n last week’s Torah portion, Devarim, the Israelites now stood poised at the edge of the Promised Land, on the east side of the Jordan, ready to cross over and possess the Land. Before they crossed, Moses summarized for the people their 40-year history of wandering in the wilderness.
Included in this week’s Parasha are several of the best known and fundamental passages of Scripture in the entire Tanakh (Old Testament), including the Ten Commandments and the Shema (Listen! or Hear and Do!)—a call in Deuteronomy 6:4–9 to love the one true God with all our being.
This passage also exhorts us to pass on our faith to the next generation by faithfully teaching the Torah to our children.
“Shema, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]; and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5)
This is the first prayer spoken in the morning and the last said in the evening before sleep. It is often the final prayer on the lips of a Jewish person on their deathbed, and it has been uttered by many Jewish martyrs as they gave up their spirits to the Lord.
These verses of Scriptures are so central to Judaism that they are written on a parchment and placed in a small box worn on the forehead called tefillin (phylacteries) and also in small, decorated boxes called mezuzot on the doorposts of Jewish homes. This is done in literal fulfillment of commands found in this week’s Parasha:
“Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:8–9)
Preparing the Next Generation
This week’s Torah portion begins with Moses reminding the people of how he pleaded with God for the privilege of entering the Promised Land, but God refused to grant his request. Rabbinic tradition says that Moses begged God 515 times, (taken from the gematria or numerical value of the word va’etchanan). Moses tells the people how he asked God,
“‘Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.’ But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. ‘That is enough,’ the Lord said. ‘Do not speak to Me anymore about this matter.’” (Deuteronomy 3:25–26)
Moses, the man who led the Israelites out of Egypt and spoke to God on their behalf when they found His presence too terrifying, would not enter the Promised Land because he disobediently struck the rock twice in the wilderness of Zin, instead of speaking to it as God commanded. (Numbers 20)
The people were without water, and after Moses and Aaron prayed, God told Moses to give the people water by speaking to the rock. But Moses, who was angry with the people for their whining, called the people rebels and implied that it was he and Aaron who were providing for them.
Some have suggested the speaking to the rock might have symbolized speaking God’s Word (as given to Moses) and striking the rock may have represented Moses’ effort.
Though Moses and Aaron were called to lead the Israelites, performing many signs and wonders, it was God who was providing for them, miraculously providing life-giving water when necessary.
As a result, God told Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” (Numbers 20:12)
Although Moses would get a glimpse of the Land of Promise, he would be among those of his generation who would die in the wilderness because of their sins. His successor, Joshua, would cross over the Jordan with the new generation of Israelites who would conquer the Land.
“But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” (Deuteronomy 3:28)
Joshua, whose Hebrew name is Yehoshua, takes the people into the Promised Land, where they will take hold of all that God has promised.
He is a type of the Messiah, Yeshua (which is a form of the name Yehoshua), who will take His people into the true Promised Land of Heaven where we will not perish but inherit eternal life.
We can learn a lesson from Moses remaining on the other side of the Jordan.
There are times when, despite our earnest begging and pleading, God in His perfect wisdom, justice, and mercy simply says ‘no,’ and that is the end of the matter. God may even ask us to encourage someone in the next generation who will carry the torch further than we have, and we need to accept this decision with a grace born of humility.
El Kanah: The Jealous God
Before Moses surrenders the leadership of Israel to Joshua, he exhorts the people to keep God’s Torah and to live in obedience to God’s ways in order that they may take possession of the Land. He tells them:
“Now, Israel, listen to the laws and rulings I am teaching you, in order to follow them, so that you will live; then you will go in and take possession of the land that Adonai, the God of your fathers, is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 4:1)
Moses reminds the children of Israel how they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments. He warns them not to forget the Torah of God, and to diligently teach God’s commandments to their children and grandchildren.
In telling them this, he reminds them three times that God spoke from the fire at Sinai, and He did not have a form. Therefore, because they saw no image of God, they are not to carve for themselves images of God, which is detrimental to faith, nor of gods, which is idolatry.