Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Torah

HE WILL DESTROY THEM, AND HE WILL BRING THEM DOWN. The meaning thereof is that “He will bring them down and He will destroy them” [because, obviously, they could be destroyed after having been brought down, but not vice versa]. The expression ‘yachni’eim’ (He will bring them down) denotes “humiliation,” as in the usage, Seest thou how Ahab ‘nichna’ (humbleth himself) before Me?; if then perchance their uncircumcised heart ‘yikana’ (be humbled), and so all [similar expressions]. And the purport thereof is that these peoples were very frightened of Israel. With a trembling heart, low spirit and feebleness of hands they went out [against them in battle], as it is stated, And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, that were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, that were by the sea, heard how the Eternal had dried up the waters of the Jordan etc. that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel. It is possible that the expression He will destroy them alludes to the nations greater and mightier than thyself — and He will bring them down refers to the sons of the Anakim, for despite all their might and height, their hearts were more humbled than [those of] the rest of the people and they did not go into battle at all, but were hiding in the mountains and in the fortified cities, as it is said, And Joshua came at that time, and cut off the Anakim from the hill-country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill-country of Judah, and from all the hill-country of Israel; ‘with’ their cities Joshua utterly destroyed them, that is to say he destroyed them “in” their cities [indicating that the Anakim never entered the battlefield]. Similarly, it is said, And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron etc. and they smote Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

SPEAK NOT THOU IN THY HEART. After cautioning that you should not think ‘my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.’ but instead you are to know that the power over the vanquished was given to you by G-d, and that [the victory over] their mighty ones and fortified cities that you will have conquered [was made possible by] G-d in His Glory Who did it for you in a generally known miracle from Him, he further warned them, “Do not think that G-d did all this for you because of your righteousness; rather, He has done so for you only because of the wickedness of these nations.” Now this is a cause for the destruction of these nations, but he gave no reason for Israel’s possession of the Land. Therefore he reverted and explained, Not for thy righteousness that you will be righteous in conduct, nor even because of the upright heart that you will have, but only because of the wickedness of these nations will they be destroyed, and because of [His] oath to your fathers will you possess the Land, for your sin cannot annul the gift He gave to your fathers since He gave it to them by an oath. And Rashi wrote: “Speak not thou in thy heart — my righteousness and the wickedness of these nations caused me [to possess the Land]. Not for thy righteousness.” But this is not correct. the wickedness of the nations was a cause of one thing — their coming into the possession of the Land. On this Ramban comments that the verses indicate instead that there are two separate warnings here: “Do not think that because of your righteousness you are coming to possess the Land, and do not think that because of the wickedness of these nations they are driven out from it” (Mizrachi). Now one should ask, “Has he not said, But because the Eternal loved you, thus establishing that they are beloved on high, and, [as we know], G-d loves only those who are good, for the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth, and if so, [it is justifiable that] they come to possess the Land also for their [own] righteousness [so, how can he say here Not for thy righteousness, etc.]?” The answer is that there he speaks of Israel in general, and here he reproves that particular generation that has been rebellious against the Eternal from the day they were in the wilderness.

AND THAT HE MAY ESTABLISH THE WORD WHICH THE ETERNAL SWORE UNTO THY FATHERS. The purport thereof is that He had said and they shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And in the fourth generation they shall come back hither., Verse 16. Therefore it could not be postponed to a later generation.

ALSO IN HOREB YE MADE THE ETERNAL ANGRY. Before even beginning to explain to them the Torah, he [Moses] reproved them for the sins which caused them evil and which were not forgiven: he mentioned the affairs of the spies, and the waters of Meribah. Afterwards he explained the Ten Commandments and the section of the Unity of G-d [Sh’ma], and he admonished them with many exhortations against idolatry; he cautioned them concerning the commandments in general, and he said that they [the commandments] are all good and, in consequence of [observing them] all the good will come to them, and then he commences to explain the individual commandments. But before he mentioned any of the commandments specifically he returned to reprove them and to visit upon them all their iniquities which they had committed from the time they received the Torah and henceforth. But the complaints they made before the Giving of the Torah — when they were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea, and the people murmured at Marah, and in Alush — he did not mention to them, because, from the time that they received the Torah, they were more obligated to hearken to the voice of G-d Who made a covenant with them. Therefore, he began here, Also in Horeb ye made the Eternal angry, and he mentioned to them the affair of the [golden] calf, which I have already explained.

SO I TURNED AND CAME DOWN FROM THE MOUNT. I have already explained in its place, Verse 11 (Vol. II, pp. 588-561). that before Moses came down from the mountain [and burned the calf] he prayed for them, and, as a result of his prayer, it was said to him, And the Eternal repented of the evil which He said He would do unto His people., Verse 14. The word “repented” here is an anthropomorphism (Ibn Ezra). Now, however, he did not mention it because he wanted to give them a [general] review of the great burden and suffering that he undertook for their sake — that they caused him to break the Tablets, to pray for them forty days and forty nights, and also to pray on behalf of Aaron because G-d was very angry with him. Afterwards he mentioned the first supplication, Verses 25-29. with which he [immediately] before he came down from the mountain besought the face of the Eternal his G-d not to destroy them.

