This week we continue our study of what Everett Fox calls Moses’
first exhortation in the Book of Deuteronomy. In his commentary, Fox describes
the book of Deuteronomy as unique among the books of the Torah, with its urgent
and lofty rhetoric, its pleading and warning tone, and it long elegant
phrasing. Different from the other books, in this one the narrator is directly
addressing a living audience, “not only of the ancient hearers portrayed in the
text but also of contemporary listeners.” Similar to Greek historians who “paint
a vivid picture” of the orator and the drama of the historical moment, this text
is not based on eyewitness accounts, but aims to present what “would have been
said on such an occasion.”
And what is the occasion? In the context of the text itself,
the occasion is the moment just before Moses dies and the people finally enter
the Promised Land. But it is possible that the context in which the book was
written was the reign of King Josiah of Judah, who insisted on one God
worshipped in one central location and who destroyed the high places of cultic worship
that had proliferated in the land during the 7th century BCE.
In this week’s installment, Moses warns the people of the
danger that once they settle in the land, acquire wealth and become
comfortable, they will forget the covenant. They are prone to look at the work
of their hands and forget that it was God who gave them the power to produce
their wealth. He reminds them of the incident of the Golden Calf and of how
Moses intervened on their behalf.
Moses warns that they are not entering a land like Egypt, in
which water flows abundantly. Rather, they will depend on the rainfall, and
rainfall is dependent upon God. If the people do listen and follow the
commandments, then God will bring forth the rain. But if they don’t, the rain
will stop, the land will not produce, and they will perish. Similarly, if they
obey God’s commandments, they will easily dispossess their enemies and expand
their territory, but if they disobey, they will be defeated.
A theme that is woven throughout Deuteronomy and which
appears in our parasha is that of love – “ahavah.” This is what God expects of
us. According to Fox’s commentary, love here has the connotation of loyalty, as
a vassal has for a lord. As we study together, I’d like for us to ask ourselves
how love or loyalty operates in our own context, where the lord/vassal
relationship no longer operates. Is this a helpful metaphor for our
relationship with God? Is “ahavah” still a helpful way to think about what God
expects of us?
