By GARY ALLEY
October 2020
This month, we concluded the weekly Torah portion (parashah) for the Jewish year 5780. The Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot, ends the Jewish year, with two minor commemorations—the biblical Shemini Atzeret and the rabbinic Simhat Torah, a celebration for completing this annual Torah reading cycle. Simhat Torah, or “Rejoicing over the Torah,” not only celebrates the completion of the five books of Moses, by reading the last two chapters of the last book—Deuteronomy, it also marks the beginning, by reading the first chapter of the first book—Genesis.[1]
Reading the end with the beginning reminds us that God’s revelation is cyclical and never-ending, as well as complete and holistic. His Word is something that we can never finish. We can always find a fresh interpretation of Scripture for our ever-changing lives and circumstances. We might think we have learned all of its lessons for our lives and exhausted all of its resources for our needs. We might think we are through with God’s Word, but it is never through with us.
God’s Word was always central to Jesus’ Jewish culture, and, for the non-Jewish followers of Jesus, Scripture has been fundamental for their entrance into the family of God. The Apostle Paul says, “faith comes through hearing, and hearing the Word of God.”[2] Seven hundred years before Paul, the Prophet Isaiah said that the Gentiles—all nations, peoples, and ethnicities—would come up to Jerusalem to receive God’s Word, and that they would take this teaching out to their distant homelands.[3]
On one hand, we can see Isaiah’s prophecy already fulfilled through Jesus’ disciples who went out from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth with the gospel.[4] But, on the other hand, this prophetic word is still in process, as we continue to live into the 21st century awaiting the return of Jesus. In fact, studying God’s word and finding wise application for it in our technologically evolving, scientifically-aware world has become even more complex for us today, than it was for the early Church.
God’s Word is not an old, outdated, dusty book—it is “alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates us…and judges the thoughts and attitudes of our heart.”[5] But even that idiom, a “double-edged sword,” needs to be understood in its ancient context. Swords were an essential weapon for war for hundreds, even thousands of years. In the time of the New Testament, the Roman double-edged sword, the gladius, was known for its versatility. It could slash, it could thrust, it could block. This weapon was considered a crucial component in Roman military success.
But today, in modern warfare, missiles and drones are the preferred way to deal with an enemy. Often times, there is no need for hand-to-hand combat when you can press a button and zap an adversary. Our children are growing up in this world and playing video games that are indirectly teaching them skills for this advanced form of combat. Likewise, God’s Word is vital for our spiritual growth, but it must be versatile for our modern spiritual warfare.[6] A weapon is only as useful as the hands that have trained with it. This is another reason why we must never stop studying and actively interpreting Scripture in our contemporary world.
Simhat Torah begins with reading the end of Deuteronomy where we find,
This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced on the Israelites
before his death. Deut 33:1
Deuteronomy 33 is well-known as Moses’ blessing upon the tribes of Israel before his death. This was a common practice in the biblical world where a patriarch or elder would bless or empower his descendants prior to his death.[7] A blessing is a spoken word that promotes life, while a curse wishes death. A blessing is built on a relationship between two parties. Moses’ blessing in Deuteronomy 33 reflects God’s heart toward Israel because of their covenantal relationship.
In Deuteronomy 34, Moses dies and is buried by God outside the land of Canaan. Moses is not allowed to enter the “Promised Land” because he disobeyed God’s word at Meribah by not sanctifying the Lord before the people.[8] But God allowed one final mercy to Moses, when He let Moses climb Mt. Nebo and look over upon the land. Moses could see the land, but he would not touch it. Moses’ life work had been bringing his Hebrew people to this point in history, but he would not get to experience their joy of entering the Land.
Like Mishnah Pirke Avot 2:16 says,
It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.
Moses had been the Lord’s faithful servant; he had done his part in God’s great plan for Israel. Moses was a great leader, but he was only one component in God’s salvation for the nation. Despite this, Moses did not sulk and quit doing his job even though he would not get to enter the Promised Land. Instead, Joshua would take Moses’ place and lead the people into the land. Then after Joshua, the judges would lead, and after the judges, the kings would lead, and so on. Every Israelite leader was only required to be faithful to God, to obey His Word, and then to pass it on to the next generation.
