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Parshat Devarim Torah Study July 25

Parshat Devarim: The Second Telling: Memory and Remembering

Deuteronomy retelling                                          Original experience

9 Thereupon I said to you, "I cannot bear the burden of you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky. — 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised you. — 12 How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering! 13 Pick from each of your tribes men who are wise, discerning, and experienced, and I will appoint them as your heads." 14 You answered me and said, "What you propose to do is good." 15 So I took your tribal leaders, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you: chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens, and officials for your tribes. 16 I charged your magistrates at that time as follows, "Hear out your fellow men, and decide justly between any man and a fellow Israelite or a stranger.

 

Exodus 18:17 But Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing you are doing is not right; 18 you will surely wear yourself out, and these people as well. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19 Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You represent the people before God: you bring the disputes before God, 20 and enjoin upon them the laws and the teachings, and make known to them the way they are to go and the practices they are to follow. 21 You shall also seek out from among all the people capable men who fear God, trustworthy men who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and 22 let them judge the people at all times. Have them bring every major dispute to you, but let them decide every minor dispute themselves. Make it easier for yourself by letting them share the burden with you. 23 If you do this — and God so commands you — you will be able to bear up; and all these people too will go home unwearied."

20 I said to you, "You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the Lord our God is giving to us. 21 See, the Lord your God has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. Fear not and be not dismayed."22 Then all of you came to me and said, "Let us send men ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to."

Chapter 13:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Send men to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one man from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them." 3 So Moses, by the Lord's command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran, all the men being leaders of the Israelites. 4 And these were their names:

 

29 I said to you, "Have no dread or fear of them (of the Anakites). 30 None other than the Lord your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you traveled until you came to this place. 32 Yet for all that, you have no faith in the Lord your God, 33 who goes before you on your journeys — to scout the place where you are to encamp — in fire by night and in cloud by day, in order to guide you on the route you are to follow." 34 When the Lord heard your loud complaint, He was angry. He vowed: 35 Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers — 36 none except Caleb son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his descendants will I give the land on which he set foot, because he remained loyal to the Lord.

37 Because of you the Lord was incensed with me too, and He said: You shall not enter it either. 38 Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, he shall enter it. Imbue him with strength, for he shall allot it to Israel

Chapter 14 1 The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. 2 All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. "If only we had died in the land of Egypt," the whole community shouted at them, "or if only we might die in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord taking us to that land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be carried off! It would be better for us to go back to Egypt!" 4 And they said to one another, "Let us head back for Egypt."5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembled congregation of the Israelites. 6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of those who had scouted the land, rent their clothes 7 and exhorted the whole Israelite community: "The land that we traversed and scouted is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into that land, a land that flows with milk and honey, and give it to us; 9 only you must not rebel against the Lord. Have no fear then of the people of the country, for they are our prey: their protection has departed from them, but the Lord is with us. Have no fear of them!" 10 As the whole community threatened to pelt them with stones, the Presence of the Lord appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.

 

1:37 Because of you the Lord was incensed with me too, and He said: You shall not enter it either.

20: 9 Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He had commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he said to them, "Listen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?" 11 And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank.

41 You replied to me, saying, "We stand guilty before the Lord. We will go up now and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us." And you all girded yourselves with war gear and recklessly started for the hill country. 42 But the Lord said to me, "Warn them: Do not go up and do not fight, since I am not in your midst; else you will be routed by your enemies." 43 I spoke to you, but you would not listen; you flouted the Lord's command and willfully marched into the hill country.

14:39 When Moses repeated these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome by grief. 40 Early next morning they set out toward the crest of the hill country, saying, "We are prepared to go up to the place that the Lord has spoken of, for we were wrong." 41 But Moses said, "Why do you transgress the Lord's command? This will not succeed. 42 Do not go up, lest you be routed by your enemies, for the Lord is not in your midst. 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there to face you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned from following the Lord and the Lord will not be with you." 44 Yet they marched toward the crest of the hill country, though neither the Lord's Ark of the Covenant nor Moses stirred from the camp.

 

Deuteronomy Chapter 1

1 These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan. — Through the wilderness, in the Arabah near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab, 2 it is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by the Mount Seir route. — 3 It was in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, that Moses addressed the Israelites in accordance with the instructions that the Lord had given him for them, 4 after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth [and] Edrei. 5 On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching. He said:

6 The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying: You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Start out and make your way to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negeb, the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and the Lebanon, as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I place the land at your disposal. Go, take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to assign to them and to their heirs after them.

9 Thereupon I said to you, "I cannot bear the burden of you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky. — 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised you. — 12 How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering! 13 Pick from each of your tribes men who are wise, discerning, and experienced, and I will appoint them as your heads." 14 You answered me and said, "What you propose to do is good." 15 So I took your tribal leaders, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you: chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens, and officials for your tribes. 16 I charged your magistrates at that time as follows, "Hear out your fellow men, and decide justly between any man and a fellow Israelite or a stranger.

17 You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike. Fear no man, for judgment is God's. And any matter that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me and I will hear it." 18 Thus I instructed you, at that time, about the various things that you should do.

19 We set out from Horeb and traveled the great and terrible wilderness that you saw, along the road to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, 20 I said to you, "You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the Lord our God is giving to us. 21 See, the Lord your God has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. Fear not and be not dismayed."22 Then all of you came to me and said, "Let us send men ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to." 23 I approved of the plan, and so I selected twelve of your men, one from each tribe. 24They made for the hill country, came to the wadi Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 They took some of the fruit of the land with them and brought it down to us. And they gave us this report: "It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving to us."

26 Yet you refused to go up, and flouted the command of the Lord your God. 27 You sulked in your tents and said, "It is because the Lord hates us that He brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to wipe us out. 28 What kind of place are we going to? Our kinsmen have taken the heart out of us, saying, 'We saw there a people stronger and taller than we, large cities with walls sky-high, and even Anakites.'"

29 I said to you, "Have no dread or fear of them. 30 None other than the Lord your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you traveled until you came to this place. 32 Yet for all that, you have no faith in the Lord your God, 33 who goes before you on your journeys — to scout the place where you are to encamp — in fire by night and in cloud by day, in order to guide you on the route you are to follow." 34 When the Lord heard your loud complaint, He was angry. He vowed: 35 Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers — 36 none except Caleb son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his descendants will I give the land on which he set foot, because he remained loyal to the Lord.

37 Because of you the Lord was incensed with me too, and He said: You shall not enter it either. 38 Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, he shall enter it. Imbue him with strength, for he shall allot it to Israel. 39 Moreover, your little ones who you said would be carried off, your children who do not yet know good from bad, they shall enter it; to them will I give it and they shall possess it. 40 As for you, turn about and march into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.

41 You replied to me, saying, "We stand guilty before the Lord. We will go up now and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us." And you all girded yourselves with war gear and recklessly started for the hill country. 42 But the Lord said to me, "Warn them: Do not go up and do not fight, since I am not in your midst; else you will be routed by your enemies." 43 I spoke to you, but you would not listen; you flouted the Lord's command and willfully marched into the hill country. 44 Then the Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you like so many bees and chased you, and they crushed you at Hormah in Seir. 45 Again you wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not heed your cry or give ear to you.

46 Thus, after you had remained at Kadesh all that long time, 1we marched back into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds, as the Lord had spoken to me, and skirted the hill country of Seir a long time.

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784