Kommentar zu Dewarim 32:42

אשכיר חצי מדם I WILL MAKE MY ARROWS DRUNK WITH BLOOD of the enemy,

פרעות, as in Leviticus 13,45 וראשו יהיה פרוע, “and the hair of his head shall grow wildly, untrimmed.” Basically, the word פרוע, describes something in disarray, undisciplined.

אשכיר חצי מדם וחרבי תאכל בשר , similar to Isaiah 66,16 כי באש ה' נשפט ובחרבו את כל בשר, “for the Lord will contend with fire, with His sword against all flesh.”

The enemy. The word “מדם” means the same as “מן דם האויב (with the blood of the enemy).” The [first] letter mem is not a [explaining the] reason, like the mem of “מדם חלל (for the blood of the slaughtered, etc.)” [in the next phrase of this verse]. The phrase “אשכיר (I shall make my arrows drunk” is similar to the phrase, “שכורת (drunk), but not from wine” (Yeshayah 51:21).

מראש פרעות אויב, “from the long-haired heads of the enemy;” The chiefs I have used to punish the enemy with.

אשכיר חצי מדם, “I will make My arrows drunk with blood.” Concerning this we read in Ezekiel 21,12: הנה באה ונהיתה נאם ה', “Behold!, it comes and has happened.” אשכיר חצי מדם, “how is it possible for arrows to become drunk with blood? The meaning is that G-d will make others drunk when they see what His arrows have accomplished. (Sifri)

וחרבי תאכל AND MY SWORD SHALL DEVOUR their FLESH.

מדם חלל ושביה, as in the same verse in Isaiah ורבו חללי ה' “many will be the ones slain by the Lord.”

This will befall them because of their guilt over the blood of the slaughtered [Israelites], etc. He explains that the first mem of the word מדם [explains] the reason. Re”m explains: This retribution that I spoke of, “I shall make My arrows drunk, etc. is because of the sin of the dead, not because of the Jews who were killed. And “from the blood of the slaughtered” means the opposite, as if it had said “from the corpses’ blood.” Because the sin which they committed was due to blood. When it writes above, “I will make My arrows drunk from their blood” it does not mean from the blood of the corpses, but it refers to the blood mentioned at the beginning of the verse. It is a metaphor. The drunkenness of His arrows is only from drinking so much blood of the enemies, as if the arrows that were shot at the enemy drinks so much of his blood that they become drunk.

וחרבי תאכל בשר, “and My sword shall devour flesh.” How is it possible for a sword to devour flesh? It means that G-d will arrange for others to be fed with meat as a result of what My sword has accomplished. This can be compared to what Ezekiel wrote in Ezekiel 39,17: בן אדם אמור לצפור כל כנף ולכל חית השדה האספו מסביב על זבחי, “Now you, Ben Adam, says My Lord, Hashem, say to every winged bird and to the beasts in the field: ‘gather around Me, and take part in My feast,’ etc.” Our author quotes several more verses from Scripture containing a similar message; (Ezekiel 39,18, 39,19, including the use of the word “becoming drunk.”) This is the interpretation given by Sifri.

מדם חלל ושביה FROM THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN AND THE CAPTIVE i.e., this will happen to them because of the sin of those slain in Israel (i.e., on account of their blood; מדם), and because of the captives they have made amongst them,

For the iniquity of the original devastation by the enemy, etc. Because it is connected with “from the blood of the slaughtered, and the captives,” which means, the sin of corpses and the sin of captives. If so, Rashi also needs to explain “for the original savagery of the enemy” as “from the sin of the head of the wildest enemy.” The word פרעות means “savagery.” And because the beginning of their savagery was against Yisroel, from the time of the ancestors of these, we learn from here that “when Hashem punishes the nations he invokes against them, etc.” And because it is not clear that the beginning of the enemy’s savagery was against Yisroel, Rashi had to repeat and explain from the original devastation which they perpetrated against Yisroel. (Re”m)

מדם חלל ושביה, “from the blood of the slain and the captives (wounded?)” from what My arrows have done to the slain and the wounded of My people

מראש פרעות אויב — because of the sin of even the very first (ראש) breach (פרעות) made by the enemy (פרצות = פרעות); because when the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts punishment from the heathen nations for the wrongs they have inflicted upon Israel, He visits on them their own sin and the sins of their ancestors, from the very first breach they have made in Israel (Sifrei Devarim 332:5).

מראש פרעות אויב, “from the longhaired head of the enemy.” This verse has been truncated; it should read: מפרעות ראש אויב, “from the long haired enemy chiefs.”

Rabbi Nechemyah interprets the whole sequence commencing with verse 27:

27.דינו רמה וגו' פן יאמרו, completely differently, understanding it as being addressed to the nations of the world.

28. כי גוי אובד עצות המה, “for any of the gentile nations are each a nation completely deprived of counsel, seeing that they do not even observe the seven basic laws given by the Lord to all of mankind, and they do not practice them.

29. לו חכמו, “had they possessed any wisdom;” if they had possessed any wisdom they would have understood that if one man could have put a thousand of the enemy to flight, this could never have been possible by natural means, but only because this one man had been supported by a superior heavenly force, i.e. the G-d Who had taken the Jewish people out of Egypt. Similarly, if now one of their enemies could frighten a thousand of them, this could also only have been possible because their G-d had abandoned them at that point.

יבינו לאחריתם, they would have realised that something similar or worse would happen to them for having enslaved the Jewish people, G-d’s people, as we know from verse 35 וחש עתידות למו, “this will come to pass speedily.”

30. אם לא כי צורם מכרם, “unless their Rock had sold them.” This is the only reason why a single gentile had been able to put a thousand of them to flight. All of this the gentile nations should have understood.

31. כי לא כצורנו צורם, “for their Rock is not like our rock, i.e. weak.” This is also why our enemies the Jewish people, in the past had been able to lord it over us.

32. כי מגפן סדום גפנם, “why did their Rock sell them? Because they acted as if their origin had been the vines of Sodom, and because they behaved at if they had been planted in Amorah. We have proof of this from the writings of Isaiah 3,9: “they avow their sins like Sodom and they do not conceal them.” None of them are good, they have all become confirmed sinners, but for the longest time due to their G-d’s patience he had not demanded an accounting from them.

34. הלא הוא כמוס עמדי, “what the gentile nations have been saying about them, i.e. that they originated in Sodom and Amorah, is quite untrue; in fact I, the Lord have planted them as a noble plant.” (Jeremiah 2,21)

35. לי נקם ושלם, “vengeance is Mine and the right to pay back the gentile nations;”לעת תמוט רגלם, “at the time when their feet shall slip.” (that of the gentile nations) כי קרוב ים אידם, “for the day of their calamity is near.”

36. כי ידין, “for He will judge (those nations);” כי יראה, “when He sees;” Why will He choose that time to exact vengeance? because these nations had taken advantage of the Jewish people when these had been at a point in their fortunes.

37. The gentile nations had called out with glee: “where is their famous G-d now?”

38. אשר חלב זבחימו יאכלו, “the G-d of Israel will consume the fate of its offerings;” יקומו ויעזרכם, “may they (these deities) arise and help you.” Seeing that the gentiles have blasphemed in such a manner the G-d of Israel will duly punish them.

39. ראו עתה כי אני הוא, the reader is referred to the author’s commentary on this verse on page 12-13.

ואין מידי מציל, “and no one can save them from My hand.” This is G-d’s reply to the sarcastic words of the gentiles in verse 38.