Torah Study - Deuteronomy 32:44-47 February 11, 2017

	JPS	Alter	Fox	Friedman	Hebrew
44	Moses came, together with Hosea son of Nun, and recited all the words of this poem in the hearing of the people.		Moshe came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshe'a son of Nun.		וַיָּבֹ֣א מֹשֶׁ֗ה וַיְדַבֵּ֛ר אֶת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵ֥י הַשִּׁירָֽה־הַזֹּ֖את בְּאָזְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם ה֖וּא וְהוֹשֵׁ֥עַ בִּן־נֽוּן׃
45	And when Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel,	And Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel.	When Moshe had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,	And Moses finished speaking all these things to all of Israel.	וַיְכַ֣ל מֹשֶׁ֗ה לְדַבֵּ֛ר אֶת־כָּל־הַדְּבָרִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה אֶל־כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
46	he said to them: Take to heart all the words with which I have warned you this day. Enjoin them upon your children, that they may observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching.	And he said to them, "Set your hearts upon all these words with which I bear witness against you today, that you charge your sons with them to keep to do all the words of this teaching.	he said to them: Set your hearts toward all these words which I call-as-witness among you today, that you may command your children to carefully observe all the words of this Instruction.	And he said to them, "Pay attention to all the things that I testify regarding you today, that you'll command them to your children, to observe and to do all the words of this instruction.	וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ שִׂ֣ימוּ לְבַבְכֶ֔ם לְכָל־הַדְּבָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מֵעִ֥יד בָּכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם אֲשֶׁ֤ר תְּצַוֻּם֙ אֶת־בְּנֵיכֶ֔ם לִשְׁמֹ֣ר לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת אֶת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵ֖י הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּֽאת׃
47	For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life; through it you shall long endure on the land that you are to possess upon crossing the Jordan.	For it is not an empty thing for you, but it is your life, and through this thing you will long endure on the soil to which you are about to cross the Jordan to take hold of it there."	Indeed, no empty word is it for you, indeed, it is your (very) life; through this word you shall prolong (your) days upon the soil that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.	Because it's not an empty thing for you, because it's your life. And through this thing you'll extend days on the land to which you're crossing the Jordan to take possession of it."	כִּ֠י לֹֽא־דָבָ֨ר רֵ֥ק הוּא֙ מִכֶּ֔ם כִּי־ה֖וּא חַיֵּיכֶ֑ם וּבַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֗ה תַּאֲרִ֤יכוּ יָמִים֙ עַל־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אַתֶּ֜ם עֹבְרִ֧ים אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֛ן שָׁ֖מָּה לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ׃

Verse 44

Moses came. ...It probably means, "So Moses came, from the place where he received the instructions to teach the poem, or from where he wrote it, and taught it to the people." (JPS)
Hosea.

That is, Joshua. (JPS)
An alternate version of "Yehoshua." Although the names sound the same, the latter means "YHWH is noble," the former, "YHWH delivers." (Fox)
And why does it (Scripture) here call him Hosea (since his name had long since been changed to that of Joshua — cf. Numbers 13:16)? In order to indicate that he did not become haughty, for although this dignity had been conferred upon him, he assumed a humble bearing as at the commencement of his career (cf. Siphre). (Rashi)
In this instance, now that Joshua has become the King of the Israelites, he is addressed again by his original name of Hosea. Nonetheless, seeing the people had been used to his name Joshua already, this name is used in Scripture in most instances. (Chizkuni)
/ibn Ezra explains the reason why Moses at this point calls Joshua by his original name Hoshea, to make sure that the Israelites would all know who he was speaking about, since some of the people may not have been aware that his name had been changed. Only the top echelon of the people had been aware of the name change. The allegorical explanation of our verse is familiar to all my readers. [For the readers of Ibn Ezra not familiar with the meaning of the name change from הושע to יהושע that we learned about in Numbers 13:16 the Midrash says that Moses added the letter י symbolizing G’d’s name so as to provide him with a spiritual assist when the time would come to take a stand against the other ten spies. Ed.] (Tur HaAroch)

Verse 45

all these words. The entire Teaching, including the poem. See verse 46. (JPS)

Verse 46

bear witness against you/all the words with which I have warned you.

The poem, as chapter 31 makes clear, is the eternal witness. The phrase could also mean "warn you" or even "impose upon you." (Alter)
Rather, "with which I have charged you." It is clear from the rest of the verse that the words in question include commands, and since the poem contains none, "the words" must be those of the Teaching as whole. (JPS)
The principal message is that just as while the Jewish people observe the commandments G’d arranges for their livelihood to be attained with ease and without much sweat, so, He will destroy them if they do not, because they thwart His plans for mankind as a whole. (Sforno)

set your hearts. Indeed, it is necessary for a man that his eyes, his heart and his ears, should all be attentively directed to the words of the Torah, for so it states, (Ezekiel 40:4) “Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart [upon all that I shall show thee]” (viz., the plan of the Temple). If in the case of the model of the Temple, which was being made visible to the eyes and was being measured by a rod, it was necessary for a man, according to Scripture, that his eyes, his ears and his heart be attentive, then in order to understand the words of the Torah which are like mountains suspended on a hair (i.e., numerous laws are derived from a single word of the Torah), how much the more is this necessary! (Rashi)

Question: Eyes and ears are not mentioned in our verse, only "your hearts" -- why does Rashi add eyes and ears?
- One may explain as follows: The statement in this verse "set your hearts...to be careful to perform all the words of this Torah" is the main goal, namely: to awaken the heart to the observance of the Torah. How does one arrive at an awakening of the heart? This is explained in Ezekiel...by seeing with the eyes and hearing with one's ears, one arrives at setting (i.e., attention) of the heart.... Hence, the heart is the main part, and all the others--including the eyes and ears are means by which to arrive at the goal (the heart). (Pinchas Doron)

Verse 47

it's your life. Again we are reminded here at the end of the Torah that these things are a path back to the tree of life that was lost at the Torah's beginning. (Friedman)
for it is not an empty/trifling thing.

The teaching is not inconsequential, for Israel's survival as a nation depends on it. The Hebrew adjective is reik, literally, "empty." ...In Hebrew the clause is literally "for it is not an empty thing from you." The unusual use of "from" prompted a midrashic explanation: there is nothing empty in the Torah, and if it is empty (unclear, meaningless)--(it is) from you; it is due to your own failure to study it thoroughly. (JPS)
- The lesson contained in these concluding verses of the Torah is the importance of each detail. There is nothing superfluous in the Torah and no sliding scale of values between its different portions. The seemingly most insignificant and prosaic detail hidden in the folds of a story is of equal importance to its philosophy and fundamental laws. All goes under the name of "Torah". If we can find no significance in a particular detail, if it is "a vain thing", then the fault is ours, and due to our lack of understanding, our failure to labor to discover its meaning. (Nechama Leibowitz)