Deuteronomy-Chap-32:-1-28
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Remember the following truth from our beloved Torah!
“Ye shall NOT ADD TO THE WORD which
I command you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM
IT, that ye may keep the commandments of יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֵיכֶם - the LORD your Eloleichem,
which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
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Part One..
With
Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
Introduction:
שָׁלוֹם
עֲלֵיכֶם – ‘Shalom Aleichem’ and welcome to this study: We find ourselves on the
plains of Moab. This is the final “renewal” of the Covenant. Moses knows his
time is short, and he is speaking to a new generation, those who did not stand
as adults at
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Below there we have the full Deuteronomy Chapter 32:1-28 ‘Text’ (JPS-1917), followed by the relevant ‘Explanations’.
Verse 1: “These are the words of the covenant which יְהוָה - the LORD
commanded Moses to make with the children of
Explanation: This verse establishes that
the “Moab Covenant” is an essential addition to Horeb. It is a “Covenant of
Commitment" for the second generation, preparing them for the transition
from wandering to settling.
Verse 2: And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them: ‘Ye have
seen all that יְהוָה - the LORD did
before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants,
and unto all his land
Verse 3: the great trials which thine eyes saw, the signs and those
great wonders
Explanation: Moses appeals to their
collective memory. Even those who were young children in
Verse 4: but יְהוָה - the LORD hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day’.
Explanation: This is a profound warning:
one can witness 40 years of miracles and still remain spiritually blind. Real
“knowing” is a gift from God that must be coupled with a willing heart.
Verse 5: ‘And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your
clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy
foot.
Verse 6: Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong
drink; that ye might know that I am יְהוָה - the LORD your אֱלֹהִים
- Elohim (God)’.
Explanation: אֱלֹהִים
- Elohim sustained them with “bread from
heaven” rather than bread from the earth. By preserving their clothes and
shoes, He showed that His providence extends to the most mundane details of
life.
Verse 7: ‘And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of
Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them;
Verse 8: and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto
the Reubenites, and to the Gadites,
and to the half-tribe of the Manassites’.
Explanation: These recent military
victories were the “first fruits” of the promise. They serve as tangible proof
that אֱלֹהִים
- Elohim is actively clearing the way for
them to possess the Land.
Verse 9: ‘Observe therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may make all that ye do to prosper.
Explanation: Prosperity is not defined by
luck, but by alignment. To “prosper” means
to successfully reach the spiritual goal for which the nation was created.
Verse 10: Ye are standing this day all of you before יְהוָה - the LORD your אֱלֹהִים
- Elohim: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all
the men of Israel,
Verse 11: your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in the
midst of thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the
drawer of thy water;
Explanation: This is total exclusivity.
From the highest tribal leader to the lowliest labourer, every soul stands on
equal footing before the Divine. The Covenant belongs to the whole community.
Verse 12: that thou shouldest enter into the
covenant of יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֶיךָ
- the LORD thy Eloheycha, and
into His oath which יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֶיךָ
- the LORD thy Eloheycha maketh with thee this day;
Verse 13: that He may establish thee this day unto Himself for a people,
and that He may be unto thee a אֱלֹהִים
- Elohim, as He spoke unto thee, and as He swore unto thy fathers, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Explanation: The “oath” is a two-way
street.
Verse 14: Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
Verse 15: but with him that standeth here with
us this day before יְהוָה - the LORD our God,
and also with him that is not here with us this day;
Explanation: This is the “Eternal Now”.
Moses explicitly includes every future generation. We are bound to this
covenant not because we were at
Verse 16: (for ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we
came through the midst of the nations through which ye passed;
Verse 17: and ye have seen
their detestable things, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold,
which were among them);
Explanation: Having seen the empty, dead
idols of other nations, the Israelites are warned not to be seduced by their
outward physical beauty (silver and gold).
Verse 18: lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ - the LORD our Eloheynu, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
Explanation: The “root of gall” is a person
whose inner thoughts are bitter and rebellious. Like a weed in a garden, one
person’s secret sin can eventually poison the entire community.
Verse 19: and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying: ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart’, that the watered be swept away with the dry;
Explanation: This warns against the “false
security” of the sinner. A person might think, “I am part of the blessed
nation, so I can sin privately and still be safe”. Moses warns that such an
individual brings destruction even upon the righteous (“the watered”).
Verse 20: יְהוָה - the LORD will not
be willing to pardon him, but then the anger of יְהוָה - the LORD and His
jealousy shall be kindled against that man, and all the curse that is written
in this book shall lie upon him, and יְהוָה - the LORD shall
blot out his name from under heaven.
Verse 21: And יְהוָה - the LORD shall
separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of
Explanation: אֱלֹהִים
- Elohim’s “jealousy” is His fierce
protection of the Covenant relationship. He will not allow a mocker to hide
behind the merits of the group.
Verse 22: And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up
after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when
they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith יְהוָה - the LORD hath
made it sick;
Verse 23: and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a
burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any
grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom
and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim,
which יְהוָה - the LORD
overthrew in His anger, and in His wrath;
Explanation: If the nation rebels, the land
itself will become a physical testimony of their spiritual decay. It will be
turned into a wasteland of salt, a permanent "anti-Eden."
Verse 24: even all the nations shall say: ‘Wherefore
hath יְהוָה - the LORD done
thus unto this land? what meaneth
the heat of this great anger?’
Verse 25: Then men shall say: ‘Because they forsook the covenant of יְהוָה - the LORD, the אֱלֹהִים
- Elohim of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them
forth out of the
Explanation: The ruin of the land serves as
a public sermon to the world. It proves that the relationship with אֱלֹהִים
- Elohim is not a “magic charm”, but a moral
responsibility.
Verse 26: and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that
they knew not, and that He had not allotted unto them;
Verse 27: therefore the anger of יְהוָה - the LORD was
kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curse that is written in
this book;
Verse 28: and יְהוָה - the LORD rooted
them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and
cast them into another land, as it is at this day’”.
Explanation: The ultimate “curse” is exile
being “uprooted” from the sacred soil. This is the tragic reversal of the
Exodus, yet it serves as a call for future generations to return.
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My Closing Message: (Part One).
This study reminds us that while we stand together as a community, our individual choices have communal consequences. There are no “private” sins in a Covenant relationship. We are called to be vigilant against the “root of gall” in our own hearts and to remember that we stand “this day” before the Divine, just as our ancestors did! Please uphold the Shabbat and the Yom Tovim, etc.
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