D'varim/Deuteronomy
This is a book of preparation for taking the lessons learned in the wilderness into the Land of promise. This book wraps up the wilderness generation—and sadly, Moshe himself dies—but it shows the new one rising up with boldness their parents did not have. In contrast to Egyptian (and Christian) ways of preparing for the “afterlife”, Moshe demonstrates here the most fruitful way to prepare for death: he invests his full energy in making sure everyone else is ready to survive in his absence.
CHAPTER 1
1. These are the words [d’varim] that Moshe declared to all of Israel across the Yarden in the wilderness on the transitional land toward the Reed [Sea] between Pa'aran and Tofel, Lavan, Chatzeroth, and Di-Zahav.
“Actions speak louder than words”, but these particular words “scream” because they call for action. They are so the next generation will know who they are, where they came from, where they are going, and who they are supposed to be when they get there. Moshe is about to die, so there is an absolute firmness to his words. What he is about to say is crucial to the nation’s survival. His intent is to ensure that the generation that is entering the Land forget nothing that he has taught them for the past forty years as they were growing up.
2. ([There are] eleven days' journey [from] Horev to Qadesh-Barnea by way of the Mountains of Seir.)
Horev is Mount Sinai, and Seir is in present-day Jordan near Petra. In light of how short a time the trip was supposed to have taken, consider the staggering ramifications of the next phrase:
3. Now at forty years, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moshe spoke to the descendants of Israel according to all that YHWH had made him responsible for concerning them,
4. after he had struck down Sikhon, king of the Emorites, who was living in Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, who was living at Ashtaroth in Edrei.
5. Across the Yarden, in the land of Moav, Moshe took it upon himself to make this instruction clear, saying,
This instruction: The word for instruction is “torah”, but he does not just say “the Torah” in general, but “this instruction”, because this is the part needing to be clearly understood at this time. He does not retell the story of the exodus, which the children have surely heard. He speaks only about the period from Sinai onward. The application of the Torah to the Land will be different from what they have been experiencing in the wilderness all their lives, in tents all dwelling together with YHWH’s cloud and fire to lead them. Now they will need to take responsibility for their property and make sure their children remain attached to the Land and YHWH’s instructions for living there and staying there. We are not prepared to enter the Land until we understand and commit to this part of the Torah. Make… clear: We can have many experiences, but until we stop, step back, and think about them, we are not exactly sure what we learned. The fool looks back and says it was just another day; he learns nothing. The wise ask what the experience has brought into focus. Most of those to whom he is speaking (all but two of whom are under 59 years of age) were either not yet born or too young to realize the implications of why the eleven-day journey took forty years. He wants to be sure they understand what took place so they will not repeat the same errors their parents had made by allowing themselves to be vulnerable to the same influences. This is the “why” behind the stories he is beginning to tell. But why should we care about things that took place over 3,000 years ago? Because they have to do with us too. These are our ancestors, and, like them, we are preparing to return to our homeland. First, he explains why it took 40 years to make an 11-day journey. If they did not “get it” before, they need to “get it” now, or they will not be able to stay in the Land once they get there. This is not the academic Torah, but what they need to go into the Land and survive. It will require a lifestyle different from what they have known in the wilderness. In the Land, the rules are different. All of the Land is in some sense YHWH’s house, and there is a way we need to live in it to show Him the proper respect. The experiences in the wilderness have been to prepare us to go back and make reparation for the bad report the spies gave. The term for “make clear” means “to carve into”, for these words must become a permanent part of us. It is also from a root word meaning “to dig a well or cistern”, for they need to know how he watered the flocks with the Torah so they can continue to do so in the new generation and new setting. YHWH’s covenant promises are not just about living in the Land, but becoming a permanent part of it. It is about the generations to come remaining in the Land forever in YHWH’s presence, and the Land becoming a part of us.
6. "YHWH our Elohim spoke to us in Chorev, saying, 'You have sat at this mountain long enough;
This mountain was an awesome place, full of spectacular history. Here we had heard YHWH’s voice for the first time. We had received the Torah and become engaged to YHWH. We had been through a lot with Him there. Why go anywhere else? Why not build our nation right there? After all, YHWH was here. This would be fine if He had only one thing to say to us, but He has more to say, and we have to be in the proper context to hear it. We could not know all there was to know about a great river if we stayed at the spring or waterfall where it originated. If we stayed here, we would never learn all He has to show us. We have to see Him in His “natural habitat”, which is ultimately the Promised Land. It is important to connect with Sinai, but there is a time to move on even from receiving the Torah so we can focus on walking in it. When he speaks about what YHWH said at Horev, Moshe does not even mention that YHWH gave us the ten commandments there—because actually He did not; He offered them to us there. The only way to receive them is to start walking in them. He skips what this generation should already know and talks about what they need to do with it. The more we accept, the more He gives. The more we walk in it, the more He gives us to walk in.
