Commento su Deuteronomio 31:24

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN MOSES HAD FINISHED WRITING [THE WORDS OF THIS LAW]. The meaning thereof is that, at first, he wrote the Law and delivered it unto the priests as is stated above,⁵²Above, Verse 9. but he did not tell them where they were to put it. Afterwards he was commanded concerning this Song — he wrote it and taught it the children of Israel⁵³Verse 22. that same day, and thus added it to the Law. And it came to pass, when Moses had finished writing everything in the Book of the Law, then he commanded the priests, Take this Book of the Law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Eternal your G-d,⁵⁴Verse 26. meaning that it should remain in the ark at the side [of the Tablets], for henceforth they would not even touch it to add [thereto] or to diminish [from it]. This is the sense of the verse, And it came to pass, when Moses had finished writing [the words of this Law in a book] until they were completed. Therefore Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that [Seder] V’zoth Habrachah⁵⁵Further, Chapter 33. was [written] earlier, and its proper place is above as it is stated And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel.⁵⁶Above, Verse 1. Ibn Ezra holds that at the time when he informed them of his impending death, he also blessed them, as recorded in Seder V’zoth Habrachah.
It is possible that after he wrote the Song and taught it the children of Israel⁵³Verse 22. one by one according to their tribes as he had them brought before him to the House of Learning, he wrote it in the Book of the Law and commanded the priests Take this Book of the Law,⁵⁴Verse 26. meaning that the Song too, should remain in the ark with the Law, for it is part of the Law since it is there as a testimony. Then Moses told them to assemble before him again — all the elders of the tribes and the officers⁵⁷See further, Verse 28. — and that the people should join them, for so it is stated at the end, And Moses came and spoke all the words of this Song in the ears of the people.⁵⁸Further, 32:44. Now the priests did so and they assembled the entire people before him and he called heaven and earth to witness against them in assembly⁵⁹Thus in addition to teaching the Song to the individual tribes, he now taught it again in an assembly of the entire people. in the hearing of the priests and all the people. Then G-d, blessed be He, told him Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim.⁶⁰Ibid., Verse 49. This he was bound to do immediately, and so he stood up and blessed them: ‘V’zoth Habrachah’ (And this is the blessing).⁶¹Ibid., 33:1. He then wrote it at the end of the book which he gave to the priests. Then the priests did as he commanded them — they placed the complete book by the side of the ark of the covenant.⁶²In accordance with Ramban’s interpretation at the beginning of the verse that the Law was placed “in the ark at the side [of the Tablets]” the language here too must mean: “[inside] by the side of the ark of the covenant.” This is the opinion of Rabbi Meir (Baba Bathra 14a). Thus everything took place in the order stated in the Torah.⁶³See a similar approach of Ramban in Leviticus 8:2 (Vol. III, p. 91-93).
Ha’azinu

על ספר עד תומם, together with the portions Haazinu and Vezot ha’brachah.

ויהי ככלות משה לכתוב, “When Moses had finished writing, etc.;” according to Nachmanides, Moses first wrote a Torah scroll which he handed to the priests as mentioned earlier, (verse 9) at which time he had not yet told them where to deposit that scroll. Following that, he had been commanded to commit the “song” to parchment, and he wrote it down and taught it to the Children of Israel on that very same day. He then added that section to the Torah scroll he had written previously. Having completed this, he issued the order to the priests to deposit the whole Torah scroll inside the Holy Ark next two the two Tablets with the Ten Commandments. From that moment on, neither the Tablets nor that Torah scroll were touched again, so as to preserve the text inviolate, no one being able to claim that anything had either been added or erased. This is why Ibn Ezra says that the last portion in our scrolls of the Torah, the portion known as וזאת הברכה, must have been written before the song portion in האזינו, immediately after the verse in our portion in which Moses announces that G’d had told him that the period of his leadership of the people was drawing to an end. When he took his leave from the people he also blessed them after announcing that he was about to die. Alternatively, it is possible that he went around to the people after he had completed writing the song in haazinu and took that opportunity to familiarize the people with it, each tribe separately. In that event, this song too would have been placed inside the Holy Ark, next to the original Torah scroll and the two Tablets. The “song” would serve as the witness that Moses had spoken about in This would correspond to 32,44 where Moses is reported as reading out the song before the assembled people, flanked by Joshua. The priests had assembled the people for that purpose. Immediately after that ceremony G’d told Moses (32,49) to ascend Mount Nebo in preparation for his departure from this world. Moses immediately complied with that order and began to dispense his final blessings to the various tribes. Having done so, he also committed these blessings to writing as an appendix to the Torah that he had already given to the priests in order for them to deposit it as a complete book next to the Tablets in the Holy Ark. If this had indeed been the procedure, it would correspond to the order in which matters are recorded in our version of the Torah.

V. 24. עד תמם durch Hinzufügung auch der שירה