This article examines the earliest rabbinic comment on Deuteronomy 32:36, which is part of Moses’s final words to the Israelites before he dies and they enter the Promised Land without his charismatic prophetic guidance. The Hebrew noun mitzvah and verb tzivah, usually understood to mean “commandment” and “command” (“enjoin” in NJPS) respectively, are understood in their biblical context and rabbinic explication to suggest as well the sense of passing something on at death as a legacy or inheritance. Whereas a commandment is usually understood as authoritatively imposed from without, a legacy is understood as something voluntarily received (transmitted) from within. The midrash suggests that at the age of 120 years, and unable to accompany the Israelites as they enter and settle the Promised Land, Moses can no longer command with authority but must cajole and implore with gratitude the Israelites in each generation to maintain the Torah through voluntary acceptance. In a striking scene, Rabbi Judah the Patriarch is depicted imploring his students in the same words as did Moses. By implication, the auditors of the midrash in each generation, down to the present, are similarly besought, with the greatness of the Torah and Moses being continually at stake.