What what did Yehoshua and Calev mean when they said "Ach ba'Hashem Al Timrodu"? What is the word "Ach" coming to preclude?
Seforno: They meant that if the people wanted to acquire the land on the above terms, they should not rebel against Hashem'. 1
Oznayim la'Torah: Modifying their earlier words "Im Chafetz banu Hashem," they were saying that they did not mean that they should reach the level of angels, but that they should not rebel against Hashem - in that having told them by the Yam-Suf 2 "Lo Sosifun li'Re'osam Od ad Olam" they should plan to return to Egypt, and, having commanded them to "Go and possess the land!" 3 they should go and possess the land, and not fear the people of the land.
What is the connection between the two statements "Ach ba'Hashem Al Tumrodu" and "ve'Atem Al Tir'u es Am ha'Aretz"?
Rashi and Seforno: It is not two statements but one - 'If you will not rebel against Hashem, you will not need to fear the people of the land!'
Ramban: Having witnessed firsthand the numerous miracles of Yetzi'as Mitzrayim, displaying fear of the Cana'anim after Hashem had promised to drive them out, was in itself, an act of rebellion.
Oznayim la'Torah: Refer to 14:9:1:2.
What did Yehoshua and Calev mean when they said "Ki Lachmeinu heim"?
Rashi: They meant 'that they would consume them like bread. 1
Ramban: They meant that, not only should the people rely on the miraculous Hand of Hashem, but that, bearing in mind the fear that had gripped the Cana'anim, they were destined to fall before them by natural means. 2
Seforno: They meant that they would consume them like bread - because they saw how they (the Cana?anim) made not the least effort to fight fight, 3 and they would not rise up against them, just as bread does not rise up against the person who eats it. 4
Oznayim la'Torah: Seing as "Lachmeinu" in the desert refers to the Manna, which only remained intact in the shade. 5 Consequently, when they continused "Sar Tzilam me'Aleihem", they meant that, just like the Manna, which melted when its shade was removed, so too, will the Cana'anim melt before Yisrael.
Targum Yonasan: They meant that the Cana'anim were given into their hands.
Which does not become more dangerous commensurate with the size of the loaf that one is eating.
As naturally as eating a slice of bread.
Seforno: As Rachav told the Yehoshua and Calev - See Yehosuha, 2:11.
Oznayim la'Torah: As the Torah writes "ve'Cham ha'Shemeh Venamas" (When the sun became hot, it melted).
What were the spies referring to when they said "Sar Tzilam me'Aleihem"?
Rashi #1 (cting Bava Basra 15a): They were referring to their spiritual shield and strength - Iyov, who shielded over them, and who had just died. 1
Rashi #2: They meant that Hashem's protection had been removed from them. 2
Ramban #1 (citing the Ibn Ezra) and Seforno: They meant that the Cana'anim were so terrified of Yisrael, that they could not bring themselves to pick up their shields 3 to protect themselves (and in order to run away as quickly as possible - Seforno).
Ramban #2: It refers to the shadow that appears on the night of Hoshana Rabah above the head of a person who is destined to live that year, 4 and that had been removed from the Cana'anim, a sure sign that they were doomed.
Ramban #3 (citing Midrash Shir ha'Shirim): It refers to the downfall of the angels of the Cana'ani nations, which presaged their own downfall. 5
Rashbam: 'From the time that Hashem dried-up the Yam-Suf, all the inhabitants of the land are so terrified of us 6 that they have given up all efforts to protect themselves', and are therefore left with no form of protection to rely on'.
Seforno: Refer to 14:9:3:3. They saw that the 2, 7:15.Cana?anim were ready to cast away their shields and flee when Yisrael entered the land. 7
Oznayim la'Torah: Refer to 14:9:3:4.
Presumably, this is because the time had arrived for Yisrael to take the land from them. Refer to Bereishis, 15:16:1:1 & 2.
Ramban: The shade that protects every army that goes into battle.
See R. Chavel's footnotes.
Ramban: As the Mechilta teaches us, and as the Pasuk states in Yeshayah, 24:21 and in Daniel, 10:2.
As the Pasuk writes in the Shirah (Sh'mos 15:15) "All the inhabitants of Cana'an have dissolved" and as Rachav ha'Zonah told Pinchas and Calev in Yehoshua, 2:9 - 11.
Seforno: Like the Syrians did in Melachim 2, 17:15.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes that Iyov had died. But the Gemara in Sotah 11a, states that Iyov was punished for being in the counsel (after all Ya'akov's sons died) to drown the Jewish babies. He lived a hundrd and forty years after his afflictions. If so, he lived at least twenty-three years after Yetzi'as Mitzrayim?
Moshav Zekenim (13:32): We must say that they are conflicting Midrashim. 1
The G'ra (Peirush Seider Olam Rabah, Chumash ha'Gra Sh'mos 1:9): We must say that the counsel occurred right after Yosef died 2 , seventy-one years after Ya'akov went down to Ehypt, even though the slavery did not begin until after Levi died twenty-three years later. 3
Rashi (Sanhedrin 106b): The one who says that Bil'am lived only thirty-three years cannot hold that he counseled Paroh, since he was born after Yetzi'as Mitzrayim! Moshav Zekenim holds like Rashi there, that the counsel was in the year that Ya'akov went down to Egypt. (If so, even if Iyov was an infant when he counseled, his two hundred and ten years would not have lasted until the spies!) What is their source? Y'aakov was revered; he was afraid to be buried in Egypt, in case they worshiped him (Rashi Bereishis 47:29)! Sh'mos 1:6-9 implies that the counsel was after Yosef and his brothers died! (PF)
R. Bachye, citing Midrash Tanchuma (Beshalach 2): [The Egyptians] put him in a metal coffin and lowered it into the Nile, so B'nei Yisrael would never find him and could not leave Egypt! (This implies that they immediately intended to enslave them ? PF).
Seider Olam says that the slavery began between Levi's death and Miriam's birth twenty-nine years later. The Yalkut Shimoni (Sh'mos 162) maintains that it began with the birth of Miriam.
