Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Exodo 34:11

This book is called Mishneh Torah. And at the beginning to tractate Gittin, Tosafos writes that Mishneh Torah denotes that [this Book] “only recapitulates and repeats what was stated previously [in the other four Books].” ¹Gittin 2a; Tosafos, s.v. Ha’meivi Get. Thus Mishneh Torah is to be translated as “Repetition of the Torah.” The Ramban of blessed memory is so convinced of this understanding [of Mishneh Torah] that when he addresses the mitzvos listed in the parashios of Shoftim²`For example, in Deut. 16:18, “You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself in all your cities” is explanatory of the implied directive of requiring judges as stated in Ex. 22:8, “The word of both parties shall come before the judges” and Ibid. 21:22, “he shall pay as the judges determine.” An additional example is Deut. 19:14, “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark,” which he considers to be part of [i.e. explanatory] of Num. 26:56, “According to the lot shall one’s inheritance be divided between the numerous and the few.” and [Ki] Seitzei,³An additional example to what is cited immediately below is that Deut. 22:8, “you shall make a guard rail for your roof” is deemed explanatory of Lev. 19:16, “You shall not stand idly by [the shedding of] your fellow's blood.” he explains some of them as being part and parcel of mitzvos written earlier. [And he applies this understanding] to the extreme by considering the mitzvah of shi’luach ha’kein (sending away the mother bird),⁴See Deut.: 22:6-7, “If a bird's nest chances before you on the road, on any tree, or on the ground, and [it contains] fledglings or eggs, if the mother is sitting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother upon the young. You shall send away the mother, and [then] you may take the young for yourself, in order that it should be good for you, and you should lengthen your days.” to be part of the mitzvah of oso v’es b’no, (the prohibition of slaughtering the mother and her calf in the same day).⁵Lev. 22:28 states, “An ox or sheep you shall not slaughter it and its offspring in one day.” The Ramban on Deut. 22:6 writes, “[The sending away of the mother bird] is also an explanatory commandment of oso v’es b’no because the reason for both [commandments] is that we should not have a cruel heart and be discompassionate, or it may be that Scripture does not permit us to destroy a species altogether, although it permits slaughter [for food] within that group. Now, he who kills the mother animal and the young in one day or takes them when they are free to fly [is regarded] as though he cut off that species.” And in my opinion, this is astonishing, for these two mitzvos are entirely different. Moreover, we also find a duplication of the mitzvos in the Book of Exodus: In the parasha of Ki Sissa beginning with the verse, “Beware of what I command you today,” ⁶Ex. 34: 11. until “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk,”⁷Ibid. Verse 26. The following directives and mitzvos listed in these verses are also found in the Torah reading of Mishpatim: Not to make a covenant with the seven nations that are to be driven from the Land of Israel; to destroy their altars and places of worship; not to make idols nor to worship them; to work for six days and rest on the Sabbath; the celebration of the three festivals; the redeeming of the first sons; the redeeming of the firstborn of kosher animals and of the donkey; appearing three times a year at the Temple (including how God will protect their land when it is abandoned, in order to appear in the Temple three times a year); not to offer the Passover sacrifice while possessing leaven, and not to cook a kid in its mother’s milk. it is a repetition of what was already written in the parasha of Mishpatim.⁸See Ibid. 23:12-33. We explained there with God’s assistance how none [of those words] are superfluous – Heaven forbid [that one should say so].⁹According to the Ramban, following the sin of the Golden Calf, Israel is warned of the importance of fulfilling the commandments to safeguard their spiritual greatness; and to achieve this end, these prohibitions and commandments were repeated in particular. To quote the Ramban to Ibid. 34:14: “Observe the commandments which I command you today, and do not treat them as you have treated those which I commanded you at first, when you violated everything by worshiping the idols.” Thus, due to the significance of certain events (i.e. the making of the Golden Calf and the impending possession of the Land of Israel), mitzvos of particular importance may be repeated in the Torah to communicate a special exhortation and message. The Netziv strongly disagrees with this approach and argues that the primary purpose of the repetition of any mitzvah is to provide an additional halachic insight. And accordingly in the Book of Devarim one does not find that many duplicated mitzvos and whatever [seem to be] repeated are not considered – Heaven forbid – to be superfluous.

