פירוש על דברים 8:7

A LAND OF BROOKS OF WATER. The meaning thereof is that it is like a watered garden,⁷⁷Isaiah 58:11. and it is not necessary to irrigate it by foot as the land of Egypt, as it will yet be stated,⁷⁸Further, 11:10. for it drinketh water as the rain of heaven cometh down.⁷⁹Ibid., Verse 11. Now he explained [here] that fountains and depths, come out in deep valleys and mountains,⁸⁰Verse 7 before us. and from there the brooks flow in the Land, the purport of the verse being “fountains and the fountains of the depths, ” like: when the ‘fountains of the deep’ showed their might;⁸¹Proverbs 8:28. the fountains of the great deep.⁸²Genesis 7:11. The reason [for referring to both sources: fountains, and fountains of the deep] is that there are some fountains that flow from the very moisture of the mountains which has been absorbed by them from the rains, or from the clouds that ascend upon them, these being called “fountains” [or “springs”] as it is said, unto all the springs of water,⁸³I Kings 18:5. the flint [He turned] into a fountain of waters.⁸⁴Psalms 114:8. There are other kinds of fountains which come forth from the interior of the depth, these being called “deep waters” that is to say, the fountains of the depths. The verse is thus stating that both [kinds of fountains] come out in deep valleys and mountains.

אל ארץ טובה, a land which is the confluence of numerous good, desirable qualities not found together in other districts of the globe. These qualities are the following, the Torah prefacing each with the word ארץ again.
1) ארץ נחלי מים עינות ותהומות, not the waters from polluted rivers or static ponds, waters described as evil waters in Kings II 2,19.
2) ארץ חטה ושעורה , crops which are basic as food.
3) ארץ זית שמן ודבש, products fit for the palate of a king.
4) ארץ אשר לא במסכנות תאכל בה לחם, a land in which money can be found cheaply, a land full of treasures as per Isaiah 2,7 “the land is full of silver and gold and there is no end to the treasures it hides.” Dearth of money is more serious than shortage of the products which can be bought with it, as we know from the Talmud Taanit 19 which declares that whereas the blowing of the shofar in supplication to G’d on account of a shortage of foodstuffs does not have to be arranged immediately, shortage of money, i.e. people not having the money to buy the available food products gives rise to immediate supplication to Gd including the sounding of the shofar at public prayer meetings.
5) ארץ אשר אבניה ברזל, a land whose stones contain iron, i.e. a useful metal, or whose stones are strong as iron, providing excellent building materials.

כי ה' אלוקיך מביאך אל ארץ טובה, so that in the end, you will become proud and forget the source of your wealth (verse 14). In order to forestall such a development I command you to remember the path that led you to these achievements and who it was who supplied all this directly from the celestial regions. Knowing this will help you realise that man’s achievements are not due to his own resources.

כי ה' אלוקיך מביאך אל ארץ טובה אל ארץ נחלי מים, “for the Lord your G’dd brings you to a good land, a land containing streams of water, etc.” The whole land is like an irrigated garden for it contains many natural fountains as well as underground reservoirs of water. The latter irrigate the lowlands, the former the hilly regions. From there they run down as rivulets. The point Moses is making is that some of the springs are fed by accumulated rain that has been absorbed beneath the surface of the mountains, other sources of fresh water are the excess remaining from the nightly dew some of which rises after sunup and penetrates as mist into the surface of the mountainside. Moses refers to the latter as מעיינות, springs. Other springs simply emerge from deep in the earth, released from the subterranean aquifer. Moses refers to them as תהומות, “the depths (of the earth)”. Sources of fresh water are readily available both in the mountains and in the plains.

כי ה’ אלו-היך מביאך אל ארץ טובה ארץ נחלי מים, “for the Lord your G’d is bringing you to a good land, a land of many rivers full of water, etc.” Moses contrasts the land of Israel with the desert the people find themselves in at this time. We find something similar in verse 6 where Moses emphasizes what grows in the land of Canaan. The products mentioned there including the honey from dates and pomegranates are supposed to account for the growth of blood in our bodies. In our verses Moses mentions only the three principal sources of nutrition. The word ארץ occurs six times in the three verses 7-8-9. The word occurs twice in verse 7, and again twice in each of the next two verses. In the fourth verse the word is הארץ when the Torah speaks about the commandment to say grace after meals, a prayer in which the excellence of the land of Israel is mentioned. The reason that the word ארץ occurs 6 times in the first three verses is that the land of Israel is the source of 6 different climatic zones which spread out from this land and which draw on its qualities. Concerning the seventh climactic zone, the Torah uses the expression הארץ הטובה, with the letter ה marking the one and only country boasting these advantages. When our sages in Avot d'Rabbi Natan speak about 7 regions, they refer to seven different climates which exist in our globe. David praised the seventh of these climates when he said in Psalms 48,3 concerning Mount Zion that it is situated in the most beautiful region, both climate and landscape-wise. The words יפה נוף used by the psalmist refer to the climate of Jerusalem. The word נוף meaning climate occurs in Joshua 17,11 in connection with the division of the Holy land to the tribes. The difference between different “climates” is determined by the proximity of the area in question to the sun. It is a well known fact that when people leave one climatic region to settle in another they are liable to suffer disease and sickness as a result. However, Jerusalem enjoys such a good climate that anyone moving there will not experience any problems but will be healthy and never get sick (based on R' David Kimchi). This is the reason that David calls it משוש כל הארץ, ‘the best climate on earth.”

V. 7. כי ה׳ אלהיך וגו׳. Denn die Schule der Wüstenwanderung ist zu Ende. Die Zukunft, für welche diese ganze irdische Ausnahmsstellung Vorbereitung sein sollte, bist du im Begriffe, nun anzutreten und hast nun in einer normalen Menschen- und Volkesstellung das zu bewähren, was du in jener außerordentlichen Vorschule gelernt haben sollst und in der veränderten Glückeslage nicht verlernen darfst, wenn diese deine nun beginnende Zukunft Dauer haben soll. ׳ארץ נחלי מים וגו. Es wird zuerst der Gegensatz der Bodenbeschaffenheit im Gegensatz zur Wüste in dem Wasserreichtum charakterisiert, der selbst wiederum die Vorbedingung des im folgenden geschilderten Reichtums an Feld- und Baumfrucht bildet. נחל bezeichnet eine jede größere oder kleinere Fortleitung quillenden Wassers, sei es vereinigter Quellen als Bach, oder vereinigter Bäche als Fluss. נחל, verwandt mit נהל, ist ja überhaupt: fortleiten und wird daher bezeichnender Ausdruck für die Fortbewegung der Güter in Erbschaft von Eltern auf Kinder. עינות sind die Erdaugen, durch welche das Erdinnere zu Tage tritt: Quellen. wogen, sind größere Wassermengen, die sich als Seen mitten im ,המם von תהומות Lande bilden.

ארץ נחלי מים, “a land of brooks and water.” The word ארץ appears no fewer than seven times in this verse. It refers to the seven Canaanite nations that the Israelites would inherit as their ancestral land.

כי ה׳ אלוקיך מביאך, “for the Lord your G-d is about to bring you to a good land;” seeing it provides your needs in abundance, there is a danger that you might forget Him and imagine that you can manage on your own.

יוצאים בבקעה ובהר, “springing forth both in the valleys and in the mountainous regions.” This makes it unnecessary for the people dwelling in the mountainous regions to have to descend to the valleys in order to secure their needs, i.e. their water supply.