ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף דברים 4:23

The expression וכל תמונה, means: “any kind of likeness.” [not “every likeness.”] It is similar to verse 10 in our chapter לא תעשה כל מלאכה, “do not perform any kind of work.” Alternatively, the word כל in the phrase לא תעשה לך פסל וכל תמונה, could refer to the attribute כל, which would represent one of the likenesses of what is found in the celestial regions., i.e. אשר בשמים ממעל.
The “כל” referred to is the likeness of some celestial phenomenon. The same applies in Deut. 4,23 where the Torah warns against ועשיתם לכם פסל תמונת כל, “from making for yourselves a molten image, a likeness of כל, concerning which the Lord your G’d has commanded you.” Here too the word כל may be understood as a reference to something specific rather than as a reference to “all” or “any.”
The words אשר בשמים ממעל, “of what is in the heavens above,” refer to images of angels or other celestial beings the likeness of which we are not to reproduce. Examples would be such angels as: Ophanim, Seraphim or Chayot Hakodesh, categories of angels which we speak about in our prayers. Even though we have not seen these angels we must not portray their likeness as it corresponds to our imagination. The words ואשר בארץ מתחת, “or those that are on earth below,” refer to three-dimensional reproductions of either human beings or animals or birds which populate the earth. The words ואשר במים מתחת לארץ, “or which are in the water below the earth,” refer to all manner of fish. We must not make accurate three-dimensional reproductions of these either. Neither must one construct likenesses of the demons inhabiting the domain under the surface of the earth (Mechilta Bachodesh section 6).
This verse teaches also that earth is positioned above water. This is the reason for the wording: “which is in the water beneath the earth.” We have a verse in Psalms 136,6 לרוקע הארץ על המים, “who spreads the earth above the waters” which makes this point even more directly. It is commonly assumed that the demons consist of three varieties (Chagigah 16). Some reside in the atmosphere and cause people to dream at night. Some reside within our bodies and tempt men into sinful conduct. Some reside within the bowels of the earth. If G’d had allowed these demons to surface they would be powerful enough to devastate the terrestrial universe.
Our sages (Mechilta Bachodesh section 6) added that the words אשר בשמים include the sun, the moon, and the stars, as well as constellations of stars, signs of the zodiac. The word ממעל includes the angels, whereas the words ואשר בארץ include man, beast and birds. The word מתחת, includes insects, reptiles and the like. The words ואשר במים include the fish in the sea and rivers; the words מתחת לארץ include the demons. Pessikta Zutrata on our verse confirms this interpretation.

[With] ten trials did our ancestors test the Omnipresent, blessed be He, in the Wilderness, as it is said (Numbers 14:22): "Yet have they tested Me these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice:" The first is that they said (Exodus 14:11), "Are there not enough graves in Egypt?" And the second is (Exodus 15:24), "And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'" And a miracle happened that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Moshe to throw wood into the bitter waters, as it is stated (Exodus 15:25), "And he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood." And they said in Tractate Pesachim that this tree [that the wood come from] was a hardofanei, which is bitter. He threw bitter into bitter and it turned sweet. (The editor said, I did not find this in Pesachim, but rather in Rashi on Pesachim 39 in the name of the Mekhilta on Parshat Beshalach. And Tosafot on Pesachim 36 cites the Mekhilta that it was an olive tree; and in truth these are two [different] opinions in the Mekhila - see there.) The third was in the Wilderness of Sin when they asked for bread, as it stated (Exodus 16:3), "when we sat over the fleshpot." The fourth is (Exodus 17:7) "Is the Lord amongst us or not?" There is a parable [relevant to this] about a man who carried his son on his shoulder; and [the son] was competent, but he said, "Have you seen Father?" What did his father do? He flung him from his shoulder. So did the Holy One, blessed be He, carry them 'on the wings of eagles' - [and yet they] ask, "Is the Lord amongst us?" What did He do? He brought Amalek upon them. The fifth is that they left manna over. The sixth is that in Refidim 'they did not have water for the congregation' (the editor says, I could not understand this, as he already counted this in the fourth test; and further study is also required about his whole count regarding this, and see Arakhin 16). The seventh was at Chorev with the story of the [golden] calf, as it is stated (Exodus 32:1), "the people gathered against Aharon, etc." The eighth was (Numbers 11:1), "And the people were like grumblers of evil in the ears of the Lord." And 'He set a fire of the Lord against them and it consumed the edge of the camp,' 'as the Lord, your God, is a consuming Fire, He is a jealous God.' The ninth was at the Graves of Desire (Kivrot HaTaavah) when they said (Numbers 11:4), "Who will feed us meat?" And did they not have meat; and did they not have the quail at each and all times, as it is stated (Exodus 16:8), "in that the Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satiation." And [just] like the manna did not cease, the quail [also] did not cease. Rather they wanted meat in the evening to satiation, [just] like they had the bread. And about this our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, stated, (Numbers 11:22), "Could enough flocks and herds be slaughtered to suffice them, etc." Our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him said in front of the Holy One, blessed be He, "They have much meat; their request is [only] from the evil of their hearts. And 'since they are a stiff-necked people,' even if You give them much more, they will continue to say [there is] not enough. 'Could enough flocks and herds be slaughtered' - and their mouths will [still] not be satiated." The Holy One, blessed be He, said [back] to Him, "'Is the hand of the Lord short?' I will give them meat until they are satisfied and they will no [longer] be able to open their mouths to say, 'we are not satiated'." And He added and brought them much more of the quails 'and they spread them all around' 'and the least gathered ten chomer' and they could not eat it [all]. Such is the simple meaning of the verse. And you will [hence] come to say that Moshe did not sin with his words. But our rabbis in the Talmud (Yoma 75a) did not interpret it thus. And the tenth was in Midbar Paran when they sent the scouts. And there it states (Numbers 14:22), "and they have tried Me these ten times."

And I commanded your judges at that time, saying. What is meant by saying? To whom should the judges say this? And at that time seems completely superfluous. It appears that he warned them about delaying justice, but [the meaning is] at that time, saying — at the time when it is clear to the judge which way the judgment leans, immediately he should say “So-and-so, you are innocent; so-and-so, you are guilty.”
And what Rashi explained — “from here [we learn] to be deliberate in judgment” — perhaps Rashi also believes that its meaning is to warn against delaying justice. Nevertheless, we learn from this also to be deliberate in judgment, because otherwise, why would the verse mention it? Are we dealing with wicked people who delay judgment needlessly? Rather, certainly every judge needs to be deliberate in judgment, and there is concern that through this he might come to delay justice and take longer than appropriate. Therefore it says at that time, saying.
And it could be that Rashi’s intention is to explain and I commanded similar to what is written in Parashat Va’etchanan (4:23): And you make for yourselves an image of anything that the Lord your God has commanded you [not to do] (Deuteronomy 4:23). Rashi explains commanded you means “commanded you not to do,” and the word commanded is a language of warning — that He warned you not to do. Similarly, and I commanded your judges is a language of warning, meaning: I warned you about at that time, saying — that one should not decide the judgment hastily at that time, but rather be deliberate in judgment. And this is a correct interpretation from a linguistic perspective.