פירוש על דברים 1:8

ראה נתתי SEE, I HAVE GIVEN [THE LAND BEFORE THEE] — With your own eyes do you see this: I do not tell you this by conjecture or hearsay (Sifrei Devarim 7).

WHICH THE ETERNAL SWORE. The reason [for using the third person the Eternal swore rather than the first person “I swore” which would be more appropriate, since G-d is the speaker] is similar to that in the verse, And unto Moses He said, Come up to the Eternal,⁶⁹Exodus 24:1. [rather than “Come up unto Me”]. There I have explained it.⁷⁰See ibid., Vol. II, pp. 422-424.

נתתי לפניכם את הארץ , the inhabitants of that land whose courage had already melted and who would not offer much resistance.

ראה נתתי לפניכם את הארץ, "Behold, I have set the land before you;" The Torah switches from the singular ראה, to the plural לפניכם, "before you (pl), because when it comes to looking at the land they were all alike. However each individual Jew was different from his brethren in character, mentality, etc. Similarly, the nature of taking possession of the land and what it meant to each individual Israelite differed, so that the balance of the verse is in the plural.

לתת להם ולזרעם אחריהם, “to give to them and to their descendants after them.” Our sages in Yalkut Shimoni 801 understand these words to mean: “to the people who took part in the Exodus and to their descendants,” i.e. the ones who took part in the Exodus from Babylonia. The additional word אחריהם, “after them,” refers to the people alive at the time of the final redemption, the ingathering of the exiles from the present Diaspora. It appears that the reason the Midrash had to interpret the text in this way is the fact that the Torah spent 3 verses on the subject. Each verse adds a new dimension not stated previously. The next verse on the subject is Deut. 11,21; in verse 9 of the same chapter the Torah repeats this message but without the words: “as long as there is a heaven over earth.” This prompted our sages to understand Moses as referring to three separate inheritances.

No one will contest this matter, etc. Otherwise, how could he say to them “Come,” for the Land had not yet been conquered?!

V. 8. ראה נתתי לפניכם וגו׳ באו ורשו ohne Schwertstreich, אין אתם צריכין לכלי זין hätte Israel, wenn es dem Ideale seiner Bestimmung entsprochen hätte, das Land in Besitz nehmen sollen (ספרי; — siehe Schmot 23, 27 f.).

באו ורשו GO IN AND POSSESS [THE LAND] — There is no one who will contest the matter, and you will not need to wage war. Indeed, had they not sent the spies, but had trusted in God's promise, they would not have needed weapons of war (cf. Sifrei Devarim 7).

באו ורשו את הארץ, the various districts in which the people reside for they are afraid of you and will either flee or will die without your having to engage in battle.

באו ורשו את הארץ, "Enter and take possession of the land, etc." Why did the Torah have to repeat the words את הארץ, instead of merely saying אותה, "it?" The reason is that the land which had been mentioned previously was the land which used to belong to Sichon and Og which G'd had allocated to Reuven and Gad. Now that Moses gave instructions to take possession of the land he had to make plain that the land which G'd had sworn to the Patriarchs had not included the lands now inherited by Reuven and Gad. I have already explained this in connection with Numbers 32,7 and have proved the point from the Sifri there.

לאבתיכם [THE LAND WHICH THE LORD SWARE] UNTO YOUR FATHERS … [TO GIVE TO THEM] — Why does he further mention their names: to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob? But it is to suggest the following: The merit of Abraham would itself suffice, that of Isaac would itself suffice, that of Jacob would itself suffice, that I should give the land to you (cf. Sifrei Devarim 8:1; see also Rashi on Leviticus 26:42).