Kommentar zu Dewarim 31:29

אחרי מותי כי השחת תשחתון [FOR I KNOW THAT] AFTER MY DEATH YE WILL UTTERLY CORRUPT YOURSELVES — But, you see, as a matter of fact, that all the days of Joshua they did not corrupt themselves, for it states, (Judges 2:7) “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua”?! (How, then, could Moses say that they would corrupt themselves after his death, by which he evidently meant immediately after his death, cf. v. 16)? But we may derive from here that one’s pupil should be as dear to him as his own self: — it appeared to Moses that so long as Joshua would live it would be as though he himself would be living (he thus alluded by the words “after my death” to a period after Joshua’s death).

כי ידעתי, in the course of that song (poem) I will reveal that I know how you will act so that the evil, if and when it befalls you, will not be perceived as “bad luck,” as coincidence, but can be traced back to my warnings. Once you realise and admit hat you had become guilty of a corrupt way of life, you will repent and turn to G’d in sincere remorse. Compare Isaiah 48,5 ואגיד לך מאז, בטרם תבוא השמעתיך, פן תאמר עצבי אשם, “Therefore I told you long beforehand, announced things to you before they happened, that you might not say: “my idol caused them.”

אחרי מותי כי השחת תשחתון, “after my death, that you will become very corrupt, etc.” History shows that during all of the years when Joshua was in charge of the people they did not become corrupt but remained loyal to the Torah. This fact is specifically attested to near the end of the Book of Joshua (Joshua 24,31) “the people served Hashem all the days of Joshua as well as during all of the days of the elders who lived longer than Joshua.” Our sages (Temurah 28) derive from this verse that a teacher treasures his disciple as much as he treasures his own body,” (loves himself) seeing that as long as Joshua was alive, Moses had the feeling that he himself was still alive. The corruption Moses speaks of here is the practice of idolatry. This is also what he had in mind when he said: “to anger Him with your handiwork.” Moses had a prophetic vision of the idolatry which would be practiced during the period of the first Temple.