Sotah

While they were still in the Jordan, Joshua said to them, Know why you are crossing the Jordan; it is on condition that you disinherit the inhabitants of the land from before you; as it said: Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you etc.  If you do this, well and good; otherwise the water will return and drown you [othekem].  — What means 'othekem'? Me and you. While they were still in the Jordan, Joshua said to them, Take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel etc.;  and it continues, That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying: What mean ye by these stones? etc.  It was to be a monument for the children that their fathers had crossed the Jordan. While they were still in the Jordan, Joshua said to them. Take you hence out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night etc.  It is possible [to think that they were to deposit them] in any lodging place; therefore there is a text to state, 'Where ye shall lodge this night'. R. Judah  said: Abba Halafta, R. Eliezer b. Mathia and Hananiah b. Hakinai stood upon those stones and estimated that each was equal to about forty se'ah.  There is a tradition that the weight which a man can raise upon his shoulder is a third of the weight he can carry;  so from this you may calculate what was the weight of the cluster of grapes,  as it is said: And they bare it upon a staff between two.  From the fact that it is stated upon a staff do I not know that it [was carried] between two? Why, then, is there a text to state 'between two'? [It means] on two staffs. R. Isaac said: [It means] a series of balancing poles.  How was it? Eight [spies] carried the grape-cluster,  one carried a pomegranate, one carried a fig, and Joshua and Caleb did not carry anything. If you wish I can say [that they did not carry anything] because they were the most distinguished of them,  or alternatively that they did not have a share in the plan. R. Ammi and R. Isaac the smith differ in opinion. One said: According to the statement of R. Judah,