Moses, the man who pleaded with God that he was not an “ish
d’varim,” a “man of words” is now about to speak to us for the entire book of
Deuteronomy, which we begin this week. When God first commissioned Moses, he
tried to get out of the job, saying that he was slow of tongue. But now he
seems to have plenty to say!
Moses begins by giving a brief summary of the Israelites’
travels up to this point. He lingers on the retelling of two events – the delegation
of his leadership to chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and so forth; and
the devastating spy mission that ended with the older generation being barred
from entering the land. Both of these incidents come across differently in
Moses’ retelling than they do when we first read them in the books of Exodus
and Numbers.
Moses also reviews the various military campaigns the
Israelites pursued on the eastern side of the Jordan River. All of this sets up
the new generation, to whom Moses is speaking, to cross the Jordan and conquer
the peoples there without fear.
A strong theme in this parasha is that of fear and faith. Moses
reminds the new Israelites of the fear of the older generation to face the
challenges of the giants and fortified cities of the land of Israel. They are
told not to fear the other peoples whom they will encounter, and they are told
that the other peoples do fear them.
I see some parallels between the fear operating in this
parasha and the fear that was operating in the interaction between George
Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin that may have led to Trayvon’s death. I also
wonder about how fear has been operating in Egypt lately.
I look forward this week to examining the dynamics of fear
and faith as the Israelites turn and face the Promised Land and hear Moses retell
the story of their parents’ failure to hold on to faith as they faced their
fears.
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