시편 116:9의 인용 해설

He asked You for life As I fled outside the Holy Land from before Saul, I would pray, “May I walk before the Lord in the lands of the living” (below 116:9).

אשר בעבו הירדן, "which is on the far side of the Jordan, etc." Although at first glance these words appear totally superfluous, Moses had to spell this out as there is a good land in the celestial regions known as the "good land," a land which David referred to in Psalms 116,9 as "the land of life" when he asked G'd to let him walk therein. Moses also had to spell out the words: "this good mountain, the Lebanon" in accordance with what we learned in Sotah 14 where the Talmud says that Moses referred to his desire to perform the commandments which can be performed only inside the boundaries of ארץ ישראל. This is why he enumerated the various locations where it would be possible for him to perform these various commandments he had in mind.

כי מנגד תראה את הארץ, “for you shall see the land from a distance.” G’d did not describe the land as “the land of Canaan,” as He had done earlier in verse 49. The reason is that the expression את הארץ includes both the land of Israel and the regions beyond death to which Moses would presently be transferred. Both the terrestrial Jerusalem and the celestial Jerusalem are included in the words את הארץ. Not only this, but the very word תראה includes both seeing with the physical eye and seeing with the mental eye. G’d enabled Moses to see the whole land with his mental eye, i.e. to appreciate fully what he saw with his physical eyes. The word כנגד may mean that Moses would see the land he saw was “in contrast to” the land of Canaan. This is the reason G’d had to elaborate once more by saying: “which I will give to the Children of Israel.” It was not enough for G’d to say: “but you shall not enter there.” G’d wanted to make plain that the only land Moses would not enter was the terrestrial ארץ ישראל; he would certainly enter the ארץ החיים.
In Parshat Pinchas there is also mention of two distinct visions; when G’d says in Numbers 27,12: “and see the land which I will give to the Children of Israel.” In verse 13, immediately afterwards, G’d adds: “you will see it and be gathered in to your people.” The second vision refers to the celestial counterpart of the land of Israel. I explained all this in that context. This land is one allocated to the righteous. It is the land to which David aspired when he said (Psalms 116,9) אתהלך לפני ה' בארצות החיים, “let me walk in the presence of the Lord in the lands of THE life.” King Chizkiyah also referred to this land when he said in Isaiah 38,11: “I had said that I would not see G’d, G’d in the land of the living.”