Eshdat Lamo as a reference to אַשְׁדֹּת הַפִּסְגָּה

Summary: And if so, then neither the reisha nor seifa of the pasuk is speaking about mattan Torah.

Post: Towards the start of veZot HaBerachah, on the pasuk:

ב  וַיֹּאמַר, ה מִסִּינַי בָּא וְזָרַח מִשֵּׂעִיר לָמוֹ--הוֹפִיעַ מֵהַר פָּארָן, וְאָתָה מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ; מִימִינוֹ, אשדת (אֵשׁ דָּת) לָמוֹ.

2 And he said: The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came from the myriads holy, at His right hand was a fiery law unto them.

we saw in a previous post the Ramban and Tur's unique take. Turning now to Shadal, we see that he writes as follows:

 ב ] ה ' מסיני בא: הטעם ה' נגלה עלי כאן כדי שאברך את ישראל, והנה ברכותי מפי עליון. ואמר שבא מסיני, שהוא המקום שנגלה עליו תחילה, ובבואו לכאן, הנה כבודו זורח ומופיע משעיר ופארן שהם בין הר סיני והר נבו, ובא למו, בשביל ישראל, כדי לברכם. 

מימינו אשדת: מימין לאשדת הפסגה הזאת שהיה משה עומד אז בתחתיתה, וטעם זכירת הימין, כי סיני ושעיר ופארן כולם לדרום הר נבו, והדרום נקרא ימין והצפון נקרא שמאל. ואין הכוונה כלל על מתן תורה. שאם כן היה לו לומר : "אל" סיני, לא : " מסיני". אשדת כתיב מילה חדא. והוא מן אשדות הפסגה ( למעלה ג' י"ז), וי"ו מימינו הוא על דרך בנו בעור ( במדבר כ"ד ג'), והיתה מתחילתה וי"ו הכינוי, על דרך מטתו שלשלמה ( שיר השירים ג' ז') שהוא על דרך לשון ארמי, שמה די אלהא ( דניאל ב' כ'), אלההון די שדרך מישך ( שם ג' כ"ט) ובמשך הזמן נשכח עיקר הוראתה וחזרה להיות אות נוספת, לפיכך מצאנוה גם אצל שם שהוא לשון נקבה, כגון חיתו ארץ ( בראשית א' כ"ד) וכן כאן מימינו אשדת. מילת דת איננה לשון עברי ואף לא לשון ארמי, אלא לשון פרסי 

הטעמים הם מסכימים תמיד עם הקרי, וכאן הקרי הוא אש דת בשתי מילות, לפיכך היה מן ההכרח שיהיו הטעמים בלתי מסכימים עם פירושי. אשדת בתי"ו בלי סמיכות, כמו עזרת מצר ( תהלים ס' י"ג), חכמת ודעת ( ישעיה ל"ג ו') וזולתם

"ה מִסִּינַי בָּא -- the meaning is that Hashem was revealed to me here, such that I should bless Israel, and thus, my blessing is from the mouth of the One On High. And he said that 'He came from Sinai', which was the place where Hashem revealed Himself first. And when He came here, behold His Glory rose and shone forth from Seir and Paran, which are between Har Sinai and Har Nevo. And came unto them, for the sake of Israel, in order to bless them.


מִימִינוֹ,אֵשׁ דָּת -- From the right of this Eshdat HaPisgah, which Moshe was standing then at its base. And the meaning of mentioning the right is that Sinai, Seir, and Paran are all to the south of Har Nevo, and the south is called right while the north is called left. And the intent is not at all to matan Torah. For if so, it should have said el-Sinai, 'to Sinai', not miSina, 'from Sinai'.


אֵשׁדָּת is written as a single word. And it is from Ashdot HaPisgah, {the slopes of Pisgah} {in Devarim 3:17:

יז  וְהָעֲרָבָה, וְהַיַּרְדֵּן וּגְבֻל--מִכִּנֶּרֶת, וְעַד יָם הָעֲרָבָה יָם הַמֶּלַח, תַּחַת אַשְׁדֹּת הַפִּסְגָּה, מִזְרָחָה.

17 the Arabah also, the Jordan being the border thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.

The vav of מִימִינוֹ is in the same manner of Beno Beor {Bemidbar 24:3, נְאֻם בִּלְעָם בְּנוֹ בְעֹר}. And initially the vav was the vav of attribution {I would guess he means the genitive case, connoting possession}, in the same manner of {Shir Hashirim 3:7}, מִטָּתוֹ שֶׁלִּשְׁלֹמֹה {with the vav ending}, which is in the manner of the Aramaic language, as in Daniel 2:20:

כ  עָנֵה דָנִיֵּאל, וְאָמַר--לֶהֱוֵא שְׁמֵהּ דִּי-אֱלָהָא מְבָרַךְ, מִן-עָלְמָא וְעַד עָלְמָא:  דִּי חָכְמְתָא וּגְבוּרְתָא, דִּי לֵהּ-הִיא.

