Comentario citado sobre Números 26:56

This book is called Mishneh Torah. And at the beginning to tractate Gittin, Tosafos writes that Mishneh Torah denotes that [this Book] “only recapitulates and repeats what was stated previously [in the other four Books].” ¹Gittin 2a; Tosafos, s.v. Ha’meivi Get. Thus Mishneh Torah is to be translated as “Repetition of the Torah.” The Ramban of blessed memory is so convinced of this understanding [of Mishneh Torah] that when he addresses the mitzvos listed in the parashios of Shoftim²`For example, in Deut. 16:18, “You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself in all your cities” is explanatory of the implied directive of requiring judges as stated in Ex. 22:8, “The word of both parties shall come before the judges” and Ibid. 21:22, “he shall pay as the judges determine.” An additional example is Deut. 19:14, “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark,” which he considers to be part of [i.e. explanatory] of Num. 26:56, “According to the lot shall one’s inheritance be divided between the numerous and the few.” and [Ki] Seitzei,³An additional example to what is cited immediately below is that Deut. 22:8, “you shall make a guard rail for your roof” is deemed explanatory of Lev. 19:16, “You shall not stand idly by [the shedding of] your fellow's blood.” he explains some of them as being part and parcel of mitzvos written earlier. [And he applies this understanding] to the extreme by considering the mitzvah of shi’luach ha’kein (sending away the mother bird),⁴See Deut.: 22:6-7, “If a bird's nest chances before you on the road, on any tree, or on the ground, and [it contains] fledglings or eggs, if the mother is sitting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother upon the young. You shall send away the mother, and [then] you may take the young for yourself, in order that it should be good for you, and you should lengthen your days.” to be part of the mitzvah of oso v’es b’no, (the prohibition of slaughtering the mother and her calf in the same day).⁵Lev. 22:28 states, “An ox or sheep you shall not slaughter it and its offspring in one day.” The Ramban on Deut. 22:6 writes, “[The sending away of the mother bird] is also an explanatory commandment of oso v’es b’no because the reason for both [commandments] is that we should not have a cruel heart and be discompassionate, or it may be that Scripture does not permit us to destroy a species altogether, although it permits slaughter [for food] within that group. Now, he who kills the mother animal and the young in one day or takes them when they are free to fly [is regarded] as though he cut off that species.” And in my opinion, this is astonishing, for these two mitzvos are entirely different. Moreover, we also find a duplication of the mitzvos in the Book of Exodus: In the parasha of Ki Sissa beginning with the verse, “Beware of what I command you today,” ⁶Ex. 34: 11. until “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk,”⁷Ibid. Verse 26. The following directives and mitzvos listed in these verses are also found in the Torah reading of Mishpatim: Not to make a covenant with the seven nations that are to be driven from the Land of Israel; to destroy their altars and places of worship; not to make idols nor to worship them; to work for six days and rest on the Sabbath; the celebration of the three festivals; the redeeming of the first sons; the redeeming of the firstborn of kosher animals and of the donkey; appearing three times a year at the Temple (including how God will protect their land when it is abandoned, in order to appear in the Temple three times a year); not to offer the Passover sacrifice while possessing leaven, and not to cook a kid in its mother’s milk. it is a repetition of what was already written in the parasha of Mishpatim.⁸See Ibid. 23:12-33. We explained there with God’s assistance how none [of those words] are superfluous – Heaven forbid [that one should say so].⁹According to the Ramban, following the sin of the Golden Calf, Israel is warned of the importance of fulfilling the commandments to safeguard their spiritual greatness; and to achieve this end, these prohibitions and commandments were repeated in particular. To quote the Ramban to Ibid. 34:14: “Observe the commandments which I command you today, and do not treat them as you have treated those which I commanded you at first, when you violated everything by worshiping the idols.” Thus, due to the significance of certain events (i.e. the making of the Golden Calf and the impending possession of the Land of Israel), mitzvos of particular importance may be repeated in the Torah to communicate a special exhortation and message. The Netziv strongly disagrees with this approach and argues that the primary purpose of the repetition of any mitzvah is to provide an additional halachic insight. And accordingly in the Book of Devarim one does not find that many duplicated mitzvos and whatever [seem to be] repeated are not considered – Heaven forbid – to be superfluous.

THOU SHALT NOT REMOVE THY NEIGHBOR’S LANDMARK. This is a warning against changing the boundaries of the division by which the princes apportioned the Land to the tribes²⁷⁵Numbers 34:16-29. or to any individual among them. Therefore he stated, which they of old time have set,²⁷⁶In Verse 14 before us. these being Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the princes of the tribes,²⁷⁵Numbers 34:16-29. and therefore he mentioned in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit etc.²⁷⁶In Verse 14 before us. And the reason for this commandment is that no one should contemplate to say, “My portion which they gave me is not as valuable as the portion of my friend, because the dividers erred,” or he may feel suspicious of the lots, thus he will not consider it [his removal of the boundary marker] to be robbery at all. Therefore he commanded here that no one should controvert that division, and he may not make any change in the boundaries, either secretly or openly. Now this is an explanatory commandment, deriving from what He commanded, According to the lot shall their inheritance be divided between the more and the fewer,²⁷⁷Numbers 26:56. and He further stated, These are the names of the men that shall take possession of the Land for you.²⁷⁸Ibid., 34:17. And in the opinion of our Rabbis²⁷⁹Sifre, Shoftim 188. that this verse is an admonition, teaching us that one who encroaches on his neighbor’s land in the Land of Israel transgresses two commandments,²⁸⁰I.e., Nor shalt thou rob him (Leviticus 19:13), and the verse before us. Outside the Land of Israel he transgresses only the commandment against committing robbery. See “The Commandments,” Vol. II, pp. 234-235. the meaning of the expression which they of old time have set means that one is not to secretly change an old boundary and say “It was always here.” Scripture admonishes [concerning an old boundary] because it speaks of what usually happens, for a new boundary is recognized and known and no one changes it. Our Rabbis themselves have mentioned [the first interpretation, for thus they said in the Sifre]:²⁷⁹Sifre, Shoftim 188. “Whence do we know that one who uproots the boundaries of the tribes transgresses a negative commandment? Because Scripture states, Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s landmark, [which they of old time have set].” This is truly the plain meaning of Scripture.