Comentário sobre Deuteronômio 28:9

That is that He commanded us to imitate Him, may He be exalted, according to our ability. And that is His saying, "and you shall go in His ways" (Deuteronomy 28:9). And this command has already been repeated, [when] He said, "and to go in all of His ways" (Deuteronomy 11:22). And in the explanation, it appears (Sifrei Devarim 49:1), "Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called merciful; you too, be merciful. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called pious; you too, be pious." And this matter was already repeated in different words: He said, "Go in the ways of the Lord." And in the explanation, it appears (Sotah 14a) that He meant to say to imitate His good deeds and glorious traits by which God, may He be exalted, is described, by way of analogy - He is exalted over everything with great exaltation. (See Parashat Ki Tavo; Mishneh Torah, Human Dispositions.)

THE ETERNAL WILL ESTABLISH THEE FOR A HOLY PEOPLE UNTO HIMSELF AS HE HATH SWORN UNTO THEE. He applies the term “oath” to the covenant which He made with them at Mount Sinai concerning all these things, for there it was said, And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.⁸⁰Exodus 19:6. Or it may be that the covenant He made with Abraham to be a G-d unto thee and to thy seed after thee⁸¹Genesis 17:7. includes this one.⁸²In other words, G-d’s pledge to Abraham that He would be a G-d to his seed after him includes what is stated here, The Eternal will establish thee for a holy people unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee. Similarly he said, that He may establish thee this day unto Himself for a people, and that He may be unto thee a G-d, as He spoke unto thee, and as He swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,⁸³Further, 29:12. for the covenant was made for all of them.

יקימך ה׳ לו לעם קדוש, "G'd will establish you for Him as a holy nation, etc." Starting with this verse up to and including verse 11 the Torah describes the rewards accruing to the Jewish people for not violating the negative comandments which are all subsumed above under the heading of שמר. This is why our verse repeats: "if you observe, i.e. not violate, the commandments of the Lord your G'd." A person acquires the attribute "holy" if he has refrained from violating negative commandments. We know this from Leviticus 19,2 where the imperative to be holy follows immediately after the legislation forbidding all kinds of sexual unions. This in turn is followed by another string of negative commandments. It is appropriate therefore for the Torah to write that as a result of your observing these negative commandments G'd will establish you as a holy nation for Him. Our sages in Vayikra Rabbah 24,6 also agree that the term "holy" is applied to people who refrain from violating the laws governing our sexual mores. These laws are all of the kind to which the observance called תשמר applies, i.e. one must merely refrain from violating them. It is appropriate therefore for the Torah to speak of G'd establishing us as a holy nation for Him in return for our observing these laws. The word לו, "for Him," is a hint that the Israelites will replace the angels when they qualify for the description "holy nation." G'd had selected the angels who are described as holy to stand in front of him as we know from Daniel 8,13. Once the Israelites will qualify for this description the angels will be merely adjuncts to them. We find an allusion to that time in Numbers 23,23: כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל השם, "at a time when it will be said (revealed) to Jacob and to Israel what G'd has wrought" (compare Bamidbar Rabbah 20,20 on this verse).