AND IF THE ETERNAL THY G-D ENLARGE THY BORDER. This section deals with a future event, and I have already mentioned it²⁴⁴Above, 12:20. in the section [i.e., the Seder] of Behold, I set before you. For first he stated, When the Eternal thy G-d shall cut off the nations, whose land the Eternal giveth thee,²⁴⁰Verse 1. the expression whose land the Eternal giveth thee referring to all the seven nations that He mentions everywhere. So also he speaks with reference to them, And the Eternal thy G-d will cast out those nations before thee;²⁴⁵Ibid., 7:22. whereas for the wickedness of these nations;²⁴⁶Ibid., 9:4. and the Eternal will drive out all these nations from before you;²⁴⁷Ibid., 11:23. but of the cities of these peoples,²⁴⁸Further, 20:16. and so also in many other places. And now he commanded that after taking possession of their land and dwelling in it, he²⁴⁹The third person singular here seems to refer to the leader of the people — Joshua — although the fulfillment of the commandment was incumbent upon all Israel. shall set aside three cities, completing [the performance of] the commandment with their designation, as He said there, there shall be for you six cities of refuge,²⁵⁰Numbers 35:13. and He further said, Ye shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan.²⁵¹Ibid., Verse 14. And since the three cities beyond the Jordan eastward had already been set aside by Moses (above, 4:41), the designation of the three cities in the land of Canaan thus completed the fulfillment of this commandment. He did not command in the Torah that there be more than these six cities. Similarly all commandments of the Torah that become binding after taking possession and settling upon [the Land] become obligatory after the conquest of these seven nations. Only regarding this commandment, however, he added here, And if the Eternal thy G-d enlarge thy border and he did not say “as He hath promised thee,” as he said in the section, When the Eternal thy G-d shall enlarge thy border, as He hath promised thee²⁵²Above, 12:20. with reference to meat of a secular meal. This was because G-d did not promise them anywhere to give them [land] except for [that of] these seven nations. However, here he mentioned the patriarchs, as he said, And if the Eternal thy G-d enlarge thy border, as He hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which He promised to give unto thy fathers, this being an allusion to all ten nations²⁵³Genesis 15:19-21. that were promised to Abraham.
Now he made here a condition, if thou shalt [in time to come] keep all this commandment to do it etc.²⁵⁴Verse 9. [then another three cities of refuge would be designated in addition to the six already discussed in Scripture]. Now it is clear that they will not inherit even the seven nations if they transgress the Torah as he has said many times — hearken unto the statutes etc. that ye may live, and go in and possess the Land;²⁵⁵Above, 4:1. and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this Law etc. that thou mayest go in unto the Land;²⁵⁶Further, 27:3. For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment etc., then will the Eternal drive out all these nations from before you.²⁵⁷Above, 11:22-23. And when Achan, who was but an individual, transgressed the devoted thing,²⁵⁸Joshua 22:20. it was stated, Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies, they turn their backs before their enemies.²⁵⁹Ibid., 7:12. If so, [the question arises], why was this condition made only concerning these three cities, stating, And if the Eternal thy G-d enlarge thy border etc. if thou shalt keep all this commandment [when the conquest of the seven nations is also conditional upon observing the Torah]? The reason for this is, that it was the Divine Will before Him, blessed be He, that yet in the days of Moses and Joshua, He would give them possession of the lands of the seven nations which He had promised them while they were still in Egypt²⁶⁰See Exodus 3:8. and in the wilderness,²⁶¹See ibid., 34:11. because it was known to Him that they were deserving [of the lands] by virtue of their merits. Therefore He obligated them in the observance of all commandments upon the conquest of these [nations], and He further obligated them [in the commandment] of the six cities of refuge, and so Joshua designated [the cities]. But concerning the three remaining ones he made a condition, if thou shalt keep all this commandment etc. to love the Eternal thy G-d, and to walk forever in His ways etc.,²⁵⁴Verse 9. that is to say, that they would all observe the entire Torah, [they would then become obligated to set aside three additional cities]. There is no commandment dependent upon this condition except for [the designation] of these three cities.
But what reason was there to state, if thou shalt keep all this commandment etc. to walk ‘kol hayamim’ (forever) in His ways — then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, for who knows what will ever happen afterwards? Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented: “kol hayamim — [all the days] without interruption between them.” This is not correct. Rather, the purport of the verse is as follows: “If thou shalt keep all this commandment, when your merit attains a degree that you will keep all the commandments, loving G-d with a perfect everlasting love, so that it should be apparent to Him that you will never again sin, then He will broaden your boundary and give you all the [ten] nations [He promised to Abraham].” This is a reference to the days of which he said, And the Eternal thy G-d will open thy heart, and the heart of thy seed,²⁶²Further, 30:6. the expression the heart of thy seed indicating [the people of] all future days, similar to what is written in the Prophets,²⁶³See above, Note 25. And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever; for the good of them, and of their children after them; and I will make an everlasting covenant with them etc., and I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.²⁶⁴Jeremiah 32:39-40. Then when He shall make an everlasting covenant with them they will set aside these three cities [as cities of refuge].

But the wicked are, etc. God heals the righteous of Israel, but not the wicked, because the latter are troubled, like the sea that is continually troubled. נגרש Troubled. It has the same meaning as ויגרשו and they moved, and is probably of the same root as גורש driving out (Ex. 34:11);

כל זכורך means all the males among you (cf. Rashi on Exodus 23:17 and the note thereon). — Many precepts of the Torah are stated and then repeated, aye, some of them three times and even four (this section, for instance, is, with a few alterations, identical with the contents of chapter Exodus 23:12—19) in order to declare him who infringes them guilty and to punish him for each of the number of prohibitions which are connected with them and for each of the number of positive commands which are connected with them.