The Call to Loyalty and Love
PARASHAT VA-ET’CHANAN (“I pleaded”) begins with Moses’ recollection of how he longingly prayed to God to be allowed to enter the Promised Land. This speech is part of a larger address to the Israelites in which Moses recounts for them all that occurred in the wilderness and the lessons they should derive from these experiences. Moses exhorts them to use the past as the basis for future behavior, making their first-hand knowledge of God and their national memory of the Sinai experience (here called Horeb) the basis for their relationship to God when they begin their lives in the new land without him.
Throughout this parashah, Moses plays the role of teacher. First, he spells out various reasons as to why the Israelites should obey God’s teachings (4:1–40). Next, he reminds them of what God commanded at Horeb (Sinai) (4:44–5:30), including the Decalogue (“Ten Commandments”) (5:6–18). Then, he teaches them how to fulfill the commandments by specifying the proper attitude to approach the Divine (6:1–7:5). Finally, he concludes by explaining the nature of God’s love for them, the basis for the relationship between Israel and God (7:6–11). Throughout, Moses reiterates that while the people will be rewarded for their obedience and commitment to God, they will be punished severely if they stray from God’s path. In particular, he emphasizes monotheism, a central theme in Deuteronomy as a whole. God’s uniqueness and the demand for Israel’s absolute loyalty find expression in the passages known as the Sh’ma and V’ahavta (6:4–9)— prayers that stand at the center of the Jewish proclamation of faith.
This parashah seems to include women as a matter of course when Moses addresses the Israelites in the second-person masculine singular or plural, as is typical elsewhere. In addition, women are mentioned specifically in the Decalogue as daughters, slaves, mothers, and wives (5:14, 16, 18), as well as in the prohibition of intermarriage, in which Canaanite women appear to possess the power to lead Israelites astray (7:3–4). More indirectly, the parashah’s emphasis on education (6:20–25) invites readers to assess women’s role in ancient Israel with respect to raising the next generation.
—Ora Horn Prouser
Outline—
I. MOSES’ PLEA TO ENTER THE LAND (3:23–29)
II. EXHORTATIONS TO KEEP GOD’S COMMANDMENTS
Why Follow the Laws (4:1–40)
A. Exhortations to keep God’s commandments as communicated (vv. 1–8)
B. Exhortations to remember the revelation at Horeb (Sinai) (vv. 9–14)
C. Exhortations regarding God’s unique nature (vv. 15–40)
III. INTERLUDE
Cities of Refuge (4:41–43)
IV. REVIEW OF HOREB (SINAI)
What Laws to Follow (4:44–5:30)
A. Introduction and setting the scene (4:44–5:5)
B. The Decalogue (“Ten Commandments”) (5:6–18)
C. The people’s fearful response and call for Moses’ intercession (5:19–24)
D. God’s response to the people’s request (5:25–30)
IV. ADDITIONAL TEACHINGS
How to Follow the Laws (6:1–7:5)
A. The call to love the one and only God (6:1–9)
B. The call to absolute loyalty to Israel’s God (6:10–19)
C. The demand to teach future generations about the laws (6:20–25)
D. Prohibitions regarding the inhabitants of the land (7:1–5)
IV. CONCLUSION
God’s Love as Reason for the Laws (7:6–11)
*This accent pattern for the Decalogue is the one that is customarily used for private study. (Masoretic tradition also includes an accent pattern that is used for public reading.) Verses are numbered according to a modern convention.