Commentary for Deuteronomy 18:16

TO ALL THAT THOU DIDST DESIRE etc. Scripture here did not mention the full request that the people had made [at Sinai], since by their saying Let me not hear again the voice of the Eternal²⁰⁷In Verse 16 before us. — they would not have merited [the granting of] prophets. But when they said [to Moses], Go thou near, and hear all that the Eternal our G-d may say; and thou shalt speak unto us all that the Eternal our G-d may speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it²⁰⁸Above, 5:24. — then they undertook upon themselves to believe in His prophets and to hear and to do whatever G-d would command through them. Therefore he said here, A prophet will the Eternal thy G-d raise up unto thee, of thy brethren, like unto me,²⁰⁹Verse 15. and you will believe in him just as you believe in me, for you requested that G-d’s words with you should be through me and that you would hearken to me. If so, believe in the rest of the prophets who come after me, as well, for I and they are identical. This is the sense of [the words of G-d to Moses], “They have well said all that they have spoken²¹⁰Above, 5:25. — to believe in My prophets, and so will I do for them throughout their generations.” It is possible that their request [at Sinai] was for future generations and their stated consent to hear from Moses — in saying, and thou shalt speak unto us … and we will hear it, and do it²⁰⁸Above, 5:24. — was also for everlasting generations, and the meaning of the word ‘v’ath’ (and thou) is “you and every prohpet of G-d like you,” as I have explained it there.²⁰⁸Above, 5:24.

ככל אשר שאלת, "in accordance with all that you requested, etc." Moses may be telling the people that it is their own fault that not all of them have been elevated to the level of prophecy. At the time they asked G'd to make Moses their intermediary, i.e. their prophet, they had declined being prophets themselves. It was all because they had been afraid of the fact that prophecy brings in its wake a certain amount of fear and emotional pain. This is why they now need an outsider to tell them what they want to know about the future. This is the principal reason the Torah includes the reference to the revelation at Mount Sinai at this juncture.

ככל אשר שאלת, “according to all that you have asked for.” Nachmanides writes that at this point Moses did not spell out in detail what it was that the Israelites had asked for. It could not refer to their request not to have to listen to the overwhelming voice of Hashem at the revelation, as no new prophet had been endowed by Hashem in response to that request. Only when the Torah reports later that the people spoke to Moses and authorised him to be their intermediary between them and Hashem, and they include a promise to carry out what Moses would tell them, did they express the wish that Moses here refers to as ככל אשר שאלת “in accordance with all that you asked for.” (Compare Deut. 5,24)