פירוש על דברים 23:9

בנים אשר יולדו להם דור שלישי וגומר THE CHILDREN THAT ARE BORN UNTO THEM [MAY COME INTO THE ASSEMBLY] IN THEIR THIRD GENERATION — other nations, however, since they did not sin against you may be admitted at once if they acknowledge the tenets of Judaim. — Thus you learn that he who causes a man to sin does him greater harm than if he kills him, for he who kills him, kills him only as regards this world, while he who causes him to sin puts him out of this world and the world to come. Therefore Edom, though he met them with the sword was not to be abhorred utterly, and similarly the Egyptians who drowned them (their male children), while those (the Ammonites and Moabites) who caused them to sin were to be utterly abhorred (Sifrei Devarim 252:3).

The other nations, however, are permitted immediately. I.e., do not ask what punishment is it to delay them until the third generation? The same law applies to other nations as well! Therefore Rashi explains, “The other nations, etc.”

דור שלישי, “the third generation;” at that point the relationship to the original Egyptians, (also generally speaking) is no longer considered as meaningful in the character development of the greatgrandson. We know this from Exodus 10,2 where the Torah commands us to familiarise our children and grandchildren with what happened to us in Egypt.[Does Torah does not expect the third generation to relate to matters so long in the past, long before they were born, seriously? If so why were we commanded throughout our history never to forget what Amalek did to our forefathers 100 generations ago? Ed.]. The prophet extends this by one more generation (Yoel 1,3.)

Someone who incites a man to sin is worse than someone who murders him, etc. You might ask: Why are they not totally despised? If Amon and Moav who did nothing except to incite Israel to sin, and they were totally despised, why then were Edom and Egypt who wanted to kill them not totally despised? You cannot answer because [Amon and Moav] “did not greet you, etc.” (v. 5), since it is obvious that Edom too did not greet you, for otherwise, why does the verse say you should not despise Edom “for he is your brother,” and also not say the reason is because he met you, etc.? This indicates that this is not the main reason! You also cannot say the difference is that Moav hired Bilam to curse them while Edom did not hire Bilam, because perhaps Edom failed to hire Bilam only because Edom was not aware that whomever Bilam cursed was cursed, whereas Balak knew this from the war against Sichon, as Rashi explains above (Bamidbar 22:6). Thus there is no reason to show gratitude to Edom because of this. On the contrary, we should despise them more because they wanted to kill them by the sword. And if because he is your brother, Amon and Moav are also related to us, as Avraham said to Lot (Bereishis 13:8), “For we are kinsmen.” Rashi answers, “Thus we learn, etc.”