How big is the role of fear as a motivator in how we commit to better and more balanced lives? What happens when the fear factor fails to be the driver of our commitment to change for better?
Chapter 28 is the longest in the Book of Words and the second longest in the Torah. It’s also one of the scariest, famously containing future blessings and curses - promises and threats, pending the people’s choice of observing the laws in the future. But there are only 14 verses with good news and 54 verses with some of the worst and most fearsome scenarios imaginable. A similar list of so-called ‘rebukes’ is also found in the Book of Leviticus, but with a few important differences. Central among them is the conclusion: The Leviticus list ends with hope of redemption - should the people repent. Our chapter ends with more dire consequences - it may just be too late, leading to total annihilation, end of sovereignty on the land and dispersal of the ungrateful sinning people among the nations. Game over.
What’s the purpose of this fear inducing speech? Have these rebukes ever help to reduce any of the crises endured by Jews or anyone - over generations? Or have they led more of the people away from a conditional and angry God, tough Torah and demanding religion? Does the fear factor work long term or is it the ultimate failure?
Scholar Jeffrey Stackert notes that the stark tone in this covenantal declaration is modeled after the Assyrian covenants, where “Failure to adhere to the stipulations of the covenant constitutes cause for the nullification of the covenant, and such nullification both severs the relationship between the parties and triggers the onset of attendant covenantal curses.“
In other words, this chapter , written with an eye to historical contexts and possibly as a hidden record of Israel’s first traumatic exile by Assyria in the 7th century BCE is both record of history and prophetic warning. It depicts the worst possible scenario as the ultimate incentive for the listeners/readers to abide by the laws of Moses - and prevent future calamity. It comes from trauma and has the fear built in as a way to bolster the option of repentance. The other option is to risk disaster - at any point in the future. The fear factor - more than the love for love’s sake - is what seems to drive this chapter to its dramatic finale. All the curses will not happen - IF - the deal with the deity is kept. Is it a desperate, hopeless plea or all that we have left to get beyond fear of the unknown future?
אֵ֩לֶּה֩ דִבְרֵ֨י הַבְּרִ֜ית אֲֽשֶׁר־צִוָּ֧ה יְהֹוָ֣ה אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֗ה לִכְרֹ֛ת אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מוֹאָ֑ב מִלְּבַ֣ד הַבְּרִ֔ית אֲשֶׁר־כָּרַ֥ת אִתָּ֖ם בְּחֹרֵֽב׃}
“These are the terms of the covenant which Adonai commanded Moses to conclude with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which was made with them at Horeb.”Dv 28:68
This verse, concluding the long list of future options, is either an add-on covenant, building on the one delivered on Mt. Sinai - known in this book by its name Horeb, or a brand new covenant, brought on my Moses’ sense of urgency ahead of the entrance to the land. Maybe this urgency is why the long list of threats, some of them echoing the ten strikes that enabled the Exodus from Egypt. Moses knows that once his people forget the good and slip away. He fears the future in which they will enter the land and have power over other people. Power corrupts and people with power often forget what it’s like to take care of the weak, see the divine in all, and live by values and virtue.
The long list of threats comes to offer a tangible threat that was actualized before and is still looming now: The failure to live up to standards of sacred living will have consequences that may include exile and demise, destruction and death. Timeless truth for those living in modern day Israel and true for every single one of us witnessing our planet’s distress due to human greed and avoidance.
What will it take for a renewed commitment to old covenants and new deals, green deals and big deals that will use both fear of the future AND love of our lives as they are now to wake us up to live more harmoniously with all our surroundings?
The Book of Words begins its descent as these heartbreaking words of warning echo, warnings to each individual and nation. But there are also promised blessings, let’s not forget. what will it take for each of us to honestly renew our vows with the most sacred source of our existence - with less fear, more trust, and the com-promised power of hope? The big deal is on the table. Again.
Ready for Joshua?? On 10/25 we bury Moses, close the Torah, cross the Jordan River into Canaan along with Joshua, entering ‘Prophets’ - the second section of the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Joshua is 24 chapters long and I invite you for a one-month journey of politics and myth, power and conquest, then and now. What’s at stake when land becomes a homeland?
On 10/24 1pm ET I will be joined by Dr. Rachel Havrelock, author of The Joshua Generation and Rabbi David Kline, to get ready for the Journey with Joshua.
Join us to get ready on this free 60 min. Zoom conversation:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85448738911?pwd=dmRIRndNNDhjaXZsVjh5K3dSYUdLQT09
Meeting ID: 854 4873 8911
Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections: Join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible, with daily reflections, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. January 2022-July 2025
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