ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף משלי 17:10

“And God spoke all these words, saying.” The text mentions both “dibur” [speaking] and “amirah” [saying] — one is harsh and one is soft, as it is written: Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob — these are the women, speak to them in soft language; and tell the children of Israel — to the males, words as harsh as sinews. For this reason, these are called the Ten Statements [“dibrot”], while all of creation is referred to as the Ten Sayings [“ma’amarot”], because all of creation was formed according to their own inclination, meaning in those forms which they chose for themselves — which is soft speech without decree. But God’s commandments are all royal decrees, as a person should not say “I don’t want to eat pork because I find it disgusting” but rather “I do want it, but the Holy One, blessed be He, has decreed against it” — which is harsh speech.
Nevertheless, for women who are intellectually weaker, one needs to explain in soft language to inform them of the benefits of the commandments, because any intelligent person accepts the decrees of the Holy One, blessed be He, while those with weaker intellect need explanation so that they will accept willingly. Even regarding the creation of heaven and earth it is written: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made (Psalms 33:6). Since they possess intelligence, they accepted God’s decree upon themselves even if not according to their own inclination. But regarding the lower beings it says: Let all the earth fear the Lord… For He said, and it came to be (Psalms 33:8-9). This means that He talked to them with soft speech, and they were created according to their own inclination. However, with the higher beings we find rebuke, as it says: Let there be a firmament (Genesis 1:6), for “a rebuke enters a person of understanding,” and similarly Moses said: Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the sayings of my mouth (Deuteronomy 32:1). This works well with the language of “dibur” and “amirah,” whether speaking of heaven and earth in general, or speaking toward people who have [spiritual] height and their height is like the height of heaven, and toward the common people [“amei ha’aretz”].

It [also] seems appropriate to interpret this in the opposite way: The heavens refers to the haughty individuals whose opinion of themselves is elevated, and to them Moses spoke harshly. However, the righteous humble themselves to the ground, and to them he spoke gently. This is in accordance with what is said: A rebuke enters more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool (Proverbs 17:10).

And with this approach, all the mentioned changes are settled, because in Moses’s words to Joshua it says, For you shall come with this people, and this speaks of the most resistant ones among the people, for the reason we mentioned, because on their account he needed to warn him in the sight of all Israel: be strong and courageous. Therefore he said, For you shall come with this people, meaning that the elders of the generation are with you, all according to their knowledge and advice, because truly, a rebuke enters deeper into a wise man than a hundred blows into a fool (Proverbs 17:10). And the most resistant among the people do not accept authority at all, and it is not their way to bear the yoke and accept the words of their leaders. Therefore Moses said, For you shall come with this people, all according to their knowledge and advice, and he said, to the land which the Lord swore to their fathers, etc. Because on their own merit, they do not deserve to come to the land, but only because the Lord swore to their fathers, for the merit of their fathers and your merit will stand for them. Therefore it says, which the Lord swore to their fathers to give to them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. For your merit will also stand for them to inherit the land, but they themselves have no merit of their own.