Comentários de Citação sobre Deuteronômio 3:2

As far as a statement in the Sifri that territory conquered on the East Bank of the Jordan prior to the conquest of the lands on the West Bank does not enjoy the status of sanctity enjoyed by the lands on the West Bank is concerned, and that therefore the lands chosen for themselves by these tribes were not part of the "Holy Land," these tribes countered that this situation was exceptional in view of the fact that G'd had smitten these kings in contrast to their having been conquered by human effort. Hence the sanctity of the land of Israel did apply also to these lands. They were able to quote Moses himself who had stated in Deut. 2,31 that G'd had said to him (not to Joshua) "behold I have begun to deliver up Sichon and his land before you; begin to possess the land." In Deut. 3,2 G'd gave similar instructions to Moses concerning Og and his lands. All of this was proof that G'd had approved the early conquest of these lands. There was also good logic to support such a view as otherwise we would have dealt with two separate conquests, that of lands outside the boundaries of the Holy Land, and that of the West Bank. If this had been the case, the same accusation could have been levelled against the Israelites including Moses at the time that were levelled against David who conquered Aram Tzovah before bothering to conquer Jerusalem. [this is part of the Sifri, although somewhat difficult to confirm from Biblical sources. In fact, Samuel II chapter 9 and 10 both seem to indicate that Jerusalem had been captured previously. Whereas we are told in chapter 8 that David captured ארם צובה, he brought the prisoners to Jerusalem. How could he have done so without capturing Jerusalem first? Ed.] In our situation, the capture of the lands of Sichon and Og were a necessary prerequisite to the conquest of the West Bank. The Israelites had even requested passage to the West Bank through the lands of Sichon and Og but the latter had refused so that there was no other alternative. Conquest of those lands could not be compared to conquest of Aram Tzovah prior to the conquest of Jerusalem then.

Moshe said to Yehoshua. Moshe’s special abilities lay in the realm of the supernatural. For this reason he conducted the wars against Sichon and Og personally, since those wars were openly miraculous. On this occasion, by contrast, Hashem hid His face so that they were required to do battle in a natural manner. Therefore Moshe delegated command to Yehoshua, who had been chosen by Hashem to lead the conquest of Canaan, which was to be accomplished through natural wars accompanied by hidden miracles. Nevertheless, Moshe helped in the battle against Amaleik through prayer and urgings to repentance in order that they would enjoy Divine favor. With the staff of Hashem. The staff was called by this name, rather than “Moshe’s staff,” whenever Hashem performed through it a miracle for which the B’nei Yisrael were not worthy, solely to display His power.

'כי רק עוג מלך הבשן וגו, because he had survived from the time when giants walked the earth, G’d told Moses not to be afraid of him. (verse 2)