דברים ✦D’varim
DEUTERONOMY
MOST OF DEUTERONOMY is cast as Moses’ final words to Israel while the people stand in the plains of Moab, poised to part from their long-suffering leader and at last enter the Promised Land. The book’s Hebrew title, D’varim (“words”), reflects the book’s presentation as a series of first-person speeches. The English name comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew expression mishnei ha-torah (17:18); in its biblical context, the phrase means “copy of the Teaching,” but as the book’s title, it takes on the sense of a “second [or: repeated] law.” This meaning also fits the nature of the book, which retells and reinterprets Israel’s history and laws for a new generation, often with marked differences from other versions. Deuteronomy recalls past experiences—particularly the divine wonders witnessed firsthand while fleeing from Egypt and traveling through the wilderness—as lessons for future behavior. It also includes legal material distinctive for its attention to political, social, and economic issues. The book emphasizes that security and prosperity in the Promised Land depend on adherence to these laws and lessons.
The notion of a covenant between God and Israel pervades Deuteronomy, influencing its form and content. Like political treaties found in other parts of the ancient Near East, the book begins with a historical prologue (1:1–4:43) that establishes the foundation of the covenantal relationship. Then, after a preamble to the laws (6:1–11:32), it spells out the terms of the covenant (12:1–26:15). Blessings and curses follow (28:1–68), detailing the consequences of adhering to or disobeying the covenant. Echoes of ancient Near Eastern treaties also can be heard in certain formulaic phrases that mark the book, like the charge to “love your God יהוה with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (6:5).
Deuteronomy envisions a society structured around absolute loyalty to the one God and one sanctuary. At the same time, it decentralizes political power and empowers broader segments of society. In Deuteronomy, the community as a whole is responsible for maintaining justice and economic stability, protecting the rights of every member, even animals. Deuteronomy repeatedly instructs the Israelites to care for the vulnerable and needy, particularly the stranger, widow, fatherless, and Levite (and his family). The inclusion of the Levites is a hallmark of Deuteronomy, a result of one of its defining features: the centralization of sacrificial worship in “the site that your God יהוה will choose” (12:5), which the Bible considers to be Jerusalem.
Most scholars date the core of the book (the legal collection in Deuteronomy 12–26 or the laws and surrounding sections in 4:44–28:68) to the 7th century B. C.E.; yet they recognize that various stipulations originated earlier and other parts of the book were added to and revised during the exilic or post-exilic periods (6th century). Many link Deuteronomy to the discovery of a “book of the torah” during renovations of the Temple (II Kings 22; II Chronicles 34). The female prophet Huldah is a central figure in that episode, for she authenticates the scroll as God’s teachings. (See V’zot Hab’rachah, Another View.)
The only woman named in Deuteronomy is Miriam (24:9). However, women are addressed in many parts of the book, even though the grammatically masculine language of the Hebrew often keeps their presence only implicit. Notably, 29:10 and 31:12 explicitly include women among those who take part in the covenant and are obligated to learn and follow the torah. Women figure prominently in the legal collection (particularly in parashat Ki Teitzei), as it addresses issues like the treatment of a captive woman, inheritance by the son of an unloved wife, adultery, forced and consensual sex, divorce, and levirate marriage.
Deuteronomy persistently warns of the divine wrath that will follow if either women or men disobey the covenant. Yet toward the end of the book, parashat Haazinu depicts God as a loving mother who labors to give birth to Israel and nurses Israel with honey and other delicacies of the Promised Land (32:13, 18), a striking image of the culmination of the saga that unfolds in the five books of the Torah.
— Andrea L. Weiss
At the Threshold of Canaan
EVENTS IN PARASHAT D’VARIM (“words”) take place on the plains of Moab in the lower Jordan valley, at the moment when Israel is poised to enter the land of Canaan. The parashah contains the beginning of Moses’ first farewell address, in which he reminds the people of their history: the journey from Mount Sinai (called Horeb in Deuteronomy), the scouts’ debacle, and encounters with foreign nations. Moses’ speech is not a neutral rehearsal of Israel’s history; rather, it underscores and supports central theological and ideological arguments found throughout Deuteronomy.
The words presented as Moses’ farewell address are directed toward a double audience. The first audience is one within the biblical text, the people of Israel about to enter the Promised Land. This imagined audience is standing at a pivotal moment: its members can either follow God’s commands or they can repeat the mistakes of the prior generation, presumably with disastrous consequences. Moses’ account is designed to encourage the people to make the right choice.
The second intended audience consists of Israelites who were contemporaries of the authors of this opening part of Deuteronomy. Most scholars believe that the material in this parashah, through 4:43 in the following parashah, was written during the Babylonian exile (586–538 B. C.E.) as an introduction to the laws that form the core of the book (Deuteronomy 12–26) and the prologue to these laws (Deuteronomy 4:44–11:32). The exilic authors of our parashah present a version of the past that accomplishes three goals. First, this account of past events emphasizes God’s role in Israel’s history. Second, it justifies Israel’s territory in theological terms. Third, it underscores obedience to God, as defined by Deuteronomy, as the key to Israel’s ongoing political and military success.
This parashah does not deal specifically with women. The seeming absence of women in this version of Israel’s narrative, however, raises an issue that has concerned biblical scholars in general and feminist scholars in particular, namely, how to assess the relationship between texts and a community’s social reality. Contemporary scholars, women and men alike, have shown how an account of the past is nearly always colored by an author’s own subjective position and ideological stance. These scholars train readers to guard against taking historical accounts as mirror representations of historical events; they encourage us instead to explore what historical accounts disclose about their authors’ historical and social situations. These methodological insights are particularly relevant to this opening part of Deuteronomy. In several places in this parashah, Moses’ accounts of events differ from those in Exodus or Numbers. A comparison of the different versions provides insight into not only the variety of historical traditions that flourished in ancient Israel, but also the variety of theological and ideological viewpoints that shaped them.
—Elsie R. Stern
Outline
I. SETTING AND INTRODUCTION TO MOSES’ ADDRESS (1:1–5)
II. MOSES’ REVIEW OF THE JOURNEY FROM HOREB (SINAI) (1:6–3:11)
A. Appointment of tribal leaders (1:6–18)
B. Episode of the scouts (1:19–46)
1. The sending of scouts (1:19–33)
2. The consequences (1:34–46)
C. Encounters with foreign nations (2:1–3:11)
1. Peaceful encounters with Edom, Moab, and Ammon (2:1–23)
2. Battles against Amorite kings (2:24–3:11)
III. MOSES’ ALLOTMENT OF LAND EAST OF THE JORDAN (3:12–20)
IV. MOSES’ CHARGE TO JOSHUA (3:21–22)