Pensée juive sur Le Deutéronome 3:29

And Moses further intimated this to Israel in this parshah, saying (Deuteronomy 3:29): "And we sat in the valley, opposite Beth Peor," which our sages of blessed memory expounded (Sifrei, Deuteronomy 29): "He said to them: 'See the difference between me and yourselves. How many prayers, petitions, and supplications did I intone, and yet the decree stood fast that I not enter the land, whereas you angered Him in the desert forty years, as it is written (Psalms 95:10): "Forty years was I angry with this generation," and, what is more, the greatest among you bowed down to Peor, and now, Israel, you are new! The past has been forgiven!'" It is therein made clear that Moses' saying "And we sat in the valley…" is not by way of rebuke, to reprove them for the episode of Peor (for this is not the nature of this parshah, as I have written, the element of rebuke appearing before, in the parshah "And these are the words," viz. [Deuteronomy 1:1]: "…in the desert, in the wasteland"); but, to the contrary, it is stated here to reveal to them their greatness, that though their leaders committed a grave sin, they are still more beloved by the L-rd than he is. And the reason for this is that the congregation, by virtue of its plurality, attains an eminence which is greater than the sum of its parts, as nature itself demonstrates.

Furthermore, in my view, his saying "at that time" serves the purpose of apprising us that even after the Jews had sinned in the affair of Peor, the Blessed One was jealous for their honor and did not want to forgive Moses "for their sake." If "at that time" had not been stated, we would get the impression that he implored the L-rd at the time of his sin, before the Peor affair, in which case the Blessed One's concern for their honor would be no great cause for wonder. But "at that time," after they had stumbled into idolatry — with all this, His love did not depart from them. This shows that he related to them as a father to his son, who though he [the son] rebel grievously, he will not cast him from his presence. This is the intent of the concluding statement (Deuteronomy 3:29): "and we sat in the valley opposite Beth Peor." Why is this mentioned here? Only to stress what was stated before, viz.: G-d's becoming angry with me was for your sake and for your honor, after we had sat in the valley opposite Beth Peor and there had transpired what had transpired there (Perish the mention!). And this is the intent of our sages of blessed memory in the afore-mentioned homily (Sifrei, Deuteronomy 29). And it is in this vein that the verse continues (Deuteronomy 4:1): "And now, O Israel, hear the statutes and the judgments…" That is, since you are so greatly beloved by Him it well befits you to hear His statutes and His judgments."