신명기 8:9의 주석

A LAND WHOSE STONES ARE IRON. The meaning thereof is that in the place where you expect stones, you will find iron, for it will be mined from the dust thereof.⁸⁵See Job 28:2. He thus brought them the joyful message that in the Land of Israel there is a quarry of copper and iron which are a great necessity for the inhabitants of the Land, and thou shalt not lack any thing in it. But [the absence of] a source of silver and gold⁸⁶See ibid., Verse 1. is no deficiency in a land. And in the Targum Yerushalmi I have seen it rendered: “a Land whose stones are as bright as iron,” meaning to say that Scripture is praising the Land because in it there will be found quarries of great stones, costly stones,⁸⁷I Kings 5:31. hewn stones with which to build houses, walls, and towers, unlike the land of Egypt and many lands where people dwell in houses of clay⁸⁸Job 4:19. and their houses may become their graves [from excessive rains].⁸⁹Yerushalmi Yoma VI, 4. This was the High Priest’s prayer on the Day of Atonement for the people that live in the flatlands — “that their houses may not become their graves” [from excessive rains]. Ramban uses the expression in the broad sense indicating the advantage of the Land of Israel where homes can be built from rocks that will not endanger the lives of their inhabitants.

תחצוב נחושת, you will mine copper; the Torah’s definition of “good” iron, material that is excellent for either building material, or raw material for a variety of vessels.

ארץ אשר לא במסכנות תאכל בה לחם, "a land in which you will not eat bread out of scarceness;" Moses mentions this as there are people, even wealthy people, who always practice the lifestyle of poor people. They may be motivated by one of two reasons. 1) They are afraid they may lose their wealth and find themselves impoverished, forced to curtail their lifestyle. They prefer not to live in accordance with their wealth so that any eventual forced adjustment would be easy for them as they had never indulged themselves in the first place. 2) They do not want to appear wealthy and arouse envy. Moses says אשר לא במסכנות, "where there is no scarceness," to teach the Israelites that both of the reasons mentioned for adopting the lifestyle of the poor do not apply in ארץ ישראל. The two considerations we mentioned were based on the assumption that the society is divided into "haves" and "have nots." This will not be the case in ארץ ישראל because לא תחסר כל בה, "no one will lack anything therein." If our wealth would derive from sources outside the land of Israel there would be a reason for the considerations we mentioned. Some people would make an effort to get rich, others would not. Accordingly, there would be class distinctions after a while. Seeing the source of wealth is the land of Israel itself, everyone has equal access to it and there is no need to fear becoming impoverished or to attract the envy of the less fortunate. Moses says: כל בה, "it contains all (that anyone desires)."

אשר לא במסכנות תאכל בה לחם, you will not eat dry bread like poor people, for in addition to the wheat and barley which the land produces, you will also enjoy vineyards and their products, and pomegranates, as well as honey derived from dates which are sweet.

אשר אבניה ברזל, “whose stones yield iron, etc.” The place you choose to look for stones will surprise you by harbouring iron. According to the Jerusalem Targum, the meaning is that the stones in the Land of Israel will prove to be as strong as iron. In other words, the land is full of quarries from which valuable building stones can be hewn. These stones will be useful in the construction of walls and fortifications. The reason why Moses did not praise the land for the silver and gold one might find there, is that the stones he mentioned would prove more useful than the silver and gold, which are only luxuries, not necessities.

V. 9. סכן ,מסכנות .ארץ וגו׳: auf etwas große Achtsamkeit richten, wovon סוכן der Bewahrer königlicher Schätze. Davon מסכן: der Karge und der zur Kargheit Genötigte. מסכנות Kargheit (siehe Bereschit S. 274). לא תחסר כל בו: auch was nur die Annehmlichkeiten des Lebens erhöht, bietet es dir. — ׳אשר אבניה ברזל וגו. Aus Chron. I. 22, 3 erhellt, dass Eisen- und Kupferbergbau in Palästina betrieben wurde. הצב eigentlich aushauen, der entsprechende Ausdruck für das Ausgraben der Erze aus Felsen. Es ist somit ein Land, das durch seine Bodenbeschaffenheit dem Ackerbau und der Industrie die geeignetste Förderung bietet.

לא תחסר כל בה, “you shall not lack for anything in it.” Whatever grows in that land will grow in abundance.

Moses singles out two examples of the earth's natural wealth which the land of Israel is blessed with, i.e. iron and copper. The reason Moses singles out these two examples is because they are basic to everybody's needs. After this (verse 10) Moses mentions that people would eat and be satisfied, etc. The reason Moses had to mention this cardinal fact was that the perfection of the land does not merely consist of its fruit, its harvests, but the land must also provide basic materials to enable its people to build their shelters and to generally provide the possibility of life in the city. Many successful farmers in various countries who employ outside labour, etc., nonetheless are forced to sell all their produce in order to acquire building materials, clothing and tools. To teach us that the land of Israel would not lack natural resources Moses adds the words לא תחסר כל בה, that nothing essential would be scarce in this land after he had described the seven most valuable foods and fruit the land would produce.