…
CHAPTER 2
1. "Then we turned and traveled the wilderness by the Way of the Sea of Reeds, as YHWH had told me, and we skirted the mountains of Seir for many days.
Turned and traveled: literally, faced a different way and pulled up (tent pegs). Skirted: or encircled, surrounded, revolved around. They were repeating a pattern they had followed at Mt. Sinai (1:6). They went from revolving around one mountain to revolving around another—possibly moving on from the mountains themselves, but still hanging onto the trappings. At least at Sinai, they had sat (yashav) —not just being in one place, but an idiom for settling down to learn (as in a Yeshiva). It was appropriate to settle in and remove ourselves from other influences while we learned, but when we are no longer learning, we should not be sitting still. We should be doing things and learning from them as well. The rabbis rightly say study is the highest form of worship. When we are not studying, we need to be gathering tools with which to continue mining the Torah, then enter it, not always looking for something in particular, but seeing what is actually there, for if we have an agenda, we will miss many treasures. But now we have moved on to the territory of our belly-driven brother Esau. There is not a word of Scripture that is not prophetic, especially the Torah, which was all written by a prophet. If we stay close to something long enough, it begins to pull us in to its orbit, keeping us from where He really wants us to get. This becomes more immediate for us when we remember that in Jewish thought, the scepter of Edom passed to Rome, the hub of Christianity. When the Northern Kingdom turned away from Mt. Sinai (where the Torah was given), it became centered on Rome and kept people’s attention on the Church itself rather than on YHWH. We went in circles because we had stopped learning. We did not find Torah experiences, because we did not seek them, but spent our time on doctrines that have nothing to do with YHWH’s word. Men’s moralities took us back to where we started, like a dog chasing its tail. Seir is part of the road home, but we stayed there too long. For many of us the Church was a stepping stone, something YHWH used to our profit, but it is time to break free of its orbit and continue on to greater maturity in the place that is closest to YHWH’s heart. Going in circles too long,we became dizzy and could not see things properly. It is hard to make progress when walking in circles—unless they are upward spirals. That is the right kind of “going in circles”, which allows us to escape the futile type. This way we do retain what we learned I last year’s cycle of YHWH’s appointments, but also keep learning more, because we are higher—closer to YHWH. Thus the solution to going “round and round” is to go “round and up”. This way we end up somewhere different, not back at the same place.
2. "Then YHWH spoke to me, saying,
3. "'You have been circling this mountain range long enough; turn yourselves northward,
Israel seems to have a penchant for mountains! Rightly so, because Amaleq dwells in the valleys. We left the long holding pattern at Sinai but got stuck again in the orbit of Mt. Sei because it was a discouragingly-long journey (Num. 21:4), when we should have been heading to yet another mountain—Moryah or Tzion. These ar Kingdom places; Seir is not. The rabbis equate Seir with the Church because Edom did historically merge into Rome. It served a temporary purpose; we found grass for our cattle and water there, and it was better than pure desert. But it was meant to only be a rest stop to care for temporary needs, not a place to remain. Spinning round and round is the pastime of children; it is time to grow up. It is only discouraging until we break away from its gravitational pull. Turn…northward: this can also mean “ face the hidden treasure.” What is this treasure? Proverbs 7:1 tells us to treasure up YHWH’s commandments. David rejoiced over YHWH’s word like one who discovers great gain. (Psalm 119:162) The fear of YHWH is our treasure. (Yeshayahu/Isa. 33:6) As we obey Him and keep His covenant, we will destroy His enemies, and thus become a special treasure to Him as well. (Ex. 19:4ff; Deut. 7:1-6) So Israel is the treasure YHWH has stored and hidden away. We are what is hidden, scattered all over the world, one seed here and one over there. To find this treasure, we must face what we do not know, and dig. We will thus be able to uncover ancient foundations and rebuild the ruined cities. We do not know how this ragtag group of rebels against the world’s ways will ever be unified and embrace authority, but everything else that YHWH has said has come to pass in the right season. The Church will certainly not encourage us, and the government will not give us grants to accomplish the return of Israel, but YHWH will and so will the rest of Israel as it grows up and takes responsibility. Yahshua says the Kingdom of Heaven is like a hidden treasure which we would have to sell everything else to procure. (Mat. 13:44) But then we do have the greatest treasure. It is not for everyone. It is open to anyone, but only given to the few who are willing to walk in it. It is not simply believing; that is still walking in circles. It is proving our belief by doing. Thus the Word of YHWH, the fear of YHWH, and the Kingdom of YHWH are all described as the treasure. They are all part of His covenant to which Yahshua came to return us. We must do more than just believe in it; we must become part of it.
