Commento su Deuteronomio 33:27

מענה אלהי קדם A DWELLING PLACE FOR THE ANCIENT GOD (This must be connected with the preceding): — The skies serve as a dwelling place for the ancient God, i.e. the God Who pre-existed (קדם) all gods, for He selected the skies as His residence and dwelling place, ומתחת AND BENEATH His dwelling place, all the mighty men (men of strong arm, זרוע) dwell.

אלוקי קדם, the true G’d ever since the beginning of all existence. Anything that is of more recent origin has been called into existence by this G’d.

מעונה אלוקי קדם, “that (the שחקים at the end of the last verse) is the abode of G’d since days immemorial.” Some commentators understand this phrase as meaning: “Your abode is that of the Immemorial G’d.”

The heavens are as the dwelling, etc. Since this verse is connected to the previous verse and means, In His pride He straddles the high heavens which are the dwelling of the eternal God. He is called the earliest God here to explain why he chose the high heavens as His dwelling place; because He preceded all the gods.

V. 27. מעונה (siehe Wajikra S. 421). Er, der von aller Urvergangenheit her Gott ist, trägt den verrinnenden Zeitmoment jeder Gegenwart, und er ist nicht nur ein Gott aus der Höhe, was מתחת aus der Tiefe herauf, זרעת עולם die "ewigen Arme" bildet, d. h. was von aller Vergangenheit her in alle Zukunft hin alles hienieden trägt, das ist Er. זרועות, nicht זרוע, die irdischen Dinge bedürfen der vielfältigsten Arme, die ihr Dasein tragen. Er, der somit der Gott aller Zeiten, aller Räume und aller Dinge in allen Zeiten und Räumen ist, Er hat in der Gegenwart das Land als den zu deiner Entwicklung bestimmten Raum dir angewiesen und darum die Entfernung der Bewohner aus dem Lande verhängt. השמד ist Infinitiv.

מעונה אלוקי קדם, “the ancient G–d is a source of refuge;” the heavens are G–d’s residence, He Who preceded everything and everyone else.

ומתחת זרועות עולם, “and underneath are the everlasting arms;” Asher is perceived riding on the globe which is seen as beneath the rider. The “arms” are seen as supporting the universe, carrying its weight. The One Who rules both the upper regions of the universe and its lower regions is seen as supporting Asher also.

זרעת עולם THE ARMS OF THE WORLD are men such as Sihon and Og and the kings of Canaan who were the strength and might of the world. Therefore, since they are beneath God’s dwelling place, in spite of themselves they must tremble and quake, and their power prove frail in His presence, for always the fear of the one above falls upon him below, so that He, being above, to Whom therefore belong strength and power, is thy help.

ומתחת זרועות עולם; beneath the heavens this G’d manifests Himself as the G’d of everlasting arms, (in the sense of extensions of His essence) mortal rulers whose power is of short duration, even the supposed basic elements, as well as what we call nature, the phenomena supplying nourishment for all he mortal forms of life on earth, including the ability to procreate.

Below His dwelling, [all the strong-armed reside]. Meaning that beneath Him all the strong-armed reside, such as Sichon and Og, etc. The verse says that they are beneath in order to describe their weakness. Even though they are the powerful ones of long ago, but because they dwell below, they quake before Him, because the exalted are always fearsome, etc. And because the Mighty One is your aid, He will banish all your enemies from your presence and say to you, Destroy them. (Re”m)

ומתחת זרועות עולם, “and underneath (as support) are the ever-lasting arms;” The G–d in heaven also supports the universe below that He has created. He is the ruler of both the “upper” regions and the “lower” regions in the universe.

ויגרש מפניך אויב, “He thrusts out the enemy from before you. They are specifically: Amalek, Sichon and Og.,ויאמר: השמד, and Who said: “destroy,” i.e. תמחה את זכר עמלק “wipe out the memory of Amalek” (Deut 25,19” (Deut 25) and לא תחיה כל נשמה “do not allow a single soul to survive” (in the land of Canaan).

ויגרש מפניך אויב AND HE DROVE OUT THE ENEMY FROM BEFORE YOU, ויאמר AND HE SAID to you השמד DESTROY them!

ויגרש מפניך אויב, He, this eternal G’d, expelled on your account the inhabitants that inhabited the land promised to your forefathers by Him. He had said to you: השמד!, “destroy!” For you certainly did not conquer this land by force of arms with your sword, so that you would be afraid of losing it after a time, when your strength would ebb, as does the strength of every conquering nation after a while. Seeing that it had not been you who had driven them out, you have no reason to fear a natural erosion of your power to hold on to this land. [Only the One Who has expelled them is in a position to expel you if you give Him reason to do so. Ed.]

And said to you, “Destroy!” them. Rashi adds the word to you after said to inform to whom this statement is said. He also adds the word them after the word destroy, to inform us that the word destroy refers to the enemy mentioned above, and it is as if it said, And said to you, ‘Destroy the enemy.’

ויגרש מפניך אויב, “He will expel every enemy from before you,”

מענה — Every word that requires ל at its beginning, [Scripture] places (may place) a ה at its end instead (Yevamot 13b).

ויאמר: השמד, “by simply ordering (His agent), in this case the Jewish people, by saying to them “destroy Amalek utterly,” as in Deuteronomy 25,19. The era when this order will be given a second time, [it had been given a first time to the first Jewish King Sha-ul, who had not completely carried it out, Ed.] will be only after the Jewish people are no longer under attack or even afraid of attack from the gentiles. One of the conditions for that time having arrived is spelled out by the prophet Bileam in Numbers 23,9 when he described the Jewish people as not feeling part of the “United Nations,” but as residing in solitary splendour, perfectly content in their role.