Comentários de Citação sobre Números 26:6

בהלה, “terror,” the opposite of when I allowed you to go to sleep without worry, as spelled out in verse 6.

והשלחתי בכם וגו, “I shall send forth against you, etc.;” this corresponds to the blessing in verse 6, where G-d promises to destroy or keep in check wild beasts as a reward for our keeping the Torah. Seeing that the positive virtues are always evident in greater measure than the negative ones, when speaking about the wild beasts in the blessings, when referring to the wild beasts in the curses, the Torah uses the whole species, חיה רעה, whereas when referring to them in the context of His blessings, He mentions only “free roaming animals of the field,” not the whole species.

והכריתה את בהמתכם, “it will destroy your cattle;” this corresponds to the blessing in verse 6 where wild beasts are destroyed, thus protecting your cattle against attack. The word מן הארץ, in verse 6, a second time is the link to the word from the land is the link to the והמעיטה, “it will diminish your numbers,” in our verse here. [The reader will notice to what length our author goes to demonstrate how the curses match the blessings throughout this chapter. Ed.]