First person in Dev 2:17 forward

Question

In Devarim 2, Moshe recounts certain historical events. Pasuk 17 begins with Moshe retelling what Hashem told him and, therefore, at least initially, the first person is Hashem's voice (" כִּ֣י לֹֽא־אֶ֠תֵּ֠ן " in pasuk 19, for example).

By pasuk 23, the text speaks of Hashem in the third person ("כַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר עָשָׂה֙ לִבְנֵ֣י עֵשָׂ֔ו" -- as HE did to...) ". In 24 and 25 there is a first person speaking, taking credit for inspiring fear in the hearts of the enemies ("רְאֵ֣ה נָתַ֣תִּי בְ֠יָדְךָ֠" and "אָחֵל֙ תֵּ֤ת פַּחְדְּךָ֙") so the "you" is (I think) the nation, and the first person speaker is Moshe and he is taking credit for preparing the way for the nation's victory. Or maybe, it is Hashem preparing people with the fear OF Moshe (and Hashem is the 1st person speaker and the fear is of the "you", Moshe).

But then starting in pasuk 26, there are a series of singular verbs ("וָאֶשְׁלַ֤ח" ",אֶעְבְּרָ֣ה," "אָס֖וּר," "וְאָכַ֔לְתִּי וּמַ֛יִם בַּכֶּ֥סֶף תִּתֶּן־לִ֖י וְשָׁתִ֑יתִי רַ֖ק אֶעְבְּרָ֥ה בְרַגְלָֽי׃) which make it seem that the requester of permission to cross is a single person, Moshe. There is a subtle move back to the plural next, "עָֽשׂוּ־לִ֜י בְּנֵ֣י עֵשָׂ֗ו הַיֹּֽשְׁבִים֙ בְּשֵׂעִ֔יר וְהַמּ֣וֹאָבִ֔ים הַיֹּשְׁבִ֖ים בְּעָ֑ר עַ֤ד אֲשֶֽׁר־אֶֽעֱבֹר֙ אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֔ן אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ נֹתֵ֥ן לָֽנוּ".

By pasuk 30, there is an attempt to clarify "לְמַ֛עַן תִּתּ֥וֹ בְיָדְךָ֖" with the second person seeming to be the nation. The next pasuk then reintroduces nouns and numbers in a different direction.

Why would the request section be so explicitly singular? Is Moshe just asking for permission for HIMSELF? Is he making the point that the enemy is so evil, it wouldn't even allow one person to cross its land? Is he inconsistently using the singular for the nation?

Note -- one of the meforshim actually exacerbates the confusion! This is the text from pasuk 27: " בַּדֶּ֥רֶךְ בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְ אֵלֵ֑ךְ" but this is how it is listed in the Paaneach Raza on sefaria: "בדרך בדרך נלך." (I added the bold on the nun)

I didn't see any meforshim who focus on the singular/plural issues here -- any resources or explanation would be appreciated.

Answer 1

re: "any resources or explanation would be appreciated"

I don't have explanations but can offer a resource that will help you broadly identify instances of first person usage in Devarim so that you can investigate these cases to make sense of things in an empirical way.

Using (my own) basehasefer.com you can generate this search and it will generate approximately 115 instances of first-person singular verbs in Devarim. You can scroll forward a bit to see the approximately 100 instances from 2:17 and onward. Not all of these verbs are guaranteed to pertain directly to G-d or to Moshe but it should help you along your way and quicken your search.

To accomplish this:

• enter an asterisk (as a wildcard placeholder for a single word) in the search bar
• make sure only Sefer Devarim is checked from the search settings in the panel on the right
• select the Advanced option to the right of the search bar
• select the Part of Speech tab from the Advanced Search options
• for the word category/number/speaker dropdowns select verb/singular/first person (medaber)
• click the Search button

You can then play around with the part-of-speech options and search again if desired.

Answer 2

Not every question has a great answer.

Verse Devarim 2:17 says that Hashem spoke to Moshe, and afterwards we have a direct quote of what Hashem said to him.

Verse 18: no first person.

Verse 19: first person is Hashem as a direct quote

Verse 20: no first person

Verses 21-24: Hashem is not using first person, but rather his 4-letter name. Often parents when talking to children don't say I did somethong for you, but rather Your Dad/Your Mom did something for you. Alternatively, Hashem indicates that action of wiping out the Refaim from lands of Ammon (and earlier Moav), Horites from Seir, and Avvim from Gaza revealed the same name of G-d who took out Jewish people from Mitzraim. It is better to be surrounded for Jewish people by nations like Ammon, Moav, Edom, and Pilistia, rather than giants. Hashem mentions what He prepared for the Jews' coming to Eretz Israel.

Verse 25: Final verse of the quote, Hashem tells what the Jewish people have to do.

Verse 26-29: Moshe continues historical narrative of his leadership activities. He speaks as a king of the nation in 1st person. How do we know that Moshe was a king? Rashi on Shemos 18:1 gives us a testimony of Yisro regarding Moshe: "...I, the father-in-law of the king. (a quote from Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 18:1:4)" Additional support we find in the words of Abarbanel on Devarim 2:26

ואשלח מלאכי' ממדבר קדמו' אל וגו' עד וערי ההר ככל אשר צוה ה' אלהינו המפרשי' אמרו שהיה שליחות המלאכי' במאמר הקב"ה או ברוח הקדש אשר בו. ואני לא מצאתי מזה עד בדבר ולכן לא אסתפק בו. ואחשוב בזה שמשה אדונינו נהג בזה כמנהגו עם פרעה שקודם המכה היה מתרה בו עם היות שידע שהשם ית' הודיעו שיתן סיחון בידו ראה משה לשאל לשלום.

"And I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to (Sihon)..." The commentators said that the messengers mission was by word of G-d or Divine Inspiration in him (Moshe). However, I (Abarbanel) did not find textual support for these words and therefore have no doubt about it. I think that in it Moshe Our Lord acted as he did with pharaoh, when before a plaque (Moshe) warned him. Even though Moshe knew that Hashem, blessed, informed that He would give Sihon in Moshe's hand, Moshe sought to request peace.

That is how people speak about kings leading nations.

Verse 30: no 1st person.

Verse 31: Again new quote from Hashem.

Verses 32-37: Repetition of the same idea as above in verses 21-24.

Summary:

1. When Hashem makes a review of the past events in Moshe's speech, he is not using first person pronoun, but rather His 4-letter name. He is indicating, that just like He was taking the Jewish people out of Mitzraim with this name (as stated in Shemos 6:2), so He was preparing with the same name the environment for the Jewish people to live in Eretz Israel.

2. Moshe rabbeinu is making an account of his ledership role, his kingship, when facing other nations, thus he is using the first person pronoun.