Comentário sobre Deuteronômio 32:7

זכר ימות עולם REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD — what He did to previous generations who provoked Him to anger,

ASK THY FATHER — “this alludes to those who understand [the events of former days], and so thine elders [and they will tell thee — for they too, understand the past]. The purport thereof is, as he stated, which the Eternal thy G-d hath allotted them etc.,³⁷Above, 4:19. since for each portion below, [i.e., each nation on earth] there is a [counterpart] portion on high. And the meaning of the expression [He set the borders of the peoples] according to the number of the children of Israel³⁸Verse 8. is that the image of Jacob is inscribed in the Throne of Glory, this being a great secret. And the proof for this is For the portion of the Eternal is His people,³⁹Verse 9. this being a great distinction which He hath not dealt so with any nation.⁴⁰Psalms 147:20. Therefore, he said, Do ye thus requite the Eternal, O foolish people and unwise?⁴¹Verse 6. — a people that has fallen from its distinction because of its foolishness. And the meaning of the expression thy Father that hath gotten thee⁴¹Verse 6. is, that He created you for His honor and taught you, as he explains, as a father does for his son.” Thus far is the language of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra. The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious.⁴²Ecclesiastes 10:12. Ramban thus gives his approbation to Ibn Ezra’s words.
If so, the meaning of Remember the days of old⁴³In Verse 7 before us. is that they apply their hearts to remember the six days of Creation, the good He did them at the time of the formation [of the nations], as he goes on to say When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance etc.³⁸Verse 8. Consider the years of many generations⁴³In Verse 7 before us. — that they contemplate in order to know what was done for them during the generations since the Divine Presence dwelled among them, as he proceeds to tell: He found him in a desert land etc.⁴⁴Verse 10.
Now, Rashi commented: “He found him in a desert land.⁴⁴Verse 10. He found them [the people of Israel] to be faithful to Him in the desert land when they accepted upon themselves His Torah, His Sovereignty, and His yoke — something that the children of Esau and Ishmael did not do. And in the waste, a howling wilderness⁴⁴Verse 10. — a land of drought and desolation, a place of the jackals’ and ostriches’ cry. Even there they continued their faith [in Him] and did not say to Moses, ‘How can we go out into the wilderness?’” But this is not the purport of the chapter, for Scripture [here] reproves Israel, mentioning the favors which G-d did for them — and they requited them [the favors] with evil instead of good.

זכור ימות עולם, After concluding the introductory section of his poem, during the course of which he announced that it was his purpose to proclaim the perfect righteousness of the Lord G’d, Who has proven a loyal G’d showering goodness upon the people of Israel, and Who would not reverse a blessing once bestowed, Moses begins to discuss Israel’s past and future.
First, Moses reminds the people that G’d had originally hoped to bestow a brilliant future for all of mankind, i.e. ימות עולם, He had hoped that history would develop in that direction. When this failed to happen, שנות דור ודור, during the years of one generation after another, G’d decided on His pilot project the Jewish people and He raised them to an elevated position among the nations. This is basically what He will do at the end of “history,” [history is perceived as a period of education for the people filling or making a brief appearance on the stage of history. Ed.]
Second, G’d had provided the people with optimum conditions to serve Him joyfully while they enjoyed all the material advantages that life on earth has to offer. He gave them a beautiful country, one flowing with milk and honey, to do this in. Instead, they rebelled and repaid good with evil. There can be no question that the people responsible for frustrating G’d’s master plan deserve to be severely punished for this.
Third, due to the serious nature of their sin they deserve to be wiped out completely. If it were not for the desecration of the Lord’s name that would be a by-product of the destruction of His chosen people, nothing would have prevented G’d from administering this punishment.
Fourth, Moses reveals the reason why the redemption of the Jewish people will occur at the end of what we call “history,’ באחרית היים.
Fifth, Moses elaborates somewhat on the nature of this redemption and the retribution G’d will wreak at that time on the other nations of the world. The nations will primarily be punished for what they did to the Jewish people throughout history. These then are the five sections into which the portion of Haazinu is divided, our sages having given us an easy way of reminding ourselves of this division by calling the portion הזי'ו ל'ך. (Rosh Hashanah 31) Moses therefore commences with the words: זכור ימות עולם, “study history and thereby learn to recognise how much G’d had endeavoured to shower good upon you, starting already with first man whom He transferred to Gan Eden, the most exclusive environment on earth.

זכר ימות עולם, "Remember the days of yore, etc." Moses again makes four divisions corresponding to the four divisions he made in the previous verse. Where he had spoken of "your father" in the previous verse, i.e. an allusion to G'd the Creator, he now says "remember the days of yore," i.e. the six days of creation. Those were the days in which G'd manifested Himself as extremely active. Corresponding to the words קנך, "the One Who owns you" in the previous verse, words which were meant to allude to the Exodus from Egypt and other acts of kindness by G'd for Israel, Moses now says בינו שנות דור ודור, that the Israelites should examine the happenings during the two generations in question, i.e the generation of the Exodus and the generation of Israelites who did enter the Holy Land. By reviewing these two periods in our history we can understand by what right G'd considers Himself as "owning" us. Concerning the word עשך, "who has made you," which Moses referred to in the previous verse, something we described as the supreme improvement G'd made in the condition of man (Israel) [since the sin in Gan Eden. Ed.] when He granted the Jewish people His presence on a regular basis, Moses now says שאל אביך ויגדך, "ask your father and he will tell you;" the "father" in this case is a simile for the prophets whom G'd provided for us to consult with. Finally, concerning the fourth section of the previous verse, ויכננך, the automatic entrance card to our hereafter, Moses now says זקניך ויאמרו לך, "your elders and they will tell you." Moses refers to the scholars of the Jewish people who are familiar with the preparatory steps necessary to safeguard our entitlement to life in the hereafter.