4. "'and to the people, give orders, saying, "You are about to cross the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and they will be afraid of you, so take extreme care
5. "'"not to get into a skirmish with them, because I will not give you any of their land--not even a footprint's width, because I have assigned the mountains of Seir to Esau as inherited property.
Cross: but do not stay there! So how do we stop orbiting Seir? The key is in another translation of this term (avar), which can also mean “bypass it”. It is there, but we are here. It does not matter what they think of what we believe or practice; we do not answer to them but to YHWH. Our agenda is clear in YHWH’s word, and that is all we need. Don’t worry if it offends them, because while we are distantly-related, we have nothing to do with it. Don’t try to work things out to please the Church, or we will never make it all the way home. Is our general trend one of spinning our wheels or making progress? If we are focused on something that only pleases self, we are not getting anywhere. They are our relatives, but they are settled in their mountains, and YHWH has a different place for us. It is not our job to persuade them to come with us; that is the Holy Spirit’s job, and if they want to follow, they can come and learn with us at the right mountain. It is hard to feed people who think they are already full anyway; they have fat bellies, and so they appear well-fed, when in fact it is starvation that has made them bloated. (Compare Revelation 3:17) So don’t expect to have a friendly conversation. Their very name is based on fear: Seir means a hairy goat, but is based on the word for fear and dread (literally the kind that makes your hair standing on end). And indeed it is the fear of death and hell that gives the Church its power, as they claim to have a handle on it. But this is still about self. Christianity gives us a place where we do not have to be held responsible for our actions; all we have to do is say, “I’m sorry; please forgive me”, and our guilt is magically gone! That is all that small children can do, but this is not maturity, so we cannot remain there. The Church is fearful of us when we live truly as Israel, for we can back up our teachings with Scripture and they hold water. Committed Hebrews are scary to Christians, for they cannot help but ask, “What if they’re right?” They are afraid of losing Christmas, pork chops, and the kind of salvation they have been taught about, since the type YHWH offers is a national salvation instead of personal (and this gets us out of our rut). They can have their “Terror Mountain”, but all we should fear is that we would do something awful enough to cause YHWH to withdraw His presence and favor from us. What is theirs is theirs, and we do not need it. It is for our sake more than theirs that we do not get into a skirmish with them, for we would only be wasting precious time.
6. "'"For food you may deal with them with money for grain so that you may eat, and trade silver with them for water so that you may drink,
Many of those in the Church that revolves around Rome are related to us, using the same Scriptures, but they view them through a different grid and therefore draw very different conclusions about them. Thus we can sometimes receive valuable things from them, but this does not mean we have to live there too. We must not make ourselves indebted to them in any way. We pay with silver, not with our labor, which should be reserved for Israel. We should not be building anything for what is not Israel. Using silver also shows Edom that YHWH has prospered us independently of them, just as our ancestor Yaaqov showed their ancestor Esau. (Gen. 33:5)
7. "'"because YHWH your Elohim has blessed you in all the workmanship of your hands; He has been familiar with your walking this vast wilderness. This is forty years [that] YHWH your Elohim [has been] with you, and you have not lacked a thing."'
Israel does not need Christianity’s help to inherit the Land of the covenant. YHWH is enough, and these words are given to help us prepare to go there and find the treasure over and over again. We can do it without the support of what is not the Kingdom. So just pass by and get to the other side. Stop circling a god-man and follow the kinsman-redeemer. Turn and face the truth that Israel is the elect who will be gathered from the four corners of the earth; no one will ever replace it, or we are calling YHWH a liar and inadequate. The path of Seir is about self; ours is the path of making sure we have everyone together, and this leads to fruitfulness.
Commentary on
Parashat D'varim
You've Been Here
Long Enough
