Moses, the hoary prophet, was about to reach his one hundred twentieth year. For him, it was the end of the road; the day he would pass away. Deuteronomy 31 records some of his last words to his fellow Hebrews. “And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel.”
Abravanel asks: Yet, only two chapters earlier, we find Moses convening all the people. Subsequent to
that, the prophet had inducted the Jews into a new covenant. Given that Moses had been addressing his
brethren, how are we to make sense of our lead verse: “And Moses went and spoke these words unto
all Israel?”
In Abravanel’s introduction to Deuteronomy, he writes that until this juncture, Moses had addressed the
nation. With the discourse concluded, the Torah records what the prophet did after he finished
proclaiming the terms and conditions of the new covenant with the Children of Israel. What is not
recorded is what the Hebrews did. They returned to their tents.
After all the people got home, the prophet took a stroll. He wanted to take leave of the people he led
faithfully for forty years – in a proper fashion. Precious little time remained left for him in this world. To
be exact, it was Moses’ last day on earth. It was a walk to show his brethren due respect, a walk to
remember. As an earlier commentator writes, Moses left his clansmen, the camp of the Levites, and
walked over to the adjacent camp, the one where the other tribes of Israel resided.
Moses’ act, Abravanel suggests, may be likened to a man who is about to embark on a journey. Before
he sets out, decorum dictates that he first pays his confidante a visit. Bags packed, the traveler knocks
on his friend’s door and tells him of his plans to leave imminently. Affectionately and respectfully, he
bids permission from his esteemed compadre to do so.
So too with Moses and his co-religionists – to each and every tribe he made the rounds. In what we can
well imagine to be an intensely emotional farewell, the oracle told them that he was about to pass from
this world. The time had come to say his goodbyes. “And Moses went and spoke these words unto all
Israel.” For the prophet, it was personal, visiting each tribe, informing them individually of his imminent
passing.
In a heart-to-heart, Moses sought to comfort his brethren. They aught naught take his death too hard.
His life, the people heard, had been a full one. He would on that very day mark his one hundred
twentieth year. Indeed, the prophet utilized and maximized the years allotted to him by the One Above.
In this way, Abravanel explains our verse, “And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel.” In a
show of love and respect, it was his goodbye.