זכור ימות עולם, before you were even born G’d had already prepared your ancestral land for you.

זכור ימות עולם, “Remember the days of yore;” Moses asks the people to remember all the good G’d had done for the Jewish people ever since the creation; i.e. בהנחל עליון גוים, “when the Supreme One gave as inheritance to the nations, etc.”

Another interpretation: You have not taken heed of the past. I.e. it would have been appropriate for you to remember the days [i.e., the history of] the world. Since you did not do so, at least “study the generational epochs” in the future, etc. Rashi has to give the alternative explanation because according to the first explanation it is difficult to understand the seemingly redundant language, for it already says “Remember world history,” which includes the generation of Enosh and the generation of the Flood. Therefore Rashi gives an alternative explanation. The alternative explanation on its own is also difficult, for how does the term “study” relate to something that does not exist in this world, but only in the World to Come which “no eye has seen aside from Hashem alone” (cf. Yeshiva 64:3). Therefore Rashi also gives the first explanation.

V. 7. זכור ימות עולם usw. Die konkreten Zeitabschnitte, ein Tag, ein Jahr, heißen im Plural שנים ,ימים, der Plural femin. שנות ,ימות bezeichnet in der Regel Zeiten, Zeitabschnitte im allgemeinen. Hier heißt es nun: Gedenket der Zeiten der Vergangenheit, und zwar: בינו: dringet ein, suchet Einsicht in den Zusammenhang der auf einander folgenden Geschlechter, des דור הפלגה ,דור המבול ,דור אנוש ,דור אדם, verfolget diese Entwicklungsgänge des Menschengeschlechts, und dann שאל אכיך ויגדך: frage deinen Vater um deine eigene Geschichte (die ja eben mit ihrem Anfang in דור הפלגה reicht), ויגדך: er wird dir sie noch lebendig vergegenwärtigen, זקניך ויאמרו לך und deine Alten, die mit Weisheit und Einsicht Begabten, werden dir diese deine Geschichte deuten, werden dir deinen Ursprung und deine menschengeschichtliche Sendung eben aus dem Zusammenhang mit den Verirrungen und Erziehungsphasen der vorangegangenen Geschlechter erläutern.

זכור ימות עולם, “remember the days of old;” now Moses begins to list the many acts of kindness G–d had performed for His people;

זכור ימות עולם, “remember the days of old;” Moses now proceeds to remind the people of a whole list of acts of loving kindness G-d had performed for them (B’chor shor)

בינו שנות דר ודר [CONSIDER] THE YEARS OF GENERATION AFTER GENERATION — the generation of Enosh over whom He caused the waters of the ocean to flow, and the generations of the flood whom He drowned by flood (cf. Sifrei Devarim 310:1). Another explanation is: If you have not set your attention to the past (i.e. if you fail to remember the days of old, then) בינו שנות דר ודר CONSIDER at least THE YEARS OF GENERATION AND GENERATION so that you become conscious of what might happen in the future — that He has the power to bestow good upon you and to make you inherit the blissful days of Messiah and the world to come (cf. Sifrei Devarim 310:5).

בינו שנות דור ודור, you will then understand what amount of goodness G’d “squandered” on successive generations who did not deserve it. These generations of mankind, instead of appreciating it, did their best to ruin the universe until G’d was forced to put an end to them by bringing on the deluge.

בינו שנות דור ודור, “understand the years of generation after generation.” They should understand what occurred ever since the Shechinah made its home within them. This is reflected in ימצאהו בארץ מדבר, “when He found it (the people) in a land of desolation.” The word יצב in יצב גבולות עמים, is to be understood as an infinitive (see Ibn Ezra) similar in meaning to the word להציב. We find the word דבר, i.e. dabber, also used as an infinitive in לא ידעתי דבר (Jeremiah 1,8). The meaning of the full verse then is: “when G’d assigned to the various nations lands as their respective inheritance, and when He separated their languages, as described about the descendants of Noach in Genesis chapter 11, etc.” You will find that in that chapter 70 descendants of Noach are listed. These are the founders of the 70 nations the sages always speak of. You will reflect on the fact that when your patriarch Yaakov descended to Egypt his clan comprised 70 members born to him or his children. G’d did not select for His own inheritance more than these 70 people whom He set apart to become His people. This is the meaning of the words כי חלק ה' עמו, “for Hashem’s portion is His people” (verse 9).
Some commentators explain the words גבולות עמים which we translated as “the nations’ boundaries” to mean instead: “the diagonal lines assigned to the world,” i.e. the division of the globe into 12 areas governed by different constellations. The words: “for His people are G’d’s share,” would then refer to the fact that the fate of the Jewish people is not governed by such constellations, but that G’d personally decides on the fates of individual Jews. This verse then would be the clearest proof that the fates of the Jewish people are not subject to the influences of the stars but are decided by higher forces. No other nation has achieved such a status, as is spelled out by David in Psalms 147,20: “He did not do so for any other nation.”

This refers to the sages. Because the word זקן is an acronym for “one who has acquired wisdom.”

בינו שנות דור ודור, “reflect with intelligence about the years of many generations.” I, G–d, had provided for this nation long before they came into existence as a nation.” The details will be explained in the following verses.

בינו שנות דור ודור, “consider the years of many generations.” G-d had prepared a specific land on earth for the Jewish people already long before they had come into existence. (B’chor shor)

שאל אביך ASK THY FATHER — these are the prophets who are termed fathers, as it is stated in the history of Elijah that Elisha exclaimed when Elijah departed, (2 Kings 2:12): “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel!” (cf. Sifrei Devarim 310:3).

זקניך THY ELDERS — these are the sages,

ויאמרו לך AND THEY WILL TELL THEE the events of the former days: