Parshas Haazinu
The pasuk says (Devarim 32:48):
“And Hashem spoke to Moshe on that very day, saying: Go up to this mountain of Avarim, Har Nevo…”
Rashi explains that in three places the Torah uses the expression “b’etzem hayom hazeh” — “on that very day.” Here too, regarding the petirah of Moshe Rabbeinu, it says b’etzem hayom hazeh, because Klal Yisrael said: “If we realize that he is going, we will not allow it. A man who took us out of Mitzrayim, split the Yam Suf for us, brought down the mann, provided the slav, brought up the be’er for us, and gave us the Torah — we will not let him go!”
HaKadosh Baruch Hu therefore said: “I will take him in the middle of the day, and whoever has the power to stop it, let him come and stop it.”
The obvious question is: By Noach, they thought they could physically prevent him from entering the teivah. In Mitzrayim as well, the Egyptians thought they could prevent Klal Yisrael from leaving. But here, how could Klal Yisrael possibly stop Moshe Rabbeinu from dying? His petirah was in the hands of Hashem — what could they possibly do?
Maran Sar HaTorah, Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l, answered, in the name of the Gra, with a beautiful pshat.
Hashem had told Moshe: “Go up to Har Nevo.” From this, Klal Yisrael understood that Moshe’s petirah had been decreed to take place specifically on Har Nevo.
They therefore thought: We simply will not allow Moshe Rabbeinu to go up Har Nevo. If his petirah must take place there, then by preventing him from reaching the mountain, perhaps they could prevent his petirah altogether.
That is why the Torah says “b’etzem hayom hazeh” — Hashem brought Moshe up in broad daylight, declaring, as it were: Whoever has the power to stop it, let him come and stop it.