Every Place the Sole of Your Foot Treads in the Land

"Every place that the sole of your foot treads" (Joshua 1:3). If this comes to teach about the borders of the Land, it has already been said, "from the wilderness and this Lebanon, etc." (Joshua 1:4); so what does "every place that the sole of your foot treads" teach? The Omnipresent said to them: Every place you conquer outside these places is yours. Or is it rather that they had permission to conquer lands outside the Land before they had conquered the Land of Israel? The verse teaches, "and you shall dispossess nations great and mighty" (Deuteronomy 11:23), and afterward "every place that the sole of your foot treads" -- so that the Land of Israel shall not be defiled with idols while you go back and conquer lands abroad; rather, once you have conquered the Land of Israel you may conquer lands abroad. Now if they conquered land abroad, from where do we know that the commandments apply there? You may reason thus: "shall be" is said here, and "shall be" is said there; just as the "shall be" said there means the commandments apply, so too the "shall be" said here means the commandments apply. And if you say, why then did David conquer Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah, yet the commandments do not apply there? They said: David acted contrary to the Torah. The Torah said, once you have gathered into the Land you may conquer lands abroad, and he did not do so, for it is written, "and the Jebusite dwelling in Jerusalem, he did not dispossess" (Joshua 15:63). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: David, you did not dispossess the Jebusite who is right next to your palace, and yet you go back and conquer Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah? From where do we know that what corresponds to it in the sea is yours? The verse teaches, "from the river" (Joshua 1:4) -- your border, and not the river your border; "from the wilderness" -- your border, and not the wilderness your border; "to the sea" -- your border, and not the sea your border. But if you conquered it, it is your border. "From the wilderness and this Lebanon" -- this Lebanon is the Temple, as it is said, "You are Gilead to Me, the head of Lebanon" (Jeremiah 22:6); and it says, "and the Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one" (Isaiah 10:34); and it says, "and Lebanon is not enough to burn" (Isaiah 40:16). And why is its name called Lebanon? Because it whitens [malbin] the sins of Israel, as it is said, "though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18). "To the great river, the river Euphrates" -- and it is written, "and the fourth river is the Euphrates" (Genesis 2:14). Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi Tarfon says: Draw near to one anointed and you will be anointed. The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: A king's servant is like a king.