מתן על הפרק - יהושע ז'-ח'

לאחר כיבושה הניסי של יריחו מגיע זמנה של המערכה הצבאית. בין שני הקרבות, בין ההפסד והניצחון, מופיע חטא עכן ואיתו שיעור חשוב אותו צריך העם כולו ללמוד על מנת להצליח לרשת את הארץ.

וַֽיִּקְרְא֥וּ בַסֵּ֛פֶר בְּתוֹרַ֥ת הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים - בקיאות

יהושע ז׳

Joshua 7

(1) The Israelites, however, violated the proscription: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of that which was proscribed, and the LORD was incensed with the Israelites. (2) Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which lies close to Beth-aven—east of Bethel—with orders to go up and spy out the country. So the men went up and spied out Ai. (3) They returned to Joshua and reported to him, “Not all the troops need go up. Let two or three thousand men go and attack Ai; do not trouble all the troops to go up there, for [the people] there are few.” (4) So about three thousand of the troops marched up there; but they were routed by the men of Ai. (5) The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, pursuing them outside the gate as far as Shebarim, and cutting them down along the descent. And the heart of the troops sank in utter dismay.^-a (6) Joshua thereupon rent his clothes. He and the elders of Israel lay until evening with their faces to the ground in front of the Ark of the LORD; and they strewed earth on their heads. (7) “Ah, Lord GOD!” cried Joshua. “Why did You lead this people across the Jordan only to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to be destroyed by them? If only we had been content to remain on the other side of the Jordan! (8) O Lord, what can I say after Israel has turned tail before its enemies? (9) When the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land hear of this, they will turn upon us and wipe out our very name from the earth. And what will You do about Your great name?” (10) But the LORD answered Joshua: “Arise! Why do you lie prostrate? (11) Israel has sinned! They have broken the covenant by which I bound them. They have taken of the proscribed and put it in their vessels; they have stolen; they have broken faith! (12) Therefore, the Israelites will not be able to hold their ground against their enemies; they will have to turn tail before their enemies, for they have become proscribed. I will not be with you any more unless you root out from among you what is proscribed. (13) Go and purify the people. Order them: Purify yourselves for tomorrow. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Something proscribed is in your midst, O Israel, and you will not be able to stand up to your enemies until you have purged the proscribed from among you. (14) Tomorrow morning you shall present yourselves by tribes. Whichever tribe the LORD indicates shall come forward by clans; the clan that the LORD indicates shall come forward by ancestral houses, and the ancestral house that the LORD indicates shall come forward man by man. (15) Then he who is indicated for proscription,^-c and all that is his, shall be put to the fire, because he broke the Covenant of the LORD and because he committed an outrage in Israel.” (16) Early next morning, Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes; and the tribe of Judah was indicated. (17) He then had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of Zerah was indicated. Then he had the clan of Zerah come forward by ancestral houses,^-d and Zabdi was indicated. (18) Finally he had his ancestral house come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was indicated. (19) Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, pay honor to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession to Him. Tell me what you have done; do not hold anything back from me.” (20) Achan answered Joshua, “It is true, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did: (21) I saw among the spoil a fine Shinar mantle, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, and I coveted them and took them. They are buried in the ground in my tent, with the silver under it.” (22) Joshua sent messengers, who hurried to the tent; and there it was, buried in his tent, with the silver underneath. (23) They took them from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and displayed them before the LORD. (24) Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah—and the silver, the mantle, and the wedge of gold—his sons and daughters, and his ox, his ass, and his flock, and his tent, and all his belongings, and brought them up to the Valley of Achor. (25) And Joshua said, “What calamity you have brought upon us! The LORD will bring calamity upon you this day.” And all Israel pelted him with stones. They put them to the fire and stoned them. (26) They raised a huge mound of stones over him, which is still there. Then the anger of the LORD subsided. That is why that place was named the Valley of Achor—as is still the case.

1.
לפני תיאור כיבוש העי בפסוקים ז׳, ב׳-ט׳ מופיע פסוק הקדמה ארוך ומפורט (פסוק א׳). נסו לשים לב כיצד כל פרט בפסוק תורם להבנת סיבת הכשלון במלחמת העי.
2.
בניגוד למלחמת יריחו, מלחמת העי התנהלה בדרכים טבעיות מבחינה צבאית. מדוע לדעתכם נבהלו יהושע והעם ממותם של 36 לוחמים בקרב?
3.
על המקום שבו נסקל עכן נכתב "על כן קרא שם המקום ההוא עמק עכור עד היום הזה" (ז׳,כ"ו). עיינו בפסוקים הבאים המתיחסים לגלגולי שם המקום ושם האיש ועמדו על משמעות השינויים ועל אחריתו של המקום.
"וּבְנֵ֖י כַּרְמִ֑י עָכָר֙ עוֹכֵ֣ר יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר מָעַ֖ל בַּחֵֽרֶם" (דה"א ב׳,ז׳)
"וְהָיָ֤ה הַשָּׁרוֹן֙ לִנְוֵה־צֹ֔אן וְעֵ֥מֶק עָכ֖וֹר לְרֵ֣בֶץ בָּקָ֑ר לְעַמִּ֖י אֲשֶׁ֥ר דְּרָשֽׁוּנִי" (ישעיהו ס"ה, י׳)
"וְנָתַ֨תִּי לָ֤הּ אֶת־כְּרָמֶ֙יהָ֙ מִשָּׁ֔ם וְאֶת־עֵ֥מֶק עָכ֖וֹר לְפֶ֣תַח תִּקְוָ֑ה וְעָ֤נְתָה שָּׁ֙מָּה֙ כִּימֵ֣י נְעוּרֶ֔יהָ וּכְי֖וֹם עֲלוֹתָ֥הּ מֵאֶרֶץ־מִצְרָֽיִם" (הושע ב׳, י"ז)

