Moshe’s Rebuke
The following is an account of the rebuke that Moshe gave to the Jews on account of all of the times they angered G-d.
Out of respect for them, Moshe does not mention all of their past transgressions explicitly but rather only alludes to them by listing the places in which they transgressed, by making it sound like he was rebuking them in those places. In actuality, the rebuke took place in the Plains of Moav.
Moshe made sure that everyone was present when he rebuked them so that none could claim that if they had been there they would have talked back to him.
The places listed in which they had angered G-d were:
- The desert – wherein they lamented that G-d had not killed them in Egypt where they had enough food to eat and instead were brought to the desert to die of famine (see Shmos 16:3)
- In the plain – alluding to the plain of Moav wherein they worshiped Ba’al Peor at Shittim.
- Opposite the Red Sea – Wherein they again whined over having not having died in Egypt (“is it because there are no graves in Egypt?” (Shmos 14:11) and instead having been brought to the desert to die. They also acted rebelliously after emerging from the sea, saying that just as they had come out of the sea on that side, the Egyptians came out the other side (i.e not trusting that the Egyptians had drowned).
- Between Paran and Tofel and Lavan – This is a strange one as according to Rabbi Yochanan, there is nowhere in the Torah that places with the name of Tofel or Lavan are listed. Rather it is an allusion for them having said foolish things (taflu) abut the manna which was white (lavan) saying that their soul hated that bread. The reference to Paran is regarding the incident with the spies that occurred in Paran.
- Chatzerot – This is an allusion to Korach’s uprising that occurred there. Alternatively, Miriam’s sin of speaking wrongly regarding Moshe occurred in Chatzerot and instead of learning from that, they spoke wrongly about G-d.
- Di-Zahav – This literally means “enough gold”. This is an allusion to the sin of the golden calf that came about due to them having “enough” (i.e. a great amount of) gold.
Moshe expresses how out of the ordinary it was that they traveled from Chorev to Kadesh Barnea in three days* – a journey which should take at the very least eleven days (when traveled via Mount Seir, which is the shortest route).
*Side note: Rashi provides the breakdown of the calculation of it being a three day journey: Bamidbar 10:11-12 describes how they traveled from Chorevon the 20th day of the 2nd month in the 2nd year, and then 40 days later, on the 29th of Sivan, they sent the spies from Kadesh Barnea. 30 of those 40 days however, were spent at Kivrat HaTa’ava (where they ate meat for the entire month) and additionally, they spent seven days at Chazeorth where Miriam was isolated as a mezorath, bringing their travel time from Chorev to Kadesh Barnea to three days total.
Moshe tells them that G-d made them be able to travel so quickly so as to get them into the land of Canaan faster, however due to their sins, they had to travel around Mount Seir for forty years.
Yaakov made sure to hold off on rebuking his sons until soon before he died. He explained to his son Reuven that this was to make sure that he wouldn’t leave him to go to Esav instead.
Moshe learned this from Yaakov and similarly rebuked the Israelites shortly before his death, during the 40th year, in the first day of the eleventh month.
So too did both Yehoshua and Shmuel rebuke the Israelites soon before they died (see Yehoshua 24:1-29 and Shmuel I 12:3). Also, King David only rebuked Shlomo soon before he died (see Melachim I 2:1-10)
Rashi comments that there are four reasons for only rebuking someone soon before they die and lists two of them:
- So that the rebuker won’t have to rebuke the one he’s rebuking for a second time
- So as not to cause the one who was rebuked to feel shame upon seeing the one who rebuked him.
The other two reasons given by the Sifrei are
3. So that the one who was rebuked should not hold a grudge and
4. So that the one who is dying and the one being rebuked leave one another in peace, as rebuking someone before leaving them leads to peace.
Moshe also waited to rebuke them until after he smote Sichon the King of Amora* and Og the king of Bashan and until after he gave them some possession of their land. This was so that the Israelites should not claim that Moshe had nothing on them and had done nothing good for them.
*Side note: Scripture lists him as being “Sichon who dwelt in Cheshbon” to indicate that both Sichon and the city of Cheshbon were so powerful that even if Sichon had not been so powerful but dwelt in Cheshbon that would have made him powerful and so too if Cheshbon had not been a particularly powerful city but Sichon dwelt there, the city would have been very powerful because of him, so how much more powerful were they together since they were so powerful in their own right. This was similarly the case with Og and the city he lived in the city of Ashtaroth** in the kingdom of Edrei.
**The name Ashtaroth alludes to sharp cliffs and and strength, referring to a place called Ashteroth-Karnaim where there were giants called Rephaim that were smote by Amraphel. Og was the only such giant who escaped from this.
So there in Moav, Moshe proceeded to explain the Torah in seventy languages*.
*Side note: These were the seventy languages were came about as a result of the tower of Bavel when G-d confused the languages of the world. According to the Hakethav Vehakabbalah, this means that Moshe provided them with seventy interpretations to every passage.
Moshe tells them that G-d said that they had dwelt long enough in Chorev at the mountain and it was time for them to move on. According to the Midrash however, G-d is telling them that they had gained much and attained much reward from having stayed there for so long, namely – they made the Mishkan, the menorah and other implements, they received the Torah, appointed courts (Sanheidrin) made up of leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds.
It was now time, Moshe continues, for them to journey onwards towards Arad and Chormah until they arrive at the mountain of the Amorites and the areas nearby (namely Ammon, Moav and Mount Seir). This area will be in the “forested plain”, on the “king’s mountain and in the southern lowland”*, and in “the south and by the seashore”**, the land of the Canaanites, and the Lebanon, until the Euphrates River***.
*Side note: A reference to the land of Yehudah.
**Side note: A reference to Ashkelon, Gaza and Ceasarea
***Side note: Scripture refers to the Euphrates River here as being the “great river”. Rashi comments that it is referred to as such due to its association with the land of Israel and cites two parables from the gemara in Shavuot 47b to support this, namely 1)If one associates with a leader, people will bow down to him and 2)If one touches someone who has been anointed with oil, some of the oil will rub off on you.
Moshe shows them that they can see the land that G-d is giving them to take possession over. Rashi comments that if they had had more trust in G-d and not sent in the spies, they would not have needed weapons to conquer it, however even now, no one would contest their taking it over.
Moshe reminds them that G-d had promised this land to their forefathers to give to them and lists each one of them (Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov) so as to denote that each one was worthy of this promise in his own right.
Moshe reminds them that he is not speaking to them of his own accord but rather by G-d’s order.
He tells them that G-d has elevated them such that now their judges have the responsibility for them. King Shlomo, himself a judge, expressed in Mishlei (22:23) how different this is than secular judges who do not bear this personal responsibility and potential liability for their judgement.
Moshe goes on to say that G-d has made the Jewish nation eternal, like the sun, moon and stars. This is Rashi’s explanation for the text saying that G-d had “multiplied” them, which would be difficult to be taken literally as there were only 600,000 of them at the time.
Moshe concludes this section giving them a blessing for G-d to multiply their number a thousandfold. The Israelites complained that by placing a number on it, he was limiting their blessing. Moshe replied that this was just his blessing to them, however G-d’s blessing to Avraham was not limited in this way, whereby he promised Avraham (see Breishis 13:16) that their seed would be as numerous of the dust of the earth.
Chumash "On the Go" 