כָּל־עֵצְךָ֖ וּפְרִ֣י אַדְמָתֶ֑ךָ יְיָרֵ֖שׁ הַצְּלָצַֽל׃
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Rashi
and with songs and with harps and with psalteries and with timbrels All of these are musical instruments, but cymbals (מְצִלְתַּיִם) were not a musical instrument, and their function was only to make sounds, like the instrument called the kettle drum, Pauken in German, which is struck with sticks to make sounds. This is implied further (15: 25): “and with resounding cymbals,” and it is written (ibid. verse 19): “And the singers: Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, with copper cymbals to resound.” And it is written further below (25:6): “with song in the House of the Lord, with cymbals, etc.,” and because of this, they are called מְצִלְתַּיִם. Similarly (Deut. 28:42): “... the locusts (הַצְּלָצַל) will inherit.” This is a species of locust that makes a sound, as it is written in the prophecy of Joel (2:5) about the locusts: “Like the sound of chariots on the mountaintops, they will leap, etc.”
Ramban
AND I WILL TAKE SICKNESS AWAY FROM THE MIDST OF THEE. That is to say, through them [the bread and water that I will bless], I will free you from disease, for when your food and drink are good and healthy, they do not cause sicknesses but, on the contrary, heal you. And He states437Verse 26. furthermore that there will not be amongst you a woman that miscarries, a miscarrying womb438Hosea 9:14. nor one barren of the womb and with dry breasts,438Hosea 9:14. for when food and drink and the air are blessed, human bodies become healthy and the organs of reproduction are able to function properly. The verse437Verse 26. singles out women because they are liable to miscarriage, and sterility too is more common amongst them than amongst men. It is possible that [male sterility] is included in the expression, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee, for barrenness is a sickness in bodies. He addresses Himself without specifications to men, and afterwards He mentioned the women, as He said, there shall not be male or female barren among you.439Deuteronomy 7:14. The meaning of the expression in thy land, [None shall miscarry, nor be barren, in thy land],437Verse 26. is to include also the animals, just as He said there, or amongst your cattle.439Deuteronomy 7:14. The number of thy days I will fulfill437Verse 26. means that one will not die prematurely in battle, nor through an epidemic caused by a change in the atmosphere, but only at a ripe age, whatever happens to be the normal span of life during that particular generation, such as seventy or eighty years as in the generation of King David.440See Psalms 90:10. I have already mentioned441Above at the beginning of Seder Va’eira, and on Genesis 17:1 (Vol. I, p. 215). that these are all miracles, G-d showing wonders in the heavens and in the earth442Joel 3:3. for the sake of those who do His will. And then He said that just as He will do on their behalf a sign for good,443Psalms 86:17. so will He do to their enemies for bad; He will give them a trembling heart,444Deuteronomy 28:65. — Ramban derives this from the phrase written here: I will send My terror before thee (Verse 27). and in the chambers terror.445Ibid., 32:25. — Ramban derives this from the expression here: And I will cause discomfort to all the people to whom thou shalt come. Moreover, He will send the tzir’ah amongst them,446Verse 28. this being a certain kind of hornet of the family of the bee. The Sages mention it continually:447Machshirin 6:4. “Bees’ honey, hornets’ honey.” The meaning of the verse is that He will send this plague through the atmosphere of their land, like the locust that He had sent in Egypt: the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, His great army448Joel 2:25. which came in the days of Joel. The meaning of the expression, and she [the hornet] will drive out the Hivite etc.,446Verse 28. is that this will be the cause of their being driven out of the land, for since the hornets will cover the face of the earth449Above, 10:5. and darken it, they will not be able to go into battle. Moreover, it will eat up all their produce in the field, similar to that which is said in the imprecations, Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather little in; for the locust shall consume it, etc.;450Deuteronomy 28:38. All thy trees and the fruit of thy land shall the locust possess.451Ibid., Verse 42. Similarly He said here that He will do such things to our enemies.
