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1 â[1] AND THE ETERNAL SPOKE UNTO MOSES IN MOUNT SINAI. âWhat has the subject of the Sabbatical year [stated here in this section] to do with that of Mount Sinai? Were not all the commandments declared on Sinai? [It is to teach us that] just as [this law of] the Sabbatical year was ordained on Sinai with its general rules, its specific prescripts and its minute details, so also were all [the commandments] ordained on Sinai with their general rules, and their specific prescripts and their minute details. Thus it is taught [here] in the Torath Kohanin. It appears to me that the following is the interpretation thereof: Since we do not find the law of the resting of the soil [in the Sabbatical year] repeated in the plains of Moab [when Moses restated the law, as contained in the Book of Deuteronomy], we must deduce that all the general rules and specific prescripts [of the Sabbatical year, including those of the resting of the soil] were declared on Sinai. [Why then was it necessary for Scripture to state here *in Mount Sinai*, since it is self-understood that this entire law was promulgated on Sinai, since the law of the resting of the soil is not mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy? We must say that the reason] Scripture mentioned [the phrase *in Mount Sinai*] here is in order to teach that every communication [i.e., commandment] that was spoken to Moses on Sinai, was given at Sinai together with its general rules and minute details, and they were [merely] repeated and taught again in the plains of Moab.â Thus far is the language of Rashi.
But this does not appear to me to be correct at all. For there are many commandments like the Sabbatical year which were not repeated in the plains of Moab, and [all] we know about their general rules and specific prescripts is that they were promulgated either on Sinai or in the Tent of Meeting [but not specifically on Sinai, as Rashi said]! Moreover, how do we know that the other commandments which were repeated in the plains of Moab are to be likened to the Sabbatical year [which was not repeated? Perhaps this analogy applies only to those commandments which were *not* repeated in the plains of Moab, like the Sabbatical year; but how do we know that the analogy applies also to those that *were* repeated by Moses in the plains of Moab, as contained in the Book of Deuteronomy? And how do we know that in the case of those commandments that *were* repeated by Moses], that only the general rules were declared on Sinai but the specific prescripts were given in the plains of Moab! And indeed it would be more logical to say so, that those commandments which were repeated by Moses, were restated for the sake of explaining their specific prescripts, since on Sinai only their general rules had been declared!
But the interpretation of the above Beraitha is clear: The general rules of the Sabbatical year were declared on Sinai, as it is written in the section of *âVâeileh Hamishpatimâ* (*And these are the ordinances*): *And on the seventh year thou shalt let it* [i.e., the Land] *rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat* etc. These are the laws of the Sabbatical year in a general way. Here He went back [to this subject] and said that *in Mount Sinai* all its specific prescripts were also given, since all of them are mentioned in this section. And at the end of this subject it is written, *These are the commandments, which the Eternal commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai*, in order to liken all the commandments to the Sabbatical year [previously] mentioned, [teaching] that all of them, likewise, were stated in general terms and with their particular details â that is, all were declared on Sinai. And thus it is taught there in the Torath Kohanim: â*These are the commandments*. Henceforth no prophet may promulgate any new thing. *Which the Eternal commanded Moses*. The messenger was [found] deserving before Him Who sent him [since he was the most perfect of all human beings]. *Moses for the children of Israel*. It was the merit of Israel that caused [the Divine Glory to rest upon Moses]. *In Mount Sinai*, [this teaches] that all commandments originated at Sinai.â Thus far is the text in the Torath Kohanim. But the reason [that the laws were repeated] in the plains of Moab was only for the purpose of explaining the Torah to the children [of those who had left Egypt, who were born in the wilderness after the Giving of the Torah at Sinai]. This appears to me to be the interpretation [of the Beraitha of the Torath Kohanim mentioned] and âit is well and nicely said.â
Now the reason why this section [of the laws of the Sabbatical year] was written here, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained to be as follows: This is the covenant which was written in the section of *âVâeileh Hamishpatimâ* (*And these are the ordinances*), and when the people accepted it upon themselves [by saying] *we will do, and obey*, then the covenant was made, and [Moses] told them this whole section [containing the laws of the Sabbatical year]. Scripture mentioned it in this place in order to put in proximity all the conditions [He laid down for Israelâs inheriting] the Land; for just as He said with reference to forbidden sexual relations that on account of them the Land will vomit them out, so He said in the section of *âIm Bechukothaiâ* (*If ye walk in My statutes*) with regard to [not keeping the laws of] the Sabbaths of the Land, and therefore it was necessary that He mention [here] first [what are the laws of] the Sabbatical years.
