פרשת האזינו תשי"ב - שירת האזינו

כי ידין ה' עמו — This means, when He will sentence them to all these sufferings that are mentioned concerning them. The phrase has the same meaning as (Job 36:31) “For by them ידין nations”, i.e. He will chastise the nations. — This word כי has not the meaning of “because”, giving the reason for the preceding statements, but it is an expression (a particle) beginning a new a statement, as (Leviticus 25:2) “When (וכי) ye will come into the land” (cf. Rashi on that passage). The meaning is: When these judgment will come upon them, and the Lord will bethink Himself concerning His servants to have mercy on them again.

יתנחם HE WILL REPENT — This is an expression for changing one’s mind whether for good or for evil.

See now that I, even I, am He, And there is no god with Me; I kill, and I make alive; I have wounded, and I heal; And there is none that can deliver out of My hand.

See now that I, even I, am He, And there is no god with Me; I kill, and I make alive; I have wounded, and I heal; And there is none that can deliver out of My hand.

האזינו השמים HEAR YE HEAVENS that I warn Israel, and be ye witnesses to this matter; for so I have told them that ye will be witnesses (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 31:28). Similar is the meaning of ותשמע הארץ (i.e. the verb has the force of an imperative: AND LET THE EARTH HEAR). And why did He call heaven and earth as witnesses against them? Moses thought: “I am a being of flesh and blood (mortal); tomorrow I shall be dead. If the Israelites will once say, ‘We have never accepted the covenant’, who can come and refute them?” Therefore he called heaven and earth as witnesses against them — witnesses that endure forever (Sifrei Devarim 306:15). And a further reason was that if they should act worthily, the witnesses might come and give them their reward: the vine might yield its fruit, the ground give its increase, the heaven bestow its dew; while if they should act sinfully, the hand of the witnesses might first be against them (Rashi uses a phrase similar to that used of human witnesses; cf. e.g. Deuteronomy 13:10): “and He will restrain the heaven, that there be no rain, and the earth will not give its increase; and you shall perish quickly” (Deuteronomy 11:17) — through the attacks of other nations (Tanchuma 5:10:1).

We learn seven principles from this song: