The weekly portion of Haazinu (chapter 32), the penultimate Torah’s ending, is “The Song.” In it, because he realizes the significance of his message, Moses reemphasizes the benefits and consequences derived from observing and disobeying the divine law.
- Jewish law generally requires, with few exceptions, two witnesses to produce evidence in a court hearing. Here, Moses summons heaven and earth as his two witnesses.
- I understand him saying, “In my long life of 120 years, I realized that the solar system and natural law on earth testify to the benefits and consequences of observing and disobeying divine law.”
- Moses compares the benefits of the divine law to what we see. It is like raindrops that cause growth
- He reminds them of their and their ancestors’ history.
- God is like an eagle hovering over and protecting its young.
- Yet the Israelites forsook God and suffered for it.
- Moses concludes his song by saying the divine law prolongs life.
- When he concludes, God tells Moses to ascend Mount Nebo. He can see Canaan but not enter it. God gives the reason, “Because you trespassed against Me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh [in] the wilderness of Zin; because you did not sanctify Me among the Israelites.”
- As occurs in the Bible generally, God’s explanation is obscure. Readers offer different ideas concerning what Moses did wrong. Rather than speaking to it, Rashi contends that Moses hit the rock, diminishing the miracle. Hitting the rock to produce water could be seen as natural rather than divine. Is he correct? Does hitting the rock merit such a harsh punishment of disallowing Moses to finish his leadership into Canaan?
- I think God recognized that when Moses lost control and criticized the Israelites, he showed he was no longer competent to lead them. God did the same to the prophet Elijah, who also criticized the people. When the Bible states God took him to heaven in a fiery chariot, it is telling us metaphorically that God killed him.
Does hitting the rock merit such a harsh punishment of disallowing Moses to finish his leadership into Canaan?
Does Moses anger which Maimonides states is un-heard of for a Torah scholar; unless something like rape or murder occured?
Is that why God didn’t allow Moses into the land?
I do not think that Moses was punished for hitting a rock. He was stopprd from leading the people because he was no lnger fit to lead them. Instead of talking softly with the people he insulted them. This is not proper leadership. The same thing happened with the prophet Elijah.
It has seemed to me and to some others that the writings of the Torah have to be seen through the eyes of how people saw themselves in those days, as much as we can fathom. One part of that is that everything that happened, good or bad, to the People, not to each individual, was seen as punishment or reward for following the laws/commands/etc of their God. This has been the interpretation of Indigenous peoples no matter where they have lived. The most powerful powers are those that can mess up the lives of the clan/People, so God is that power and must obviously act like humans do in terms of punish the bad and reward the good. (A side note: most Indigenous names for their own people is “People”, so to name themselves the People of Y-h-w-h, i.e. the “Chosen” is a new turn on this since their god is not tied to the land anymore and is moving right into other People’s territories as if chosen to do so–is moveable in the ark and is Symbolic, i.e. written in symbols on a perishable something as opposed to being made of stone or metal and being tied to a specific place.) But back to why Moses is not “allowed” into the Promised Land: he simply dies of old age, like Elisha, but the story has to align with the idea that all good and bad are punishment or reward, so something has to be made up about that. Another idea is that Moses’ time as leader is over. His time was needed when the Israelites had still to rid themselves of the old ways of perceiving themselves as slaves needing a ruler. Now they are warriors, needing a warrior leader to move them (violently, not mystically) into the next phase of their being a People and not just slaves.
We agree. I prefer to think of consequenses rather than rewards and punishments. There are natural consequences to our acts. The consequenses are built into the laws of nature. They are not rewards or punishments from God.
I also think heaven and earth are witnesses of God. The complex nature of the universe or even a single living cell rolls out atheism.
We agree.
Each and every breath we take is an actual reenactment of the breath of life that God introduced into Adam. One need look no further than the human body and its processes to behold the majesty of He who made man.
Yes, Joel. I think what you are pointing out is an example of what Moses our teacher taught us when he called heaven and earth as witnesses of God.
I think God should not have punished Moses for hitting the rock. I like your explanation better than Rashi’s. I also agree with you that when it says that the prophet Elijah was taken into heaven in a fiery chariot, it is just telling us metaphorically that he died.
Thank you my friend.
I agree with this statement as well. The existence of a God is, “proved by God himself and is universal, for the creation is of itself demonstration of the existence of a Creator. When we see a watch, we have evidence of the existence of a watchmaker; and in like manner the creation is evidence of the existence of a Creator. The wonderful structure of the universe and everything we behold in the system of the creation prove to us, far better than books can do, the existence of a God.” Thomas Paine
Yes, Moses was correct to call heaven and earth as witnesses. It is a shame that too many people do not listen to these witnesses as Moses did.
I agree with Moses that heaven and earth testify metaphorically to the greatness of God. I like Moses’ statement that heaven and earth are two witnesses that prove God exists.
I also like Psalm 19th—“The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork, — Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.” (Psalm 19)
The Psalm is great. Science can’t prove that there is no God but everything proves that there is.
Yes, the psalmist accepted the testimony of the two witnesses and prased his accptance beautifully.