Комментарий о цитате к Ирмеяу 48:14

WHEN THOU GOEST FORTH TO BATTLE AGAINST THINE ENEMIES, AND SEEST HORSES, AND CHARIOTS etc. This is a new commandment which he now declared to them as they came into battles. The purport of the verse, For the Eternal your G-d is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you²⁹³Verse 4. is to admonish them against becoming faint-hearted and that they should not fear their enemies. He states that they are not to rely in this matter on their own strength, thinking in their hearts: We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war,²⁹⁴Jeremiah 48:14. but instead they are to turn their hearts only to G-d and rely on His help, thinking that He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, and He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man,²⁹⁵Psalms 147:10. for The Eternal taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that wait for His mercy.²⁹⁶Ibid., Verse 11. He states to fight for you against your enemies²⁹³Verse 4. meaning that He will make them fall before you by the sword. He states to save you²⁹³Verse 4. meaning that they will be spared in battle and that not a man among them will be missing,²⁹⁷See Numbers 31:49. for it would be possible that they vanquish their enemies and that many of them, too, would die, as is the way of battles. Therefore Joshua cried out²⁹⁸Joshua 7:7. when about thirty and six men²⁹⁹Ibid., Verse 5. fell in [the battle of] Ai, for in His commandatory war not one hair of their heads should have fallen to the ground,³⁰⁰I Samuel 14:45. for the battle is the Eternal’s.³⁰¹Ibid., 17:47. Now the priest who serves G-d is to admonish [the warriors] to fear Him, and give them assurance [of His help]. The officers, however, speak in the customary way of the world, lest he die in the battle,³⁰²Verse 5. for in the normal course of events even some people of the group of the victors die. He commanded that these three categories [of people] return³⁰³Verses 5-7. because one’s heart is on his [new] house, vineyard, and wife and he will [be the first to] flee.

AND THOU SHALT REMEMBER THE ETERNAL THY G-D, FOR IT IS HE WHO GIVETH THEE POWER TO GET WEALTH. It is known that Israelites are mighty men, valiant men for the war⁹⁴Jeremiah 48:14. because they were likened to lions⁹⁵See Genesis 49:9. and to a ravenous wolf,⁹⁶See ibid., Verse 27. and they vanquished the Canaanite kings in battle. Therefore he said, “If you should think, ‘my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth,’⁹⁷Verse 17. you should remember G-d Who brought you forth from Egypt where you had no power or might of hand at all. You should further remember that He provided all your needs for you in the wilderness, where you had nought in the power of thy hand⁹⁸Further, 28:32. to survive. If so [concerning] this wealth which you have won by your strength as well, [you should bear in mind that] it is G-d Who gave you the power [that was necessary for you] to accumulate the wealth; and if you forget G-d He will consume thy flesh and thy body⁹⁹Proverbs 5:11. and you will perish,¹⁰⁰Verse 19. just as [the nations before you] perished,¹⁰¹Verse 20. for all that forsake the Eternal shall be consumed.¹⁰²Isaiah 1:28.
And then Moses reverted to bring yet another proof that you should not think ‘my power and the might of my hand etc.,’⁹⁷Verse 17. and he said Hear, O Israel¹⁰³Further, 9:1. a true word from my mouth, that these nations are greater and mightier than thyself,¹⁰³Further, 9:1. and how will you vanquish them in battle? Besides, they have cities great and fortified up to the high heavens,¹⁰³Further, 9:1. and how will you capture them? Moreover, there is a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest¹⁰⁴Ibid., Verse 2. from the spies who saw them, and of whom thou hast heard¹⁰⁴Ibid., Verse 2. from days of yore that no man can stand up against them. And when all this becomes clear to you, you should realize and believe from this day on that you will be unable to go over [the Jordan to do battle] before them at all until you know in your heart that the Eternal thy G-d is He Who goeth over before thee as a devouring fire, and He will destroy them, and He will bring them down.¹⁰⁵Ibid., Verse 3. It is not the power and the might of hand He gave you, but the hand of G-d that did this to the mighty ones among them. This is an allusion to what is stated, and the Eternal cast down great stones from heaven upon them,¹⁰⁶Joshua 10:11. and similarly it is said there, And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Eternal hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Eternal fought for Israel.¹⁰⁷Ibid., Verse 14. The reference to the fortified cities he mentioned here¹⁰³Further, 9:1. is an allusion to the wall of Jericho that fell before the ark. This is what David said, For not by their own sword did they get the Land in possession, neither did their own arm save them; but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou wast favorable unto them¹⁰⁸Psalms 44:4. This psalm is ascribed to the sons of Korach (Verse 1). However, according to the Talmud (Baba Bathra 14b) it is David who wrote the Psalms, including among them the work of the elders, such as the sons of Korach, etc. Hence Ramban correctly writes of this psalm “that David said.” — the right hand of G-d and His [left] arm fought against their mighty ones, and the light of His countenance that was favorable unto them [the Israelites] gave them power over those who were slain in battle. Scripture refers to this in saying further, And I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.¹⁰⁹Amos 2:9. He [the prophet Amos] singled out the Amorite because it was the mightiest [nation] among them, and it was G-d Who destroyed it.

VAYAR’ (AND HE SAW) AMALEK. “He contemplated the punishment of Amalek and he said, Amalek was the first of the nations — he was the first of them all to wage war against Israel. And so did Onkelos translate it. But his end will be to be destroyed by their hands, [as it is said], thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek.”²⁵⁶Deuteronomy 25:19. This is Rashi’s language.
It is possible that the word vayar is to be understood in its literal meaning [“and he saw,” and not, as Rashi explained it, “and he contemplated”], since Balaam was on the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert²⁵⁷Above, 23:28. and so he looked towards the land of Amalek who dwelt in that hill-country.²⁵⁸Ibid., 14:45. Thus he said that Amalek is now ‘the first’ of the nations, meaning that he is considered a leader of the nations, because they were mighty men, and valiant men for the war;²⁵⁹Jeremiah 48:14. for were it not so, it would not have occurred to them to come and attack Israel, and Moses would not have had to choose a select number of men [to fight them],²⁶⁰Exodus 17:9. or to pray and lift up his hands [towards heaven] until he was weakened.²⁶¹Ibid., Verses 11-12. He [Moses] also built an altar and called its name ‘Ado-nai nissi’ (the Eternal is my banner),²⁶²Ibid., Verse 15. because he considered [the defeat of Amalek] a great miracle. Therefore this [man Balaam] said that Amalek is the first of the nations, but his end shall come to destruction more than all the others, as He said, For I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.²⁶³Ibid., Verse 14. Similarly, ‘the first’ oils²⁶⁴Amos 6:6. means “the best” of them, which are counted first [in quality].²⁶⁵Of the quality used for lighting the lamps in the candelabrum (see Menachoth 86a). The same [usage is also found in these expressions]: ‘the first’ [i.e., “the best”] of the devoted things;²⁶⁶I Samuel 15:21. ‘head’ and chief over them;²⁶⁷Judges 11:11. Literally: ‘first’ and chief. ‘the chief’ spices.²⁶⁸Exodus 30:23. Literally: ‘the first spices.’ See Ramban, Vol. II, p. 528.