In my opinion this section is written here in its proper order, for the expression *in Mount Sinai* means when Moses went up there to receive the *second* Tablets [and does not refer, as Ibn Ezra interprets it, to the time immediately after the Giving of the Torah, even before Moses went up the mountain to receive the *first* Tablets of the Law], and the explanation of the matter is as follows: At the beginning of the first forty days of the first Tablets, Moses wrote in the Book of the Covenant *all the words of the Eternal* and all the ordinances stated there [in that section], and he sprinkled the blood of the covenant upon the people. But when the people sinned with the [golden] calf and the Tablets were broken, that was equivalent to a breaking of the covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He. Therefore when the Holy One, blessed be He, became reconciled to Moses by giving him the second Tablets, He commanded him concerning a new covenant, as it is said, *Behold, I make a covenant;* and He repeated there the stringent commandments that had been said in the section of *âVâeileh Hamishpatimâ* (*And these are the ordinances*) at the first covenant, and He [now] stated, *Write thou these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel*. Now the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to make this second covenant with them with greater stringency, and that it should be upon them by means of oaths and curses, and that it should cover, like the first one, all the original commandments and all the ordinances, as it is said of the first covenant, *And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Eternal, and all the ordinances*. Therefore Scripture states here at the end of the exhortations, *These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which the Eternal made between Him and the children of Israel, in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses*, this being an allusion to all the commandments and ordinances which had been said at the first covenant, in the section of *âVâeileh Hamishpatimâ* (*And these are the ordinances*), for they were all embodied in this [second] covenant.
Now in the Book of the first Covenant, the law of the Sabbatical year was stated in a general way as I have mentioned, as it is said, *And on the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow* etc., and now in this second convenant it was said with its specific prescripts, its minute details, and its penalties. At the time of the first covenant, during the first forty days [after the Giving of the Torah, when Moses went up to the mountain], Moses was commanded concerning the building of the Tabernacle; and when the Holy One, blessed be He, became reconciled to him and commanded him to make a second covenant for them, Moses came down [from the mountain] *and he gave them in commandment all that the Eternal had spoken with him in Mount Sinai*, including the making of the Tabernacle. Then *Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said unto them* as at first, *These are the words which the Eternal hath commanded that ye should do them*, when making the Tabernacle. Now they accepted the charge joyfully, and departed from his presence at once, and they all came back and brought the donations, and made the Tabernacle and completed its construction. And as soon as it was set up, *He* immediately *called unto Moses, and the Eternal spoke unto him out of the Tent of Meeting*, and He commanded him regarding the offerings and the whole *Torath Kohanim* [âlaw of the priests,â i.e., the Book of Leviticus], and Moses immediately commanded them all to Aaron and his sons and to all the children of Israel. When he had finished, he said to them: âG-d further commanded me in Mount Sinai to explain to you [the laws of] the Sabbatical year and of the Jubilee, and to make a new covenant with you concerning all the commandments and ordinances, by means of adjuration and oath.â It was not necessary now [for Moses] to slaughter offerings and sprinkle half of the blood upon the people and half upon the altar, as he had done at the first covenant, because now they were [again] accepting upon themselves the original covenant, with these oaths and adjurations. This is the sense of the expression, *which the Eternal made between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai*, for it was He Who made with them this [second] covenant, having forgiven them on the basis of these conditions [i.e., the oaths and adjurations mentioned further on in Chapter 26], as I have explained at the end of [*Seder*] *Ki Thisa*. Similarly, the covenant at the plains of Moab was made likewise, by means of the people accepting upon themselves the Torah with those oaths and adjurations [mentioned in Deuteronomy Chapter 28], this being the covenant, as it is said, *These are the words of the covenant which the Eternal commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which He made with them in Horeb*. The Rabbis of blessed memory have spoken the truth in saying that among the conditions on which the Land [was given by G-d to Israel] are [those of observing the laws of] the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee, as He will mention in the exhortations, and they are clearly expressed in this second covenant [as referring to the commandments in this section].
Version: Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH002108945/NLI
License: CC-BY