This past week was one of those weeks that went by in the blink of an eye. The highlight was a perfect Wednesday summer morning, spent with our best friends, at one of our best playgrounds, which has this hidden stream behind it (photo above). We also did two (!) trips to the Science Center, swim lessons, our annual family photoshoot, and of course, a trip to the library. I finished Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo — loved it so much! Oh, and I stepped on a bee last week, and got a gnarly bee sting on the bottom of one of my toes, which meant I had to sit out that afternoons gym session. What can you do!
For the record, I’m writing today’s post late on a Monday afternoon during a heatwave (heat index of 114-degrees), from the comfort of my bed. The A/C is doing its best, but it’s having trouble cooling our home lower than 74-degrees. All four children are already changed into their PJ’s. It’s 4pm. And they fashioned elaborate magic wands / guns for themselves out of K’nex, capes made of throw blankets. Lots of summersaults, running, and screaming. It’s hard to concentrate, and it’s my fault for not getting this done before Shabbat (of last week). There will probably be a lot of typos and terrible grammatical sentences today. At least there is no crying. Welcome to “Va’etchanan.”
A God So Close to Hand
Meanwhile, for this weeks parsha, I have to say, this one makes it into my top five. I’m really loving Deuteronomy so far. I love that this week we got to read through the Ten Commandments again, and it really drives home how God wants us to live. Since I’m using Dennis Prager’s Rational Bible series for the translation, I also need to mention how incredible his essays are, particularly within this weeks parsha. I mostly enjoyed his Sabbath essays, and why the Sabbath is so important. Did you know that it’s one of the only ritual laws on the Ten Commandments? I really should have an entire post dedicated to the Sabbath…
Meanwhile, this week Moses reminds Israel that they got to see the greatness of God firsthand, which he reiterates again later in the parsha: For what great nation is there that has a god so close at hand as is the Lord our God whenever we call upon Him? Or what great nation has laws and rules as perfect as all this Teaching that I set before you this day? But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and your children’s children: The day you stood before the Lord your God at Sinai, when the Lord said to me, “Gather the people to Me that I may let them hear My words, in order that they learn to revere Me as long as they live on earth, and may so teach their children (4:7-10).
These four verses (4:7–10) capture exactly what frustrated me all throughout Numbers. These people witnessed with their own eyes the most amazing set of miracle after miracle after miracle. They saw with their own eyes, they were at the mountain, received firsthand from God Himself, and yet. And yet. So much bitterness, so much complaining, so little faith. Numbers was so frustrating to read for just that alone. I appreciate Moses reiterating this, before he goes over the laws and rules set out by the Lord for Israel to observe. Another important statement before we continue: You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it; but keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you (4:2) My husband and I think about this statement a lot, when we discuss our mutually shared religious values and priorities. We both stand behind, and abide by the Ten Commandments, and I feel so strongly that if every human being felt a moral and ethical obligation to uphold the Ten Commandments as well, we’d live in an even more beautiful place. But since we don’t, we can just do the best we can, and raise our children with these values, and maybe, just maybe, Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing of all these laws will say, “Surely that great nation is a wise and discerning people (4:6).
His Great Might
And again, to really drive the point home: You have but to inquire about bygone ages that came before you, ever since God created man on earth, from one end of heaven to the other: has anything as grand as this ever happened, or has its like ever been known? Has any people heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have, and survived? Or has any god ventured to go and take for himself one nation from the midst of another by prodigious acts, by signs and portents, by war, by a mighty and outstretched arm and awesome power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? It has been clearly demonstrated to you that the Lord alone is God; there is none beside Him. From the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; on earth He let you see His great fire; and from amidst that fire you heard His words. And because He loved your fathers, He chose their heirs after them; He Himself, in His great might, led you out of Egypt, to drive from your path nations greater and more populous than you, to take you into their land and assign it to you as a heritage, as is still the case. Know therefore this day and keep in mind that the Lord alone is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other. Observe His laws and commandments, which I enjoin upon you this day, that it may go well with you and your children after you, and that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is assigning to you for all time (4:32-40)
Moses keeps returning to the same theme because Israel is about to enter the Promised Land. Before he gives them more laws, he wants them to remember what they themselves witnessed.
A Recap of the Ten Commandments
Chapter 5 is a reminder of the Ten Commandments, and I think it’s important I put them here as well:
- I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: God begins by reminding the people of what He did for them, which makes a strong case that gratitude is a very important human trait.
- You shall have no other gods besides Me: this includes ideology, a false god, anything that people worship other than the God of the Ten Commandments.
- You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God: a personal who does evil in God’s name or appears to be religious but does evil, unforgivable in Gods eyes.
- Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you: this is the only ritual commandment included among the Ten Commandments themselves…
- Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may long endure, and that you may fare well, in the land that the Lord your God is assigning to you: I’ve always wondered if this is also a warning—that societies whose children stop honoring their parents eventually stop flourishing.
- You shall not murder: this is the only law that is contained in all five books of the Torah
- You shall not commit adultery
- You shall not steal
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
- You shall not covet your neighbors wife. You shall not crave your neighbors house, or his field or his male or female slave, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbors
And then, after the people can’t bear God’s majestic presence, they tell Moses this, and instruct him to speak with God directly, and relay everything to them, and God agrees, and then states very somberly; Be careful, then, to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left: follow only the path that the Lord your God has enjoined upon you, so that you may thrive and that it may go well with you, and that you may long endure in the land you are to possess (5:29-30)
Additional Rules & Laws
Chapter 6 lists all additional rules and laws. We all know the Ten Commandments (hopefully), but how many of us know the additional rules and laws God gave to Moses to give to Israel? I thought it would be fun to list them here:
- You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (6:5)
- Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (6:6-8)
- Revere only the Lord your God and worship Him alone, and swear only by His name. Do not follow other gods, any gods of the peoples about you (6:13-14)
- Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you and that you may be able to posses the good land that the Lord your God promised on oath to your fathers (6:18)
- When, in time to come, your children ask you, “what mean the decrees, laws, and rules that the Lord our God has enjoined upon you?” you shall say to your children, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his household; and us He freed from there, that He might take us and give us the land that He had promised on oath to our fathers. Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere the Lord our God, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case. It will be therefore to our merit before the Lord our God to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as He has commanded us.” (6:20-25)
What I kept coming back to this week was how often Moses tells Israel to remember. Remember what you saw. Remember who brought you out of Egypt. Remember to teach your children. Perhaps remembering isn’t just about the past—it’s one of the ways faith survives into the next generation. See you next week.