יהושע ח׳

Joshua 8

(1) The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be frightened or dismayed. Take all the fighting troops with you, go and march against Ai. See, I will deliver the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land into your hands. (2) You shall treat Ai and her king as you treated Jericho and her king; however, you may take the spoil and the cattle as booty for yourselves. Now set an ambush against the city behind it.” (3) So Joshua and all the fighting troops prepared for the march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, valiant warriors, and sent them ahead by night. (4) He instructed them as follows: “Mind, you are to lie in ambush behind the city; don’t stay too far from the city, and all of you be on the alert. (5) I and all the troops with me will approach the city; and when they come out against us, as they did the first time, we will flee from them. (6) They will come rushing after us until we have drawn them away from the city. They will think, ‘They are fleeing from us the same as last time’; but while we are fleeing before them, (7) you will dash out from your ambush and seize the city, and the LORD your God will deliver it into your hands. (8) And when you take the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded. Mind, I have given you your orders.” (9) Joshua then sent them off, and they proceeded to the ambush; they took up a position between Ai and Bethel—west of Ai—while Joshua spent the night with the rest of the troops. (10) Early in the morning, Joshua mustered the troops; then he and the elders of Israel marched upon Ai at the head of the troops. (11) All the fighting force that was with him advanced near the city and encamped to the north of Ai, with a hollow between them and Ai.— (12) He selected about five thousand men and stationed them as an ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city. (13) Thus the main body of the army was disposed on the north of the city, but the far end of it was on the west. (This was after Joshua had spent the night^-a in the valley.)— (14) When the king of Ai saw them, he and all his people, the inhabitants of the city, rushed out in the early morning to the meeting place,^-c facing the Arabah, to engage the Israelites in battle; for he was unaware that a force was lying in ambush behind the city. (15) Joshua and all Israel fled in the direction of the wilderness, as though routed by them. (16) All the troops in the city gathered to pursue them; pursuing Joshua, they were drawn out of the city. (17) Not a man was left in Ai or in Bethel who did not go out after Israel; they left the city open while they pursued Israel. (18) The LORD then said to Joshua, “Hold out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will deliver it into your hands.” So Joshua held out the javelin in his hand toward the city. (19) As soon as he held out his hand, the ambush came rushing out of their station. They entered the city and captured it; and they swiftly set fire to the city. (20) The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising to the sky; they had no room for flight in any direction.
The people who had been fleeing to the wilderness now became the pursuers. (21) For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that smoke was rising from the city, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. (22) Now the other [Israelites] were coming out of the city against them, so that they were between two bodies of Israelites, one on each side of them. They were slaughtered, so that no one escaped or got away. (23) The king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua. (24) When Israel had killed all the inhabitants of Ai who had pursued them into the open wilderness, and all of them, to the last man, had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites turned back to Ai and put it to the sword. (25) The total of those who fell that day, men and women, the entire population of Ai, came to twelve thousand. (26) Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he held out his javelin until all the inhabitants of Ai had been exterminated. (27) However, the Israelites took the cattle and the spoil of the city as their booty, in accordance with the instructions that the LORD had given to Joshua. (28) Then Joshua burned down Ai, and turned it into a mound of ruins for all time, a desolation to this day. (29) And the king of Ai was impaled on a stake until the evening. At sunset, Joshua had the corpse taken down from the stake and it was left lying at the entrance to the city gate. They raised a great heap of stones over it, which is there to this day.
(30) At that time Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, (31) as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded the Israelites—as is written in the Book of the Teaching of Moses—an altar of unhewn stone upon which no iron had been wielded. They offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD, and brought sacrifices of well-being. (32) And there, on the stones, he inscribed a copy of the Teaching that Moses had written for the Israelites. (33) All Israel—stranger and citizen alike—with their elders, officials, and magistrates, stood on either side of the Ark, facing the levitical priests who carried the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant. Half of them faced Mount Gerizim and half of them faced Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded them of old, in order to bless the people of Israel. (34) After that, he read all the words of the Teaching, the blessing and the curse, just as is written in the Book of the Teaching. (35) There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read in the presence of the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the strangers who accompanied them.

