כל המצוה, “The entire commandment, etc.” Although I have already warned you concerning how the category of commandments known as משפטים are to be observed, similar instructions apply to the performance of the other commandments of the Torah as your successful life in your own land including your enjoying children and increasing amounts of livestock as well as bountiful harvests will depend on this, as mentioned earlier.

וזכרת את כל הדרך,” you will remember the entire route, etc.” Nachmanides explains here that Moses reminds the people that they had first hand experience that by keeping G’d’s commandments, they, who had come this far, had enjoyed G’d’s miracles throughout their trek in the desert only because they did keep the commandments.

למען ענותך לנסותך, “in order to afflict you by testing you;” Entering a desert that did not offer means of survival was indeed a great trial for you, and you were totally dependent daily on manna from heaven, never knowing if it would materialize on the following day. G’d did all this in order to train you to observe His commandments and to follow His instructions, where to go, when to rest, etc. He could have led you on a highway leading through cities, but He did not, as He wanted you to know that you could survive by means of His largesse alone. This experience taught you that following His commandments is the fountain of life.

אשר לא ידעת ולא ידעו אבותיך, “you had no idea that one could subsist adequately on an exclusive diet of manna, nor did your forefathers know this.” Another way of understanding this verse is not the new dimension of the people‘s knowledge, but Moses wants the people to appreciate the extent of G’d’s loving kindness. Their forefathers, who had been loyal followers of G’d at all times, and had not rebelled time and again, had not been provided for by G’d as they had done, having their needs presented to them on a platter, so to speak. They had had to earn their livelihood by hard work, in particular their founding father Yaakov. There is yet another way in which we can understand our verse, i.e. that the words ויענך, וירעיבך, ויאכילך את המן are each something different, a subject by itself. The word ויענך, “He afflicted you,” refers to the trial of having to wander through a barren desert. The word וירעיבך, “He let you starve,” refers to the period until the manna fell, some 30 days after the Exodus, the time when the people had complained to Moses that he had taken them out of Egypt only in order to kill them in the desert. Finally, the words ויאכילך את המן, they were taught the great lesson that man does not live by bread alone, but by every utterance that emanates from Hashem. InYuma 74 the Talmud uses our verse to establish the principle that there is a basic difference between the outlook of people “who have bread in their basket, and those who do not.” Although, G’d provided on a daily basis, the people, as opposed to shoppers in a supermarket, could not feel at ease until after the new supply had arrived and was seen to have arrived. The ongoing miraculous nature is what is stressed here and what distinguishes a Jewish people in the desert from Jews before and after who also had to put their trust in G’d. The words למען ענותך refer to the statementאשר הוליכך במדבר.ארבעים שנה, “Who has led you through the desert for 40 years,” as this is all part of the ongoing miracle, whereas the words למען אנסנו הילך בתורתי in Exodus 16,4 where the manna appears for the first time, does not refer to the manna as daily miraculous food, but refers to G’d in general providing the people’s needs. There, G’d uses this as a test to see whether the people are grateful for G’d’s largesse. The latter is the way to understand the verse before us at its face value. However, the commentary given previously is more in keeping with the moral/ethical values Moses is trying to convey throughout the Book of Deuteronomy.

שמלתך לא בלתה, “your garment did not wear out on you.” Rashi [based on Pessikta de Rav Kahane. Ed.], explains the phenomenon as G’d’s clouds of glory that traveled with the Israelites everywhere, dripping moisture on their garments so that not only did they look as if freshly laundered and pressed, but the children’s clothing grew as the children grew. Ibn Ezra, quoting other scholars, claims that the Israelites had taken a vast variety of clothing out of Egypt with them. He himself considers it possible that one of the properties of the manna was that it did not cause perspiration in the people who ate it. He explains the phenomenon of the feet not experiencing swelling during all these years as also due to the qualities contained in the manna. Alternately, the slow pace at which the people moved was the reason that their feet did not swell. [Considering that in a period of 40 years the people traveled lass than 700 miles, it is hard to see anything miraculous in their feet not swelling. Ed.] Nachmanides disagrees with Ibn Ezra, seeing that Moses was at pains to explain to the people that observing the commandments had been the reason for their phenomenal success during the last 40 years. Moses simply points to the immediate past being an allusion to the future when, if they continue on the right path, G’d will continue to make life easy for them. It would be counterproductive to explain what Moses said here as being natural phenomena, when the whole point of Moses’ recalling the past is to encourage the people so that they would continue to qualify for the kind of miracles they experienced in the past. The basic lesson Moses is trying to get across is that man lives on everything that emanates from G’d, not just from what grows out of the earth and the oceans. New clothes are no insurance against moths, or other destructive agents of nature, so that a degree of G’d’s supervision is needed regardless of how secure one feels with what one owns.

