Eikev Study Sheet Source Sheet by Daniel Mutlu 1. Deuteronomy 7:12-13 (12) And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, Adonai your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that God made on oath with your fathers: (13) God will favor you and bless you and multiply you; God will bless the issue of your womb and the produce of your soil, your new grain and wine and oil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock, in the land that God swore to your fathers to assign to you. 2. Rashi on Deuteronomy 7:12 AND THE CONSEQUENCE WILL BE, IF YE HEARKEN (The Hebrew והיה עקב תשמעון (1) If, even the lighter commands — (עקב ,text may be taken to signify if you will hear the heel which a person usually treads on with his heels (i.e. which a person is inclined to treat lightly), ye THEN THE LORD [THY GOD] WILL KEEP FOR THEE ושמר ה׳ וגו׳ (will hearken to, (2 God's promise (Midrash Tanchuma, Eikev 1). Deuteronomy 8:1-5 ג. דברים ח׳:א׳-ה׳ .3 (א) Kָל־הHִַצְוָ֗ה א1ֲֶ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַ.ְָ֛ ה5֖7ַם 1ִ3ְמְר֣.ן You shall faithfully observe all the Instruction (1) that I enjoin upon you today, that you may thrive לַע5֑Uֲת לְמַ֨עַן 3ִֽחְי֜.ן .Qבִיתֶ֗ם .בָאתֶם֙ וִֽי3ְ1Lֶ֣ם and increase and be able to possess the land that אֶת־הָאָ֔]ץ א1ֲֶר־נYְ1ִַ֥ע יהוה לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶֽם׃ (ב) (Adonai promised on oath to your fathers. (2 וְזָכ3Qַָ֣ אֶת־Kָל־הַ`ֶ֗]ְ א1ֲֶ֨ר הֹלִֽיכֲָ֜ יהוה אֱ[הֶ֛יָ Remember the long way that Adonai your God has made you travel in the wilderness these past זֶ֛ה אYQַָעִ֥ים 1ָנָ֖ה YfִHַYָ֑ר לְמַ֨עַן עeַֹֽתְָ֜ לְנcַֹֽתְָ֗ forty years, that God might test you by hardships לhָ֜עַת אֶת־א1ֲֶ֧ר Yִֽלְבָבְָ֛ הֲת1ְִמֹ֥ר מצותו to learn what was in your hearts: whether you [מִצְוֺתָ֖יו] אִם־[ֽא׃ (ג) וַֽיְעeְַָ֮ וQַ7ַעִבֶָ֒ ו7ַַֽאֲכִֽלְָ֤ אֶת would keep God's commandments or not. (3) God הHַָן֙ א1ֲֶ֣ר [א־יhָ֔ע3ְָ וְ[֥א יfָע֖.ן אֲבֹתֶ֑יָ לְמַ֣עַן subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor הq5ֽעֲָ֗ Kִ֠י [֣א עַל־הoֶַ֤חֶם לְבַ`5֙ יִחְיֶ֣ה הָֽאmָ֔ם Kִ֛י your fathers had ever known, in order to teach you עַל־Kָל־מ5צָ֥א פִֽי־יהוה יִחְיֶ֥ה הָאmָֽם׃ ד Uִמְלָ֨תְָ֜ that man does not live on bread alone, but that ( ) [֤א בָֽלְתָה֙ מֵֽעָלֶ֔יָ וvְגְלְָ֖ [֣א בָצtֵ֑ה זֶ֖ה אYQַָעִ֥ים (man may live on anything that Adonai decrees. (4 1ָנָֽה׃ (ה) וְיhָע3ְָ֖ עִם־לְבָבֶָ֑ Kִ֗י Kַא1ֲֶ֨ר יְיcֵַ֥ר אִיThe clothes upon you did not wear out, nor did ֙1 your feet swell these forty years. (5) Bear in mind אֶת־Yְנ5֔ יהוה אֱ[הֶ֖יָ מְיwֽ[ְcַָ׃ that Adonai your God disciplines you just as a man disciplines his son. 4. Rashi on Deuteronomy 8:1 Explain this in its plain sense: EVERY COMMANDMENT. — And a — כל המצוה (1) Midrashic explanation is (taking it to mean, “the whole of the commandment … shall ye be heedful to do”): If thou hast once made a beginning with a meritorious deed, carry it out to the end, because it bears the name only of him (it is attributed only to him) who does the last part of it, as it is said, (Joshua 24:32) "And the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel brought up from Egypt they buried in Shechem”. But did not Moses alone busy himself with them to bring them up (cf. Exodus 13:19)? But because he had no opportunity to complete this (to inter them), the children of Israel completed it, it was called by their name (Midrash Tanchuma, Eikev 6). 5. Sforno on Deuteronomy 8:1 the objective of people worshipping idols ,כל המצוה אשר אנכי מצוך היום תשמרון לעשות (1) is nothing other than their obsession with transient values which consist mostly of three categories, having children, living to a ripe old age, and success in amassing money or its equivalent. The Torah promises that by observing God’s commandments as spelled out in the למען :Torah one may achieve all these three objectives. This is meant by the Torah writing when commanding the laws of the Torah God did not only mean to guarantee you eternal ,תחיון you ,ורביתם (life in the hereafter, but God had in mind also successful, rewarding life on earth. (2 attaining wealth and honour by ,ובאתם וירשתם (will multiply by having numerous children. (3 inheriting the land. Genesis 22:1 ו. בראשית כ״ב:א׳ .6 (א) וַיְהִ֗י אַחַר֙ הַ`ְבLָ֣ים הָאoֵֶ֔ה וְהָ֣אֱ[הִ֔ים נcִָ֖ה Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the (1) test. God said to him, “Abraham,” and he אֶת־אַבyְהָ֑ם ו7ַֹ֣אמֶר אֵלָ֔יו אַבyְהָ֖ם ו7ַֹ֥אמֶר הeִֵֽנִי׃ answered, “Here I am.” 7. Ibn Ezra on Genesis 22:1 Uplifted’ instead