Scripture mentioned here the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite,446Verse 28. [and not the other four nations as well], because it adopted here a shortened form, and the intention is to all those mentioned above.452Verse 23. See Ramban above, 3:8 as to why the Girgashite [the seventh one] is omitted. The correct interpretation appears to me to be that the majority of these three nations [mentioned here] did not go out to battle and thus avoided being killed by the sword, because they remained strongly enclosed in their fortified places. It is against them that He sent only this form of death [through the hornet], in a similar manner to that which is said of Egypt, And thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians.453Above, 10:6. It is this which He said in the Book of Deuteronomy: Moreover the Eternal thy G-d will send the hornet amongst them, until they that are left, and they that hide themselves, perish from before thee,454Deuteronomy 7:20. and it is this hornet that crossed the Jordon with Joshua.455Rashi’s statement that the hornets did not cross the Jordan but merely “placed themselves on the east bank of the Jordan and from there injected the poison against them” applies to the hornet of the days of Moses. The one in the days of Joshua did cross the Jordan. This distinction is made in Sotah 36a. So did the Rabbis conclude in Tractate Sotah,455Rashi’s statement that the hornets did not cross the Jordan but merely “placed themselves on the east bank of the Jordan and from there injected the poison against them” applies to the hornet of the days of Moses. The one in the days of Joshua did cross the Jordan. This distinction is made in Sotah 36a. saying that the hornet injected a poison into them which caused their death, and indeed there is nowadays also in the hornet a poisonous substance which harms or even kills the victim. And it is written in the Book of Joshua: And ye went over the Jordan, and came unto Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand,456Joshua 24:11. and it is further written there, And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.457Ibid., Verse 12. The phrase which drove them out457Ibid., Verse 12. refers to those that are left454Deuteronomy 7:20. amongst them, for after I delivered into your hand all the nations mentioned, I sent the hornet to drive out those that are left and they that hide themselves. He mentioned the two kings of the Amorites,457Ibid., Verse 12. meaning Sichon and Og whom He had referred to earlier. All this you have done not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.457Ibid., Verse 12.
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that the tzir’ah refers to a disease in the body, the word being of the root tzara’ath (leprosy). But there is no need for this interpretation.
And ye shall serve the Eternal your G-d458Verse 25. means that service [by offering or prayer] is to be devoted to the Proper Name [i.e., the Tetragrammaton]. The verse stating and He will bless… and I will take, [thus changing from the third-person pronoun to the first-person pronoun], is similar to the verse and thou wilt keep all His statutes… for I am the Eternal that healeth thee.459Above, 15:26. In that case too the pronouns change. I have already explained it, and the person learned [in the mystic lore of the Cabala] will understand the verse here from what I have written there.
Scripture mentioned here the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite,446Verse 28. [and not the other four nations as well], because it adopted here a shortened form, and the intention is to all those mentioned above.452Verse 23. See Ramban above, 3:8 as to why the Girgashite [the seventh one] is omitted. The correct interpretation appears to me to be that the majority of these three nations [mentioned here] did not go out to battle and thus avoided being killed by the sword, because they remained strongly enclosed in their fortified places. It is against them that He sent only this form of death [through the hornet], in a similar manner to that which is said of Egypt, And thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians.453Above, 10:6. It is this which He said in the Book of Deuteronomy: Moreover the Eternal thy G-d will send the hornet amongst them, until they that are left, and they that hide themselves, perish from before thee,454Deuteronomy 7:20. and it is this hornet that crossed the Jordon with Joshua.455Rashi’s statement that the hornets did not cross the Jordan but merely “placed themselves on the east bank of the Jordan and from there injected the poison against them” applies to the hornet of the days of Moses. The one in the days of Joshua did cross the Jordan. This distinction is made in Sotah 36a. So did the Rabbis conclude in Tractate Sotah,455Rashi’s statement that the hornets did not cross the Jordan but merely “placed themselves on the east bank of the Jordan and from there injected the poison against them” applies to the hornet of the days of Moses. The one in the days of Joshua did cross the Jordan. This distinction is made in Sotah 36a. saying that the hornet injected a poison into them which caused their death, and indeed there is nowadays also in the hornet a poisonous substance which harms or even kills the victim. And it is written in the Book of Joshua: And ye went over the Jordan, and came unto Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand,456Joshua 24:11. and it is further written there, And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.457Ibid., Verse 12. The phrase which drove them out457Ibid., Verse 12. refers to those that are left454Deuteronomy 7:20. amongst them, for after I delivered into your hand all the nations mentioned, I sent the hornet to drive out those that are left and they that hide themselves. He mentioned the two kings of the Amorites,457Ibid., Verse 12. meaning Sichon and Og whom He had referred to earlier. All this you have done not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.457Ibid., Verse 12.
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that the tzir’ah refers to a disease in the body, the word being of the root tzara’ath (leprosy). But there is no need for this interpretation.
