וילך משה, he was self-propelled, just as was Amram, Moses’ father who married his aunt Yocheved, daughter of Levi, and almost certainly many years his senior. (Exodus 2,1) Another of many uses of the word וילך meaning that the person described acted of their own initiative is found in Deut. 17,3 where the Jewish idolater described had not been seduced by anyone. After having concluded the matter of the covenant between G’d and this second generation of Israelites many of whom had not been born at the time of the Exodus, Moses now proceeds to comfort the people over his impending death. He does so in order that the joy over G’d having concluded this covenant with them should not be turned into sorrow over the prospect of his impending passing from the scene. Rejoicing over having been found fit to become a party to such a covenant is something natural, the psalmist in Psalms 149,2 speaking of Israel rejoicing with or over its Maker. Being in G’d’s presence, such as here, is always a joyful experience, as is offering sacrifices to Him, as we know from Deut. 27,7.when the occasion was to mark the erecting of the stones after the successful crossing of the river Jordan.

בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום, Moses mentions his age to remind the people that there is no reason to be sad that someone of his age has to die. According to any life expectancy and law of nature, he was no longer fit to go on living by natural means.

לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא, even if I were still able, I would not be able to function physically as a leader should, such as leading you in he conquest of the Land of Israel as I am suffering from symptoms of old age.

וה' אמר אלי לא תעבור, furthermore, G’d had said to me a while ago: “you will not cross;” even if I were physically capable of leading you, the fact that G’d told me that I would not cross the Jordan would have made my leadership pointless. You are therefore better off without me so that you will be able to cross.

ה' אלוקיך הוא עובר לפניך, so that you have no reason to be saddened by my absence. You will enjoy leadership superior to mine, by G’d Himself orchestrating the crossing of the river. 'יהושע הוא עובר לפניך כאשר דבר ה. Although, strictly speaking, Joshua is not he people’s leader in that crossing, he will be the one who nominally will be leading you across the river, just as G’d has said.

(2) YEHOSHUA IS THE ONE WHO SHALL CROSS BEFORE YOU, AS ADONAI HAS SAID. For, while Yehoshua is not the leader, he will cross before you at the instruction of God, may He be exalted, for He is the leader.

לא ירפך, for at the hour of battle G’d will lend you additional mental fortitude

ולא יעזבך, neither will He abandon you afterwards by decreasing the attention He pays to your affairs. As a result, none of the neighbouring nations will dare attack you.

כי אתה תבא, even though I myself have not merited this.

את התורה הזאת, a reference to the final commandment in the Torah, Hakhel, for the king to read the Torah once in seven years before the entire Jewish people, minors and babies in arms included.

ויתנה אל הכהנים בני לוי, from whose hands the King who would read it in public would receive it. The Talmud Sotah 41 describes that the Torah scroll passed from the deputy High Priest’s hands to those of the High Priest himself, who in turn handed it to the King.

הנושאים את ארון, one of the three occasions when the priests rather than the ordinary Levites carried the Ark; at the time when the miracle of the waters being split would occur once more, the priests carrying the Ark were the catalyst.

ואל כל זקני ישראל, from whom the priests had received the Torah scroll on that occasion. On the folio in Sotah 41 mentioned earlier, the details of this whole procedure are described.

למען ישמעו, in order that the wise men in the congregation would understand.

ולמען ילמדו, and in order that the less intelligent members of the people would learn it from them.

ויראו את ה' אלוקיכם, once they have understood the greatness of Torah they will automatically revere and be in awe of its author, G’d, whose supreme intelligence they will admire.

ובניהם אשר לא ידעו, seeing that due to their tender age they are unable to formulate their questions if they have any.

ישמעו, either simply that their ears will hear sounds, or, if they are a little older, that they will hear words.

ולמדו, they will ask adults and learn by listening intently to the answers they receive from people who do understand.

ועזבתים, to the various nations who will overpower them.

