Pisqa’ 191
1
“And I said to you” (Dt.1:20).
Moses said to them:
Not on my own do I speak to you!
Rather, from the mouth of the Holy One do I speak to you! 2
2
“You have arrived at the Amorite hills, which HASHEM our God is giving us” (Dt.1:20).
There is an analogy—
A king placed his son with a tutor.
The tutor would stroll around
and show [the kingdom] to him, saying:
all these vines are yours!
all these olive trees are yours!
When the tutor tired of showing him around,
he said to him: everything you see is yours!
Thus, the entire forty years that Israel was in the wilderness,
Moses would say to them:
“For HASHEM your God has brought you to a good Land,
a Land full of rivers of water, of springs and depths
flowing through valley and mountain” (Dt. 8:7).
But when they reached the Land,
he simply said to them:
“You have arrived at the Amorite hills” (Dt.1:20).
Do you say that the time [for conquest] isn’t ripe?
The time is ripe!
3
“See, HASHEM your God has placed the Land before you” (Dt.1:21).
Moses said to them:
I don’t expect you to accept rumors or tales.
Rather, only what you see with your own eyes!3 ,
“Go up! Take possession!” (Dt.1:21)—
immediately!
“Go up! Take possession!
As HASHEM, the God of your Patriarchs, has told you!” (Dt.1:21)