targum Yonason, עֵין קַצְרָה. In Scripture a launderer is called רגֵל because he treads woolen clothes with his feet, (רֶגֶל). folos in old French.

The boundary went up to the valley of Ben-hinom. It continued going up somewhat until it reached Ein-itim and from there on it descends. This is what our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said in the chapter of שְׁחִיטַת קָדְשִׁים:¹¹See Maseches Zevachem 54b. They considered building [the Beis Ha Mikdosh] in Ein-itim which is a bit higher than Yerushalayim.¹²Since the verse states, “וּבֵין כְּתֵפָיו שָׁכֵן, and He resides between his shoulders,” (Devorim 33:12), they remarked, “Let us descend a little, because the shoulders are below the head.” The verse states that the Almighty will reside between the shoulders of the boundary of Binyomin, i.e., that the Beis Ha Mikdosh which is the resting place of the Shechina, will be built in the area of the Tribe of Binyomin. King David thought it should be built at Ein-itim which is twenty-three amohs higher than Yerushalayim, but they said, “There is nothing more pleasing about the ox than his shoulders.

To the southern side of the Yevusi. Yerushalayim is outside the boundary line, and is not in the boundary of Yehudah, but within the boundary of Binyomin which is to the north of Yehudah.

And it encompassed. This is an expression of circling, similar to, “and with a compass, he circles it.”¹³Yeshayahu 44:13. Targum Yonasan translates them all, and he encircled.

And extended to the cities of Mount Efron. The boundary line extended northward, and the boundary widens to encompass the cities of Mount Efron.

And the boundary circled to Baaloh. This is not in a westerly direction, but its projection was to the north.

The boundary turned from Baaloh westward. Now he reverts to his previous description [of the cities] from the east to the west.

To the side of Mount Yearim to the north. The borderline was to the north of Mount Yearim. Thus Mount Yearim was within the boundary of Yehudah, within the borderline.

The boundary went out— Referring to the end of the boundary.

Toward the sea. Referring to the Great Sea [the Mediteranean] which is the western boundary [of Eretz Yisroel].

According to the word of Adonoy to Yehoshua. As the Holy one, blessed is He, said to Yehoshua.¹⁴See above 14:9,10. Even though the city of Chevron had been promised to Caleiv (see Rashi to Bamidbor 14:24), it was not clear within the territory of which tribe it would be located. It was Divinely ordained that Chevron would fall within the territory of the tribe of Yehudah, so that Caleiv would not be separated from his fellow tribesmen.

And Caleiv drove out from there. This happened after the death of Yehoshua, for during the days of Yehoshua Chevron had not yet been captured, as it is said in the book of Shoftim.¹⁵See Shoftim 1:20. It was recorded here only because of its relationship to the division of the land [among the tribes.]

Kiryas Seifer. Our Rabbis said, “These are the laws that were forgotten during the days of mourning for Moshe, which Osniel, son of Kenaz, rediscovered through his brilliant dialectic scholarship.¹⁶The Hebrew name for Devir was Kiryas Seifer, which means the city of the Book. The Talmud, Maseches, Temurah 16A, relates the following: Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, “When Moshe was about to leave this world, he said to Yehoshua, ‘Do you have any questions regarding the laws of the Torah? Ask me about them and I will teach them to you now.’ Yehoshua replied, ‘Rebbe! Did I leave your presence even for an hour? Did I ever travel to another place? Did you yourself not write about me in the Torah, “But his servant Yehoshua, son of Nun, a young man never departed from the Tabernacle.’” (Shemos 33:11) Thus Yehoshua implied that since he served Moshe faithfully for forty years and had studied Torah diligently, there was nothing that he did not know. This was considered a sin for Yehoshua and as a result, he immediately forgot three hundred laws, and seven hundred additional laws became unclear to him. During the month of mourning for Moshe, the Bnei Yisroel forgot many more laws. A total of three thousand laws were forgotten during this period. Rav Avahu said, “Nevertheless they were brought back by Osniel, son of Kenaz through his dialectic scholarship, as it is said, “And Osniel, son of Kenaz, conquered it (Kiryas Seifer).” After Caleiv conquered Chevron he approached the scholars in the Beis Midrash who were called יוֹשְׁבֵי דְבִיר, those who sit in Devir, because they sat all day studying דִבְרֵי תוֹרָה, the words of Torah, and challenged them to rediscover the forgotten laws. He announced that the one who would overcome, וּלְכָדָה (conquer) these problems would be worthy to become his son-in-law.

