ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמות 32:13

AND I WILL FULFILL THE OATH WHICH I SWORE UNTO ABRAHAM THY FATHER. There is no need for the Holy One, blessed be He, to assure Isaac that He will not violate the oath which He swore to his father, for He is not a man, that He should repent.¹²⁷I Samuel 15:29. Abraham had no other seed upon whom a covenant had been established with G-d except Isaac. The oath, moreover, was not given on condition. In the case of Jacob,¹²⁸Further, 35:12. And [[illegible]] land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it. it was necessary that he be given such assurance on account of his brother Esau. He was thus saying that in him [Jacob] and his seed will the covenant be fulfilled, not in Esau. [But in the case of Isaac, why was it necessary that he be given such a promise?]
It would appear then that this expression, Vehakimothi eth hashevuah, is itself an oath.¹²⁹It is thus to be translated, And I will ‘establish’ the oath. This is now found in most English translations. It is for this reason that the Torah always says, The land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob;¹³⁰Deuteronomy 34:4. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou didst swear by Thine own self.¹³¹Exodus 32:13. For we find no source for an oath having been given to Isaac except this verse.
Now it was the desire of the Holy One, blessed be He, to swear to each one of the patriarchs to let it be known that each one was worthy of the covenant being made with him alone, and that the merit of each one stands before Him together with their seed. Even though the previous one suffices, it is an additional merit and honor to them.¹³²That is, their descendants. It is for this reason He said, Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land,¹³³Leviticus 26:42. since all of them had the distinction of G-d having made a covenant with them.
It is possible that He promised something additional to Isaac through this oath, namely, that He will fulfill in him himself, the oath He had sworn to Abraham his father, i.e., that he [Isaac] will be a blessing among the nations, even as He said to Abraham his father, And all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves with thy seed.¹³⁴Above, 22:18. The explanation of the verse before us will thus be: “And I will fulfill in thee the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father since you will be a blessing among the nations.” Similarly, He also says in the case of Jacob, And in thee and in thy seed shall all of the families of the earth be blessed.¹³⁵Further, 28:14.

It is well to note how Moses phrased this legislation when he commenced with זה הדבר אשר צוה ה'. He continues with איש כי ידור נדר לה', instead of merely saying איש כי ידור נדר אליו, repeating the word לה' unnecessarily. Moses had to repeat that word to allude to the power of the vow which is greater, i.e. above that of the שבועה, oath, a word limited to “seven” as it is derived from the word שבעה, seven, and subject to its limitations. Seeing that the vow possesses such a superior power it applies even to mandatory commandments and when one pronounces such a vow the wording of which overrides such a commandment this is not as if one had not said anything at all as is the case when one pronounces an oath the wording of which overrides such a commandment. The whole Torah legislation, i.e. the מצות, are products of the regions within these seven celestial regions They represent the seven different types of voices (sounds) the Israelites heard during the giving of the Torah as we explained in our commentary on Exodus 20,1. [Compare our translation ibid. Ed.] This also accounts for the fact that the preposition used by the Torah for the word שבועה, oath, is invariably the preposition ב, such as אשר נשבעת להם בך, (Exodus 32,13); בי נשבעתי (Genesis 22,16) or ובשמו תשבע (Deut. 6,13). נשבע ה' בימינו (Isaiah 62,8) “The Lord swore by His right hand,” Seeing that we learned in Nazir 3 that if someone says ימין [i.e. “by my right”] this is a form of oath, the idea of “swearing an oath” is associated with the party declaring it is a partner of the concept of the seven, שבעה, celestial regions and what they represent.
The word נדר, vow, on the other hand, is always associated with the preposition ל, pointing at something above the object or party referred to by the one making the vow. We have Psalms 132,2 נדר לאביר יעקב, or here איש כי ידור נדר לה', or in Psalms 24,1: לה' הארץ ומלואה. When you appreciate what we have just pointed out you will understand the meaning of Sifri Mattot 153 that whereas when someone renders an oath he swears by the person of the king, when he vows a vow he swears by the life of the king. The essence of the king is his life, in the case of the Lord, His eternal life. The Sifri there points to Elisha saying to Elijah “by the life of the Lord and the life of your soul, I will not abandon you,” as an indication that the expression בחיי is the ultimate statement of this sort (Kings II 2,7).

למען תדעו כי אני ה' אלוקיכם, in order that you will know that I am the Lord your G-d.” Moses had not spoken these words (i.e. at his own initiative), but from the words: ואלך אתכם at the beginning of verse 4, until the end of this Parshah, we are reading G-d’s word, as our sages have already explained on Exodus 32,13, in respect of the words: וכל הארץ הזאת אשר אמרתי, “and this whole land of which I have spoken;” we would actually have expected there the word: אמרת, “which You spoke of,” as Moses had been the speaker at the beginning of that verse.” The truth is that as far as there we read the words of the student, from there on we read the words of the Teacher.

But You Who will be enthroned forever, and Who swore to us by Yourself, just as You exist, it is incumbent upon You to fulfill it. Therefore...

‎ וזכרתי את בריתי יעקוב‎ THEN I WILL REMEMBER MY COVENANT WITH JACOB [AND ALSO MY COVENANT WITH ISAAC, AND ALSO MY COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM WILL I REMEMBER] — Why are they (the patriarchs) enumerated here in a reverse order (in contrast to e. g., Exodus 32:13, where it states: ‎'לאברהם ליצחק ולישראל וכו‎‎‎זכור ‏)? It is to say: Jacob the youngest among the patriarchs is worthy of this that, through his merits, his children should be redeemed; if he be not sufficiently worthy, behold, the merit of Isaac is with him; if that does not suffice, behold, then there is Abraham with him who is surely worthy enough! And why does Scripture not use the word “remember” in connection with Isaac’s name? Because this is unnecessary, for — says God, as it were — the ashes of Isaac (who according to My command to Abraham was to become a burnt offering) are ever visible before Me as though they were heaped up lying upon the altar (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 8 6-7).