of‘ נסה instead of נשא :Some say we need to read with different spelling (1) is a ‘Test’. And experts נסה Test’. And I say, the content of the Parashah (the story) proves that‘ Test) means - to know what exists in the present. And the Gaon (a Babylonian) נסה explain that Jewish leader) explained that the purpose of the test was to show God's righteousness to the people. But the Gaon surely knew that when Avraham bound his son, no one else was there. And others say “go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights” meant to be “make a sacrifice upon the mountain.” And not him for sacrifice. And Abraham did not know the secret of the prophecy, and he hurried to slaughter him, and God said to him, “I did not ask for this.” All these wise leaders needed their interpretations because they couldn't believe that God would command a Mitzvah and then change it. But all those leaders did not notice that there is a precedent for a change like that. In the case of commanding a role for the .Nombers 3) He replaces them with the Levites one year later – ג first born male child (Bamidbar Test, and that is why we don't "נסה“ And my understanding is) that the text of the Torah uses) need to think that anything changed. God tested Avraham for the purpose of giving him a reward (and not for the purpose of commanding sacrifices or showing his righteousness). 8. Chizkuni, Deuteronomy 8:2 you will remember the whole trek;” if your heart urges you to covet the“ ,וזכרת את כל הדרך (1) gold and silver which are part of the idols of these nations, I remind you of the last 40 years in the desert when you had no need for, nor even use for gold and silver; .in order to test you to see if you would revolt“ ,למען ענותך (2) if you would observe His commandments or not.” Actually the term“ התשמור מצותיו אם לא (3) ,in the sense of a “test,” that could be passed or failed, does not exist in G-d’s vocabulary נסיין seeing that He knows the result of the “test” in advance, being omniscient. G-d employs such “tests” in order to demonstrate to the attribute of justice as well as to the attribute of mercy the true nature of the Jewish people, as I have explained in my commentary on Exodus 16,4. 9. Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 8:3 The bread means that which a man is accustomed to. (6) that emanates from the mouth of God i.e., what He decrees. Compare, “as the word went out of the king’s mouth” [Esther 7: 8]. The sense of the verse is that Man does not live from just bread, but rather, from the energy that it contains — and could live just as well from energy that comes to us from Heaven, through the Divine decree (this is the meaning of emanates from the mouth of God ). The proof is that although you did not eat bread, you nevertheless lived [cf . 29: 5]. 10. Rabbeinu Bahya, Devarim 8:3 ”,God afflicted you and let you go hungry.” The words “God afflicted you“ ,ויענך וירעיבך . (1) refer to the tedium of the journey, compare Psalms 102, 24: “God drained my strength on the way.” .He fed you the manna.” This is celestial food, not terrestrial food“ ,ויאכילך את המן (2) not on bread alone, etc.,” the bread that people normally eat does not“ ,לא על הלחם לבדו (4) possess the power by itself to keep man alive but it must contain also ingredients enabling it to grow, to be assimilated by the body through a digestive process. These ingredients are usually referred to as the power and mazzal of bread. The Torah here reflects a well known statement by our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 10,7) that there is not a blade of grass in this world which does not have its own mazzal, i.e. properties which enable it to accomplish the purpose of its Creator in calling it into existence. This mazzal tells the blade of grass: “grow!” We know all this from Job 38,33: “do you know the laws of heaven or impose its authority on earth? Can you send up an order to the clouds for an abundance of water to cover you?” Each of these powers reposing in any of the phenomena G’d created contains within it an adjacent power, all of which combined amount to what we call the laws of nature, the symphony of instruments which combine to keep the utterances of the Lord’s“ ,'מוצא פי ה this universe on track. Moses sums it all up as the the word had emerged“ ,הדבר יצא מפי המלך mouth.” Just as historic decisions are attributed to from the mouth of the king,” (Esther 7,8) so Moses uses an idiom understandable to us human beings when describing G’d’s activities.