Commentaire sur Les Nombres 13:19

הבמחנים — The Targum rendering is: “whether in open places” i.e. in cities open and exposed — without a wall.

WHETHER IT IS GOOD OR BAD. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented [that the meaning thereof is that they are to see] “if the Land is good, namely that its air is good, and its waters are good.” Then Moses continued, whether it is fat,²⁴Further, Verse 20. meaning “capable of producing wheat” and many fruits.
The correct interpretation is that whether it is ‘good’ includes all good things, and in the word ra’ah [or ‘bad’] are included all evils. [If so, the question arises why Moses continued with the apparently superfluous command to find out whether the Land is fat or lean, since it is already included in the phrases good and bad?] It is possible, however, that a good land is fruitful and its fruits are fat, and it produces fat products such as balsam and oil,⁴³Ezekiel 27:17. dates and figs and similar things. But [it is also possible] that it is good and yet lean, and always needs rain, and must be hoed and fertilized very much, and its fruits have a tendency to be dry although they are better and last longer than the fat ones. In such a land are to be found very many “lean” fruits, such as nuts, almonds, apples, carobs and fruits of the forests. Thus [by saying that the spies are to ascertain whether the Land is fat or lean Moses] meant “whether it is a fat land, as valleys are, or a lean land like the mountains.” Onkelos, however, translated [whether it is fat or lean as] “whether it is rich or poor,” for there are countries whose inhabitants are rich because of the low prices prevalent among them, and their neighbors trade with them in all the good things found among them, and there are some countries whose inhabitants are dependent upon their neighbors and their inhabitants are of small power,⁴⁴II Kings 19:26. although they are good [lands] and not at all bad.
‘And be ye of good courage’, and bring [of the fruit of the Land]. This means that they are not to be afraid when taking of the fruit of the Land that they might be recognized by the people as spies.

הטובה היא, was the water supply plentiful and not contaminated. Moses had stressed in Deuteronomy 8,7 that G’d was bringing the people to a location which was “good” in the sense that it possessed brooks and rivers with pure water.