Tanach · Acharonim on Tanach · Or HaChaim · Torah

Or HaChaim on Numbers 13:24/אור החיים על במדבר י״ג:כ״ד

אלַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא קָרָא וְגוֹ׳. פֵּרוּשׁ, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא קוֹדֶם לָכֵן כָּתַב ״עַד נַחַל אֶשְׁכּוֹל״ עַל שֵׁם הֶעָתִיד, כִּי הוּא מַגִּיד מֵרֵאשִׁית אַחֲרִית.
1 למקום ההוא קרא נחל אשכול, he called that place: "the valley of the cluster." The subject in the verse is G'd who had named this place in anticipation of its significance in the future. We know this because the Torah described the spies at arriving at נחל אשכול before any mention was made about their having cut off a cluster of grapes. [Besides, the word קרא as opposed to ויקרא shows that the place had already been known by that name. Ed.]
בוְאָמְרוֹ אֲשֶׁר כָּרְתוּ מִשָּׁם וְגוֹ׳, פֵּרוּשׁ, וְאִם תֹּאמַר וַהֲלֹא כַּמָּה אֶשְׁכּוֹלוֹת נִכְרְתוּ מֵהַמָּקוֹם, לָזֶה אָמַר הַפְלָאַת אֶשְׁכּוֹל זֶה שֶׁנִּקְרָא הַמָּקוֹם עַל שְׁמוֹ ״עַל אוֹדוֹת הָאֶשְׁכּוֹל וְגוֹ׳ אֲשֶׁר כָּרְתוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל״, פֵּרוּשׁ, כְּלָלוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּרְתוּ אֶשְׁכּוֹל זֶה, וַהֲגַם שֶׁלֹּא הָיוּ אֶלָּא שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אֲנָשִׁים, לְצַד הֱיוֹתָם שְׁלוּחֵי כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל, כְּאִלּוּ כָּרְתוּ כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל, עַל דֶּרֶךְ אָמְרוֹ (שמות יב:ו) ״וְשָׁחֲטוּ אֹתוֹ כֹּל קְהַל עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל״:
2The Torah writes: אשר כרתו משם בני ישראל, "which the Israelites had cut from there." You may well ask that many people on many occasions have cut clusters of grapes in that valley. Why would the cluster the Israelites had cut there be singled out? The remarkable thing was that though only 12 Israelites had come there at the time, the Torah describes them as if they were the whole Jewish people, i.e. בני ישראל. Seeing that these 12 men were the representatives of the people the Torah describes them as the people, i.e. בני ישראל. We find something parallel in Exodus 12,6 where the Torah writes: ושחטו כל עדת ישראל "and the whole community of Israel will slaughter." As a rule the priest slaughtered the Passover; seeing he was the delegate of the people the act of slaughtering is attributed to the people themselves.