20 Daniel spoke and said: Blessed be the name of God from everlasting even unto everlasting; for wisdom and might are His

{where the tzeirei mapik heh means His Name, even though there is already a דִּי-אֱלָהָא which immediately follows.} And Daniel 3:29:

כט  וּמִנִּי, שִׂים טְעֵם, דִּי כָל-עַם אֻמָּה וְלִשָּׁן דִּי-יֵאמַר שלה (שָׁלוּ) עַל אֱלָהֲהוֹן דִּי-שַׁדְרַךְ מֵישַׁךְ וַעֲבֵד נְגוֹא, הַדָּמִין יִתְעֲבֵד וּבַיְתֵהּ נְוָלִי יִשְׁתַּוֵּה; כָּל-קֳבֵל, דִּי לָא אִיתַי אֱלָהּ אָחֳרָן, דִּי-יִכֻּל לְהַצָּלָה, כִּדְנָה.

29 Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort.'

{where the cholam nun-sofit implies 'their God', even though it is immediately followed by דִּי-שַׁדְרַךְ מֵישַׁךְ וַעֲבֵד נְגוֹא.}

And, with the passage of time, its initial import was forgotten and it turned to be an extraneous letter. Therefore we find it as well by a noun which is feminine, such as {Bereishit 1:24}

כד  וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה לְמִינָהּ, בְּהֵמָה וָרֶמֶשׂ וְחַיְתוֹ-אֶרֶץ, לְמִינָהּ; וַיְהִי-כֵן.

24 And God said: 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind.' And it was so.

And so too here, מִימִינוֹ,אֵשׁדָּת.


The word dat is not of the Hebrew language nor of the Aramaic language, but rather of the Persian language.

{Josh: To interject, this explanation by is not in accordance with the trup. First off, note the zakef-gadol on the word מִימִינוֹ. As a melech, it severs the word from the אֵשׁדָּת which follows it. Furthermore, there are two trup marks on the word אֵשׁדָּת, one on the אֵשׁ and one on the דָּת. That implies that these are two words, rather than a single word.}

The trup marks always agree with the krei. And here, the krei is esh dat, with two words. Therefore, perforce, the trup cannot agree with my explanation.


אֵשׁדָּת with a tav is not the construct form, such as {Tehillim 60:13}:

יג  הָבָה-לָּנוּ עֶזְרָת מִצָּר;    וְשָׁוְא, תְּשׁוּעַת אָדָם.

13 Give us help against the adversary; for vain is the help of man.

{where ezrat is simply 'help', not 'help of X'}, and {Yeshaya 33:6}:

ו  וְהָיָה אֱמוּנַת עִתֶּיךָ, חֹסֶן יְשׁוּעֹת חָכְמַת וָדָעַת; יִרְאַת יְהוָה, הִיא אוֹצָרוֹ.  {פ}

6 And the stability of thy times shall be a hoard of salvation--wisdom and knowledge, and the fear of the LORD which is His treasure. {P}

{where chochmat is 'wisdom', not 'wisdom of X'} and others like them."

End quote of Shadal.

For an example of someone who explicitly rejects the theory of Eshdat meaning 'slopes' as in Ashdot HaPisgah, see Ibn Janach:

"Eshdat is not from the language of Ashdot HaPishgah {Devarim 3:13}, as Avi Amar Ibn Yakvi had explained {that it was}. For they are two words grafted together, as the Targum and the author of the masorah had said, and it is the truth. (Sefer HaShorashim, 48)"

For a little bit more on on this Ibn Yakwi, see here, and in the footnote there:

See more about him here, as well.

Update: In the comment section, S. brings a nice idea by R' Eliyahu Bachur, in his commentary on Radak's sefer HaShorashim. See there, and this image, that does not list אשדת amongst other דת instances, because he regards it as a single word, as it is written, and from the language to ashdot hapisgah:

If so, here is someone else, a well-known Rishon, who endorses this.

Perhaps. Omission of a word is not necessarily compelling evidence. Does he list it under aleph for אשדות? Is there such an entry?

Update: See here in Shorashim:

where אשדת is not listed either. Perhaps he is just trying to steer clear of the doubt.