V’et’chanan
I pleaded
“Shema, O Israel!”
Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11
Isaiah 40:1-26
excerpted from TorahScope, Volume I
V’et’chanan is perhaps one of the more inspirational and instructional collections of statements which Moses conveys to Israel in any one Torah reading. Not only is the Decalogue reiterated, but also the Shema—which many consider to be Israel’s pledge of allegiance—is articulated. As I read and meditated upon this motivating section of Scripture, many thoughts came to my mind about how the Lord is presently using many of these words to encourage His people to return to a disciplined and regular study of the Torah—as we are to all be instructed in His ways and in holiness. Today’s generation of Messianic Believers possesses significant potential to make a concentrated difference in the lives of Jews and Christians today, if we are willing to submit ourselves to God’s Word and allow it to mold our hearts and minds for His purpose.
A Great Nation
One of the most profound things which is stated in V’et’chanan—which any person who has placed his or her trust in the God of Israel and His Messiah Yeshua must commit to memory—summarizes how obedience to Him manifests itself as His wisdom. Others can then witness this wisdom, and see how awesome God truly is:
“Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as the LORD our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today? Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:6-9, WMB).
Here, Moses reminded Ancient Israel how they were indeed “this great nation” or ha’goy ha’gadol ha’zeh, but that such a great nation likewise had serious responsibilities. In order to be a wise and understanding people, which other nations would recognize and turn to for spiritual answers, Israel could not disobey the Lord. The kind of impact which Israel was chosen to make on the world would not happen all at once, either, as Moses’ Teaching had to be taught to the succeeding generations. I think that one of the exciting features of the Book of Deuteronomy, is that readers get to not only be reminded of the things which were to make Ancient Israel great—but that they are the same things which are to make all of God’s people today great!
Today via the growth and expansion of the Messianic movement, many thousands of born again Believers—both Jewish and non-Jewish—are making a concentrated effort to make the Torah a firm foundation for their faith. As the Holy Spirit moves upon them, they want to make the statutes and commandments Moses delivered to Ancient Israel a part of how they think and act too. Just as Ancient Israel was admonished to be, they want others to witness their obedience to God, and use it as an opportunity to testify of the Father’s goodness and the salvation He has provided in His Son.
The Fundamentals Required
As you have been reading through V’et’chanan, you have no doubt seen how Moses was instructing the Israelites in how they could be a special, separated, holy nation unto God. One of the main reasons for heeding the instructions of the Lord was very clear: Moses wanted Israel to live and prosper in the Land which He had promised to them:
“Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do them, that you may live and go in and possess the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you” (Deuteronomy 4:1, WMB).
Moses knew that his days were numbered and that he would soon die. He also recognized how he had been used by the Holy One to communicate His words to the Israelites, which would allow them to ably take possession of Canaan. As he began to reiterate many of the words and experiences from the previous forty years of Israel sojourning in the desert, he made a strong admonition to remind his listeners about the imperative to follow God’s instructions already given:
“You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2, WMB).
This terse statement carries weight. It not only carries weight in terms of how authoritative the instructions of God are, but how the Israelites were to make sure that they did not carelessly nullify them. These words do not prohibit how in further history, God’s Prophets would reveal more things to Israel, or that additional books of Scripture would be added to the canon. These words similarly do not prohibit how in later generations, religious authorities would need to make rulings and decisions on how the Torah was to be applied in complicated circumstances. What these words do more than anything else is to highlight how God’s Instruction is to force His people to follow and serve Him alone—versus any other gods—as further specified:
“Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal Peor; for the LORD your God has destroyed all the men who followed Baal Peor from among you. But you who were faithful to the LORD your God are all alive today” (Deuteronomy 4:3-4, WMB).
As you read through V’et’chanan, the Israelites were reminded in summary form about many of their wilderness experiences. Moses specified prohibitions against idolatry and making any idols of a created object for worship.[1] Moses restated the reality that the Lord was a jealous God and a consuming fire.[2] Following this, Moses prophesied about the future when the chosen people, through willful disobedience, were going to provoke God to scatter them among the nations of the Earth. But, in spite of this anticipated punishment, He will restore them to the Promised Land when they will seek Him with all their hearts and souls. This is one of the most sobering parts of our parashah which you will read:
“When you father children and children’s children, and you have been long in the land, and then corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the LORD your God’s sight to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land which you go over the Jordan to possess it. You will not prolong your days on it, but will utterly be destroyed. The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will lead you away. There you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you shall seek the LORD your God, and you will find him when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to the LORD your God and listen to his voice. For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them” (Deuteronomy 4:25-31, WMB).
