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1 [1] AND THE PEOPLE WEPT THAT NIGHT. The meaning thereof is that the spies went into the [people’s] tents towards evening, after they left Moses, and in the morning they [the people] rose early and they all *murmured against Moses and against Aaron* [as related in Verse 2]. And likewise Moses said, *and ye murmured in your tents*, for it was in their tents that they spoke *words of a murmurer*.
Now our Rabbis have said: [“That day was the ninth of Ab. Said the Holy One, blessed be He:] ‘They wept for no good reason; therefore I will establish [that day as one for] weeping throughout their generations’.” But I do not know from what allusion in this section [of the Torah] the Rabbis deduced this interpretation. It is, however, a clearly-expressed verse [in the Book of Psalms]: *Moreover, they scorned the desirable Land, they believed not His word. And they murmured in their tents, they hearkened not unto the voice of the Eternal. Therefore He swore concerning them, that He would overthrow them in the wilderness, and that He would cast out their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the lands*. Perhaps this [interpretation of the Rabbis concerning the destruction of the two Temples on that night of weeping] is derived from the verse which states, *But your little ones, that ye said would be a prey*, which means: “But as for your little ones — it will be as you said, *they will be a prey* when *the time of their visitation* comes, for I shall *visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children*. — *them will I bring in* now so that they *will* just *know the Land*, but they will not possess it [uninterruptedly] for all time.” Scripture only refers to such matters by means of allusion, for it does not want to decree evil categorically, unless it is a rebuke predicated on a condition.
Version: Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH002108945/NLI
License: CC-BY