Midrash su Deuteronomio 8:1

(Deut. 29:9 [10]:) YOU ARE STANDING TODAY, ALL OF YOU <BEFORE THE LORD>…. This text is related (to Prov. 12:7): THE WICKED ARE OVERTURNED (rt.: HPK) AND ARE NO MORE, BUT THE HOUSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL STAND. {….} Every time that the Holy One looks at the works of the wicked and turns (rt.: HPK) against them, there is no recovery for them.¹Tanh., Deut. 8:1. He overturned the works of the generation of the flood, and there was no recovery for them. What is written concerning them (in Gen. 7:23)? AND HE WIPED OUT ALL LIVING THINGS. He overturned the works of the Sodomites, and there was no recovery for them, as stated (in Gen. 19:25): AND HE OVERTURNED THOSE CITIES. He overturned the works of the Egyptians, and there was no recovery for them, as stated (in Exod. 14:28): AND NOT SO MUCH AS ONE OF THEM REMAINED. He overturned the works of Babylon, and there was no recovery for them, as stated (in Is. 14:22): AND FROM BABYLON I WILL CUT OFF NAME, REMNANT, OFFSPRING, AND POSTERITY…. Moreover, David has said about all of them (in Ps. 36:13 [12]): THERE THE EVILDOERS HAVE FALLEN; THEY ARE THRUST DOWN AND CANNOT RISE. When Israel falls, however, it stands up <again>, as stated (in Micah 7:8): REJOICE NOT OVER ME, O MY ENEMY; WHEN I FALL, I SHALL ARISE…. It also says (in Mal. 3:6): FOR I THE LORD DO NOT CHANGE; AND YOU, O CHILDREN OF JACOB, ARE NOT DESTROYED (rt.: KLH). R. Hanina bar Pappa said: The Holy One said: I have never smitten a people and restored them, but you children of Jacob are not destroyed, as stated (in Deut. 32:23): I WILL USE UP (rt.: KLH) MY ARROWS ON THEM. My arrows are used up (rt.: KLH) but they are not destroyed (rt.: KLH). And so has the assembly of Israel said (in Lam. 3:12): HE HAS BENT HIS BOW; HE HAS SET ME AS A TARGET FOR THE ARROW. To what is the matter comparable? To a warrior who raises up the <target> post and shoots the arrows at them (sic). The arrows are used up (rt.: KLH), but the post stands. So it is also with Israel. Every time that afflictions came upon them, the afflictions ended, and they were standing in their place. Ergo it is stated (in Prov. 12:7): THE WICKED ARE OVERTURNED AND ARE NO MORE. [….]

[(Deut. 29:9 [10]:) YOU ARE STANDING TODAY.] Hezekiah the son of R. Hiyya said: Why is this parashah next to the parashah on curses (i.e., Deut. 27:11–28:69 [29:1]).²Tanh., Deut. 8:1, cont.; Rashi on Deut. 29:12. Because Israel heard a hundred curses less two in this parashah, apart from the forty-nine which are uttered in the Priestly Torah (i.e., in Leviticus). They immediately turned green in the face and said: Who can withstand these <curses>? Moses called them immediately (in Deut. 29:1 [2]) and pacified them with words (i.e., with Deut. 29:9 [10].)

All of the commandment that I command you today (Deuteronomy 8:1): This is what the verse stated (Proverbs 7:2), "Keep My commandments and live," since David said (Psalms 17:8), "Guard me like the apple of Your eye." Rabbi Yehudah of Sakhnin said, "There is [no piece of land fitting to plant] a fourth of a kav, which does not include nine kav of bad spirits." And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "And they all have a veil over their faces." How is [it possible for people to avoid injury from them]? A man walks and [an angel] goes out in front of him and says, "Move to the sides before the likeness of the Holy One, blessed be He," as it is stated (Psalms 39:7), "Man walks in an image."