Today,
I have been working on a very important section of the Torah. It is found in
the final book, Devarim (Deuteronomy). It will provide the answer
to the questions that Ezra and his fellow scribes worked very hard to answer as
they recorded the words of the first scroll of the Torah. The questions are:
(1) Why did our United Kingdom divide into two separate
and warring kingdoms – Israel & Judah?
(2) Why did foreign nations conquer Israel &
Judah?
(3) What can we do to reunite and preserve the
new kingdom?
The
answers are found in the following words of the man who is viewed as the
greatest priest and prophet of the Hebrew Scriptures – Moses. He was raised as the son of an Egyptian pharaoh and lived as
a member of the royal family for forty-years, lived with the family of a Midianite
priest for another forty-years, and was called by Yahweh to lead the Israelites
out of Egyptian captivity into their new homeland – a journey that took another forty-years. He is called Moshe Rabbenu in Hebrew (מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ,
lit. "Moses our Teacher/Rabbi")
-- the most important prophet in Second
Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. Moses is also an important prophet in Christianity,
Islam, and a number of other faiths.[i]
Pay close attention to his prophecy.
For this
commandment which I command you today is not concealed from you, neither is it
far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us into
heaven and bring it to us, and make us hear it, that we may do it?” Neither is it
beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over for us unto the other
side of the sea, and bring it to us, and make us hear it, that we may do it?’ But
the word is very near you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.[ii]
Moses,
like the man in the Garden, is given a commandment by Yahweh. But unlike with
the man, this commandment isn’t a mystery that isn’t understood – it is in the mouth and heart of Moses. You
will see two abbreviations added to the text: (s) indicates the word is “singular” and (pl.) indicates it is “plural.”
See, I have set
before you this day (the) life (pl. literally
lives) and (the) TOV, and (the) death (s.) and (the) RA; I command you this day to love Yahweh
your Creator,[iii]
to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His ordinances,
that you shall live and multiply; and Yahweh your Creator shall bless you in
the land which you go in to possess it.[iv]
The
time has come for Yahweh to fulfill His promise to Abraham that his descendants
would establish their kingdom in the land of Canaan.[v] After
wandering in the desert for forty years they are about to settle in their new
homeland. Remember Cain “the wanderer” and the events that followed when he
settled in his new homeland. He married a foreign woman with other gods and his
Enoch learned about them instead of Yahweh and passed that on to his descendants.
All descendants of Seth, except one,
followed those same gods instead of Yahweh.
The
Hebrew word translated “life” above is a plural, which should literally be
translated “lives.” It reminds the ancient audience of the plural “bloods” used
in the murder of Abel by Cain. “Bloods” indicated that Cain not only murdered
Abel, but his descendants too because they would never be born. Here the
Israelites would understand that their actions will also affect the lives of
their future descendants, too. Therefore, they must choose one of two paths that
will guide their lives and determine the future of their descendants:
(1) the
path of life by doing acts of TOV
(2) the
path of death by doing acts of RA
Just
to makes sure everyone remembers, below are the definitions of TOV and RA in this context:
● TOV (good)
describes acts that protect life,
preserve life, make life more functional, and/or increase the quality of life.
● RA (evil) describes acts that destroy life, threaten life, make life less functional,
and/or decrease the quality of life.
Yahweh’s
commandments, statutes, and ordinances are instructions for how the Israelites can
do TOV in their new homeland.
I command you
this day to love Yahweh your Creator, to walk in His ways, and to keep His
commandments, His statutes, and His ordinances.
This
is written in the form of a parallelism and understanding how to work with
parallelisms is the key to unlocking its ancient meaning. The first step is to
identify the three parts of this parallelism:
|
A
|
B
|
|
I command you this day
|
to love Yahweh your Creator
|
|
a
|
b
|
|
(I command you this day)
|
to walk in His ways
|
|
a
|
c
|
|
(I command you this day)
|
to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances
|
The
makes it easier to see the terms used in parallel to each other:
A//a
B//b
b//c
Now
we let the ancient author define the meanings of the parallel terms by
converting the first part of the parallelism into a question and finding its
answer in the second part.
Question: What does “love” Yahweh mean?
Answer: It means walking in His ways.
Question: What does “walking in His ways” mean?
Answer: It means keeping His commandments, statutes,
and ordinances.
Question: How does one Yahweh the Creator?
Answer: By keeping His commandments, statutes, and
ordinances.
If
the Israelites “love” Yahweh, they will be blessed, live and multiply in their
new homeland. As you read the section below, notice the references to Moses with
the singular “you” (s.), and the Israelites with the plural “you” (pl.).
But if your (s.)
heart turns away, and you (s.) will not hear, and shall be drawn away, and bow
down to other gods, and serve them; I declare unto you (pl.) this day, that you
(pl.) shall surely perish; you (pl.) shall not prolong your (pl.) days upon the
land, that you (pl.) cross over the Jordan to go in and possess it.[vi]
What
will the consequences be if the Israelites do not love Yahweh by keeping His
commandments, statutes and ordinances?
They will perish and lose possession of their new
homeland.
This
is an obvious reminder of what happened to the man in the Garden and Cain – they were both driven from the lands in
which they lived.
I call the Heaven
and the Earth to witnesses against you this day, that I have set before you the
life (pl.) and the death (s.), the blessing (s.) and the curse (s.); therefore
choose life (pl.), that both you and your descendants may live; to love Yahweh your
Creator, to hear (obey) His voice, and to cleave to Him, for He is your life (pl.)
and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore
to your fathers -- to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob -- to give them.[vii]
Notice
that Yahweh calls “the Heaven and the Earth,” not “the Earth and the Heaven,”
as the witnesses, a reminder of the first account of the ancient wisdom, not
the second. They are the two witnesses that were created at the beginning and
will endure forever. They are witnesses to Yahweh’s declaration:
Choose life by doing acts of TOV,
have long lives and dwell in the land He has given
you.
or
Choose death by doing acts of RA,
have short lives and be driven from the land He has
given you.
Notice
the phrase “and cleave to Him.” It recalls phrase in the second account when
the woman was created – and shall cleave
to her. The question raised by its appearance here is – Will Israel cleave to Yahweh and not be like
the man?
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