4.
השוו בין כיבוש יריחו (פרק ו׳), כיבוש העי הראשון (ז׳, ב׳-ה׳), כיבוש העי השני (ח׳, א׳-כ"ט). שימו לב: מי מצווה, כיצד מתנהלת המלחמה, מהם תחבולות הכיבוש ומהו היחס לשלל.

מְפֹרָ֑שׁ וְשׂ֣וֹם שֶׂ֔כֶל - עיון

5.
על הפסוק בדברים כ"ט, כ"ח "הנסתרות לה׳ אלוהינו והנגלות לנו ולבנינו עד עולם" אומר רש"י: "הנסתרות לה׳ אלהינו - ...אין אני מעניש אתכם על הנסתרות, שהן לה׳ אלהינו, והוא יפרע מאותו יחיד. אבל הנגלות לנו ולבנינו לבער הרע מקרבנו, ואם לא נעשה דין בהם יענשו את הרבים. נקוד על "לנו ולבנינו" לדרוש שאף על הנגלות לא ענש את הרבים עד שעברו את הירדן, משקבלו עליהם את השבועה בהר גרזים ובהר עיבל ונעשו ערבים זה לזה."
כיצד העיקרון של "כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה" (סנהדרין כ"ז, ע"ב) בא לידי ביטוי בפרקנו?
6.
בברית ערבות מואב (דברים י"א, כ"ו-כ"ט) נאמר: "רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה. אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם. וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וְסַרְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם לָלֶ֗כֶת אַחֲרֵ֛י אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יְדַעְתֶּֽם. וְהָיָ֗ה כִּ֤י יְבִֽיאֲךָ֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה בָא־שָׁ֖מָּה לְרִשְׁתָּ֑הּ וְנָתַתָּ֤ה אֶת־הַבְּרָכָה֙ עַל־הַ֣ר גְּרִזִ֔ים וְאֶת־הַקְּלָלָ֖ה עַל־הַ֥ר עֵיבָֽל".
בפרק ח׳ פסוקים ל׳-ל"ח באו הדברים לכלל ביצוע. רש"י כותב "אז יבנה - פרשה זו כתובה מוקדם ומאוחר: שמיום שעברו את הירדן עשה כן". מה יכולות להיות הסיבות לכך שהפרשה כתובה בפרקנו ולא קודם לכן?

וַיָּבִ֖ינוּ בַּמִּקְרָֽא - הרחבה

המתיישבים הראשונים של פתח תקווה ניסו בשנת תרל"ב (1872) להתיישב בסביבות העיר יריחו ובכך להגשים את הנבואה המוזכרת בספר הושע: "ונתתי לה את כרמיה משם ואת עמק עכור לפתח תקווה" (הושע ב׳,יז׳). השם אותו בחרו המייסדים היה ביטוי לתקווה כי ניתן להפוך מקום מקולל ליישוב פורח. בסופו של דבר רכישת הקרקע בעמק עכור לא התבצעה, ובשנת תרל"ח (1878) המתיישבים הגיעו לשפלה, רכשו את אדמות הכפר הערבי אוּמְלָבָּס וקראו למושבה החדשה בשם "פתח תקווה". שינוי המיקום לא הקל על הקשיים והשם קיבל משמעות דומה גם בנקודת התיישבות זו, בשל המצב העכור בו מצאו את הסביבה. תקוותם של המייסדים הייתה שמושבה ראשונה זו תהיה פתח והתחלה למושבות חקלאיות נוספות בארץ ישראל, וכך היה.
באביב של שנת תרל"ט (1879) חגגה קבוצת המייסדים של פתח תקווה את חג הפסח הראשון במושבה החקלאית החדשה. בעודם יושבים סביב שולחן הסדר קראו בהתרגשות:
"הלילה הזה הוא ליל זיכרון לישראל על הנסים ועל הנפלאות שעשה אלוקינו לאבותינו בצאתם ממצרים, מעבדות לחרות, משעבוד לגאולה, גאולת הרוח וגאולת הגוף. הלילה הזה עלינו לברך את ברכת ׳שהחיינו׳ בכוונה כפולה: שהחיינו לכונן מושבה חקלאית ראשונה בארצנו הקדושה ולסול המסילה להבאים אחרינו. אנחנו הננו היום הציפורים הראשונות המבשרות את אור השחר, וה׳ הוא המאיר לנו אור תקווה והסולל לפנינו דרך הקודש. במקום הזה בקע לנו אור השחר ועוד מעט וזרחה עלינו, יראי ה׳, שמש צדקה ומרפא. נשמת ישראל סבא תשוב, תעל, תתלבש בקדושה ובטהרה כימי קדם קדמתה, ושוב פעם נזכה להקים לנו נביאים וקדושי עליון לגאולתנו ולגאולת העולם"
ספר היובל-למלאת חמישים שנה לייסוד פתח תקווה, תרפ"ט-1929, עמ׳ כ"ו-כ"ז.

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