#46 — Parshat Nitzavim
Devarim 29:10-30:20
Overview
Parshat Nitzavim continues the recording of the covenant made in the plains of Moab. This additional covenant is a confirmation of the covenant between G-d and Israel, with a strong warning to those who will turn away from G-d. If Israel abandons the L-RD the land will be destroyed and they will be cast into another land. (Deuteronomy 29:10-29)
This additional covenant especially emphasizes a promise: When both the blessing and the curse will come have come upon Israel and they repent, the L-RD will have compassion on them and restore them again. He will circumcise Israel’s heart so it will finally listen to the L-RD’s voice and be made abundantly prosperous. (Deuteronomy 30:1-10)
Moses says the commandment he gives is not too complicated and ends his speech with a passionate call to choose between life and death, blessing and curse. The exhortation is to choose life by choosing to love the L-RD and obey His commandments, “that you may dwell in land the L-RD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-20)
How difficult is it to keep the Torah really?
Not complicated
Moses says in our parsha: For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, “Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?’ But the word is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.(Deuteronomy 30:11-14).
Today we would say, “This commandment is not rocket science, it is straightforward.” The Hebrew word translated above as “hard” (נפלאת) is maybe better translated as “extra-ordinary” or “wonderful.” In short: it is not too complicated.
The Torah might get complicated by the many specific details later tradition added to it, but God’s instructions in the Torah itself are quite straightforward. They are especially straightforward when we look at Torah through the lenses of the two great commandments: Love the L-RD with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).
There is one factor that does make it hard though…and what is Moses actually referring to when he talks about “This commandment”?
Serious heart issues
One of the key words in our parsha is the word “heart.” And indeed the Torah as a whole is aimed at the heart, our central command-center. (Proverbs 4:23)
But with our hearts there is a deep-seated problem. The prophet Jeremiah said:
The heart is deceitful (or crooked) above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
When our heart is crooked, things do get complicated. G-d’s commands remain straightforward, but that only makes the Torah more “a witness against us” (Deuteronomy 31:19, 26), a witness which points out the crookedness of our heart.
The book of Deuteronomy has the same pessimistic – or better, realistic – outlook when it comes to our heart issues. In spite of this we should not despair. There is hope when we read Moses’ words well and don’t separate them from the rest of our parsha.
Nachmanides
Moses' goal is definitely that Israel would obey G-d’s commandments, but he doesn’t say in our parsha “These commandments (plural) are not too hard.” Moses is more specific; he says “This commandment (singular) that I command you today is not too hard for you.”
In context, this commandmentis the specific call to obey and turn to the L-RD (see Deuteronomy 30:10). Moses starts with the heart. And it is the L-RD Himself who opens the door widely in an extra-ordinary way so we can return to Him! That is why Moses can say “it is not too hard.”
Someone who also noted this was the famous medieval rabbi Nachmanides (a.k.a. Ramban).
According to the Ramban, “This commandment” (singular) is not so much a reference to the Torah as a whole, but first more specifically a reference to the commandment to repent which we find at the beginning of our chapter.[1] ForYou shall call [the blessing and the curse] to mind (literally to heart). And “You shall turn to the L-RD your G-d” (Deuteronomy 30:1-2).
The Ramban goes on to explain verse 14, “the word is very near you…” as follows: “And this is the meaning of “in your mouth and in your heart to do it”:that they will confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their mouths and turn with their hearts to the L-RD (Leviticus 26:40). And will accept upon themselves the Torah to do it.”
The Ramban is 100% right in placing things in their correct context. The first and major theme of our parsha is “repentance.” But, it is not only talking about repentance as a human act or resolutions to do better – how fickle those resolutions are! Our parsha rather talks about a turning to the G-d of Israel, which G-d will cause to happen when He changes our hearts.
The Ramban also noted this. He perceptively remarks that the commandment to repent is given in language that indicates it is alsoa future promise.[2] Because our parsha is not only an exhortation, it is also a prophecy about messianic times. Moses prophesies how the trouble of exile will be finally over and there will be a bright future for Israel, when “the L-RD your G-d will circumcise your heart” (Deuteronomy 30:6).
G-d will take care of our serious heart issues. According to the Ramban, this will happen in the days of Messiah. To explain this verse the Ramban quotes Jeremiah 31:31-33:
“Behold the days are coming, declares the L-RD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers…. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the L-RD: I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts.”
It is G-d who does the extra-ordinary. The extra-ordinary is not something we have to create ourselves.
Moses’ words in a Messianic key
The bottom line of the promise of the new covenant which the Ramban quoted, is “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Because it is the experience of the goodness and grace of G-d, when He freely forgives, which writes His law on our hearts. G-d went to extra-ordinary lengths to secure this new covenant when Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah died for our sins.
This good news about Messiah transposes Moses words and puts them, as it were, in a higher key. When we let the light of the words of Moses go through the lenses of the prophets, (e.g., through the lens of Jeremiah 31 as the Ramban does) and especially if we let them go through the prism of the good news of Messiah, Moses’ words refract beautifully. Because of G-d’s extra-ordinary work in the death and resurrection of the Messiah, they become a rainbow of hope.
Trying to fulfill the Torah’s righteous requirements without Messiah is a dead end; the Torah will only stand as a witness against our unrepentant uncircumcised hearts. But thanks be to G-d, we don’t become acceptable to Him by keeping a long list of complicated commandments. We are first of all called upon to do one simple thing: Turn to G-d by trusting in Yeshua the Messiah.
Because of this good news of Messiah which is the ultimate word of repentance and faith, the famous pupil of Rabbi Gamliel, Paul the apostle wrote:
The righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (That is to bring Messiah down), or “Who will descend into the abyss’” (That is to bring Messiah up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (That is the word of faith that we proclaim). Because if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is L-rd and believe in your heart that G-d raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved (Romans 10:6-10).
This is how the law gets written on our hearts. This is how our are hearts are circumcised.
We would love to talk with you about this. Don’t hesitate to chat.
כִּי עַל כָּל הַתּוֹרָה יֹאמַר (דברים ח':א'), כָּל הַמִּצְוָה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם, אֲבָל הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת עַל הַתְּשׁוּבָה הַנִּזְכֶּרֶת
וְנֶאֶמְרָה בַּלָּשׁוֹן הַבֵּינוֹנִי, לִרְמֹז בַּהַבְטָחָה כִּי עָתִיד הַדָּבָר לִהְיוֹת כֵּן