Devarim | "These are the Words that Moshe Spoke"

 

"These are the words that Moshe spoke unto the Jews on the other side of the Jordan...."

 

The opening line of the book of Devarim immediately indicates its uniqueness. We have grown accustomed to the standard opening of nearly every non-narrative section in the Torah - "Va-yedaber HaShem el Moshe leimor" - "God spoke unto Moshe TO SAY." The Torah is the word of God, given to Moshe that he repeat it to the Jews. In this, the last book of the Torah, we do not find this familiar introduction. The book consists, up until the very last sections, of a long speech given by Moshe to the Jews as they camp on the banks of the Jordan, poised to enter the Promised Land after forty years in the desert. While the inclusion of the book in the Torah means that it is the word of God, the actual speech is not dictated to Moshe by God, but is his own speech, based on his Divine understanding and inspiration, of what must be said now, when he knows that he will shortly not be able to lead the people onward, over the river.

 

This can clearly be seen by comparing the opening verse of Devarim to the concluding verse of Bemidbar.

 

Fourteen chapters earlier, at the concluding verse of parashat Chukat, the Torah had told us that the long journey through the desert had reached its end - "The Jews traveled, and camped on the plains of Moav, across the Jordan opposite Jericho" (22,1). There follows the story of Bil'am, the beginning of the preparations for the division of the Land, and, in last week's reading, a series of Divine commands, all connected to the entering into the Land of Israel, which are prefaced with the phrase, "And God spoke unto Moshe on the plains of Moav, by Jordan opposite Jericho" (33,50 - 35,1). Then, the book ends with a summary conclusion:

 

"THESE are the commandments and the laws which God commanded THROUGH MOSHE unto the Jews, on the plains of Moav, by Jordan opposite Jericho" (Bemidbar 36,11).

 

The next verse, the opening of Devarim, reads, in clear contrast: "THESE are the words which Moshe spoke to all the Jews on the opposite side of the Jordan.... On the opposite side of the Jordan, in the land of Moav" (Devarim, 1,1-5).

 

 

Because Devarim is an entire book, one-fifth of the Torah, it is easy to forget that its time frame is tightly compressed - Moshe begins to speak on "the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month" (1,3 - Shvat 1, as we call it today). According to the calculation of the Sages, Moshe died on the seventh day of the twelfth month, Adar. The entire book of Devarim spans five weeks! The name Devarim (words) then means "the words of Moshe," the most personal words of Moshe to the Jewish people, summing up his charge to them before he leaves them. This is the key to understanding the choice of incidents he recalls and the nature of his words in the days to come.

 

Let us examine one puzzling section. Parashat Devarim, the first part of Moshe's speech, consists mostly of his reminding the people of the events which explain how they have gotten to the point at which they now are, poised to conquer the land of Canaan. He begins by telling how, 38 years previously, God had commanded them to leave Sinai and move forward to the Promised Land (1,6-8), only a distance of eleven days march (1,2). Then, on the edge of the desert, the incident of the spies takes place, resulting in the edict of forty years of wandering (1,22-46). Moshe then more or less skips over the next 38 years and describes at length the march around the lands of Edom, Amon, and Moav, followed by the victorious battles with Sichon the Emorite and Og of Bashan (2,2-3,20). In a single verse of conclusion, Moshe promises that the conquest of Canaan will be just as glorious.

 

Only one section seems out of place. The very first incident Moshe recalls, after receiving the command of God to proceed to the Promised Land, was how he turned to the Jews and complained that the task of leading them was too much for one person, demanding that they appoint "princes of thousands, princes of hundreds, princes of fifties, and princes of tens" (1,9-18). Moshe stresses that this took place "AT THAT TIME" (1,9). What is the relevance of this message to the theme of Moshe's speech?

 

The Ramban comments tersely:

 

"This is mentioned here as though to say: We received the Torah, and you had judges and officials to judge and lead you - so that we were ready and prepared to go to the Land; and we traveled, and... "

 

This fits in with a well-known approach in the traditional commentators to view the opening sections of Moshe's speech as rebuke. While there seems to be a great deal of truth in this, we can detect another note here. Note that Moshe stressed that the leaders were to be elected from among the people: "Take you men, wise, understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will appoint them to be at your head" (1,13). Years earlier, Moshe had laid the foundations for INSTITUTIONAL leadership of the people. Although, as the Ramban points out, this had not fulfilled its potential at that time, Moshe is making it clear that the personal type of leadership which he exemplified, whereby everything was dependent on him, "as a shepherd tends to the flock," was never meant to be the proper system for the Jews. Now that they were about to lose Moshe, they have nothing to fear, as the mechanism for self-rule, based on wise men from among the tribes, exists and is capable.

 

Moshe's leadership was the most centralized imaginable. Moshe was at once king, judge, religious leader, father, and protector. Every step they had taken in the desert originated in Moshe (at the command of God, to Whom he was the only conduit). When they got into trouble, it was Moshe who went to save them, arguing, pleading with God. When they were hungry, he provided food; when they were thirsty, he struck the rock. Every question would come to him for solving, every dispute for resolution. This is not so strange, if we remember that the Jews were slaves, who had never known responsibility, who had never the need to care for themselves. The purpose of this part of Moshe's speech, including the extensive description of the battles at the end of the parasha, is to show the people that they had, after one generation in the desert, become self-sufficient and responsible, ACTORS and not mere passive sheep. Unlike the escape from Egypt (not mentioned in the parasha), where they did nothing ("God shall fight for you and you shall be silent" - Shemot 14,14), here they have born arms, and with God's help of course, defeated the mightiest kings east of the Jordan. The last verse of the parasha is directed to Moshe's successor:

 

"And I commanded Joshua AT THAT TIME saying: Your eyes have seen that which God has done to these two kings; so shall He do to all the kingdoms to which you shall pass. Fear them not, for Hashem your God, he shall fight for you."

 

Joshua, of course, is not Moshe. He is not in direct daily contact with God, he has not ascended the mountain and returned with the two tablets of the law. He will not wave his staff and split the sea. (The Jordan was split to allow the crossing of the Jews - this was in response to the actions of the entire people; see Joshua 3). Joshua is a leader whose authority derives from his position within the people, what we would call today a constitutional leader. Moshe was a personal leader, whose personality and charisma granted him singular status. (This is not to say that Moshe's authority was more successful than that of Joshua. It has been noted that whereas Moshe suffered rebellions during the forty years, there is no hint of any challenge to Joshua's authority in the Book of Joshua. Personal paternal leadership is often resented more than institutional leadership, perhaps precisely because it is more demanding and more total).

 

Moshe is trying, in his speech, to reassure the Jews that they have within themselves, in the institutions that have been developed - in fact, in an institution that they themselves set up immediately after Sinai - the ability to proceed without him. Two things will be missing - the direct word of God, and the figure of Moshe. The second is replaced by the institutions of government, Joshua, the elders, the leaders. The first is replaced by the TORAH as a way - and that, as we shall see, is the major theme of the following parashot in the coming weeks.

 

Shabbat Shalom

 

Copyright (c)1997 Yeshivat Har Etzion.  All rights reserved.