AND I TOOK HOLD OF THE TWO TABLETS. This is also meant to be part of the chastisements. He is saying: “your sin was greater than could be borne, to the point that when I saw you being merry before the calf I could not restrain [my anger] and I broke the Tablets.” He had to mention this because he wanted them to realize the significance of the second Tablets, as he will explain [in the section that follows]. Possibly he is alluding further to the favor he did them when he endangered his own life by breaking the Tablets of G-d for their sake, as our Rabbis have said: “It is better that you [Israel] be judged like an [unchaste] unmarried woman and not like an [adulterous] wife.”

FOR I WAS IN DREAD OF THE ANGER. He is stating that because of the anger and the fury wherewith the Eternal was angry with you at first [that He wanted] to destroy you, I stood in awe even now, for there was still [enough] of that great anger upon you to destroy you, even though G-d had already repented of the evil which He said He would do unto His people., Verse 14. The word “repented” here is an anthropomorphism (Ibn Ezra). Therefore I returned and threw myself down [in prayer] in your behalf for forty days and forty nights until He hearkened unto me that time also just as He hearkened the first time before I descended [from the mountain]. For Aaron, also, I prayed at that time when I returned there [to the mountain] because, until he had cleansed [the camp of] the calf, [Moses’ main] concern was but to turn back His wrath, lest He should destroy the [whole] people in a moment, [and hence he did not pray especially for Aaron until he returned to the mountain].

AND I CAST THE DUST THEREOF INTO THE BROOK THAT DESCENDED OUT OF THE MOUNT. He did not mention that he made them drink [of the water mixed with the dust of the calf] by way of humiliating them for their deeds, because he did not want to tell them that he had done to them what is done to wives suspected of adultery.

And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that the meaning of the verse, And at Taberah, and at Massah etc., is that because at Taberah the people were as murmerers, testing G-d with complaints, therefore Moses mentioned to them that “you angered G-d with the challenge of proving [His power] at Taberah just as you had already done another time at Massah and you accepted no correction.” He [Ibn Ezra] explained it well. Behold, the sin of testing G-d is a great sin and of a serious nature, as he admonished against it, Ye shall not try the Eternal your G-d, as ye tried Him in Massah; therefore he cited it to them again here. So also he briefly mentioned to them once again the sin of the spies because of the great sin it entailed, for with it he completed [this section], saying, Ye have been rebellious against the Eternal from the day I knew you. He stated from the day I knew you in order to allude to their murmurings before the Giving of the Torah.

AND I FELL DOWN BEFORE THE ETERNAL. He is stating: “I had to cast myself down in prayer for you forty days and forty nights because of this great sin, for at first G-d said to destroy you, until I prayed to G-d and said ‘[O G-d Eternal], destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance.’” This was his prayer before he came down from the mountain, and it was because of this prayer that he was answered with And the Eternal repented of the evil which He said He would do unto His people., Verse 14. The word “repented” here is an anthropomorphism (Ibn Ezra). He did not mention the prayer of the forty days and forty nights, for the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. I have already explained. the reason why the Divine Names are written both with Aleph Daleth, and Yod Hei [in Verse 26: O G-d Eternal, destroy not Thy people etc.].

BECAUSE THE ETERNAL WAS NOT ABLE TO BRING THEM INTO THE LAND WHICH HE PROMISED THEM. During the affair of the spies, Moses said, [that the nations will say] Because the Eternal was not able to bring this people into the Land which He swore unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness, meaning, they [the nations] will say that as they [the Israelites] approached and were near to the Land, and He saw that He was not able to be victorious over those nations He slew them [the Israelites] in the wilderness. But here [with reference to the calf] he [Moses] said [that the Egyptians would claim], and because He hated them, He hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness, since this hatred already existed in Egypt before He took them out from there. The purport of this was that, since at the time when the calf was made, they were still close to Egypt and far from the land of Canaan, the Egyptians would claim that even when they were still in Egypt, He realized that He lacked the power to bring them into the Land of which He spoke to them within hearing of the Egyptians. Therefore He hated them that it [His Name] should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight He made Himself known to them [the Israelites]. He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt to slay them in the wilderness in a place where their fate would not become known. This is the intent of the verse, [Why should the Egyptians speak, saying:] for evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains? meaning, that He planned this evil design against them before He brought them out from among the people of Egypt to slay them between the mountains, a place that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt. The point of these arguments was that the nations would speak of the Eternal, the G-d of Israel, [in a manner as they speak of other gods], speaking against Him [saying:] ‘As the gods of the nations of the lands,’ similar to what is stated, and now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia. I have already mentioned something of this subject.