Powtórzonego Prawa 4:11 Komentarz: Chizkuni, Ibn Ezra, Rashbam & Rav Hirsch

ותעמדון תחת ההר, “you were standing at the bottom of the Mountain.” Compare Exodus 19,17: ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר “they stood (at attention) at he base of the Mountain.”

the heart of heaven i.e., the center of heaven (from the standpoint of each viewer), as in “the heart of the sea” [Exodus 15: 8]

'ותקרבון ותעמדון תחת ההר וגו. Moses refers to Exodus 19,17 ויוצא משה את העם לקראת האלוקים מן המחנה ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר,”Moses led the people out of the encampment in order to meet G’d. They remained standing at attention near the bottom of the mountain.” Anything which is higher than that which is lower by comparison to it is referred to by the preposition על, whereas the place which is lower is referred to with the preposition תחת. [the author warns against understanding both of these prepositions literally as “above” and “below.” Ed.] Thus Genesis 18,1-2 where we find Avraham’s guests (the angels, before he knew they were angels) described as נצבים עליו does not mean that “they were standing above him,” but that when standing beside him they were taller. The wordsתחת ההר in our verse are therefore also not to be understood as “beneath” the mountain, but the preposition is used on account of the people being lower than any mountain, they are automatically תחת in relation to it. The reason why the entire verse had to be written is because in 5,21 Moses related how at the time the people had been afraid that the fire enveloping the mountain would cause their death. Had we not been informed of where these people had been standing at the time we would have had difficulty in accounting for their fear.