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"And indeed, We gave Moses the Book" — that is, the Torah — after destroying them [the Pharaoh and his people] and saving the Children of Israel from their kingdom. Since the bestowing of it upon him, peace be upon him, was for the guidance of his people toward the truth—as is the nature of divine books—they were made as if they themselves had been given it, and thus it was said: "That perhaps they might be guided," meaning toward the path of truth, in both knowledge and practice, due to the matters of creed and action it contained.

It is permitted that the speech be interpreted with an implied addition, meaning: "We gave the people of Moses the Book," and the pronoun in "that perhaps they might be guided" refers back to them. It is also said that by "Moses," peace be upon him, his people were intended, just as one might say "Tamim" or "Thaqif" to refer to the entire tribe. This has been critiqued by the observation that what is known in such cases is the attribution of the name of the tribe’s ancestor to them, and the application of "Moses," peace be upon him, to his people is not of this category, even if there is no inherent barrier to it.

The pronoun in "that perhaps they might be guided" was not attributed to Pharaoh and his elite because it is evident that the Torah was only revealed after the drowning of the Pharaoh and his people along with the Children of Israel. Evidence for this is sometimes cited from His saying: "And We gave Moses the Book after We had destroyed the former generations," based on the view that "former generations" encompasses Pharaoh, his people, and those who were destroyed before them, such as the people of Noah and Hud, rather than being restricted to the nations destroyed before them. This is because the limitation of the report regarding his receiving the Book—that it occurred after the destruction of the nations that preceded him—is established; if Pharaoh and his people were not included in that, there would be no benefit in the statement, as has been said.

Harun was not mentioned alongside Moses, peace be upon them both, as a matter of brevity, focusing on the one who was like the foundation in the receiving of the Book. It is also said [he was not mentioned] because the Book was revealed at Mount Sinai while Harun, peace be upon him, was absent with the Children of Israel.