Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 - Isaiah 1:1-27 - John 19:17-41
This week's edition of The Set Table contains:
Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Devarim Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead
Questions & Commentary on Parashat Devarim
1. What is the connection between Shabbat Chazon
and Tisha b'Av?
Seth Ben-Haim
This shabbat, we start a new book of the Chumash, Devarim "the words" or,
according to the sages, "the warnings" of Moses to the children of Israel. The Shabbat before
Tisha b'Av, which we will commemorate in fasting and prayer on Sunday, is
called Shabbat Chazon. It reminds us of the Chazon
"vision" of the prophet Isaiah ben Amoz and the destruction of the Temple that he sees
happening (Isaiah 1:1-27). He saw the impending destruction in this vision. It
was a picture of a disaster that was approaching, but not inevitable. Today, we
need to remember not just the destruction of the past, but to search how it
applies to our present reality as a people. Can we divert harm to our people,
can we be vessels of teshuva
"repentance"?
What will our reality
look like today if we can encourage and live to see the complete teshuva of our people and our re-gathering
fully into our land of promise? What will this age of Tikkun Olam look like,
Romans 11:15 speaks of a reality similar to "Life from the Dead"? That should
give us some perspective on what we have seen in the past 2000 years . . . which
the church has seen as a great outbreak of hope, but according to this seems
like a precursor of something so much greater. This is the vision for a new
generation. We have the opportunity to take our part in working towards this teshuva, return to God, his Land, and his
tikkun "repair" of the creation that
we have corrupted.
In Deuteronom 1:5, Moses "makes (be'er) clear the Torah." This
word (be'er)speaks of making bare, clear or fully explaining the Torah. He is
more than just repeating the Torah, he is making it applicable to the people.
It is clear that this generation is going to go into the Land without his
leadership, he is leaving them a legacy. Moses gives clarity and explanation to
the importance of love and obedience of God. It is fascinating that he then
connects this with the sin of spies that kept the previous generation from taking
the Land. Traditionally Tisha b'Av is the date that the spies returned with
this evil report.
In Psalm 106:24-27, it says that there was a blatant sin of scorning the
Land.
Moreover,
they scorned the desirable land, they believed not His word; and they murmured
in their tents, they hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD. Therefore he
swore concerning them, that he would overthrow them in the wilderness; and that
he would cast out their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the lands.
It seems amazing that in Deut 1:2, the Torah emphasizes that it is only 11
days journey from Chorev to Kadesh Barnea, this being the edge of the Promised
Land. The children of Israel were so
close to entering the Land, only to be kept out by the evil report of the spies
and the fear of the people that God would allow them to be destroyed in the
taking of the Land. They would now be destined to journey in the vicinity of
the Land for decades, without entering in.
How awesome Moses' call to this new generation not to be limited by the
frailties and scornfulness of their ancestors. Let us as a younger generation
not despise our elders, but let us also not be limited by the extent of the
restoration of our people in previous generations. We are living in times of
great opportunity.
The chain reaction of generations of exiles that has plagued our people
from the generation of the spies is one that needs to remind us as we approach
Tisha b'Av of the need to draw near corporately as well as individually in true
teshuva. It is time for the chain of
destruction to be broken. We live in a generation that again is being allowed
to enter into the Land of Promise after
generations in which it was barred. Can we dare imagine scorning this
inheritance. What would the consequences of this be on us as individuals and
corporately on our people. While there is a place to help Jewish people find
the Messiah in the Golah (Exile), it
is time that we show them as well the path to a Land of Restoration. What will
that Land of Hope be if it is
detached from the physical land of blessing that has been promised us?
We need to beware that none of us in our own personal lives, whether in the
land of Israel or in the Exile, do not allow for there to arise areas of our
life that would lead us into years of wandering in a spiritual desert away from
the fullness of God's design for our lives. I contend that while there are many
challenges to our lives in the land of Israel, there is a
also a special element of shechina
that is part of the "local call effect" that we can make from Israel to the
throne room, from these hills of our homeland.
2. What is the primary focus of Moses' speech in Parashat Devarim? How do we apply this lesson
on a personal level?
Nick Amic
There is a well accepted
principle involved in Torah study known as ma'aseh
avot siman lebanim - "the acts of the forefathers are a sign for their
descendants." Shaul ties this idea to Israel's journey through the dessert: "These things happened
to them . . . [and] were written down as
a warning to us who are living in the last days" (1 Corinthians 10:11). The Baal Shem Tov applies this to the life of every
individual: "The forty-two ‘stations' from Egypt to the Promised Land are replayed in the life of
every individual Jew." How are we to relate this concept to this week's Torah
portion?
