Kommentar zu Dewarim 31:23

ויצו את יהושע בן נון AND HE COMMANDED JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN — This has to be connected with v. 14 above, and it refers to the Shechinah (to God; “He commanded” means “God commanded”), as it distinctly states here “[for thou shalt bring the children of Israel] into the land which “I” swore unto them, [and “I” will be with thee]”.

AND HE COMMANDED JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN. “This [pronoun ‘He’] refers to the Divine Presence [mentioned] above⁴⁵I.e., Verse 14: And the Eternal said unto Moses … as it is explained [here], into the Land which I swore unto them; and I will be with thee.” This is Rashi’s language. He has explained it well. And in the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra:⁴⁶Found in Ibn Ezra on Verse 15. “And he commanded Joshua — that is, Moses [commanded] by order of G-d, and therefore he said, into the Land which I swore unto them.” Similarly we find that Moses said, And I will give the rain of your Land in its season.⁴⁷Above, 11:14. So also, And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle.⁴⁸Ibid., Verse 15. Likewise, that ye might know that I am the Eternal your G-d.⁴⁹Above, 29:5. And so also, The Eternal will send upon thee the scantiness etc. because of the evil doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me.⁵⁰Above, 28:20. I have already discussed this.⁵¹See above, 5:12.

ויצו את יהושע, at that time G’d appointed Joshua to be the leader. The expression ויצו used here has been used elsewhere to describe someone’s appointment, such as in Samuel I 25,30 וצוך לנגיד, “He appointed you as leader,” or Samuel II 7,11 צויתי שופטים, “I appointed judges.” There are more such examples in Scripture.

This reverts to the text above, etc. That is, it refers back to above (v. 16), Hashem said to Moshe, ‘You are about to die, etc.' and after He concluded His words with Moshe, He commanded Yehoshua. But it is not connected to [v. 22] Moshe wrote, etc. for if so, that Moshe is the one commanding, it should have said That He swore to them and not That I swore to them. But Rashi was unable to prove this from the words, And I shall be with you which should have been written as And He shall be with you if Moshe was the one giving the commandment, because one could explain that I will be with you means my merit will be with you. Therefore Rashi was forced to prove this point from [the verse] that I swore. But were it not written, that I swore, we would have explained that [the words] For you will bring refers to Moshe, that Moshe is commanding Yehoshua. And the reason that he said above [v. 7] That you will enter, etc. is merely as advice. Therefore Rashi proves that it refers to the Divine Presence from the word That I swore.

V. 23. ויצו וגו׳. Alles vorstehend in Josuas Beisein an Mosche und durch Mosche Vollzogene begründete Josuas Einsetzung und folgte darauf dessen direkte Verpflichtung durch Gott.כי אתה תביא את העם. Mosche hatte, wie Sanhedrin 8 a bemerkt wird, in seiner Anrede an Josua V. 7, כי אתה תבוא את העם gesagt, und hatte damit Josua sich nur in Gemeinsamkeit mit dem Volke und dessen Ältesten denken lassen, אתה והזקנים שבדור; Gottes Anrede betonte aber den Grundsatz, dass die Oberleitung jeder Zeit nur einer haben könne, דַבָר אחד לדור ואין שני דברין לדור, daher: אתה תביא וגו׳.

ויצו את יהושע, “He commanded Joshua;” The Lord commanded him (not Moses) These words refer to verse 14 in our chapter.

אתה תביא כי, “for you are going to bring;” seeing that the people were not present at the time when G-d said these words to Joshua, G-d did not have to pay them a special compliment, as Moses had done in verse 7.