Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Judeo Talk. The Torah portion for this week is Parsha Devarim, Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22.
We've hit the home stretch. This week we begin Devarim, the book of Deuteronomy, the conclusion of the Five Books of Moses. Much of this book takes the form of Moses speaking directly to the Israelites just days before they are to enter to the Promised Land and officially make their nation. Parsha Devarim takes place in year 40, month 11, essentially zero hour. The people have been in the wilderness staving off starvation, dehydration, plague and war since they left Egypt a full generation prior. At this time, Moses stands before them and reviews their recent history.
This first so-called "sermon" by Moses is an exhaustive recompilation of war stories. He talks about all the peoples with whom the Israelites have clashed, the battles they've won and those they've lost. It's a tale of nothing but pain, destruction and seemingly needless loss. It gets to the point when, in so many words, all the men of war have expired by one means or another. By comparison, the second generation in the wilderness seems so fresh and full of potential.
Put in such sharp relief, this lifetime of warring seems so exhausting. I think it's meant to be that way. I can't help but see this opening portion of Deuteronomy in the context of ancient Near and Middle Eastern society. Placing these stories in the mindset of the socio-political condition of that time and place shows just how important this moment before claiming the Promised Land would have been. We're not just talking about religious fulfillment or creating an independent nation, we're witnessing the rejection of an inferior lifestyle.
In the earliest centuries of human civilization, especially in the aforementioned region, there were two kinds of people. The majority were those who served the city, living under monarchs and forming national identities. The others were nomads who were often not permitted to enter the cities or their surrounding land. There is a lot of linguistic evidence that this is where the term "Hebrew" comes from. A common word in the ancient Near East was Ibiru, which came to Egypt and became Ipiru. The word essentially meant, "People from the other side of the river", a colloquialism that has the same connotation as "from the wrong side of the tracks". Ibiru were nomads, deemed unfit for the city. They were often hired as mercenaries and many took to marauding the cities for resources. This is what we're witnessing in the Book of Numbers, the ransacking of civilization for the sake of survival and from a lack of better sense.
So, when we read Moses's utterly exhausting account of the wars that blend into one another and ultimately amount to nothing, we are supposed to see how this marauding lifestyle has laid waste to an entire generation. The children of the nomads stand on the border of a better life while their fathers die as materialistic parasites. The older generation lives this way because they have rejected the laws that promise a peaceful existence. This is the overarching sentiment of the Torah. One cannot have peace without the law, just as one cannot have the law without peace.