והסתרתי פני מהם, after they will have fallen under the control of the gentile nations who will abuse them and oppress them I will ignore my natural sense of pity, and make believe as if I were unaware of their plight.

על כי אין אלוקי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות, all of this has befallen me because G’d has abandoned me. Seeing that they feel abandoned, they will not bother to pray to Me, nor will they do teshuvah, considering such prayer futile, wasted.

ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני מהם, not as they thought that I was no longer in their midst; wherever they are My presence is with them, as our sages said in Megillah 29 “wherever the Jewish people have been exiled G’d’s presence accompanies them. However, it does not manifest itself by saving them from their oppressor.”

על כל הרעה אשר עשה, Israel had done harm to itself, not G’d.

כי פנה אל אלוהים אחרים, while being beset by all of their problems, instead of turning to Me in prayer, supplication and remorse, they chose to pray to idols instead.

כי ידעתי את יצרו אשר הוא עושה היום, for I, G’d, know its nature, its character; they do not look forward to taking over the land of the Canaanites in order to serve Me, as I wanted them to and hoped they would do. (compare Psalms 105,44-45 “He gave them the lands of nations; they inherited the wealth of peoples; in order to observe His statutes and His teachings, and observe His laws.”) Instead they look forward to gratify their own cravings as a result of which their excess wealth will be the cause of their decline and corruption, as per 32,15 “Yeshurun waxed fate and kicked, etc.”

ויצו את יהושע, at that time G’d appointed Joshua to be the leader. The expression ויצו used here has been used elsewhere to describe someone’s appointment, such as in Samuel I 25,30 וצוך לנגיד, “He appointed you as leader,” or Samuel II 7,11 צויתי שופטים, “I appointed judges.” There are more such examples in Scripture.

על ספר עד תומם, together with the portions Haazinu and Vezot ha’brachah.

והיה שם בך לעד, the written Torah, reposing in the Holy Ark is witness that I have predicted and warned against your abandoning G’d and His Torah. This is why I arranged for this testimony to be preserved in a place accessible even to the High Priest only once a year on the Day of Atonement. This original copy of the written Torah will, if need be, prove that all that is written in all the Torah scrolls later and accessible to all the people all the time was a true copy of the Torah Moses had received from G’d at Mount Sinai. It will serve as proof that the Torah scrolls in circulation among the Torah scholars and the righteous people who commissioned copies for their private libraries, are all true to the original and do not contain additions or omissions. It would appear, however, that the Torah scroll found by the High Priest Chilkiyah (Kings II 22,8) was the very one which Moses had handed over to the priests who carried the Ark across the river Jordan which we referred to earlier. It contained only the passage dealing with the legislation pertaining to the king. It was this scroll in which Joshua wrote (added) the renewal of G’d’s covenant with the people which took place at Shechem. This was the record of Israel’s renewed undertaking to serve the Lord. Compare Kings II 22,13 where King Yoshiyahu refers to this scroll containing matters not contained in Moses’ original Torah scroll, as Joshua had written part of this scroll after the covenant’s renewal in Shechem. The King had become painfully aware how far the people had strayed from their solemn undertaking.

ואדברה באזניהם את הדברים האלה, the words of poetry contained in the portion Haazinu.

ואעידה בם את השמים ואת הארץ, just as we read in the opening words of that poem in 32,1.

כי ידעתי, in the course of that song (poem) I will reveal that I know how you will act so that the evil, if and when it befalls you, will not be perceived as “bad luck,” as coincidence, but can be traced back to my warnings. Once you realise and admit hat you had become guilty of a corrupt way of life, you will repent and turn to G’d in sincere remorse. Compare Isaiah 48,5 ואגיד לך מאז, בטרם תבוא השמעתיך, פן תאמר עצבי אשם, “Therefore I told you long beforehand, announced things to you before they happened, that you might not say: “my idol caused them.”

את דברי השירה הזאת עד תומם, including 32,36 כי ידין and כי אשא in 32,40, although those verses are not strictly speaking, part of Moses’ warning and testimony.