פרשת ואתחנן תשכ"א - נאום משה בפרק ד'

For ask now of the days past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?

למן היום אשר ברא אלו-הים אדם על הארץ, “starting from the day G’d created man on earth;” at that point the doors of inquiry were slammed shut. We are not allowed to investigate what G’d did prior to creating man (Chagigah 11). Our sages phrased it thus: “investigation of what preceded the creation of man, what will occur after the earth as we know it ceases to function is prohibited.” Neither are we allowed to know what is “above” and “below” the visible universe. Even though the Torah preceded the creation of our visible universe the terms of reference for our investigation begin only with the creation of man.

Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before thine eyes?

to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day;

When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

Then Moses separated three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising;

אז יבדיל — The imperfect form יבדיל instead of הבדיל is to be thus explained (cf. Rashi on Exodus 15:1): He set his attention to be zealous for the matter, — to set them apart. And although they were not to serve as cities of refuge until those of Canaan proper (the western side of the Jordan) were set apart for that purpose, Moses said, Any duty that it is possible for me to perform I will perform (Makkot 10a).

אז יבדיל משה, Why did the Torah interrupt Moses’ speech which were coherent, sequential and continuous, and it now introduced another subject in the form of a narrative? Actually, Moses had dwelled at length on the past and the time had come to do what the Torah had said at the outset, i.e. to elaborate on aspects of the Torah on which Moses had either not elaborated previously, or had not presented to the people at all, or felt that it was essential to repeat the legislation in question to prevent problems after he was no longer on the scene to deal with them.
The subject of the cities of refuge is of concern to the judges and the whole system of the judiciary introduced by Moses as the first subject of legislation which he reviews. Already in chapter one, Moses addressed primarily the judges on whom rests the responsibility of ensuring a functioning government. In chapter 19,2 the Torah commands the setting aside of 3 such cities of refuge each on the west bank and on the east bank of Jordan (verse 9). Since it did not mention the three cities Moses had already established on the east bank of the Jordan this had to be added here, to show that the numbers given in the Torah are flexible, i.e. that as the territory of the Jewish people expands the need to add more such cities may arise. The command issued in Numbers 35,14 was not to be effective immediately as the Israelites had not yet crossed the Jordan. Moses had nonetheless set aside such cities although they did not yet function as such.

At that time Moshe set aside… The day Moshe announced the Covenant coincided with the day he set aside these three cities.

Then Moses separated three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising;

Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spoke, saying: I will sing unto the LORD, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.

’Let the children of Israel keep the passover in its appointed season.

Then sang Israel this song: Spring up, O well—sing ye unto it—

And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

And his house where he might dwell, in the other court, within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had taken to wife, like unto this porch.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing; then said they among the nations: 'The LORD hath done great things with these.'