Дварим 4:41 Комментарий: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ramban

אז יבדיל — The imperfect form יבדיל instead of הבדיל is to be thus explained (cf. Rashi on Exodus 15:1): He set his attention to be zealous for the matter, — to set them apart. And although they were not to serve as cities of refuge until those of Canaan proper (the western side of the Jordan) were set apart for that purpose, Moses said, Any duty that it is possible for me to perform I will perform (Makkot 10a).

אז יבדיל משה, “then Moses separated;” after having defeated Sichon and Og; the commandment to establish cities of refuge had been given already in Numbers 35,14. Here the Torah only mentions that it now had been carried out as the requisite land had been conquered. Moses mentions it only as one of many positive measures he had undertaken on the people’s behalf. Although he could have described this in the first person, i.e. “I set apart these cities,” it was not in his nature to do so, just as he did not do so in Leviticus 1,2, when he described “if anyone of you is willing to offer an offering to the Lord,” he actually had himself in mind. The same is true of Exodus 16,32, and numerous other occasions in the Torah.

אז יבדיל משה שלש ערים, “then Moses set aside three cities, etc;” the expression אז is usually reserved as introduction to a poem, a song; compare Exodus 15,1, so that its appearance here is somewhat puzzling. When the people had heard the legislation about the cities of refuge in Numbers 35,33, where the Torah decreed that blood spilled of a person who was innocent could never be atoned for by a payment of ransom, they were afraid that even if someone were to commit a killing unintentionally he would be subject to the death penalty; Moses reassured them that there was another method by which such a person could atone for his negligence in having caused the death of an innocent person, i.e. his being forced to reside in a city of refuge until the death of the High Priest at that time. When they heard this they broke out in a song of relief. This was remindful of the proverb that (only) if someone has tasted a dish does he really know what it tastes like. Moses, who had had cursed an Egyptian who had slain a Jew by using the holy name of the Lord, had been forced to flee and reside outside his homeland for close to 60 years. He therefore understood that this was a very harsh penalty. [Our author clearly belongs to the school of thought that does not consider Moses as a hero for taking the law into his own hands. Ed.]