Caleb Draws His Sword for the Grapes of Eshcol

"Then they came to the Wadi Eshcol" (Numbers 13:23). They did not want to take any of the fruits of the Land of Israel. Had Caleb not drawn his weapon and gone down before them and said to them, "If you do not take some, then either you kill me, or I will kill you," they would not have taken anything. Therefore it is said, "Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be a portion for you and for your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God" (Joshua 14:9). "And they bore it on a pole, by two" (Numbers 13:23, ibid.). There were not fewer than two poles, for it does not say "on a pole, two," but rather "by two" — that is, two of them. And some say three: "on a pole," one, "by two," making three. And how great was the load in the hand of each and every one? Go out and learn from the stones that they took from the Jordan, as it is said, "And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal" (Joshua 4:20). What was the measure of each one of them? A load of forty se'ah. From this you may reckon that cluster: a man carries a load by himself and lifts one se'ah; with his fellow lifting it upon him, he carries two se'ah; carrying together with his fellow, he carries three. Reckon from here.