Kommentar zu Dewarim 11:25

לא יתיצב איש וגו׳ NO MAN SHALL STAND [BEFORE YOU] — I have here the statement only regarding a man! Whence may I derive that the same applies to a nation or a family or a woman with her witchcraft? Because it states: לא יתיצב, “there shall be no standing before you” — under any circumstances. — If this be so, why does it speak of a man? It means a man, be he even as Og, king of Bashan (Sifrei Devarim 52:1; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 3:11).

לא יתיצב איש, not even outside the land of Israel.

לא יתיצב איש, within the regions just described.

לא יתיצב איש בפניכם, “no one will stand up against you;” neither in the land of Canaan, nor in the surrounding countries will you encounter serious opposition. As far as the opinion expressed by some scholars, that David’s conquest of Syria was in the category of a private conquest, not part of the commandment to conquer the land promised to the patriarchs, the reason is that the campaign had not first been approved by the urim vetumim in the breastplate of the High Priest, this was only because he had not yet conquered all the territory belonging to the seven Canaanite tribes. (Compare Gittin 47)

לא יתיצב איש בפניכם, פחדכם ומוראכם יתן ה' אלו-היכם על פני כל הארץ אשר בה כאשר דבר לכם, “no man will remain standing upright before you (on account of you); the Lord your G’d will give the fear of you and the terror of you all over the land on which you set foot, just as He has said.” This verse contains 72 letters corresponding to the 72 letters (number 72) in the tetragrammaton when spelled in a certain manner, adding the following letter to the original one. [י+יה+יהו+יהוה =72. Ed.]. This name is invoked by people familiar with Kabbalah when they want G’d to counteract fears experienced on journeys into uncharted territory. When Moses adds the words כאשר דבר לכם, “as He has said to you,” he refers to Exodus 23,27: “the fear of Me I shall send ahead of you.” This is also what Moses had prayed for at the end of the Shirah in Exodus 15,16: “may fear and terror fall upon them.” He wanted the attribute of Justice to be constantly poised against the enemies of the Israelites both then and in the future. This is also the method employed by G’d in His dealings with the righteous as we know from Psalms 91,11: “for He will order His angels to guard you wherever you go.” This is a reference to G’d’s “sword” which has 16 facets which are instructed to smite the adversaries. I have explained this matter in connection with Genesis 3,24. We have three veses in Scripture referring to this “sword of G’d” in Leviticus 26,25, Isaiah 27,1 and Genesis 3,24.
In our paragraph the Torah simply assures us that if we keep all the commandments He will deliver into our hands all the far more powerful nations surrounding us and that we would inherit their possessions. This is why the Torah also had to caution us not to be afraid of the pagans. Anyone who is afraid of someone made of flesh and blood is deficient in his trust in G’d’s promise. This is the reason why fear itself is one of the greatest obstacles our soul encounters in its effort to trust G’d absolutely. Such people may become the architects of their own misfortune although none had been decreed against them. People who are saved from all troubles are the ones who take to heart Deut. 20,5 and Psalms 40,8: “he puts his trust in the Lord.”

The Torah therefore teaches, “there will not stand up” — in any case, etc. I.e., if Scripture had written “איש לא יתיצב (A man will not stand up),” then we would understand it literally as, “a man.” Now that it is written לא יתיצב and afterwards איש, we interpret it as, “will not stand up — in any event.” And then it mentions, “a man,” to expound something different, as Rashi explains, “Even one like Og, king of Bashan.” Rashi explains this in Gittin (77a) regarding “ונתן בידה (and he puts into her hand),” and also in other places [such as] in Chulin (88b) (Mahari”tz). Furthermore since it is written here, “Fear of you and awe of you… upon the surface of the entire land,” which means that the entire world will be afraid of you. Therefore, it is obvious that “there will not stand up” means “in any case.” If so, what is the meaning of, “a man”? Even one like Og, king of Bashan (Re”m). Alternatively, Rashi is answering the question: Why is this matter repeated? For note that it says above (7:24), “no man will stand up to you, etc.” Rather it teaches us, “Even one like Og etc.

פחדם ומוראכם THE DREAD OF YOU AND THE FEAR OF YOU [THE LORD WILL PLACE UPON ALL THE LAND] — Is not, however, פחד the same as מורא? But פחדכם, “the dread of you”, refers to peoples near by, and מוראכם, “the fear of you” to those far away, for פחד denotes “sudden terror”, and מורא denotes apprehension enduring for many days (Sifrei Devarim 52:2; cf. Rashi on Sotah 20b and Niddah 71a; see also Rashi on Exodus 15:16 and Note p. 241 there).

Even one like Og, king of Bashan. In other words: The man whose being and strength is so amazing that he could stand up against all of you, as the Gemora (Brachos 54b) says that he uprooted a mountain, [even] he will not stand up against you.

כאשר דבר לכם AS HE HATH SAID TO YOU — And where did He say this? In Exodus 23:27: “I will send My terror before thee” (Sifrei Devarim 52:4).

“Awe” denotes long term dread. Although Rashi [already] explained that, “fear” refers to those who are nearby, etc, he is now explaining the difference why “fear” refers to those who are nearby and “awe” refers to those who are distant.