Wnyzah Devarim (Deuteronomy) 32:1-52 Ha azinu (Give ear)

Transcription

1 Undestanding the Pasha Devaim Deuteonomy 32:1-52 Paashat HaShavuah Wnyzah Devaim (Deuteonomy) 32:1-52 Ha azinu (Give ea) We will Lean how to 1) intepet the main theme (subject) of a Pasha (weekly eading fom the Toah), 2) make thematic connections to that Pasha (study the Sciptues elated by a common theme [subject], line upon line and pecept upon pecept) 3) lean how to gain geate undestanding of the Pasha we ae looking at though its thematic connections to othe potions of Sciptue. The Oveall Liteay Stuctue of Shia Ha azinu This week s sida (Toah potion) is composed of a song (Shia[ Shia is Hebew fo song.] Ha azinu) given to Moses. Befoe we look close at this song thematically, let s look at its liteay stuctue. Devaim 32:1-43, which contains Shia Ha azinu, is witten with two phases on each line of the Toah scoll, each phase sepaated by a Pasha Stumah. It would look simila to this. ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla ~yhla~yhla ~yhla 1

2 We aleady know that each Pasha contains its own thematic message; so, we should expect that each phase contains a thematic message. With this undestanding, let s look close at Shia Ha azinu. Please ead Judges 2:8-18. This is pat of a test. I ll explain the impotance late. Fo now, make a mental note of which thematic connections you can make to this passage. A Geneal Outline of Shia Ha azinu Thematic analysis demands that we lean to see the theme o geneal topic of a passage. Let's do this fo Shia Ha azinu. As you go though the song, see if you can figue out when the theme/topic changes. Let s use this outline below. You may see othe themes/topics besides these. That s good, that means you ae getting an eye fo thematic analysis. Fill in the spaces to complete ou outline: Read Devaim 32:1-2 Intoduction. Read Devaim 32:3-4 Geatness of the. Read Devaim 32:5-6 Couption and lack of undestanding of. Read Devaim 32:7-9 A call to ou histoy. Read Devaim 32:10-14 Adonai s fo Am Yisael, binging them fom nothing to geatness. Read Devaim 32:15-18 Am Yisael s against the Holy One. Read Devaim 32:19-21 Adonai s esponse to Am Yisael s. Read Devaim 32:22-26 The Holy One s of Am Yisael. Read Devaim 32:27-31 The false notions of Am Yisael s concening thei punishment. Read Devaim 32:32-34 Souce of Am Yisael s. Read Devaim 32:35-39 Adonai s measued. P c Read Devaim 32:40-43 of Am Yisael s enemies. Punishment H Holy emembe cae p ebellion punishment s As you can see, the song follows a definite thematic flow. We can genealize even moe. The basic flow of this song is sin, judgment and deliveance. Befoe going on, let's look that this song is thematically connected to last week's sida (Toah potion). O esponse One suffeing e A Am ebellion ememies Y Yisael Look at anothe passage of Sciptue in the Toah thematically elated to Shia Ha azinu, ead Devaim 31:14-30 The last potion of Paashat Vayeilekh is definitely thematically elated to Shia Ha azinu. How many thematic connections do you see between these two passages? Both passages speak of Am Yisael going afte g stange. Both passages take place in gods E Eetz s Y Yisael 2

3 (the land of Isael). Both passages speak of Am Yisael's against the Holy One. Both passages speak of Adonai's buning. Both passages speak of Adonai His face fom Am Yisael. Both passages speak of the that will be visited upon Am Yisael. Both passages speak of Am Yisael gowing. Wow! As you can see, these passages have a lot of connections. Of couse, we shouldn't be supised that they ae connected because Adonai commanded Moses to wite Shia Ha azinu (see Devaim 31:19, 22 and 30) exactly because this ode of events would happen! So then we can know that Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu ae eally diffeent accounts of the same events. Anothe way we can see the connections between Shia Ha azinu and Devaim 31:14-30 is by using a Table. Let s look at the thematic flow of Devaim 31:14-30 in Table I and Shia Ha azinu in Table II below. Table I Thematic Flow of Devaim 31:14-30 Phase Refeence Key Wod(s) Death of Stong Leade Devaim 31:16a Death, died GREEN Am Yisael Rebelled Devaim 31:16b Fosake, gods of the land, beak covenant Adonai s Response to Am Isael Devaim 31:17a Ange, flae/bun, fosake them, conceal my face YELLOW ebellion Consequences of Rebellion Devaim 31:17b Become pey, evils and distesses upon them ORANGE a f ange fat e evils h hiding Table II Thematic Flow Fom Shia Ha azinu Phase Refeence Key Wod(s) Remembeing Histoy Devaim 32:7-9 Death, died, fogot, didn t emembe Am Yisael s Rebellion Devaim 32:15-18 Gow fat, fosake, abominations, ignoe, GREEN povoke, new gods Adonai s Response to Am Isael Devaim 32:19-22a Conceal my face, fie, blaze YELLOW Consequences of Rebellion Devaim 32:23-26 Swod, famine, dead, evils against them, ORANGE Adonai Refused to Totally Devaim 32:35-39 Relent, compassion, thei powe is gone, Destoy Them none emains RED Punishment of Am Yisael s Devaim 32:40-43 Swod, vengeance, judgment, enemies, Enemies blood, intoxicate PINK 3

