Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Ulangan 31:7

Listen, O heavens, and I will speak. We have already written above in the portion of Vayeilech (31:7) that Moses said to Joshua, For you will come with the people. The elders of the generation are with you, all according to their opinion and counsel. But the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Joshua, For you will bring, meaning against their will, etc. These statements do not contradict each other because Moses speaks regarding the lesser ones whom he called the people who rebel against all difficult matters and do not accept authority and discipline. Therefore, one needs to speak to them gently and softly according to their opinion and counsel. But the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks regarding the good ones among them, as is implied by the language, For you will bring the children of Israel, and He did not call them by the name “people” because He is speaking about the great ones of Israel who accept authority and discipline. Therefore, He said, For you will bring, against their will, and with them one speaks every harsh word. There we proved all this with clear evidence; see there.

Therefore it was said regarding Joshua (Deuteronomy 31:7), Before the eyes of all Israel, be strong and courageous, for you will bring this people to the land. Here too He begins with Israel and concludes with the people. For He said: Train yourself before the eyes of all Israel to be strong and courageous in the word of God, so that they will not come through you to a lack of faith. And if you say that Israel is not suspected by you of this, [God] said, For you will bring this people, as it includes among them also the mixed multitude who are called by the name “the people,” and they need strengthening even more. This matter will be further explained below in Parashat Vayelech, God willing. And this interpretation is more precious than all that the commentators have said about it, which your eyes will see in the book of Abarbanel.

GET THEE UP INTO THIS MOUNTAIN OF ABARIM. The name of this mountain was Mount Nebo, as is stated explicitly in the sections of Ha’azinu,¹⁶⁶Deuteronomy 32:49. and V’zoth Habrachah;¹⁶⁷Ibid., 34:1. but it is [here] called the mountain of Abarim [meaning “fords”] because it is situated by the fords of the Jordan, from which one passes over into the land of Canaan, as it says here, that is over against Jericho,¹⁶⁸Ibid., (32:49; 34:1). The word “here” in Ramban cannot be explained literally, since in this section here, the phrase over against Jericho is not found. It must therefore refer to the verse in Ha’azinu and V’zoth Habracha which Ramban has just referred to. and it was from there that they [actually] crossed over the Jordan, as it is said, And the people came up out of the Jordan … and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.¹⁶⁹Joshua 4:19. Now this [statement get thee up] is not a commandment which the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Moses to fulfill now, for if so he would have had to go up there at once [and we do not find that he did so], but it means: “you shall go up into the mountain of Abarim and shall behold the Land [but you shall not enter it].” For since He had commanded Moses, Unto these the Land shall be divided,¹⁷⁰Above, 26:53. He informed him that “it will not be divided by you, but you shall go up into the top of the mountain of Abarim before Israel journeys away from the land of Moab, and you will die therein, and all you will have of the Land will be the sight thereof.” Similarly [Verse 18 which says] Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, means that “when your time [to die] comes, you shall take Joshua,” [but is not a command to do so now]. And Scripture completed [this episode] by saying that Moses did so whole-heartedly,¹⁷¹Ibid., Verses 22-23. This refers to the fact that although Moses was only commanded (in Verse 18) to lay “his [single] hand upon him,” he laid his ‘hands’ upon him, which shows that he appointed his successor whole-heartedly, although he knew that he was now to die. and this is the [same] act which is mentioned at [the time of] Moses’ departure [from the world],¹⁷²Deuteronomy 31:7-8. when he and Hoshea the son of Nun spoke [the words of] the Song.¹⁷³Ibid., 32:44. Thus Scripture points out there that Moses and Joshua said the Song together, with equal enthusiasm and equally whole-heartedly.

For many days did Yehoshua. This verse was said to criticize Yehoshua, who intended to delay the conquest of the land, in order to lengthen his days, for it is said, “And you will apportion it to them.”⁶It took seven years for Yehoshua to conquer the whole land. Our Sages say that he could have conquered the land more quickly. It did not have to take seven years. Yehoshua was reluctant to complete the conquest of the land and divide it between the tribes. He was afraid that once he completed it, he would die. He knew his mission in life was to bring Bnei Yisroel into Eretz Yisroel and settle them there. Once his mission was completed, his life would have no further purpose. See Devorim 31:7 Because he was reluctant to complete the conquest, God punished him, and as soon as the apportioning of the land was completed he died. He was then one hundred and ten years old. Were it not for this, he would have lived ten more years, till one hundred and twenty as did his master, Moshe. From Midrash Tanchumah.