Sforno on Deuteronomy 32:7/ספורנו על דברים ל״ב:ז׳

1זכור ימות עולם, After concluding the introductory section of his poem, during the course of which he announced that it was his purpose to proclaim the perfect righteousness of the Lord G’d, Who has proven a loyal G’d showering goodness upon the people of Israel, and Who would not reverse a blessing once bestowed, Moses begins to discuss Israel’s past and future. First, Moses reminds the people that G’d had originally hoped to bestow a brilliant future for all of mankind, i.e. ימות עולם, He had hoped that history would develop in that direction. When this failed to happen, שנות דור ודור, during the years of one generation after another, G’d decided on His pilot project the Jewish people and He raised them to an elevated position among the nations. This is basically what He will do at the end of “history,” [history is perceived as a period of education for the people filling or making a brief appearance on the stage of history. Ed.] Second, G’d had provided the people with optimum conditions to serve Him joyfully while they enjoyed all the material advantages that life on earth has to offer. He gave them a beautiful country, one flowing with milk and honey, to do this in. Instead, they rebelled and repaid good with evil. There can be no question that the people responsible for frustrating G’d’s master plan deserve to be severely punished for this. Third, due to the serious nature of their sin they deserve to be wiped out completely. If it were not for the desecration of the Lord’s name that would be a by-product of the destruction of His chosen people, nothing would have prevented G’d from administering this punishment. Fourth, Moses reveals the reason why the redemption of the Jewish people will occur at the end of what we call “history,’ באחרית היים. Fifth, Moses elaborates somewhat on the nature of this redemption and the retribution G’d will wreak at that time on the other nations of the world. The nations will primarily be punished for what they did to the Jewish people throughout history. These then are the five sections into which the portion of Haazinu is divided, our sages having given us an easy way of reminding ourselves of this division by calling the portion הזי'ו ל'ך. (Rosh Hashanah 31) Moses therefore commences with the words: זכור ימות עולם, “study history and thereby learn to recognise how much G’d had endeavoured to shower good upon you, starting already with first man whom He transferred to Gan Eden, the most exclusive environment on earth.

2בינו שנות דור ודור, you will then understand what amount of goodness G’d “squandered” on successive generations who did not deserve it. These generations of mankind, instead of appreciating it, did their best to ruin the universe until G’d was forced to put an end to them by bringing on the deluge.