Commentaire sur Le Deutéronome 9:2

עם גדול ורם בני ענקים, "a people great and tall the sons of giants." If the Israelites were aware of the nature of these people as is evident from the words אשר ידעת, "whom you know," what was the point in Moses mentioning their attributes? Why did he say twice אתה…ואתה? It would have sufficed to write אתה ידעת ושמעת. The answer is that Moses addressed two groups of people. The first and numerically by far the largest group were the עם בני ישראל. The second group who comprised only Joshua and Caleb were the spiritual elite of the people, especially Joshua who was to be the leader of the people, ready to rule over them. Moses began to address the elite, especially Joshua saying to him: אתה ידעת", "you know (from personal experience)," as he had specific knowledge of the people of Canaan having spied out the land some 38 years earlier. As to the multitude of Israelites, Moses said ואתה שמעת "and you have heard about it."

V. 2. עם גדול ורם. Es ist zweifelhaft, ob גדול sich auf die körperliche Größe oder auf die Größe der Volkszahl bezieht. Neben רם scheint es das letzte zu sein (siehe Bamidbar 13, 22). Es scheint die ganze kanaanitische Bevölkerung Nachkommen der Anaker gewesen zu sein, und würde dies die letzte Bedeutung rechtfertigen. So auch Amos 2, 9 von der ganzen kanaanitischen Bevölkerung: ואנכי השמדתי את האמרי מפניהם ׳אשר כגבה ארזים גבהו וגו.