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Drash
for Shabbat Devarim-Hazon This week's Torah portion, Devarim, is the first portion of Deuteronomy and serves as a prologue for the final part of the Torah. Devarim primarily recounts the events of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Although this is mostly a "backwards" looking parshah, I think that one section could allude to the future; a future that even we, thousands of years later, have not yet encountered. The section of interest comes from Chapter 2, which recalls God's instruction to the Israelites on how to deal with the various nations they encounter on their path to Canaan. There is a fair share of conquest and annihilation commanded, but three of the nations are specifically protected from any harmful encounter. What do these nations have that the others do not that gives them God's protection from his "chosen" people? It turns out that these three nations are the descendents of patriarchal relatives. The Ammonites and the Moabites were granted their land because they were descendents of Lot, Abraham's nephew, while the people of Seir were given their land because they were descendents of Esau, Jacob's brother. The Plaut commentary, however, points out that these nations do not merit protection merely because of their kinship with the Israelites, but rather due to God's favorable judgment of them. Later on, God allows the Israelites to conquer Moab along with the other Canaanites, so kinship must not be the conclusive reason for divine protection. An important insight can be drawn from this situation. Dvarim emphasizes that the Israelites and these three nations can and should peacefully coexist, not only because they are distant kinsmen, but more importantly because the nations have divine approval. What would happen if all nations were to gain divine approval, say through following the Noahide laws? That would mean all nations should coexist peacefully, and what would ensue would be world peace, the messianic age that Isaiah described as a time "when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore." Inside a parshah that summarizes past events is a hint for the future: If all the nations in the world would follow the basic laws of mankind, perhaps God would treat them as he treated Ammon, Moab, and Seir, and the world would see peace. Shabbat Shalom. |
