Pensamiento judío sobre Deuteronómio 12:9

(1) Moses' narration of the laws of the Torah that had commenced at the beginning of this book with the words "he explained this Torah," had been interrupted by an explanation of why they had not yet come to the promised land so many years after the Exodus. "For you have not yet come to a place of rest and inheritance." (Deut 12,9) The letter vav in 4,44 then is to connect not with what went immediately before, but with the interrupted narrative commenced with the words "this is the Torah" in chapter 1 verse 5. (2) The few verses following, merely define the location at which these speeches of Moses took place. Since Moses wanted to emphasize that the covenant at Sinai did not only apply to the generation that had experienced it, but was valid for all future generations, he could not say "with your forefathers did He make the covenant," but rather "not with your forefathers (who are dead already) but with us who are here today and are all alive and well." Just as a watermill has not been built to take advantage of the waters presently flowing in the river, but the capital investment is based on the assumption that the river will continue to flow, and its waters would justify the initial expense, so the revelation at Mount Sinai was based on the premise that an untold number of generations would benefit from it throughout the ages. For this reason, at a later stage, this point will be included when Jewish children learn the history of their people. "On account of this, did G'd do all this when I came out of Egypt, and He took us out from there," (Exodus 13,8) and similar statements near the end of Deuteronomy chapter 6. The total Jewish community throughout the ages is included in all these experiences. (3) Moses emphasizes his role as an intermediary as distinct from the Sinai experience when G'd had talked directly to the whole nation. Only after completion of the ten commandments, in response to their fear of death, did they say "you speak to us," and G'd had complied. "G'd said to Moses: thus you shall say to the children of Israel." (5) In chapters forty five and fifty five, we have discussed both the significance of the order of the ten commandments and the changes of wording that occur in the two versions reported in the Torah. (4+6) The main reason Moses emphasizes the people's request for an intermediary, is to remind the nations that since it is unrealistic to expect a whole nation to maintain the lofty moral standard they had achieved at the time they stood beneath Mount Sinai. G'ds objective "also in you they will believe forever," will be achieved. The need to have a prophet at all times who would serve as the reminder of the constant contact with G'd, was a major corolloary of the whole revelation episode. We have dealt with the significance of the pronoun att in chapter seventy seven. (7) The answer to the wording "we will hear and we will do," is found in chapter forty seven. It is important that G'd had specifically confirmed that Israel's request to have G'ds words communicated to them via an intermediary, was proper. One could easily have assumed that they had been motivated by a lack of desire to accept G'ds directives and therefore had wanted to put some distance between themselves and G'd. Therefore, G'd goes on record as confirming "who would give that their heart would always fear Me etc." This proves that their request came at a time when they were still at their moral/ethical peak. (8) Yirat ha-onesh, fear of punishment, must be viewed as a point of departure for all observances of a religious nature. However, it is not the goal of such observances. Initially, survival with minimal comforts is sought by the individual observing religious laws. The Torah assures us however, that the end result will be long life, well being etc., since from the original motivation we are likely to develop love for G'd and His Torah, as well as reverence for all it represents. (9) Whenever G'd mentions the gift of the land of Israel, He makes certain that we do not view it as something minimal, but as a gift of outstanding quality. Here too, we are told that the observance of the commandments results not only in minimal creature comforts but in a plethora of blessings that exceeds our wildest imagination.