He [Osniel] was the brother of Caleiv. He was his brother from his mother.¹⁷After Caleiv’s father, Yefuneh, died, his mother married Kenaz and she gave birth to Osniel.

She leaned [off the donkey]. According to Targum, וְאִתְרְכִינַת, she leaned. She bent herself to fall at his feet.¹⁸According to the Talmud, Maseches Temurah, 16A, Achsoh, rode to her wedding on a donkey to hint to her father that just as a donkey begins to bray when there is no food in his stall, so a woman complains when there is no food in the house. When she saw that her father did not take the hint, she fell off the donkey at his feet. Caleiv then realized that something was wrong.

Give me a blessing. Give me sustenance.¹⁹In asking her father for a blessing, she asked for a portion of land from which she and her husband could support themselves.

Dry land. חַרֵבָה —dry,²⁰The verse states אֶרֶץ הַנֶגֶב, which would usually be translated as a southern land. Rashi therefore explains why it can be translated also as a dry land. which is similar to “The surface of the ground had dried,”²¹See Bereishis 8:13. and there Onkelos translates חָרְבוּ as נְגִיבוּ. ²²Thus the word נֶגֶב also implies חֲרֵבָה which means dry. The southern portion of Eretz Yisroel is referred to as the נֶגֶב, because it is the driest part of the land. In French it is rendered sec. [Achsoh said to Caleiv, “You gave me dry land”] I.e., a house that is “dry” of all good, a man who desires only Torah.²³Achsoh actually complimented her husband, Osniel, who was totally dedicated to God and Torah, and had no desire to enjoy the pleasures of this world. See Maseches Temurah, 16A.

You have given me. The word נְתַתָּנִי is the same as נָתַתָּ לִי, as in: (the preposition לִי is missing and seems to be like a direct object. Rashi will offer similar examples of this structure.) They could not speak speak to him peacefully.²⁴See Bereishis 37:4. There too the word דַבְּרוֹ is the same as דַבֵּר אֵלָיו, speak to him. ‘My children have gone away from me.’²⁵See Yismiyahu 10:20. There too the word יְצָאְנִי is the same as יָצְאוּ מִמֶנִי. ‘He cooked for them.’²⁶See I Melachim 19:21. There too the word בִשְׁלָם is the same as בִשֵׁל לָהֶם.

The most remote cities of the tribe of the descendants of Yehudah. Referring to the border of the tribe of Yehudah. This is what our Sages stated, “Yehoshua only counted the towns that were on the borders.²⁷ Obviously there were many more cities within the borders. These cities are mentioned to show the courage and bravery of the tribe of Yehudah. They were not afraid to live near the border of Edom, even though there was always the danger that the Edomites would attack them.

Altogether there were twenty nine cities. If you count them however you will find that there were thirty eight. The extra nine cities were taken by the tribe of Shimon, from the portion of the descendants of Yehudah, and they are mentioned in the inheritance of Shimon:²⁸See chapter 19. Beer-sheva, Molodoh, Chatzar-shual, Etzem, Eltodad, Chormoh, Tziklag Ayin and Rimon. These are the extra nine cities counted here.

Fourteen cities. If you count them however you will find fifteen. I say [therefore] that Tapuach and Einom are one, and this its explanation: Tapuach and its spring (עַיִן). This is Ein-Tapuach that is mentioned in the inheritance of Menashe ‘To the inhabitants of Ein-Tapuach.’²⁹See chapter 17:7.

The Great Sea was the border. The islands in the sea.³⁰Rashi teaches that the islands near the coast line were also part of the inheritance of Yehudah. Isles in old French.

The descendants of Yehudah were unable to expel them. We learned in Sifri: “Rabbi Yehoshua be Korcho says, ‘They were really able [to expel them] but they were not permitted to do so because of the oath that Avrohom had sworn to Avimelech.³¹See Bereishis 21:23. These Yevusim were descendants of Avimelech, whom Avrohom had sworn not to harm. Avimelech witnessed all the miracles that God performed on Avrohom’s behalf, and he asked him to swear that he would not harm him or his descendants for three generations and Avrohom agreed. These Yevusim Were not part of the Yevusi nation,³²Why then were they called Yevusim? Rashi goes on to explain that they were actually of the Philishtim and thus protected by Avrohom’s oath. but the Tower of David which was in Yerushalayim was named Yevus, and those who lived in that vicinity were of the Philishtim. Thus when the descendants of Yehudah conquered Yerushalayim, they did not expel the inhabitants of that vicinity.