Clothing for 40 years – Ki Tavo
What an engaging idea the sidra puts before us: God led us in the wilderness for 40 years and our clothes didn’t wear out (Deut. 29:4). Moses had already told us this in Deut. 8:4.
Ibn Ezra says it was a miracle, or perhaps the Israelites brought many changes of clothes with them, or perhaps people didn’t perspire so that their clothes remained fresh.
There is a passage in the Midrash to Psalm 23 which applies the words lo echsar, “I shall not want” to the generation of the wilderness. The people had only to say the word and the angels would provide clothing; the clothes did not wear out; the clouds of glory kept the clothing clean; the children’s clothes grew with them like shells which grow on the back of the snail.
All these explanations illustrate the general principle that whatever the problems of the long journey, God looked after them and provided their needs.
