Commento su Numeri 20:19

רק אין דבר lit., ONLY NO THING — i.e., nothing will do you any harm.

AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SAID UNTO HIM: ‘WE WILL GO UP BY THE HIGHWAY.’ At first they had said²⁰²As stated in Verse 17: Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy land; we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells; we will go along the king’s highway … that they would come into the cities, but would take care not to enter fields and vineyards as armies [consisting of] many people are wont to do, in order to plunder the threshing-floors and to invade the vineyards. Instead, they [promised] to go along the king’s highway,²⁰²As stated in Verse 17: Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy land; we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells; we will go along the king’s highway … which is a public thoroughfare,²⁰³See “The Land of Israel in Biblical Times” by Yohanan Aharoni, pp. 42-45, where the term derech hamelech (the king’s highway) is explained as a definite official highway which followed the eastern bank of the Jordan. Ramban’s interpretation is thus unlike Ibn Ezra’s who explains it to mean the way which the king of Edom will specify for their passage. not a private road. Furthermore they said [at first] that they would not drink any of the water which they [the Edomites] have in their wells for their own needs. Afterwards the Israelites sent them a message [saying] that they would not [even] approach the cities at all, but they would go by the highway which leads up to the land of Canaan, which is a paved road traversed by all people, and if they or their animals drink [even] of the waters of the rivers on the way, whilst passing through the rivers, they would pay them for the benefit they derived from them. Therefore Moses said [here in Verse 19] there is no hurt, meaning that in [passing through their land] there would be no damage of any sort. Other scholars²⁰⁴This explanation is found in Ibn Ezra. explain [that they meant to say] we shall not drink of the water of the wells²⁰²As stated in Verse 17: Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy land; we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells; we will go along the king’s highway … unless we pay for it. But this is not correct, for [if so] why would he [Moses] propose to them again that which he [the king of Edom] had already refused at the beginning? [as explained in Verses 17-18]. The Midrashic interpretation²⁰⁵Tanchuma, Chukath 12. According to this explanation Moses was offering to buy from the Edomites their water, although the Israelites could have drunk freely from Miriam’s Well. is: “We shall not drink of the waters of [our own] well,²⁰⁶See above, Note 154. but instead we will buy from you,” as Rashi wrote.
Israel said to Edom, until we have passed thy border²⁰⁷Verse 17. and they did not say to him [“and we will reach] the Land which the Eternal our G-d giveth us” [as they told Sihon king of Heshbon],²⁰⁸Deuteronomy 2:29. in order that Edom should not be jealous of them [taking possession] of the Land, and [should not] claim that it would be theirs [the Edomites’], had not [Jacob] taken [Esau’s] birthright and blessing from him with guile.²⁰⁹Genesis 27:35. But to Sihon they did mention, until I shall pass over the Jordan into the Land which the Eternal our G-d giveth us,²⁰⁸Deuteronomy 2:29. as Moses stated in the Book of Deuteronomy.

במסלה נעלה, Moses argued that if they were to cross through towns and come into contact with the inhabitants there might be concern about possible friction, but it was their intention to cross the land in areas that were totally uninhabited so that there could not be a question of possible friction and war.

במסלה נעלה, “we shall go up on the highway.” Nachmandes writes that in the initial request Moses implied that the people would enter the cities and but they would be careful not to enter rural areas and cause ecological damage. They would thereby distinguish themselves favourably when compared to undisciplined hordes of men and beasts invading a country. Now he narrowed this down even further implying that they would not even consume any of the drinking water available in that country except that which was freely offered for sale.

במסלה נעלה, “we shall go up on the highway.” Originally, Moses had asked permission to travel through their cities, assuring them that they would not cause any damage. After being denied permission to traverse any urban areas of the country, Moses tried once more to obtain permission to travel on what was the equivalent of an international highway, away from urban areas, a highway used by different nationalities freely without the need to obtain special travel permits. According to Nachmanides the words אין דבר mean that no possible inconvenience or negative political fallout could be caused to the king by the Israelites taking such a route (for which they did not even need to ask permission). Only when the king refused this too and assumed a threatening posture did the Israelites accept his decision.

