Sotah

Send for thee men  — Resh Lakish said: ['For thee' means] from thine own mind;  because does anybody choose a bad position for himself?  That is what is written: And the thing pleased me well  — Resh Lakish said: It pleased me [Moses] well but not the All-Present. That they search the land for us  — R. Hiyya b. Abba said: The spies aimed at nothing else than discrediting the land of Israel. Here it is written: That they may search [we-yahperu] the land for us, and elsewhere it is written: Then the moon shall be confounded [we-haferah] and the sun ashamed etc. And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.  R. Isaac said: It is a tradition in our possession from our forefathers that the spies were named after their actions, but only with one has it survived with us: Sethur the son of Michael.  [He was named] Sethur because he undermined [sathar] the works of the Holy One, blessed be He; and Michael [was so named] because he suggested that God [el] was weak [mak].  R. Johanan said: We can also explain [the name] Nahbi the son of Vophsi.  [He was named] Nahbi because he hid [hikbi] the words  of the Holy One, blessed be He; and Vophsi [was so named] because he stepped over [pasa'] the attributes  of the Holy One, blessed be He. And they went up by the South and he came unto Hebron  — it should have read 'and they came'! — Raba said: It teaches that Caleb held aloof from the plan of the spies and went and prostrated himself upon the graves of the patriarchs, saying to them, 'My fathers, pray on my behalf that I may be delivered from the plan of the spies'. (As for Joshua, Moses had already prayed on his behalf; as it is said: And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua,  [meaning], May Jah save thee [yoshi'aka] from the plan of the spies.) That is the intention of what is written: But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him. And there were Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai  — Ahiman [was so named because he was] the strongest [meyuman] of them; Sheshai because he made the earth like pits [shehithoth];  Talmai because he made the earth like furrows [telamim]. Another explanation:  Ahiman built 'Anath, Sheshai built Alash, and Talmai built Telbesh.  The children of Anak — [they are so called] because they wore the sun as a necklace [ma'anikin] owing to their stature. Now Hebron was built seven years  — what means 'was built'? If I say that it means actually built, is it possible that a man constructs a house for his younger son before his elder son; as it is written: And the sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim?  But [the intention is], it was seven times more productive than Zoan. There is no worse stony ground in all the land of Israel than Hebron, and that is why they bury the dead there; and there is none among all the countries superior to the land of Egypt, as it is said: Like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt;  and there is no place superior to Zoan In all the land Egypt, as it is written: For his princes are at Zoan.  Nevertheless Hebron was seven times more productive than Zoan. But was Hebron stony ground; behold it is written: And it came to pass at the end of forty years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go [and pay my vow … in Hebron];  and R. Iwya — another version is, Rabbah b. Bar Hanan-said: He went to fetch lambs from Hebron; and there is also a teaching: [The best] rams are from Moab and lambs from Hebron! — From that very fact [it is proved that the land was stony]; because the soil is thin it produces pastures  and the cattle grow fat there. And they returned from spying out the land …