Kommentar zu Dewarim 29:10

מחטב עציך FROM THE WOODCUTTER [UNTO THE DRAWER OF THE WATER] — This teaches that some of the Canaanites came in Moses' days to become proselytes just as the Gibeonites came in the days of Joshua, — and this is the meaning of what is stated of the Gibeonites, (Joshua 9:4) “And they also acted cunningly”; — and Moses made them woodcutters and drawers of water (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Nitzavim 2).

טפכם נשיכם, people who normally require the consent of their husbands or fathers to do what they do.

This teaches that Canaanites came to convert during the days of Moshe, etc. It does not mean to say that they deceived Moshe as they [later] deceived Yehoshua, for God forbid that they deceived the one [i.e., Moshe] of whom it says In My entire house he is trusted (Bamidbar 12:7). Rather, they came to him to make peace with him, but he did not receive them [by making a covenant with them], rather he assigned them to serve as wood cutters and water drawers. And the explanation of they too, etc, is that they came, but not that they were able to deceive him.

מחוטב עציך, “from the hewers of your wood for kindling,” i.e. male slaves;

מחוטב עציך, “including the hewers of wood, i.e. male servants;”

מחוטב עציך עד שואב מימיך, from the leader of the wood choppers to the most lowly of the water carriers. The construction here parallels comparisons as מעולל ועד יונק, “infants as well as sucklings,” (Samuel I 15,3) i.e. the highest ranking within its category to the lowliest ranking. Similar expressions are used when the Torah speaks of משור ועד שה, oxen as well as lambs, meaning the most expensive animals of your livestock to the least expensive. Similarly,מגמל ועד חמור, “from the camels down to the donkeys.”

עד שואב מימיך, “to the ones drawing your water, i.e. the female slaves.” This is what is meant in Job 3,19: קטון וגדול שם הוא ועבד חפשי מאדוניו, “small and great alike are there, both slaves and free men.” The word קטון, there refers to David, whereas the word גדול there refers to Moses. (Compare these attributes being used for David in Samuel 1 17,14, and for Moses in Exodus 11,3.) An alternate interpretation for the line: ועבד חפשי מאדוניו, “the slave who is free from his master;” this line refers to Israel. As long as one is alive one is free to carry out the will of one’s Creator, but once dead it is too late to do so, i.e. one is free from the obligation to perform G–d’s commandments. (Talmud tractate Shabbat folio 30) Still another interpretation “You are all standing here alive,” in spite of all the curses that have befallen your enemies, you have been spared. Both the gentiles have been in the habit of erecting monuments of stone to serve them as deities, but you, i.e. Joshua and Samuel who have both been reported as erecting stone monuments –upon which the text of the Torah has been inscribed-have been successful in that endeavour. It is not the “monument,” that G–d hates but the use it has been put to by the gentiles. (Compare Samuel I 12,7) Still another explanation of this assembly by Moses: This is the last time that all the people could be assembled in one place. Once they would cross the Jordan be dispersed each to his tribe’s ancestral land plot, it would be impossible to address them all at the same time.

עד שואב מימיך, “including the drawers of your water, i.e. female servants.”