Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22)

The portion is named Devarim, because it contains the beginning of the words (davar = word) of Moses to Israel before his death.

This week’s portion is the first in the Book of Deuteronomy, which in Hebrew is called the Book of Devarim – like the name of the portion. The Book of Deuteronomy, in the most part, is a speech Moses gives the people of Israel before his death. In this speech, he re-tells some of the stories told in the previous books of the Pentateuch about Israel’s journeys in the desert for forty years.

At the beginning of this week’s portion, we are told the precise location and time upon which Moses gave this speech: beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab, on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year of their desert wondering.

Moses repeats the divine promise of the Land of Canaan, and will later recount some of the conquests the Israelites made under his command before entering the land. However, he first tells the story of how he came to appoint judges for the Israelites, because he could not bear to be the judge of all of the legal matters of such a large population. In the other account of this story in Exodus 18, we learn that Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, was the one who suggested this idea.

The next story to be retold is that of the twelve spies who were sent, 38 years earlier, to check out the land of Canaan before the Israelites were supposed to enter it. However, the spies came back with a scary account of the might of the peoples inhabiting Canaan, and the Israelites sinned and refused to enter the land, accusing God that he never should have taken them up from Egypt. As a punishment, all of that generation except for the two righteous spies, Caleb and Joshua, were to die out before the Israelites entered Canaan, including Moses. Moses is instructed to coach Joshua and prepare him for the difficult task of leading the Israelites into Canaan. After hearing the punishment, the Israelites decided to try and fight the inhabitants of the mountain, but lost because they fought against God’s will.

Moses continues to recount the history of the people in the desert, but now skips 38 years or so, and tells of Israel’s journey through the lands of the sons of Esau(Edom), Moab and Amon. These are three nations which, unlike many other nations, were not to be conquered by the Israelites, because they were the portions of Esau and Lot allotted to them by God. After passing through their lands, the Israelites conquered other nations not enjoying this privilege – the Amorites, who refused Israel’s peaceful request to pass through their land, and the kingdom of Og king of the Bashan who came out to fight the Israelites. These kingdoms were later distributed among the tribes of Reuben, Gad and some of the members of Menasseh as their lots instead of land inside Canaan.

After these successful conquests, Joshua is reassured that all the conquests of the Israelites will be just as successful, because God is fighting for them.