4 Notice the connections? The colo codes should be helpful. They ae especially obvious when we look at the key wods used in each thematic potion. See how many of the key wods ae found in both passages. Although they ae not exactly the same, each passage is definitely speaking of the same sequence of events. Remembe the similaities. Since the events of Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu ae the same, let s make a new table that includes the events and themes fom Tables I and II. Table III Tables I & II Combined Phase Refeence Key Wod(s) Death of Stong Leade Devaim 31:16a Death, died Remembeing Histoy Devaim 32:7-9 Death, died, fogot, didn t emembe Am Yisael s Rebellion Devaim 32:15-18 Gow fat, fosake, abominations, ignoe, GREEN povoke, new gods YELLOW Adonai s Response to Am Isael Devaim 32:19-22 Conceal my face, fie, blaze Consequences of Rebellion Devaim 32:23-26 Swod, famine, dead, evils against them ORANGE Adonai Refused to Totally Devaim 32:35-39 Relent, compassion, thei powe Destoy Them RED is gone, none emains Punishment of Am Yisael s Enemies Devaim 32:40-43 Swod, vengeance, judgment, enemies, blood, intoxicate PINK Finding the Time Fame Fo the Events in Shia Ha azinu Let's see if we can figue out the timefame fo the fulfillment of Moses' pophecy in Shia Ha azinu. Since we know that Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu ae one and the same (though thematic analysis), we can look to Devaim 31:14-30 as a souce to answe ou questions. Read Devaim 31: Whee do the events take place? l In the. land You might expect that these two passages would simply epeat Moses' thid speech, the Tochacha (Admonition), found in Devaim Remembe, in that speech, Moses pophesied that exile would be Am Yisael's ultimate punishment. Did you notice, Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu neve mention the wod exile! Some othe easons why Shia Ha azinu does not efe to exile. 1. Shia Ha azinu speaks of Am Yisael's enemies having militay victoy ove them. This, suggests that they ae in the land, since in exile, Am Yisael does not wage wa, athe, they ae aleady taken as captives. [Ibid] 4

5 2. The theme of epentance, so clealy seen in Devaim 27-28, is totally lacking in Shia Ha azinu. 3. Lastly, nothing is said about the e-gatheing.[ibid] Shia Ha azinu is a pophecy efeing to, "an histoical pocess that is not fa off, and which will begin immediately afte Moshe's death."[ibid.] Also, "Ha azinu is not a eview of a single histoical pocess at all; Shia Ha azinu is about events that would come to pass soon afte Moses' death. And, Shia Ha azinu has pophetic impotance to many geneations of Isaelites, not just one. I will show you how this easoning is sound and simply excellent a thematic wok of at! Fo now, let us just summaize by saying that Shia Ha azinu is a pophecy of events that would occu epeatedly in the lives of Am Yisael beginning not too soon afte Moses' death. (Comments 1-3 fom an aticle entitled, Song of the Futue o Song of the Pesent, by Rabbi Elchanan Samet of The Isael Koschitzky Vitual Beit Midash, pasha.60/51haazin.htm.) Although I agee with Rav Samet, I also think thee's anothe possibility. We have aleady seen how closely Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu ae thematically elated. So much so, we know they ae pophesies on the same sequence of events. If you ecall, Shia Ha azinu does not mention a specific time in which its events would occu. So, let's see if we can glean some infomation concening WHEN the events of Shia Ha azinu should occu fom Devaim 31: Read Devaim 31:29. Accoding to this passage, when will the events of Devaim 31:14-30 take place? In the o (end of days). Hmm. The latte days? How do the Sciptues chaacteize the time peiod in which we ae cuently living? l l The. latte latte d d days days That's ight. So, because of the many diffeent thematic connections between Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu, I think that since Devaim 31:14-30 is to happen in the latte days, then Shia Ha azinu will also happen in the latte days. It seems this would contadict Rav Samet's conclusions in 1-3, which envision these events happening soon afte Moses' death! So, who s ight, Rav Samet o this lesson? Will Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu happen soone o late? I suggest that both time fames ae coect! Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu ae pophesies of events that will epeat themselves many times in diffeent geneations of Isaelites beginning soon afte Moses' death. Devaim 31:14-30 and Shia Ha azinu ae pophesies of events that will happen in the latte days. As an aside, since we know that Shia Ha azinu is a pophecy about Am Yisael in the latte days which obviously includes now in this peiod of time let's answe a couple of insightful questions. 5

6 Accoding to Shia Ha azinu, why will Am Yisael expeience judgment? f Because they and against Adonai. fosook How does one fosake/ebel against the Holy One? T By fosaking His. Toah ebelled So, do you mean to tell me that judgment is in stoe fo Am Yisael in these latte days because we have fosaken the Toah? That's ight. Now guess what that means? The Toah could not possibly have been abolished afte Yeshua's death and esuection. This was just anothe indiect poof that the Toah is fo all geneations. Moses, the geat pophet, has once again pophesied of the days in which we cuently live. Can you find the wods fom this Pasha? H T S Y A D R E T T A L A E E N E M I E S A F D A I S R A E L F B D A E Z W S N O D O R F E T S I G O D S R E M E N L T N M E I S R M S H B E R U O U A G E A A T T E O T S K V M O R T T R I Y I E L E I O P U N I S H K S N O I T A R E N E G HAAZINU LATTER DAYS GENERATIONS MOSES DIED REBEL FORSAKE TORAH ENEMIES DESTROY PUNISH ISRAEL GODS FAT 6