Tanakhתנ״ך

Rashi's Two Interpretations of Devarim's Opening

Rashi offers contrasting explanations for the place-names in Moshe's introduction to Deuteronomy: a first reading that frames them contextually, and a second that explicitly links them to Israel's past transgressions. This examination explores how Rashi layers peshat-level and moral-admonitory readings of the same verses.

סתם את הדברים והזכירם ברמז

2 sources · all verified

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What the sources say

Rashi's first interpretation of the opening phrase of Devarim, as stated by Rashi (Devarim 1:1), is that because these are words of reproof, Moshe deliberately suppressed explicit mention of Israel's sins and referred to them only by allusion through place-names, out of respect for Israel's honor — so that the word אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים itself signals that these, unlike the rest of the Torah, are specifically words of rebuke.

Rashi's second interpretation, also in Rashi (Devarim 1:1), addresses the geographical difficulty that Israel was not actually in the wilderness at the time of Moshe's speech but in the plains of Moab, and resolves it by reading each place-name not as a location of the speech but as a reference to a specific sin committed there — so that בַּמִּדְבָּר, for instance, alludes to the complaint recorded in Shemot 16 rather than indicating where Moshe stood.

This dual reading in Rashi closely follows the Sifrei, where the Sifrei (Devarim 1:1) first establishes that these words were specifically words of rebuke and then introduces a second layer — דָּבָר אַחֵר — reading each term in the verse as an allusion to a separate episode of wrongdoing in that place.

Source 1 · Chazal

Verified

Sifrei Devarim 1

ספרי דברים א׳ — ד"ה (דברים א א) אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר

Sifrei Devarim 1:1

The Sifrei on Devarim's opening verses reads Moshe's speech as rebuke and often ties specific words and locations to earlier failings of Israel. It is a key Chazal source behind Rashi's second interpretive line.

(דברים א א) אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר מֹשֶׁה – וְכִי לֹא נִתְנַבֵּא מֹשֶׁה אֶלָּא אֵלּוּ בִּלְבַד? וַהֲלֹא הוּא כָּתַב כָּל הַתּוֹרָה כֻּלָּהּ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים לא כב): ״וַיִּכְתֹּב מֹשֶׁה אֶת הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת״! מַה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר מֹשֶׁה? מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהָיוּ דִּבְרֵי תוֹכָחוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים לב טו) ״וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט״. בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן, מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהוֹכִיחָם עַל מַה שֶּׁעָשׂוּ בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן. בַּמִּדְבָּר, מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהוֹכִיחָם עַל מַה שֶׁעָשׂוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר. דָּבָר אַחֵר: בַּמִּדְבָּר, מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהָיוּ נוֹטְלִים בְּנֵיהֶם וּבְנוֹתֵיהֶם קְטַנִּים וְזוֹרְקִים לְתוֹךְ חֵיקוֹ שֶׁל מֹשֶׁה וְאוֹמְרִים לוֹ: בֶּן עַמְרָם מָה אַנּוֹנָה הִתְקַנְתָּ לָהֶם לְאֵלּוּ? מָה פַּרְנָסָה הִתְקַנְתָּ לָהֶם לְאֵלּוּ? רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: הֲרֵיהוּ אוֹמֵר (שמות טז ג): ״וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֲלֵיהֶם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִי יִתֵּן מוּתֵנוּ בְיַד ה׳ בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם״.

Pisqa’ 1 1. “These are the words that Moses spoke” (Dt.1:1). Now, did Moses prophesy only these? Didn’t he write the entire Torah? For it is said: “Now Moses wrote this Torah” (Dt.31:9)! So what does the Teaching mean by “these are the words that Moses spoke” (Dt.1:1)? It teaches that these [but not all] are words of rebuke, for it is said [in Moses’ final oration (Dt.32:1ff.)]: “Then Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked” (Dt.32:15) 9. “From across the Jordan” (Dt.1:1)— this teaches that Moses rebuked them for their behavior on that side of the Jordan. “In the wasteland” (Dt.1:1)— This teaches that Moses rebuked them for their behavior in the wasteland. Another word: “In the wasteland” (Dt.1:1)— this teaches that they would take their baby sons and daughters, and cast them onto Moses’ bosom, saying: Son of Amram! What provisions have you prepared for these? What sustenance have you prepared for these?” R. Judah says: Look at what [the verse] says! “And the Israelites said to them, if only we could have died by the hand of HASHEM in the land of Egypt” (Ex.16:3)

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Source 2 · Rishonim

Verified

Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:1

רש"י על דברים א׳:א׳

Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:1

Devarim

Rashi gives multiple explanations for the place-names in Moshe's introduction: first as veiled rebuke, and then as alluding to the sins at those locales. The contrast between the peshat-level opening explanation and the more explicit second reading is central to understanding how Rashi shifts from contextual framing to moral admonition.

אלה הדברים. לְפִי שֶׁהֵן דִּבְרֵי תוֹכָחוֹת וּמָנָה כָאן כָּל הַמְּקוֹמוֹת שֶׁהִכְעִיסוּ לִפְנֵי הַמָּקוֹם בָּהֶן, לְפִיכָךְ סָתַם אֶת הַדְּבָרִים וְהִזְכִּירָם בְּרֶמֶז מִפְּנֵי כְבוֹדָן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל (עי' ספרי): במדבר. לֹא בַמִּדְבָּר הָיוּ אֶלָּא בְּעַרְבוֹת מוֹאָב, וּמַהוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר? אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל מַה שֶּׁהִכְעִיסוּהוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר שֶׁאָמְרוּ (שמות ט"ז) "מִי יִתֵּן מוּתֵנוּ וְגוֹ'":

אלה הדברים THESE ARE THE WORDS — Because these are words of reproof and he is enumerating here all the places where they provoked God to anger, therefore he suppresses all mention of the matters in which they sinned and refers to them only by a mere allusion contained in the names of these places out of regard for Israel (cf. Sifrei Devarim 1:1; Onkelos and Targum Jonathan). במדבר IN THE WILDERNESS — They, however,‎‎were not then in the wilderness, but in the plains of Moab (cf. Numbers 36:13 and further on verse 5): What, therefore, is the meaning of במדבר? It does not mean "in the wilderness”, but the meaning is: he reproved them on account of that wherein they had provoked Him to anger in the wilderness — that they said, (Exodus 16:3) “Would that we had died [by the hand of the Lord]” (cf. Sifrei Devarim 1:11).

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