I hope you are having an exceedingly good day today!
This is our second installment of a series of posts about the double count Hebrew words. In this installment we are doing a basic word study using both kosher and non-kosher dictionary sources.
Parsha Shelach contains two double counts. One deals with Joshua and Caleb’s report of the land. The other deals with HaShem dealing with the bad report from the other spies.
Let’s look at them now…
Numbers (B’Midbar) 14:7
14:7 And they spoke unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: ‘The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.
מְאֹד מְאֹֽד (meod, meod) is translated as “exceeding“, “exceptionally “, or “exceedingly; lit. “exceedingly, exceedingly”
Below are some dictionary definition of מְאֹֽד (meod)
- Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew by Matityahu Clark on pg 135 defines as “have resources” the expanded meaning being “fortune; total means“
- Langenscheidt Hebrew Dictionary – pg 161 – greatly, exceedingly, or very
- Brown Driver-Briggs – pg 547 – 2nd definition is “exceedingly, greatly, very“
- Strong Concordance defines as “muchness, force, abundance“.
This is the 13th double in BeMidbar and the 77th in Torah.
Numbers (B’Midbar) 14:34
לד בְּמִסְפַּר הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר־תַּרְתֶּם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה תִּשְׂאוּ אֶת־עֲוֹנֹתֵיכֶם אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה וִֽידַעְתֶּם אֶת־תְּנֽוּאָתִֽי:
14:34 After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know My displeasure.
יוֹם יוֹם (yom,yom) is translated as “days, for every day“, or “days, a day“; lit. “days, days”
Below are some dictionary definition of יוֹם (yom)
- Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew by Matityahu Clark on pg 102 defines as “ascends” in expanded meaning 1 “day, a time of alertness“
- Langenscheidt Hebrew Dictionary – pg 124 – “day“
- Brown Driver-Briggs – pg 398-401 – 2nd definition is “day“
- Strong Concordance defines as “day“.
This is the 14th double in BeMidbar and the 78th in Torah.
In conclusion, neither of these two Hebrew doubles have any additional teachings from Rashi or any of the sefers I currently own. However, there are some nuances to this doubling of these words. Joshua and Caleb’s doubles reveals the goodness goes beyond what you could imagine.
The judgement of HaShem against the other spies is each day in the land counts as one year. A one for one exchange. This is a true Torah principle of measure for measure.
Our next double count will appear next week in parsha Korach. Keep watch for that post.
