Deuteronomy 3:24

I supplicate compassion before Thee, O Lord God: Thou hast begun to show unto Thy servant Thy greatness and the power of Thy mighty hand; for Thou art God, and there is none beside Thee; for Thy glory dwelleth in the heavens on high, and Thou rulest upon the earth; there is none who can work according to Thy working or Thy power.

The intention of the following passage is to endear the Land of Israel; for if the land is cherished, they will keep God ’s commandments so as not to be exiled from it.

You have begun He said: You are infinitely wise, for You have begun to show … Your greatness … in heaven and on earth, through natural events.

deeds which are wholly wise might i.e., You are capable of anything.

Your mighty power Moshe refers to the signs which he repeatedly performed, until it was known throughout the world that there is no God other than Him alone: prepotent in heaven (home of the angels and the Heavenly Host) and on earth (home of animals and men).

G-D THE ETERNAL — “merciful in judgment.” This is Rashi’s language. Now, the Rabbi did not consider that the first Divine Name is spelled with the letters Aleph Dalet and the second Name is spelled with the letters Yod Hei [i.e., the Tetragrammaton]. represents the attribute of justice; the Name beginning with the letters Yod Hei signifies the attribute of mercy. Since of the two Divine Names mentioned here in the verse, the first one is with Aleph Dalet and the second one with Yod Hei, Rashi should have interpreted them to mean, “Lord of judgment in the attribute of mercy,” instead of writing, “merciful in judgment,” implying that the first Name signifies mercy and the second one judgment. See further in Vol. II, p. 67. In this regard [i.e., the Tetragrammaton], the Rabbis have said: “Wherever Scripture states ‘the Eternal’ [i.e., the Tetragrammaton] it signifies the attribute of mercy, and [wherever it mentions] ‘G-d’ (Elokim) it indicates the attribute of judgment.” of the two Divine Names that indicates the attribute of mercy, why then did Rashi put it first, writing “merciful in judgment?” Rather, the Divine Names written here mean: “Lord but Ado noy (Lord), Ramban writes: “Lord etc.” in the attribute of mercy.” And so the Rabbis have said in [Midrash] Yelamdeinu: “Moses said to G-d: ‘Master of the worlds! If it is justly requested by me [that You grant my supplication] give it to me, and if it is not justly requested by me, have mercy on me,’ just as Abraham said, O Lord Eternal, what wilt Thou give me etc.” Also in the case of Abraham, the Divine Names are written in this order: the first one with Aleph Dalet, and the second with Yod Hei. And the purport of the section [before us] will be understood [by the fact that the Divine Names are written in this particular order]. For Moses stated va’ethchanan (and I besought) and he did not say va’ethpaleil (and I prayed), since he spoke in “supplication” [to the Glorious Name], saying: “O Lord in Whom is the mercy, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant. Such was the beginning of my prophecy that You showed me Your glory — as it is written [at Moses’ first vision of G-d’s glory], And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon G-d — together with the greatness and the power,. and I learned to know what deity is there in heaven or on earth from whom could come …

החלות, as mentioned earlier in 2,25 היום הזה אחל תת פחדך, “from this day on I begin to place the fear of you, etc.” The letter ח in the word החלות is the reason why the letter ה preceding it has the vowel patach underneath it. Similar vowel patterns are observed when the letter ה precedes the letter ע, as in Isaiah 41,25 העיירתי מצפון, “I have roused him from the north.” We have the same pattern in Deuteronomy 30,19 when Moses says העידותי בכם היום, “I call as witness against you this day, etc.” Isaiah 9,3 is another example of this anomaly. When the letter following the letter ה does not belong to the group known as אחה"ע we would generally find a chataf patach under the letter ה.

ואת ידך החזקה, demonstrated by overriding well known laws of nature. No one but the Creator of the universe is able to do this. Moses credits G’d with having done all this only in order to be able to bring the Jewish people to the Holy Land. In view of the length to which G’d had gone to do this it behooves the people to do everything in order to justify their remaining in that land.