כי כאשר ייסר איש את בנו, “for just as a father from time to time chastises his son, etc.;” when a father does so, he does it for his son’s benefit; similarly our father in heaven employs such means for our benefit seeing we are His children.

כן ה' אלוקיך מיסרך, “so is the Lord your G’d disciplining you.” The temporary afflictions experienced by the Israelites in the desert are examples of G’d’s using educational tools at His disposal. Solomon in Proverbs 29,17 phrases it thus: יסר בנך ויניחך, “Discipline your son and he will give you rest;” he continues with “ויתן מעדנים לנפשך, “and he will be a cause of delight to your soul.” By first disciplining one’s son, the goodies the father will provide will be so much more appreciated.

כי ה' אלוקיך מביאך אל ארץ טובה אל ארץ נחלי מים, “for the Lord your G’dd brings you to a good land, a land containing streams of water, etc.” The whole land is like an irrigated garden for it contains many natural fountains as well as underground reservoirs of water. The latter irrigate the lowlands, the former the hilly regions. From there they run down as rivulets. The point Moses is making is that some of the springs are fed by accumulated rain that has been absorbed beneath the surface of the mountains, other sources of fresh water are the excess remaining from the nightly dew some of which rises after sunup and penetrates as mist into the surface of the mountainside. Moses refers to the latter as מעיינות, springs. Other springs simply emerge from deep in the earth, released from the subterranean aquifer. Moses refers to them as תהומות, “the depths (of the earth)”. Sources of fresh water are readily available both in the mountains and in the plains.

אשר אבניה ברזל, “whose stones yield iron, etc.” The place you choose to look for stones will surprise you by harbouring iron. According to the Jerusalem Targum, the meaning is that the stones in the Land of Israel will prove to be as strong as iron. In other words, the land is full of quarries from which valuable building stones can be hewn. These stones will be useful in the construction of walls and fortifications. The reason why Moses did not praise the land for the silver and gold one might find there, is that the stones he mentioned would prove more useful than the silver and gold, which are only luxuries, not necessities.

ואכלת ושבעת וברכת, “you will eat, be sated, and bless the Lord.” This is the verse from which we derive the positive commandment to bless Hashem.

על הארץ הטובה אשר נתן לך, “for the good land that He has given you.” At all times, and in every location whenever you will feel sated, you are to bless Him in acknowledgment of both the nourishing food and the land on which it grows. You are to especially express gratitude that the land is ours as an inheritance to be passed on to your children. This commandment is not dependent on our owning or living in the land during any particular period.

וזכרת את ה' אלוקיך כי הוא הנותן לך כח, “you are to remember the Lord your G’d, for it is He Who gives you strength, etc.” Nachmanides explains that it was a well known fact that the Israelites counted among them men of outstanding bravery, experts in martial skills, and others of sheer physical strength, for had not their founding father Yaakov compared some of his sons to lions, wolves, etc.? Had they not defeated the most powerful Canaanite Kings in war? Therefore Moses takes pains to remind the people that such strength had been granted to these individuals by Hashem; they are not to credit their achievements in any sphere of activity to כחי ועוצם ידי, “to my own strength and the power of my hand,” but they are to remain mindful of the fact that without the active support of Hashem they could not have achieved any of this. Moses repeats once more his clarion call: שמע ישראל in chapter 9 reminding the people that the nations in the land of Canaan, on a man for man basis, are far more powerful than the individual Israelites, and they are more numerous, and it is only due to Hashem’s intervention on their behalf that past and future victories are possible. Those people even number giants as part of their population. If you were to leave everything to natural causes, you would never achieve your aspirations to subdue them. You must therefore constantly remain conscious of the fact that you have Hashem, Who is your commander-in-chief, and with such a commander-in-chief how could you fail?