Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Sunday Sermonette: A problematic passage

I don't know for sure, but I have to think that Deuteronomy 30 has been an inspiration, and perhaps cited as a justification, for Zionism. It explicitly predicts the return of the Israelites from diaspora to the promised land. 


However, in historical fact the diaspora did not happen because of apostasy, as the previous curses predicted. On the contrary, it resulted from a failed result against Roman rule in 67 CE, that culminated in the sack of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in 70. This is remembered as a heroic collective act with a tragic outcome, the central symbol being the mass suicide at Masada, although that is likely an invention by Josephus. These events happened long after the conclusion of the Tanakh, so how they relate to scripture is a matter for interpretation. At the end is a passage that is frequently quoted out of context by some Christians. I'll comment on that.

30 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day, with all your heart and with all your soul; then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you; and the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, that you may possess it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7

The idea of circumcising your heart is pretty weird, I must say.

And the Lord your God will put all these curses upon your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord, and keep all his commandments which I command you this day. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground; for the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

11 “For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 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 it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God[a] which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, 20 

You will see bumper stickers saying "therefore choose life, that you and your children may live," in connection with an anti-abortion message. This passage obviously has nothing to do with abortion. There is nothing in the Bible, anywhere, Old Testament or New, that condemns abortion. Therefore they have to make something up.

 

loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 30:16 Gk: Heb lacks If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God

2 comments:

Don Quixote said...

There is some beautiful writing here which can be alternately interpreted as passionate and creepy (circumcise your heart, the fruit of your cattle). The first goes straight to the heart, so to speak. The idea of circumcision, while healthful, is of course used instead as a sign of the covenant (god will fuck with our penises, our most male aspect ... god has us by the penis, even worse than by the balls). The second mixes the metaphors of plants and animals in an all-encompassing way, and, after all, humans and many animals have ovaries. Either way, the imagery and prose are compelling on different levels.

It's also fascinating that the covenant seems open-ended and eternal. That is a hallmark of Judaism, as Herman Wouk writes in his treatise, "This is My God"--the idea of one eternal Jewish people, a collective that endures. Note that god isn't saying "If you break the rules, the deal is off forever." On the contrary, the deal seems to be eternal: we're damned if we don't, blessed if we do, and there's no way out of the deal.

I do like the idea of god saying to the Israelites, basically, Hey, heaven isn't "up there" or "down in the sea," it's within you. That is a beautiful concept, the empowerment of the individual, and it's different from Christianity (just believe that the dead brown guy is god, eat a wafer and drink the wine, and all's cool). It's about being here and now and owning it, doing the right thing.

Unfortunately, as we can see because there are bad Jews in the world along with good Jews, that, just like every other religion, it only works if you work it with a loving heart. And if you have a loving heart, well, then any belief you held would have a positive, healthful impact on your life and on the world. "Tikkun olam" is the doctor's prescription, and it's practiced by the devout and atheists alike, irrespective of one's stated persuasion.

Cervantes said...

Yea, this passage is of relatively high literary quality compared with much of Deuteronomy, which seems to consist of strangely mismatched lists of largely arbitrary rules. And of course this is not a universal God, he's the God only for this particular people, and he commands them to slaughter and rape others. You have to be very selective in what you take away from this to make it at all uplifting, it seems to me, but I agree that modern Judaism, at least outside of the Haredim, has come to an evolved morality that I find more congenial than most Christian ideas of morality. That comes from centuries of rabbinical tradition, however, not from the Torah.