V. 19. ויאמרו וגו׳ במסילה נעלה. Die Bedeutung הסתולל. (Schmot 9, 17). sich erheben, סלסל (Prov. 4, 8) erheben, סוללה (Jirmijah 6, 6) Schanzenaufwurf, auch סלם (Bereschit 28, 12) Leiter, und selbst סל (daselbst 40, 17) Korb, als Mittel zum Aufheben und tragen, lässt entschieden in סלל die Grundbedeutung hinaufsteigen erkennen und würde demnach מסלה einen Höhenweg, eine aufwärts führende Straße bezeichnen. In der Tat finden wir auch, wie hier mit מסלה auch sonst den Ausdruck עלה verbunden. So מסלה העולה בית אל (Richter 21, 19). Der Weg aus der philistäischen Meeresniederung ostwärts nach בית שמש ist ansteigend. Sam. I. 6, 9 daher: אם דרך גבולו יעלה וגו׳ und wird dieser Weg (daselbst 12) מסלה genannt. Chron. I. 26, 16 במסלה העולה משמר. Ebenso scheint die מסלת שדה כובס (Jes. 7. 3 u. 36, 2) ein ansteigender Weg gewesen zu sein. Kön. II. 18, 17 heißt es davon ויעלו ויבאו ירושלם ויעלו ויבאו ויעמדו בתעלת ברכה העליונה במסלת שדה כובס. Der Weg von Jerusalem zum שדה כובס wird also auch עליה genannt. Nach allem diesen glauben wir auch hier, in der מסלה, zu deren Benutzung sie sich bei der zweiten Sendung erboten, einen Gebirgsweg erkennen zu dürfen. Edom, Seir ist ja entschieden eine Gebirgsgegend, das ganze Gebiet wird ja darum auch הר שעיר genannt. Durch Edom nach Palästina gab es zwei Wege. Der bequemere, durch Täler führende, war der דרך המלך, auf welchem es rechts und links Acker und Weinberge und gegrabene Brunnen gab. Diesen benutzen zu dürfen, war die erste von Mosche gesandte Bitte; daher dabei von vornherein die selbst gesetzte Bedingung: לא נעבר בשדה וכרם ולא נשתה מי באר דרך המלך נלך לא נטה ימין ושמאל. Als ihnen dies abgeschlagen wurde, erbot sich das Volk, den beschwerlicheren Weg über das Gebirge zu benutzen. במסלה נעלה, und wenn sie oder ihr Vieh von den Gebirgswassern, die ja frei fließen, allerdings aber streng genommen מימיך: Edoms Eigentum sind, trinken, so wollen sie entsprechende Vergütung auch dafür leisten, so dass Edom ihnen nichts, als den bloßen Schritt ihrer Füße zu gewähren haben würde.

ויאמרו אליו במסילה נעלה, “they said to him: we will go up by the highway and we will pay for everything, etc.” they even offered to pay for water drunk from the rivers.

רק אין דבר ברגלי, we have not even with us anything that could become the focus of a quarrel.

רק אין דבר, “nothing negative will happen (due to our passage).” Moses tried to calm the fears of the Edomites as best he could. Ibn Ezra writes that that the expression דרך המלך refers to the route taken by the king himself, and that just as the king does not veer to the right or to the left, neither would the Jewish people. Alternatively, Moses meant that whatever route the king would assign to them they would be willing to abide by.

ברגלי אעברה, “let me pass through on foot!” Clearly, the word ברגלי means “with my troops.” This expression at this point also enables us to understand the meaning of Zecharyah 14,4: ועמדו רגליו על הר הזיתים, “His legs stood on Mount Olives.” The word רגליו is a simile for “His Hosts.” All those like Onkelos who are careful not to translate anthropomorphic expressions literally will interpret the word in this vein. You might counter that there is no comparison as the armies of mortals march literally on their feet, something not applicable to G’d’s “armies.” The fact is that when we speak of celestial phenomena we apply the term רגלים “feet”, to the lowest part of the manifestation and the word ראש, head, to the highest part of such a manifestation. The word does not have to be understood literally as we do here in our terrestrial spheres. Seeing that the Creator is always the highest form of celestial manifestations it is clear that all manifestations of a lower level are automatically described as רגליו, as compared to the ראש, i.e. G’d Himself, they are like “feet.”
Alternatively, we can understand the word רגליו in Zecharyah to refer to the results of G’d’s planning, something described as סבותיו, For instance, the words: ויברך ה' אותך לרגלי, (which Yaakov said to Lavan (Genesis 30,30) do not mean: “the Lord blessed you at my feet,” but “the Lord blessed you on my account.” I have already dealt with this whole problem in Genesis 6,6 on the words ויתעצב אל לבו, (the commentary of “the plain meaning”).

אעבורה, seeing that your only concern is possible friction and you do not object basically to our traversing your territory we will proceed to cross it seeing that you have nothing to fear.