Deuteronomy opens with the
preamble to Moses' twenty-one chapter speech (chapters 5-26) exhorting Israel as they are poised to enter into the Land of Canaan. The theme of this preamble (chapters 1-4) centers on
Israel's inability to "possess the land". Moses uses the
verb "yirash-to posses" eleven times in this week's parasha alone (1:8, 21, 39;
2:12, 21, 22, 24; 3:12,
18, 20). Moses states that this was Israel's entire mission and purpose, tying it to the
covenant of the forefathers (1:8). The 11th century French
commentator, Rashi explains that so resolved was this mission that if Israel
had not sent the spies they would not have even had to go to war at all (Rashi
on 1:8).
After reminding Israel of her mission, Moses retraces the stages throughout
her journey in the desert. The first "stop" was the incident in Parashat Yitro (Exodus 18), where Israel was supplied with a civil and criminal court system
to enable unity and resolve theological and civil disputes. Moses noticeably
conveys that Israel clearly understood their mission: "I commanded you at that time all the
things that you should do" (Deuteronomy 1:18).
Later, Israel responded in disbelief after the evil report of the spies, and
became "broken" (1:22-27) at the thought of facing their enemies even in the
face of Moses' reassurance that God would literally "fight for Israel" (see
1:29-33). The genereation of the wilderness had been disqualified from their
mission.
Israel's turning point came when this generation died out (2:16-17), although the Ralbag (or Gersonides; 1288-1344)
makes an interesting observation:
toward the end of
the [forty years] many [of Israel's men of war] were still relatively young,
for those who were twenty at the time of the spies' mission were only now
fifty-eight . . . God [therefore] caused those survivors to die before their
natural time so that they would not delay the new generation
Ralbag on Deuteronomy 2:15
Ralbag's comment carries
with it a sobering idea: those who didn't live up to their mission were
disqualified and taken from life "prematurely". To be sure, God honored their
acceptance of the covenant at Sinai ("Gid's callings are irrevocable," Romans 11:29); yet one wonders how different those Israelites'
lives might have turned out - not to mention the implications of their
potential loss of reward in the World to Come. The Brit Chadasha is replete with references to the believer's klesis "calling" (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1:26, 7:20;
Ephesians 1:18, etc.), and we are
enjoined to "press forward in the "high calling of God in Messiah Yeshua"
(Philippians 3:14). May Hashem bless
us all with the knowledge of our unique mission in life, and give us the
strength to fulfill it in our lifetimes.
Sean Emslie
John 19:17-41 - A Different Kind of King
In this week's besora
reading, we come to John's account of Yeshua's execution by the Romans. This is
a gruesome scene of pain and suffering and eventually the death of our
righteous Messiah. Yeshua's death, like many before him and many after him, was
by the Roman's favored form of execution, the stake. A slow, painful death
reserved for criminals, slaves and enemies of the state.
We read in this passage that Pilate had a notice
attached above Yeshua's stake that read, YESHUA FROM NATZERET, THE KING OF THE
JEWS. Though it can be seen as an
insincere mocking of Yeshua and the religious leaders, these words written to
malign, bear a stark truth, that this beaten, bloodied, soon to be dead
Galilean tradesman was and is the King of the Jews. This is the Messiah, the King of the Jews,
the hope of Israel,
beaten, bloodied, crying out in thirst, soon to have a spear plunged into his
heart.
Though this is a gruesome picture and one that we
try not to think about too much, we need to realize that this was part and
parcel of who the Messiah was to be. Yes, Yeshua will one day return to rule
and to reign and be the King Messiah for which our people cry for daily in the
Siddur, for which we see foretold by the prophets and the writers of the Brit
Chadasha. Before his majestic reign, however, came an appointment with a Roman
stake and a brutal death that secured atonement and brought to reality the
words of the angels who heralded at his birth that they were bearers of good
news for all the people of Israel.
We now look forward to that glorious day (may we see
it soon) when Yeshua returns to rule and to take up the throne of David, yet as
we look forward it is important that we at times look back to this time of
suffering and rejection that was also part of the path that Yeshua had to
travel. Though on the stake he was the maligned, rejected one, he still, as the
notice over his head proclaimed, was the King of the Jews, an oppressed,
suffering man, standing in for and bearing the suffering for his people who
like him were oppressed and suffering under Roman rule.
Yeshua gives us a different picture of what a king
is. Not in robes, on a throne and
surrounded by opulence, but unclothed, nailed to a stake and surrounded by
brutal Romans soldiers and those who sought his death. Though not as we usually picture a king,
Yeshua was living out his role as Mashiach ben Yosef, the Messiah who would
suffer and die for Israel's sin. Like his namesake, Yosef, Yeshua is also an
unrecognized redeemer of his people. As much of the Jewish world is yet to see
their Messiah in Yeshua, he still suffered rejection to bring them redemption
and like the revelation of the despised, rejected and forgotten Yosef as
redeemer, may we look forward to that day when all Israel recognizes the
despised one nailed to the Roman stake as the Redeemer of Israel and the true
Jewish Messiah.
