Commentaire sur Les Nombres 13:21

ממדבר צן עד רחב לבא חמת [SO THEY WENT UP AND SEARCHED THE LAND] FROM THE DESERT OF ZIN UNTO REHOB, AS MEN COME TO HAMATH — They went along its (the Land’s) boundaries lengthwise and broadwise in the form of a gamma (the third letter of the Greek alphabet, Γ), viz., they went along the side which forms the southern boundary from its eastern corner to the western corner, just as Moses had bidden them, (v. 17) “Go up this way southwards”, i.e. the way of the south border from its eastern Point up to the Mediterranean Sea, for the Sea is the western boundary of the Land. From there they turned and went along the entire western boundary on the sea-coast up to the point whence one goes on to Hamath which is situated near Mount Hor in the North-western corner, as is set forth in the section dealing with the “boundaries of the Land” in the Sedrah אלה מסעי (Numbers 34:7—8).

The length and width. (Gur Aryeh) You might ask: Why did they go the length and width, for if they wanted to go throughout the whole land, they would still not have gone everywhere? [The answer is that] one sees that the land is different along its length and width, because the eastern or western reaches are different, as are the northern and southern. Therefore, they traveled in this manner to see all of the differences.

V. 21. ממדבר צין. Aus der Grenzbeschreibung des Landes Kap. 34 ist ersichtlich, dass die Wüste Zin die südöstliche Grenze bildet. Daselbst V. 3 heißt es: פאת נגב ממדבר צין על ידי אדום. Und ergibt sich ebendaselbst Verse 7 — 9, dass חמת zur nordwestlichen Grenze gehört. Die Nordgrenze wird dort durch eine Linie bezeichnet vom Mittelmeer über חצר עינן ,זפרן ,צדד ,חמת ,הר ההר, letzteres der nordöstliche Punkt. Es gehört somit חמת zum Nordwesten. Sie haben somit das Land in einer Diagonale von Südost zu Nordwest bereist.

ממדבר צין עד רחוב לבא חמת, “from the desert of Tzin in the south, as far north as the approaches to Chamat.” They crossed the country diagonally from south to North, and from North to South. A verse that we read in Parshat Massey confirms this.