Deut 34:5 says,
And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. (NIV)
Some ancient Jewish interpreters noticed here in the Hebrew that the text literally says that Moses died “by the mouth of the Lord (עַל־פִּ֥י יְהוָֽה).” While there are many biblical examples where “the mouth of the Lord” is an obvious idiom for “the word of the Lord,”[9] the intimate context of Moses’ death made this phrase midrashically ripe for the picking. Therefore, the “mouth of the Lord” could be understood as the medium of Moses’ death. In other words, it was suggested that the Lord kissed Moses and, in so doing, took his final breath away.[10]
After the end of Deuteronomy is ended, the beginning of Genesis is begun. In the first creation story of Gen 1:1-2:3, God creates the world by using his mouth—he speaks words, and those words create life—from the light and the land to the creatures, woman, and man. When God creates humanity through his words, he also blesses them.[11]
Before Moses concludes the Torah, as his life is passing away, he blesses the generation to follow him. Genesis 1’s creation is this foundation for blessing, as God calls His creation “good” seven times.[12] This blessing comes through God’s mouth, through His words. God’s final blessing in the creation is found in Gen 2:3,
“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
The seventh day, the Shabbat, is blessed, because God rested from his work which he did with his words. Likewise, death is a final rest. Like creation, death can be a blessing if we approach it like Moses, with contentment and peace in our relationship with God and not in our pride of work and achievement. Moses could have been bitter that he did not enter the Promised Land. He could have felt like he deserved it or assumed it was his right to receive some temporal reward. Moses’ part in God’s work was finished, and he was content.
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,
just as God did from his. Heb 4:9-10
No wonder, Moses was the humblest man on earth. He was the most powerful man because of his intimate relationship with the Lord, but he did not use that authority to force his way into Canaan.[13]
Deut 8:3 says,
[The Lord] humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna,
which neither you nor your ancestors had known,
to teach you that man does not live on bread alone
but on everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Contentment and peace are not found in earthly food that we put into our mouth, but in spiritual food—the Word—that comes out of God’s mouth. Jesus quoted this verse to Satan after fasting for forty days in the wilderness. So too, after forty years in the wilderness, Moses found his fulfillment in obeying what came out of the mouth of the Lord. Just as God breathed life into Adam at his creation, likewise God takes the life-breath away from Moses at his death.[14] God is present in both life and death, and His mouth, His Word, can bring blessing in both.
God’s Word is a symbol of His presence among us. His Word dwells with us when we study it, practice it, and try to understand how we are to interpret it, today, in the 21st century. All of these can be signs of “fearing God”, respecting Him, and worshiping Him. No wonder John 1:1-18 called Jesus “the Word,” for there is no greater description of divine presence.
As God’s children, we are called to be co-creators with Him in this world—powerful in His Spirit but humble in our actions. Like Him, with our words, we are to bless those we serve and not curse. And when our time of death draws near, or suddenly takes us without warning, may His Word be in our mouth and in those we have blessed.
[1] Deut 33:1-34:12; Gen 1:1-2:3
[2] Rom 10:17
[3] Isa 2:2-3
[4] Acts 1:8
[5] Heb 4:12
[6] Eph 6:10-17; 2 Cor 10:3-6
[7] See Isaac blessing Esau/Jacob (Gen 27), Jacob blessing his sons and grandsons (Gen 48-49), Moses laying hands on Joshua (Dt 34:9), David blessing Solomon (1 Kgs 2:1-4), Elijah blessing Elisha (2 Kgs 2:9-12).
[8] Num 20:12
[9] i.e. “what the Lord said.” For example: Num 33:2; 36:5; Dt 1:43; 9:23; Josh 9:14; 15:13
[10] For example, Deuteronomy Rabbah 11, 10: “In the same hour, the Holy One kissed Moses and took away his soul with a kiss of the mouth (באותה שעה, נשקו הקב"ה ונטל נשמתו בנשיקת פה).”
[11] Gen 1:26-28
[12] Gen 1:4,10,12,18,21,25,31
[13] Num 12:1-8
[14] Gen 2:7