신명기 28:9의 인용 해설

This is the statute of the Torah. Rashi’s explanation is that a statute connotes commandments for which one does not need to know the reason for doing them. In these cases the commandment depends on doing and not on study. The language of ‘statute’ is not appropriate in conjunction with Torah, though, because study is a part of the Torah. Here, however, Moshe was told that even concerning Torah there would be a statute — the statute of the Torah — and he should not question the Torah of the red heifer. Regarding the instructions about the vessels taken in the war on Midyan it also says, “the statute of the Torah,” because there was no need to provide a reason in that situation. Furthermore, in that case it was Elozor speaking, and he did not need to provide a reason, but here it was the Holy One speaking. When Rashi writes that this commandment is a decree, he does not mean a decree without any reason, as the view of the Rambam. Rashi only means that we should not say the commandments are due to Hashem’s mercy on His creatures, and this is because the entire Torah is the Attribute of Judgment. All the commandments are for the benefit of the people who keep them, and not, for example, for the benefit of the poor. Hashem commanded us to go in His ways, which are merciful, and that is because of His decrees on mankind and not out of His mercy on creation.

כי תשמע בקול ה' אלוקיך, all of this will occur when you make the pursuit of Torah your principal endeavour, relegating secular activities to something subordinate. In recognition of this approved lifestyle of yours, the blessings G’d bestows on you can obviously not be described as something that you were actively pursuing. The blessings mentioned by Moses here were the ones that were in evidence during the period of the first Temple during the part of that period when the Jewish people did observe the commandments of the Torah, until verse 9 יקימך ה' לו לעם קדוש, a condition which was fulfilled at the beginning of the period of the Second Temple as described by Shimon Hatzaddik in Yuma 21 who reported on the manifestation of miracles in the Second Temple as proof of the fulfillment of that prophecy by Moses.

ה' איש מלחמה, “Hashem is a master of war.” Seeing that Moses had told the people earlier that “Hashem will fight on your behalf,” they now confirmed to him: “G’d is a master of war.” In order to prevent someone making the mistake of thinking G’d employs conventional weapons when He carries on warfare, they added ה' שמו, “His name is Hashem.” It suffices for G’d to invoke His name and He does not have to engage in tiring and bothersome activity to prevail over His adversaries. We have a parallel line in Jeremiah 32,18: “O great and mighty G’d whose name is the Lord of Hosts.” When Jeremiah describes G’d as the Creator of the universe in Jeremiah 33,2, he also writes: “the Lord Who is shaping it (the universe) to bring it about, Whose name is “the Lord.” [Just as creating the universe did not entail toil and fatigue, neither will restoration of the Jewish state.]
A different approach: the word ואנוהו may be understood as אני והוא, meaning אדמה לו, “I wish to emulate Him.” The idea is similar to that expressed in Deut. 28,9 והלכת בדרכיו, “and you go in His ways.” Our sages (Shabbat 133) elaborated on this: “just as He displays patience and is long-suffering (man’s errors) so you shall be patient and long-suffering. Just as He clothes the naked so you shall clothe the naked. Just as He buries the dead, so you shall bury the dead.” The point of this Midrash is to demonstrate that just as G’d was involved in our redemption He is also part of our exile experience, suffering alongside with us. Proof that He participated in our exile is provided by the assurance in Genesis 46,4: “I will go down with you to Egypt.” Our sages used this verse to say that the Shechinah was exiled together with the Jewish people (Megillah 29). We also have a verse in Exodus 1,1 that G’d kept His promise when the Torah wrote the extra word את in that verse to show that G’d had gone down to Egypt together with Yaakov and his family. When we read in Exodus 12,37 that “the Israelites journeyed from Raamses, etc., this is followed in 14,19 where the Torah writes that “an angel of G’d traveled with them.” This illustrates that the Shechinah left Egypt together with them. When David wrote in Psalms 60,7 הושיעה ימינך וענני, “deliver with Your right hand and answer me,” this is a clear indication that G’d, i.e. the Shechinah, was itself in need of salvation.
The word ואנוהו, i.e. אני והוא is an allusion to both the Israelites and the Shechinah. They shared the exile experience first and now are ready to celebrate the redemption together also. When Ezekiel 1,1 describes his first experience as a prophet and says ואני בתוך הגולה, “and I was in the midst of exile,” the introductory letter ו is a reference to the Shechinah which shared the exile experience with the Jewish people. When Jeremiah 40,1 speaks of והוא אסור באזקים, “and He is bound in fetters,” the extraneous word והוא is a reference to the Shechinah.