Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Josue 24:15

Another meaning of the word אז in our verse may be connected to the Torah’s failure to describe the Canaanite as יושב בארץ, “dwelling permanently in the land.” The Torah only referred to the Canaanites as being present in the land. This is in contrast to Genesis 13,7 where the Torah did use the term יושב, “was dwelling,” when describing the tenure of the Canaanite and the Perizite in that land. The reason is that in that verse the Torah did not refer to a people which had its inheritance in that land but only to two tribes which had control of it at that time. The reason the Torah referred to the Canaanite with the ה הידיעה, the letter ה which indicates that the noun referred to is one that we are familiar with [the definitive article], is that it represents a celestial force known as “Canaanite.” This is a force from which the 70 nations derive their power on earth as we know from Joshua who said to the Israelites (Joshua 24,15) [at the time when the Israelites on the East Bank of the Jordan had built a public altar, something that aroused suspicions of their national and religious secession — Ed.] בחרו לכם היום את מי תעבדון אם את אלוהים אשר עבדו אבותיכם אשר בעבר הנהר ואם את אלוהי האמור אשר אתם יושבים בארצם ואנכי וביתי נעבוד את ה'. “Choose this day which ones you are going to serve, the gods that your forefathers served beyond the Euphrates or those of the Emorites in whole lands you are settled; but I and my household will serve the Lord.” We find that the celestial representative of the Egyptian nation is called מצרים by the Torah when we read in Exodus 14,10 והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, “and here Egypt (instead of the Egyptians) was traveling behind them.” Had the Torah referred to Egyptian nationals, human beings, the word for “traveling” should have been נוסעים instead of the singular נוסע.

AND MOSES CAME AND CALLED FOR THE ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE, AND SET BEFORE THEM ALL THESE WORDS. This means that he said to them: “Behold, I have presented before you the words [of G-d]. Choose you this day¹⁶⁶Joshua 24:15. if you will do so.” Therefore, they answered him, All that the Eternal hath spoken we will do.¹⁶⁷Verse 8. This is similar in meaning to the verse: See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil,¹⁶⁸Deuteronomy 30:15. and also: And these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them,¹⁶⁹Further, 21:1. meaning that they are to say if they choose to observe them and accept [them] upon themselves. It is for this reason that it says there, And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Eternal, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Eternal hath spoken will we do.¹⁷⁰Ibid., 24:3. Similarly, And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel¹⁷¹Deuteronomy 4:44. means that Moses asked the generation that was to come into the Land whether they would accept the Torah upon themselves, for he was about to make a covenant with them in the plains of Moab, just as he had done with their fathers in Horeb.¹⁷²Ibid., 28:69. And the Gaon Rav Saadia¹⁷³Mentioned here in Ibn Ezra. On Rav Saadia Gaon, see Seder Va’eira, Verse 9:31, Note 230. said that the expression, and he set before them, is similar in meaning to the expression, put it in their mouth,¹⁷⁴Deuteronomy 31:19. [this being a reference to the Oral Law, which is the commentary to the Written Law]. But the correct interpretation is only as I have explained.
And all the people answered together.¹⁷⁵Verse 8. This also means that Moses called together the elders of the people, who are their wise men and their judges, for theirs is [the power of] choice. And he set before them all these words in the presence of the whole congregation, since it was with reference to all the people that G-d had commanded, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel.¹⁷⁶Above, Verse 3. But they did not wait for the counsel and decision [of the elders, but readily], all the people answered together — both small and great¹⁷⁷II Kings 23:2. — and said, All that the Eternal hath spoken will we do.¹⁷⁵Verse 8. And so it says again, and all the people answered with one voice, and said: All the words which the Eternal hath spoken will we do.¹⁷⁸Further, 24:3.

כי שם נגלו וגו׳ denn dort war ihm einst, als flüchtigem, völlig mittellosem Wanderer der Gottesbeistand für eine solche Zukunft zugesagt worden, und diese Verheißung hatte sich nun so voll und mächtig erfüllt. Der Plural in Attributen und Prädikaten zu אלקים ist keineswegs ein sehr gewöhnlicher. Vergleichen wir die Stellen: אשר לו קרובים אליו (Dewarim 4, 7) ואם רע בעיניכם לעבוד את ד׳ וגו׳ וגו׳ לא תוכלו לעבוד את ד׳ כי א׳ קדושים הוא (Josua 24, 15-19) ומי כעמך כישראל וגו׳ אשר הלכו א׳ לפדות לו וגו׳ (Sam. II. 7, 23) selbst das א׳ חיים Sam. I. 17, 26 und 36; Jirmija 10. 11; 23, 35: so scheint in allen diesen Stellen der Plural aus der Pluralität des Gottheitbegriffes der nichtjüdischen Welt entstanden zu sein, auf welche alle diese Stellen hinblicken, und, im Gegensatz zu diesem, die Nähe, Heiligkeit, Wundermacht, lebendige Daseinswirklichkeit des einen einzigen Gottes Israels hervorheben zu sollen, der in seiner Alleinheit das wirklich ist, was die polytheistische Welt von ihren vielen vermeintlich träumt. So dürfte vielleicht auch hier der Plural aus dem Gegensatz zu dem אלהי נכר erwachsen, deren Embleme er soeben aus dem Kreise der Seinen und derer, die sich ihnen angeschlossen, — waren doch Frauen und Kinder von Schechem, wie es (oben 34, 29) scheint, bei ihnen — fortgeschafft hatte. Ihnen machte er es an dieser Stätte klar, wie das, was die übrige Welt in ihren Göttern als "betrogene Betrüger" vergebens sucht, er in Wahrheit in dem אל בית אל gefunden, der ihm eben hier offenbar geworden.