With Deuteronomy 4, Moses begins a long spell of hectoring. There's a lot of scolding in general about following the law exactly, but there's also a particular emphasis on not making graven images. The New International Version, which I've been using, translates the word as "idols," which would seem to imply that it's only bad if you're planning to worship the thing, but most translations just have "images," including the Revised Standard Version I present here. This is evidently consistent with the Hebrew because over the millennia rabbinical authorities have interpreted the prohibition as restricting any form of sculpture of a living being, regardless of the purpose. Usually they require some sort of incompleteness, such as putting animal heads on human figures, or simply leaving out part of the creature. Most discussions I have found of this are quite confusing, but this seems reasonably lucid. There have been various interpretations, but "Today most traditional rabbinic authorities go by the ruling in the Shulchan Aruch, sanctioning depictions of the human body that are somehow incomplete. For example, a sculpted bust would be acceptable, but not a full human form; a drawing in which part of the body is obstructed by a piece of furniture or another person would also be acceptable."
Seems fairly silly to me. Of course only the most orthodox believers follow this rule. Marc Chagall obviously was not concerned about it. I will also note that Christians, and especially Catholics, completely ignore it. Catholic churches are full of idols, before which people light candles and pray. Some orthodox Jews refrain from entering such places of idolatry.
4 “And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, gives you. 2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Ba′al-pe′or; for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Ba′al of Pe′or; 4 but you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive this day. 5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?
9 “Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the ten commandments;[a] and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. 14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land which you are going over to possess.
15 “Therefore take good heed to yourselves. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the Lord has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own possession, as at this day. 21 Furthermore the Lord was angry with me on your account, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance. 22 For I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over and take possession of that good land. 23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a graven image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
25 “When you beget children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a graven image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess; you will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of men’s hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29
This did not happen, as far as I know. Although the Jews were ultimately dispersed, they never started to worship idols.
But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice, 31 for the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them.
32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. 36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you; and on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day; 39 know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God gives you for ever.”
The material that follows is, obviously, entirely redundant.
Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan
41 Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan, 42 that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might save his life: 43 Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manas′sites.
Transition to the Second Address
44 This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel; 45 these are the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, 46 beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-pe′or, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. 47 And they took possession of his land and the land of Og the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; 48 from Aro′er, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Si′rion[b] (that is, Hermon), 49 together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 4:13 Heb words
- Deuteronomy 4:48 Syr: Heb Sion
1 comment:
Well, Moses is pretty honest here. He says that the Hebrews' god is a devouring fire and a jealous god. That sounds pretty right on. He also says that god took "a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors." That also sums up the story quite well. No sugar coating here.
Moses also asks the Hebrews "whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of," and that, I think, is the point for many observant Jews. "Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die." The deal is clear: god is dictating statutes to be observed (that's statuTes--not statues), and if the Hebrews hold up their end of the covenant, all will be well--according to god's standards and promises.
As with Catholicism, it's all a mystery. And that's hard to argue with. As Freeman Dyson made clear in his writing, we can but make the connections between the dots that are already there--be they molecules for chemists, genes for microbiologists, ancient tools for anthropologists, rhythms/melodies/phrases/harmonies for composers and musical artists, shapes and nuances for visual artists and sculptors, word pictures/phrases for writers, resounding speeches for orators, levers and cogs and wires for mechanical inventors ... the greatest magician and artist in the universe is, ultimately, the only artist in the universe, and while we're here we're all sub-creators. We didn't buy the clay. We just get to feel the world through our senses while we're here and express our wonder in our medium of choice. And that medium includes relationships with other humans, animals, and the physical world.
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