MG Ékev

והיה עקב תשמעון AND THE CONSEQUENCE WILL BE, IF YE HEARKEN (The Hebrew text may be taken to signify if you will hear the heel, עקב) — If, even the lighter commands which a person usually treads on with his heels (i.e. which a person is inclined to treat lightly), ye will hearken to,

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the word He had commanded to the thousandth generation The Torah, which He commanded to make known in the world after a thousand generations, but He saw that the world could not exist without Torah, so he skipped 974 generations of them. It may also be interpreted according to its simple meaning: He remembered for Israel His covenant, which He commanded and promised to keep for them for a thousand generations, as the matter of (Deut. 7:9): “Who keeps the covenant and the kindness for those who love Him and who keep His commandments, to a thousand generations.”

שומר הברית ומשלם לשונאיו, the meaning of the words רשע וטוב לו, [a favourite argument of the heretics who point to the afflictions suffered by the pious and the good life enjoyed by the pious in this life. Ed.] can be understood on two levels: 1) the “good” the wicked appear to enjoy in this life is due to merits accumulated by their forefathers who had not been recompensed for these as yet by G’d. A prominent example of this is the enjoyable life lived by Ishmael who benefited by Avraham’s merits. G’d Himself referred to this in Genesis 21,13 when He said כי זרעך הוא, “because he is your seed. 2) The wicked person himself has accumulated some merits; seeing that on balance he does not qualify for life in the hereafter, G’d has to compensate him while he is on earth. This He does by letting him enjoy the transient joys available in this life to the extent his merits entitle him to.

וידעת כי ה' אלוקיך הוא האלוקים, in the event that you might says: “seeing that G’d has to keep His oath to our patriarchs, why do we have to bother to keep His commandments, seeing that he has to give us this land under any circumstances? Moses answers such a theoretical question before it is even mouthed by telling the people that G’d does not have to let them have the land as an heritage, Although, He has sworn to give the land to Avraham’s and Yaakov’s descendants, He would not violate His oath if this generation of Jews were not to take possession of this land forthwith. It is one of G’d’s attributes that He sometimes lets a long time elapse before carrying out anything He has said which was not tied to a date. Just as He remembers loving kindness performed by His creatures for 1000 generations, so, not lapsing any reward due to the descendants of a deserving ancestor, so He may decide that you are the generation which will be the beneficiary of the promise and oath mentioned. Moses promises that the people whom he addresses will indeed become these beneficiaries with the proviso that they keep G’d’s commandments.

אל תאמר בלבבך בהדוף, when you see that you enjoy victory against all odds, so that you realise this victory has to be credited to your enjoying a heavenly assist, do not commit a terrible error.

בצדקתי הביאני...לרשת, that G’d did all this on account of your being a model of righteousness, and that furthermore the speed with which all this occurred was on account of

ברשעת הגויים האלה ה' מורישם מפניך, that the Lord dispossessed them on account of their wickedness, because He wanted His retribution against these people to be orchestrated by your destroying them. This would be the very opposite of what David prayed for when he thought G’d was punishing him. He prayed that the judgment should not be executed by man but that he preferred to be punished by G;d directly, not by one of His surrogates, especially one of his peers. (Samuel II 24,14)

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ולמען הקים, so that as a result of observing the commandments the nation would merit to inherit the land. We find another instance where, as a result of complying with a command by G’d to wipe out the family of Achav, G’d not only confirmed Jehu as king but extended his dynasty for four generations. (Kings II 10,30)

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