which he had already received. As the Lord had already begun to show him His greatness and His mighty hand, so might He also show him the completion of His work. The expression, “begun to show Thy greatness,” relates not so much to the mighty acts of the Lord in Egypt and at the Red Sea (as in Exo 32:11-12, and Num 14:13.), as to the manifestation of the divine omnipotence in the defeat of the Amorites, by which the Lord had begun to bring His people into the possession of the promised land, and had made Himself known as God, to whom there was no equal in heaven or on earth. אשׁר before אל מי (v. 24) is an explanatory and causal relative: because (quod, quia), or for. “For what God is there in heaven and on earth,” etc. These words recall Exo 15:11, and are echoed in many of the Psalms, - in Psa 86:8 almost verbatim. The contrast drawn between Jehovah and other gods does not involve the reality of the heathen deities, but simply presupposes a belief in the existence of other gods, without deciding as to the truth of that belief. גּבוּרת, manifestations of גּבוּרה, mighty deeds.
Verse 25
“I pray Thee, let me go over.” אעבּרה־נּא, a form of desire, used as a petition, as in Deu 2:27; Num 21:22, etc. “That goodly mountain” is not one particular portion of the land of Canaan, such as the mountains of Judah, or the temple mountain (according to Exo 15:17), but the whole of Canaan regarded as a mountainous country, Lebanon being specially mentioned as the boundary wall towards the north. As Moses stood on the lower level of the Arabah, the promised land presented itself not only to his eyes, but also to his soul, as a long mountain range; and that no merely as suggestive of the lower contrast, that “whereas the plains in the East are for the most part sterile, on account of the want of springs or rain, the mountainous regions, which are well watered by springs and streams, are very fertile and pleasant” (Rosenmüller), but also on a much higher ground, viz., as a high and lofty land, which would stand by the side of Horeb, “where he had spent the best and holiest days of his life, and where he had seen the commencement of the covenant between God and His people” (Schultz).
Verse 26
But the Lord would not grant his request. “Let it suffice thee' (satis sit tibi, as in Deu 1:6), substantially equivalent to 2Co 12:8, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (Schultz). בּ דּבּר, to speak about a thing (as in Deu 6:7; Deu 11:19, etc.).
verses 27-28
Deu 3:27 is a rhetorical paraphrase of Num 27:12, where the mountains of Abarim are mentioned in the place of Pisgah, which was the northern portion of Abarim. (On Deu 3:28, cf. Deu 1:38 and Num 27:23.)
