Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Job 3:19

The eighteenth reason for the word תלכו is related to Sukkah 45 where the elite (people experiencing some revelation of the שכינה) of the Jewish people are divided into three levels. The lowest level is the group granted what is termed a "blurred vision." The next higher level of the elite are the people who are granted a "clear vision." The highest level of the elite are those who enjoy such communications without first having to obtain special permission from G'd. I have explained Job 3,19 קטון וגדול שם הוא ועבד חפשי מאדוניו, "both the small and the great are there and the slave is free of his masters" in a similar sense. The "small" refers to the person granted a blurred vision, the "great" to the the person granted a clear vision, and the slave who is free of his masters refers to the person who does not need to ask permisssion in order to receive a communication from G'd. The word קטון is an allusion to the "small luminary," the moon in Genesis 1,16, whereas the word גדול is borrowed from the same verse where it refers to the sun. I would not be sure what are the criteria by means of which a human being achieves the great honour described in that verse. This is why the Torah here defined the rules by saying אם בחקתי תלכו, to tell us that Torah study, performance of its precepts, and the manner in which we do so is the key to achieving this level of communication with G'd.

עד שואב מימיך, “to the ones drawing your water, i.e. the female slaves.” This is what is meant in Job 3,19: קטון וגדול שם הוא ועבד חפשי מאדוניו, “small and great alike are there, both slaves and free men.” The word קטון, there refers to David, whereas the word גדול there refers to Moses. (Compare these attributes being used for David in Samuel 1 17,14, and for Moses in Exodus 11,3.) An alternate interpretation for the line: ועבד חפשי מאדוניו, “the slave who is free from his master;” this line refers to Israel. As long as one is alive one is free to carry out the will of one’s Creator, but once dead it is too late to do so, i.e. one is free from the obligation to perform G–d’s commandments. (Talmud tractate Shabbat folio 30) Still another interpretation “You are all standing here alive,” in spite of all the curses that have befallen your enemies, you have been spared. Both the gentiles have been in the habit of erecting monuments of stone to serve them as deities, but you, i.e. Joshua and Samuel who have both been reported as erecting stone monuments –upon which the text of the Torah has been inscribed-have been successful in that endeavour. It is not the “monument,” that G–d hates but the use it has been put to by the gentiles. (Compare Samuel I 12,7) Still another explanation of this assembly by Moses: This is the last time that all the people could be assembled in one place. Once they would cross the Jordan be dispersed each to his tribe’s ancestral land plot, it would be impossible to address them all at the same time.