When Moses was departing from this world to enter the Garden of Eden, he said to Joshua, “Ask me about any uncertainties in the Law that you have.” However, Joshua replied, “Master! Did I ever leave you for a moment? Have you not written about me in the Torah, 'And Joshua his servant would never left his tent'!” Moses was pained by this answer, and as a result, three hundred law were forgotten by Joshua and seven hundred uncertainties arose in his mind. All of Israel wanted to kill Joshua, but God said to him, “I cannot tell you these laws anymore after the passing of Moses, following the principle that the Torah is not in Heaven, however, go and occupy Israel with war,” and that is the meaning of the verse “And it came to pass after the death of Moses, the servant of God, that God said to Joshua... cross over Jordan.”
Nevertheless, this time Otniel ben Kenaz restored them through logic. That is the meaning of the phrase, “Otniel ben Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, conquered Kiryat Sefer (City of the Book), so Caleb gave him Achsah, Caleb's daughter, as a wife.” Why was she called Achsah (anger)? – Because she was so beautiful (and some say, so modest) that everyone who looked at her immediately became angered at his wife who lacked in comparison. Being married to a Torah scholar who spent all his time in studies, Achsah had nothing in her house. She went to her father, saying, “You have given me an arid land,” that is, devoid of all worldly goods. He gave her upper and lower springs. That means that he said, “One to whom belong all the mysteries of the world, the upper and lower, need not ask me for sustenance.” Rather, to him applies the verse from the Proverbs, “She (the Torah) is like a merchant's ships, from afar she brings her sustenance.”
Art: Claude Oscar Monet - Ships In Harbor
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