민수기 34:2의 주석

ואת הארץ אשר תפול לכם וגו׳ THIS IS THE LAND THAT SHALL FALL TO YOU [FOR AN INHERITANCE] — Since many divine commandments have to be practised in the Land of Canaan and are not to be practised outside the Land, it (Scripture) feels compelled to describe the limiting lines of the boundaries of its sides all round, in order to tell you: from these boundaries and inward the divine commands have to be practised (cf. Gittin 8a).

EL HA’ARETZ KENA’AN’ (INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN). “This is like [the expression]: and the prophecy of Oded the prophet,⁵⁰II Chronicles 15:8. See above in Seder Beha’alothcha, Note 284, for the grammatical reason why the verse requires the additional expression “a prophecy” after the initial words and a prophecy. Here too, the meaning of the verse is: into the land, the land of Canaan. [which is to be understood as: ‘and the prophecy, a prophecy of Oded the prophet’]. The sense [of the verse thus] is: ‘into the land, the land of Canaan.’” This is the language of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, and so also did Rashi write.⁵¹This is not found here in our texts of Rashi. However, Ramban may be referring to Rashi on Genesis 31:13, where this interpretation is clearly implied. See Vol. I, p. 382. Scholars have brought a similar example: [I am] ‘ha’E-il beith eil’⁵²Genesis 31:13. [which they interpreted to mean: “I am G-d, who is the G-d of Beth-el”]. And I have already explained [there] the secret thereof.
The correct interpretation of [the phrase] el ha’aretz kena’an appears to me to be that the name of this land is Canaan, like Mitzraim (Egypt), and the name of the land is identical with that of the people. Similarly, the inhabitants of Canaan,⁵³Exodus 15:15. and O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.⁵⁴Zephaniah 2:5. These two verses indicate clearly that Canaan is not only the name of a people, but of the land also. Thus the expression here el ha’aretz kena’an is as one says, “‘the’ city Jerusalem;” and ‘the’ King David;⁵⁵I Kings 1:1. and ‘the’ man Gabriel.⁵⁶Daniel 9:21. — In other words, el ha’aretz kena’an does not mean “into the land [of the people] of Canaan” but “into the land [called] Canaan.” There is therefore no problem necessitating the above interpretation of Rashi and Ibn Ezra. See above in Seder Beha’alothcha, Note 284.

זאת הארץ אשר תפול לכם בנחלה; the word תפול is used to describe the manner in which lots are drawn, i.e. a die is cast, falls. You will each be assigned your ancestral heritage even before the end of the military campaign resulting in the land’s conquest. The expression נפל in connection with lots is found in Psalms 22,18 as well as in Esther 3,7.
The reason why the Torah the word זאת, which at first glance appears to be superfluous, is to tell us that anything conquered outside the boundaries which will now be described is not subject to division by lottery. We find this confirmed by the fact that Moses distributed the lands of Sichon and Og without resorting to any lottery. The reason for this is that those lands do not have the degree of sanctity which is integral to the “Holy Land.” Joshua confirmed this when (Joshua 22,19) he spoke of ואך אם טמאה ארץ אחוזתכם, “even if the land of your inheritance is unclean,” [Joshua denied the right of the two and a half tribes on the east bank to build an altar even if thereby they had meant to add sanctity to the soil they lived on, which was not holy or sacred by definition. Ed.] The major reason why this land could not be distributed by lottery was that the lottery reflected Divine decisions, and G’d would not mix in unless the land concerned was holy by itself.

ואת הארץ אשר תפול לכם בנחלה, my grandfather explained the boundaries and landmarks in detail; nonetheless, I wish to add a brief commentary. The verse first details the southern boundary followed by the western boundary, i.e. the Mediterranean Sea, followed by the northern boundary, followed by the eastern boundary.

אל הארץ כנען, “to the land of Canaan.” Ibn Ezra explains this phrase, which is unusual, as meaning that the Torah had written אל הארץ, ארץ כנען, “to the land, the land of Canaan.” Nachmanides understands this as the Torah saying that the name the land is known by is “Canaan”, just as the name of the Land of Egypt, is “Egypt.” Both the land of Egypt is called מצרים, and the people living there are called מצרים. The construction is similar to Kings I 1,1 אל העיר ירושלים והמלך דוד, where we also would not have expected the letter ה before the word מלך.

כי אתם באים אל ארץ כנען, “for when you come to the land of Canaan, etc.” The grammatical construction of the letter ה in front of the word ארץ is similar to Chronicles II 15,8.

The outer reaches of the borders. This following rule should be considered: Wherever Rashi mentions the term מיצר ["outer reaches"] he means “the border” [i.e.] the line that circumscribes the land of Israel.

Kap. 34. V. 2. ארץ כנען לגבלתיה. Eine genaue Grenzbestimmung des Landes ist auch für die מצות התלויות בארץ wie תרומות מעשרות ושביעית folgereich, da deren ursprüngliche Verpflichtungskraft auf diese Grenzen beschränkt ist. Erst nachdem die Besitznahme von diesem hier präzisierten ארץ כנען vollständig vollzogen ist, können auch andere eroberte Länder der קדושת הארץ und der an diese sich knüpfenden Pflichten teilhaftig werden. Weshalb auch den von David eroberten Provinzen ארם צובה und דמשק (Sam. II. 8, 5 u. 6) unter dem Gesamtnamen סוריא die קדושת הארץ, nur מדרבנן zuerkannt war. Die Besitznahme des eigentlichen Gesetzesbodens war noch nicht ganz vollzogen, war doch selbst Jerusalem noch nicht ganz in jüdischen Händen. Die Eroberung von Syrien ward daher gar nicht als nationales Unternehmen betrachtet und durch die Bezeichnung כבוש יחיד von dem gesetzlichen קדושה-Charakter ausgeschlossen. Ist es doch selbst nicht entschieden, in wie weit das transjordanische Land der dritthalb Stämme in die eigentliche קדושת הארץ mitbegriffen war. (Aboda Sara 21a תוספו׳ daselbst und Gittin 8 b. — תוספו׳ Chagiga 3b ד׳׳ה עמון ומואב. — Siehe ferner zu Dewarim 30, 5.)

אל הארץ, “to the land;” this verse appears in a truncated mode, and according to the rules of grammar it should have been written as: אל הארץ, ארץ כנען, “to the land,” i.e. the land of Canaan. We encounter similar such abbreviations in Numbers 25,12: את בריתי שלום when according to the rules of grammar, it should have been: את בריתי, ברית השלום.

תפול לכם [THE LAND WHICH] FALLS FOR YOU — Because it (the land) had to be divided by lot (which is said to fall upon a person), the division is expressed by the term “falling”. — And a Midrashic explanation of why this term is employed here states: It is because the Holy One, blessed be He, cast down (more lit., made fall) from heaven the tutelary angels of the seven nations of Canaan and placed them in fetters before Moses, He said to him, (Deuteronomy 1:21) “Behold the Lord God hath put before thee the tutelary angels of the land” — there is no more strength in them (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Masei 4 and Rashi on Deuteronomy 2:31).

In terms of falling. As in הפיל פור הוא הגורל ["the pur was cast, which is the lot"] (Esther 3:7).