Questions & Commentary on Parashat Eqev

1. On the surface, the provision of manna seems like a blessing, but according to Deuteronomy 8:16, it served "to humble" Israel and "to test" them. How did the manna serve as a test for Israel? Why did God want to test Israel? Did Israel pass the test? What lessons were they supposed to learn? How is this passage connected to the temptation of Messiah in Matthew 4:1-11 & Luke 4:1-12?

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

In Deuteronomy 8:16, Moses uses the language of testing to describe God's provision of manna to our ancestors. He says that God fed our ancestors manna in the wilderness lema‘an nassotekha "in order to test you." Interestingly the same language is used above in 8:2. In both places, Moses goes on to explain the reason for the testing. In 8:2, God tests Israel with hardships "to learn what was in your hearts: whether you would keep his commandments or not." In 8:16, God tests Israel with these hardships "only to benefit you in the end." It would seem that these clauses are parallel. Thus, God determines what is in our hearts through testing, and this knowledge is ultimately for our benefit. This testing tells both God and us the inclination of our hearts, whether we will keep the commandments or not.

One might wonder how keeping of the commandments associated with manna tells both God and us whether or not we might be inclined to keep all of the commandments. The relationship between the commandments associated with manna and the rest of the commandments is clearer when we look at Exodus 16. There Moses instructs the people to collect a double portion of manna on Friday so that one portion will be available for them to eat on Shabbat. But after they received Moses' instructions, some people in the community quickly violated this commandment.

Yet some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found nothing. And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you people refuse to obey my commandments and my teachings? Mark that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore he gives you two days' food on the sixth day. Let everyone remain where he is: let no one leave his place on the seventh day." So the people remained inactive on the seventh day.

Exodus 16:27-30

On a halakhic (legal) level the people's failure to set aside a double portion on the sixth day leads them to violate the prohibitions against work on Shabbat. On a spiritual level the people's failure to set aside a double portion indicates their lack of trust in God's promise that the extra portion would be there the next day. They probably assumed that, as on the other five days of the week, if one gathered more than one day's portion, the extra would rot by the next morning (Exodus 16:17-20). Therefore, those in Israel who believed God's promise and kept God's commandments indicated their trust in God.

Both Matthew 4:1-11 & Luke 4:1-12 describe Yeshua undergoing a series of tests during 40 days (like Israel's 40 years) in the wilderness. In Matthew's besora in particular, Yeshua is the one man Israel who identifies with his people's suffering and is faithful in the tests in which Israel did not succeed. All of Yeshua's responses to temptation come from Deuteronomy 6-8. To the tempter's suggestion that he turn rocks into bread to ease his hunger, he responds, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). To the suggestion that Yeshua cast himself down from the Temple and allow the angels to save him, Yeshua responds "Do not put the LORD your God to the test" (Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:7). To the tempter's suggestion that Yeshua worship him, Yeshua responds, "Worship the LORD your God, and serve only him" (Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 4:11). Yeshua stands with Israel in accepting the challenges the Jewish people faced in the wilderness, and he succeeds! His fidelity enables the fidelity of the Jewish people (including Messianic Jews) to the covenant. Yeshua's fidelity is not merely for the sake of Israel and their renewed fidelity to Torah but also so that those outside of Israel, the nations, might be able to approach God. Through Yeshua's fidelity, God is able to determine the inclination of our hearts. Thus, his testing "only . . . benefit[s us] in the end."

2. Do God's blessings depend on our actions?

Nick Amic

Parashat Eqev contains the verses that make up the second passage of the Shema which Jewish people recite daily (Deuteronomy 11:13-21). A simple reading of this passage could lead one to conclude that our actions create a cosmic "cause and effect" scenario. However, earlier our parasha clearly contradicts this idea: "Do not say to yourself . . . ‘Because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me to possess this land,'" (Deuteronomy 9:4-5). So what are we to conclude?

Surely, this question deserves a more comprehensive answer, but I want to offer up a few ideas. First, we recognize the paradox of God's freedom from time, yet intimate involvement in the history of humanity. We can grammatically and theologically say "God knows yesterday what you did tomorrow. " If God is outside time, a "cause and effect" system makes no sense, because it assumes a "before" and "after." Second, we examine the concept of God's immanence. Although God is not bound by time or space, God is completely present and involved in every aspect of creation. The same God that exists outside of time and space intimately controls both time and space. This knowledge builds a faith/trust relationship with the Creator. God invites us to participate in a relationship-oriented existence where I can expect God's promised providence and care when I follow God's Torah.

Returning to our parasha, we note a subtle difference between our passage (11:13-21) and the first passage of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) that is lost in translation. The first section of the Shema calls upon an individual to love God with all his heart, all his soul and all his possessions, while the second section teaches us to love God "with all your hearts, and with all your souls." The individual is blessed by obeying the Torah command to love God by giving his time, talent and treasure to another. When this standard is met by all the members of a nation the entire society benefits - with rain, crop and animal growth, etc. Conversely, when this standard is abandoned the whole society suffers. The spiritual consequence of national disobedience is an exile from God's presence and supernatural care; we are communally left to our own devices.

Under Messiah's kingship the paradox of God's existence outside time and God's intimate involvement with us is clearly witnessed in the person of Yeshua. Yeshua encapsulates both aspects of the reward and punishment system. On a communal level, Yeshua took upon himself the consequence of Israel's national punishment. On an individual level he obeyed the call to love God with all his resources, even to the extent of offering his own life. Let's follow Yeshua's example and "do nothing out of rivalry or vanity; but, in humility, regard each other as better than yourselves, looking out for each other's interests and not just for our own" (Philippians 2:3-5).