And ye shall serve the Eternal your G-d458Verse 25. means that service [by offering or prayer] is to be devoted to the Proper Name [i.e., the Tetragrammaton]. The verse stating and He will bless… and I will take, [thus changing from the third-person pronoun to the first-person pronoun], is similar to the verse and thou wilt keep all His statutes… for I am the Eternal that healeth thee.459Above, 15:26. In that case too the pronouns change. I have already explained it, and the person learned [in the mystic lore of the Cabala] will understand the verse here from what I have written there.
Ramban
V’LO TACHANIPHU’ (AND YE SHALL NOT POLLUTE) THE LAND. Because He had said at the beginning: And these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your habitations,104Verse 29. meaning that these judgments apply also outside the Land [of Israel], therefore He mentioned additional stringencies applying to the inhabitants of the Land [of Israel], in honor of the Divine Presence which is [especially] present there, and He warned us not to pollute it and not to defile it.105Verse 34.
And the meaning of the term chanuphah [mentioned here, which literally means: “flattery,” or “pollution”] is that which is said with reference to the imprecations: Thou shalt carry out much into the field, and shalt gather in little;106Deuteronomy 28:38. Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine;107Ibid., Verse 39. Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil;108Ibid., Verse 40. All thy trees and the fruit of thy land shall the locust make bare,109Ibid., Verse 42. for all expressions of chanuphah indicate doing the opposite of that which is seen by or appears to the eyes. This is the punishment [which will come] to the Land because of idolatry, bloodshed, and immorality, just as it is said, will not the Land ‘chanoph techenaph’ (become polluted)?;110Jeremiah 3:1. the earth also ‘chanepha’ (is polluted) under the inhabitants thereof;111Isaiah 24:5. ‘vatachniphi’ (and thou hast polluted) the Land with thy harlotries.112Jeremiah 3:2. In all these three verses, the earth itself is described as becoming “chanuphah (polluted)” because of the sins of its inhabitants, which means, according to Ramban, that it will do the opposite of that which is its nature, for it will be planted and cultivated but not produce fruit. And the meaning of the term “defilement” [used in the next verse — And thou shalt not ‘defile’ the Land] is that the Land will become defiled so that the Glory of G-d will not dwell therein if there is innocent blood [shed] in it which has not been atoned for by the blood of him that shed it.113Verse 33 here. Thus the Rabbis have said in the Sifre:114Sifre, Mas’ei 161. “‘V’lo tachaniphu’ the Land — this is an admonition against flatterers.” For at first [in Verses 31-32] He warned us against taking a bribe from murderers, and then [in Verse 33 here] He warned us against flattering them because of their high position or their power, or the honor of their family, even without taking a bribe, because if we flatter them, we will thereby cause the Land to “betray” its inhabitants [as explained above].
And the meaning of the term chanuphah [mentioned here, which literally means: “flattery,” or “pollution”] is that which is said with reference to the imprecations: Thou shalt carry out much into the field, and shalt gather in little;106Deuteronomy 28:38. Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine;107Ibid., Verse 39. Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil;108Ibid., Verse 40. All thy trees and the fruit of thy land shall the locust make bare,109Ibid., Verse 42. for all expressions of chanuphah indicate doing the opposite of that which is seen by or appears to the eyes. This is the punishment [which will come] to the Land because of idolatry, bloodshed, and immorality, just as it is said, will not the Land ‘chanoph techenaph’ (become polluted)?;110Jeremiah 3:1. the earth also ‘chanepha’ (is polluted) under the inhabitants thereof;111Isaiah 24:5. ‘vatachniphi’ (and thou hast polluted) the Land with thy harlotries.112Jeremiah 3:2. In all these three verses, the earth itself is described as becoming “chanuphah (polluted)” because of the sins of its inhabitants, which means, according to Ramban, that it will do the opposite of that which is its nature, for it will be planted and cultivated but not produce fruit. And the meaning of the term “defilement” [used in the next verse — And thou shalt not ‘defile’ the Land] is that the Land will become defiled so that the Glory of G-d will not dwell therein if there is innocent blood [shed] in it which has not been atoned for by the blood of him that shed it.113Verse 33 here. Thus the Rabbis have said in the Sifre:114Sifre, Mas’ei 161. “‘V’lo tachaniphu’ the Land — this is an admonition against flatterers.” For at first [in Verses 31-32] He warned us against taking a bribe from murderers, and then [in Verse 33 here] He warned us against flattering them because of their high position or their power, or the honor of their family, even without taking a bribe, because if we flatter them, we will thereby cause the Land to “betray” its inhabitants [as explained above].