Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Numbers 14:12/ספורנו על במדבר י״ד:י״ב

אאַכֶּנּוּ בַדֶּבֶר. כְּעִנְיַן ״וְגַם יַד ה׳ הָיְתָה בָם לְהֻמָּם מִקֶּרֶב הַמַּחֲנֶה עַד תֻּמָּם״ (דברים ב:טו).
1אכנו בדבר, as we read in Deuteronomy 2,15 “and also the Lord’s hand came upon them until He had rooted them out from the camp to the last man.” (the generation of the people who had accepted the majority report of the spies)
בואוֹרִישֶׁנּוּ. אֶעֱשֶׂה שֶׁיַּעַזְבוּ לַאֲחֵרִים חֵילָם וְיִירָשׁוּם, כְּעִנְיַן הַמֵּתִים יוֹרְשִׁים אֶת הַחַיִּים (בבא בתרא פרק יש נוחלין) שֶׁהָיָה בַּחֲלוּקַת הָאָרֶץ. וּבָזֶה קִיֵּם מַה שֶּׁנָּדַר לְיוֹצְאֵי מִצְרַיִם בְּאָמְרוֹ (שמות ו:ח) ״וְנָתַתִּי אוֹתָהּ לָכֶם מוֹרָשָׁה״.
2ואורישנו, I will see to it that they have to leave what should have been their inheritance to others. This was similar to what Rashi (based on the Talmud Baba Batra) explained about the dead inheriting the living at the time when the land of Israel was parceled out to the various tribes. By means of the stratagem G’d fulfilled what He had promised in Exodus 6,8: “I will give to you the land as an ‘inheritance.’