Commentary for Deuteronomy 10:14

הן לה׳ אלהיך BEHOLD, UNTO THE LORD THY GOD BELONGS the whole Universe (“the heavens … and the earth and all that therein is”), and yet רק באבתיך חשק ה׳ ONLY IN THY FATHERS DID THE LORD TAKE PLEASURE.

Only your forefathers. The word “only” is to exclude the heavens and the heavenly heavens. Out of all of those, Hashem only desired your forefathers. This is in accordance with the opinion of the kabbalists, who said that the righteous are greater than the acts of heaven and earth. All agree that everything else was only created for the sake of mankind.

הן לה' אלוקיך השמים...והארץ, the fact that He owns the entire universe is convincing proof that whatever He asks of you is only for your own good, not for His, seeing that He has everything. The phenomena in the heavens and on earth are indestructible, permanent, and if you observed that at times they performed out of character to their nature, this was only because I, G’d, made them perform so in your interest. However, G’d was fond of your forefathers