When the Lord Cuts Down God on to Israel, by Your Lives, I Will

"When the LORD cuts off..." (Deuteronomy 12:29). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: By your lives, I fight your wars, and I write down concerning you that you killed them. Come and see: the deeds of the Holy One, blessed be He, are not like the deed of a king of flesh and blood. A king of flesh and blood goes out to war, and his legions go out before him. If they are victorious, they come and make a crown and crown him with it. But the Holy One, blessed be He, does not do so; rather He makes the war and gives the crown to Israel, as it is said, "To Him who struck down great kings, Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan" (Psalms 136:17-20). And He gave the crown to Israel, as it is said, "Moses the servant of the LORD and the children of Israel struck them" (Joshua 12:6). And so too with Joshua, what is written? "And the LORD cast down great stones upon them from heaven" (Joshua 10:11). And it is said, "And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel struck" (Joshua 12:7). Because we are to inherit their land, He cut them off from the world, so that we might enter and inherit houses full of every good thing. For all the days that Israel existed, they were moved about and wandered in the wilderness forty years, though they were fit to go up at once, as it is said, "I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt" (Exodus 3:17), "to a land good and broad." Yet they did not enter at once, for as soon as they went out from Egypt, the seven nations heard that they were coming to inherit. What did they do? They cut down the trees, and stopped up the springs, and demolished the houses, so that if they entered there, they would find nothing. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: If I bring them in there at once, they will find it desolate, and I have promised them that they would find it full of every good thing. What did He do? He detained them in the wilderness forty years, and the Canaanites despaired of Israel, saying that they were not coming. They arose and planted the trees, and repaired the pits and the towns, so that Israel might come to its built-up state, to fulfill what is said, "And houses full of every good thing" (Deuteronomy 6:11). This is what is written, "And God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines" (Exodus 13:17). Once they had set everything in order, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Why are you standing? "Go up from here, you and the people" (Exodus 33:1); make war with them and cut them off. Israel said to Moses: When will we enter the land? When the LORD your God cuts off the nations from within it, you will enter.