In spite of future judgment which would come, Moses continued to encourage Ancient Israel, by reminding them of the great things God had done for them:
“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as great as this thing is, or has been heard like it? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? It was shown to you so that you might know that the LORD is God. There is no one else besides him. Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you. On earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the middle of the fire. Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their offspring after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that the LORD himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else. You shall keep his statutes and his commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God gives you for all time” (Deuteronomy 4:32-40, WMB).
After this, Moses took a break from the exhortative reminders, and chose three cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan River.[3] But, he quickly picked up where he left off, and reminded the Israelites about the words they received at Mount Horeb.[4] In fact, he just went ahead and restated the Ten Commandments for the entire assembly to hear. Most important, Moses wanted the Israelites to know how these words were not only applicable to those who originally heard them, but to future generations also. The point was made of how the covenant would pass on to their descendants:
“Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, ‘Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.’ The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today” (Deuteronomy 5:1-3, WMB).
Moses mentioned the great fear which the people of Israel demonstrated, when they first heard the words of God being declared from the smoking mountain.[5] The significance of the exhortations continued. Moses encouraged Israel with more instructions for those listening, and the generations to come:
“Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you go over to possess; that you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged” (Deuteronomy 6:1-2, WMB).
Following this, Moses gave Israel what is commonly referred to as the Shema, derived from the Hebrew verb shama meaning “to hear.” Throughout Biblical history, the Shema is believed to be the quintessential statement declaring not only a person’s complete loyalty to the God of Israel, but also of monotheism. Observant Jews proclaim the Shema every day in their traditional prayers, and every Shabbat as the Torah scroll is pulled from the ark and ready to be canted. I personally like to refer to the Shema as Israel’s “pledge of allegiance”:
“Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one.[6] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, WMB).
As you can see, the positive encouragements just continue to be made statement after statement in the Shema. By a variety of educational actions, including impressing the significance of Moses’ Teaching on one’s heart and mind, frequently discussing it, and actually placing it on one’s hand, forehead, and doorposts (even if just figuratively, and not always literally)—people can be reminded to be loyal to God and to diligently follow after Him.
Finally in V’et’chanan, Moses told Israel some of what they were to expect as they entered into Canaan, took the Promised Land, and defeated the seven nations which occupied it.[7] Of notable importance is how these nations were stronger than Israel, but how God would deliver them over to be defeated:
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—seven nations greater and mightier than you; and when the LORD your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them” (Deuteronomy 7:1-2, WMB).
In the last verses of our parashah, we see a significant reminder from Moses, regarding God’s faithfulness to Israel and to His promises:
“For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. The LORD didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments, and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face” (Deuteronomy 7:6-10, WMB).
Final Thoughts
As you read and consider V’et’chanan, Moses was delivering what is largely a very encouraging word to the people of Israel. Of course, the Israelites were being told of some of the challenges of disobedience to the Lord. But, the positive comments about the blessings they would experience so outweighed the negative—that any reader should walk away from this week’s Torah portion with a great sense of relief for the love that God has for His people. We should all want to obey the Lord.
Thinking about these encouraging words, I naturally reflected back on my remembrance of the Ninth of Av this past week—as I fasted in remembering the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Reflecting upon V’et’chanan, Moses’ words are quite uplifting and encouraging—especially for those who have been in mourning for the loss of the Temples. Those who are serious about their relationship with the God of Israel can be positively encouraged to seek Him with all of their being:
“But from there you shall seek the LORD your God, and you will find him when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to the LORD your God and listen to his voice. For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them” (Deuteronomy 4:29-31, WMB).
Moses said that God would remember His people like this b’acharit ha’yamim, or “in the latter days.” For the generation which is alive today, many of the prophecies seen in the Bible have been fulfilled. In particular, 1948 witnessed the rebirth of a sovereign Jewish State of Israel, with the Jewish people being returned to the Land of their ancestors. The possibility of rebuilding a Temple on the Temple Mount is debated every year. People are waking up and being stirred all over the world as they sincerely seek the Lord with all their hearts and souls, and pay attention to the Scriptures. The covenants promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are being remembered. And, we all know how this will culminate with the return of Yeshua the Messiah as King from Jerusalem!
We have much to be grateful for as we learn to listen and obey the admonitions given to Ancient Israel three millennia ago. But what is to befall us in the future? I think understanding this begins with each of us falling on our faces before the Lord, and crying out to Him with that simple declaration: Shema Yisrael! or “Hear, O Israel!” Then we can allow our Father to answer our pleadings…
NOTES
[1] Deuteronomy 4:15-20.
[2] Deuteronomy 4:23-24.
[3] Deuteronomy 4:41-43.
[4] Deuteronomy 5:1-21.
[5] Deuteronomy 5:22-33.
[6] Heb. shema Yisrael ADONAI Eloheinu ADONAI echad; also validly rendered as “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone” (NRSV/NJPS), emphasizing Israel’s exclusive worship of Him.
[7] Deuteronomy 6:10-7:10.
