Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Deuteronomio 12:31

if a prophet arises among you The meaning of among you is that a prophet must be from the nation of Israel. The common thread connecting this passage with the previous passage is the prohibition against idolatry (the burning of children [12: 31] was an idolatrous practice). The word prophet here denotes someone who claims that God , or a messenger of God , spoke to him while awake. The other possibility is that it occurred in a dream. Some say, that the prophet discussed here is likely one of the “thieves of God ’s words” [cf. Jeremiah 23: 30] — to wit: A true prophet announces that a certain miracle will come, to justify him; someone else overhears this, and then asserts that the miracle applies to himself. Others say, that we do not believe him, even if the signal or marvel comes to pass, because he says things that are contrary to logic. In my opinion, the Hebrew words signal and marvel here have the sense of “sign” [and not any supernatural event — Translator]: 1) The words of Isaiah provide evidence for this interpretation. He said “Behold, I, and the children whom God has given me, are for signs and for portents” [Isaiah 8: 18] (the prophet’s own sign was “…just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot…” [Isaiah 20: 3]; the sons’ signs were their names, each being named after an event which was to occur in his lifetime, i.e., “Immanu כ el” [Isaiah 7: 14], “Maher-Shalal-Ḥash-Baz” [Isaiah 8: 3], and “Sh әכ ar-Yashuv” [Isaiah 7: 3]). 2) With respect to plagues, Scripture says “They will serve you as signs and proofs” [28: 46]. Many similar examples exist.

ולא תגרעו ממנו, “nor must you diminish any of G-d’s words as spelled out in the Torah. After the debacle with the spies, when some of you had decided to after all fulfill G-d’s command of ascending to conquer, I had warned you that you would do so at your peril and that you would fail and suffer casualties (compare Numbers 14,42.) You decided to ignore my warning and as a result you paid dearly for that omission. (Compare Numbers 14,45) From now on I warn you to accept My commandments as given without emendations of any kind. A different interpretation of the verse commencing with: “do not add, etc.” The verse is a response to the heretics who deny the validity of the Talmud, by quoting this verse and by pointing out that the sages of the Talmud had ignored it, adding laws of their own by the hundreds. The answer of the sages is that the warning not to add or subtract from the laws of the Torah appears only twice, each time in connection with idolatry, i.e. not to violate the belief and service of the One and only Creator. Immediately following this warning, the Torah illustrates its meaning by reminding the people of what happened to those who had worshipped Peor in addition, (verse 3) Also in Deut. 13,1, the Torah illustrates what is meant by this law by reminding people not to sacrifice any of their children to the cult of the moloch. (Deut. 12,31) When it comes to any of the other commandments, however, the sages are not only entitled but encouraged to surround the Biblical laws with “fences,” in order to protect us not to violate the Biblical laws.

An angel of Hashem appeared. Moshe’s prophecy was unique and unlike that of the other prophets in the following ways: 1) Other prophets received Hashem’s word in a dream, and Moshe prophesized while fully conscious. 2) The other prophets fell into a trance and trembling and lost control of their body, whereas Moshe was upright and in control of his faculties. 3) The other prophets saw visions influenced by their imagination, but Moshe received prophecy directly to his intellect without interference from the imagination, thus, he saw no visions. 4) The others prophesized in riddles and metaphors that lack clarity, but Moshe prophesized in complete clarity. 5) Other prophets received Hashem’s word by means of an angel, but Moshe spoke to Hashem face to face. However, the vision in this verse demonstrates that Moshe also began his prophecy as the other prophets. For in this first prophecy Hashem spoke to him by means of “an angel;” secondly, he saw a vision influenced by the imagination, for the angel appeared to him as “a blaze of fire from amid the bush;” thirdly, the prophecy was a riddle and a metaphor, for “the bush was burning in the fire but the bush was not consumed”.