In Parashat Shoftim
(“judges”) several institutions, and/or their relevant supervisory
regulations are being set up for the future administration of Yisrael’s
national life. To begin with, the appointment of judges and officers is
provided for, leading to a number of prohibitions regarding just conduct.
Idolatry and the consequences of its practice follow. The establishment of
arbitrators and judges in all matters leads to instructions concerning the monarchy,
and the life of the Levites and priests with once again severe warning against
idolatrous practices, such as witchcraft. From here we skip to the much
discussed topic of cities of refuge and the blood avenger, touching also on
setting up boundaries. Matters pertaining to witnessing crime and false
witnesses come next. The many issues that are associated with wars, and how to
deal with the body of an anonymous slain person seal off our Parasha.
The
expression that we encountered in last week’s Parashat R’eh, namely, “You shall
put away [purge] – literally burn or consume - the evil from
among you” (13:5), is repeated many times over, almost like a refrain (ref.
17:7,12; 19:13,19; 21:9), thus subtly pointing to the results of incurring
YHVH’s burning anger (as we also saw last week).
Right at the
core of this list of topics there is a passage (18:15-19), which although at
first glance may appear to be compatible with the others, is nevertheless of an
altogether different genre and purpose. It is, above all else, prophetic in
nature, describing an individual who will appear on Yisrael’s horizon. This
individual’s qualifying characteristics are specified to some extent in this
passage, and are contrasted with potential false claimants or counterfeits (see
vs. 20-22. For more on the latter refer to 13:1-5 in Parashat R’eh). The
instructional aspect of this text is simply, “Whoever will not
listen to My words which He [this prophet] shall speak in My name, I will
require it at his hand” (18:19). Moshe says of Him: “YHVH your Elohim shall
raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, one like me; you
shall listen to him” (v. 15), and again in verse 18 YHVH Himself is speaking,
addressing Moshe: “I shall
raise up a prophet to them from among their brothers, one like you; and I will
put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command
him.” Mention is also made in verses 16 and 17 of the fact that before the
giving of the Torah in Chorev (Horeb) the Israelites had asked Moshe to
interpose between them and YHVH, a request that YHVH apparently looked
favorably upon. This future prophet, like Moshe, will also have this
characteristic of mediation. By inference (re Moshe) some of his other
attributes will be: granting deliverance from bondage, being mighty in word and
deed, offering strong leadership yet being humble beyond any other human being,
willingness to offer up his own life for the people, acting as a teacher and a
judge, and being raised from among the ranks of his own people. Dvarim
(Deuteronomy) 34:10 appends about Moshe and hence also about the future prophet,
“And never has a prophet like Moses arisen in Israel
Does the
placing of this passage, amid the Torah’s judicial, civil and clerical instructions,
which flank it on each side, points to the reason and end-all of these
instructions themselves, and to that which imbues them with life? In Romans
10:4 we read: “For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah.” Shim’on
Keyfa (Peter) also identifies this prophecy with the “One proclaimed to you
before” (Acts 3:20, 22), that is Messiah Yeshua.
In comparison with this passage, which
portrays Yisrael’s supreme ruler, we read in 17:8 – 12 about the Levites and
the priests who are to judge and instruct Yisrael: “If a matter is too hard for
you in judgment, between blood and blood, between cause and cause, or between
stroke and stroke, matters of strife within your gates… And you
shall come in to the priest, of the Levites, and to the judge who is in those
days, and shall inquire. And they shall declare the sentence of judgment to you.”
In summarizing
the above passage we see the following points:
(1) The
place where these arbitrations are to take place, is “the place which YHVH your
Elohim shall choose” (v. 10).
(2) The
litigants’ response is to be obedient “to the word which they [the judges]
declare to you” and “you shall do according to the mouth of the law which they
direct you, and according to the judgment which they deliver to you. You shall
not turn aside from the word, which they declare to you right or left” (vs. 10,
11).
(3) The
consequences of disobedience are: “And the man who acts with pride so as not to
listen to the priest who is standing to serve YHVH your Elohim there, or to the
judge, even that man shall die…” (v. 12).
If we
compare this set of conditions to those applied to the “prophet” of 18:15 – 19,
we find that there are marked differences. Whereas obeying the priestly judges is to be preceded by some
specific judicial matter, obeying the “prophet” is not subject to such
prerequisites: “…I will put My words in His mouth; and he shall speak to them
all that I shall command him” (18:18), says YHVH. And while it is YHVH who appoints
this one, the judges are simply mentioned as, “the priest, of the Levites, and…
the judge who is [that is, who happens to be officiating] in those days” (17:9).
Whereas YHVH will “require at His hand… whoever will not listen to My words
which he [the prophet] shall speak in My
name” (18:19), the person who does not obey the priest or the judge, although subject
to death penalty, will not be accountable to YHVH Himself. In addition, the
priests and judges, unlike the “prophet,” are not mentioned as speaking in
YHVH’s name, but rather as “standing to serve Him” (17:12).
Just prior to the passage about the “prophet
like Moshe,” mention is made about the abominations of the people living in the
Land of Promise
The
“prophet,” whose coming is predicted here, unlike the body of the judging and
teaching priests which is set up in response to the people’s needs, will be
“raised up” by YHVH Himself (ref. 18:15) and will represent Him in an overall
manner.
In
17:14-20 the institution of the (‘earthly’) monarchy is being discussed. It will
be set up in response to Yisrael’s request: “When you come into
the land which YHVH your Elohim is giving to you, and have possessed it, and
settled in it; and you shall say, ‘Let me set a king over me like all the
nations around me’” (17:14). Once Yisrael decides to “place” (“sim”-
put) a king over itself YHVH will select him, providing he is “from among your brothers.” In this way the king would be like the “prophet” whom we just discussed, with the difference being that the coming of the latter was going to be solely by YHVH’s initiative. It will be incumbent upon the king to study the
injunctions of the Torah. In fact, he is to make a copy of it in a book for his
own use, termed here “mishneh Torah” of the root sh.n.h, meaning
to “repeat” or “secondary” (v. 18). The king is also to live
modestly, “so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that
he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left” (v. 20).
The word for “king” in Hebrew is “melech,” the root being m.l.ch
(mem, lamed, kaf) and makes for a verb which means “consult, consider
different views,” such as we see for example in Nehemiah 5:7, where it
is translated “serious thought” or “consulted.” Thus, the king is to be
consulting and considering different views; a very far cry from the common idea
of kingship, certainly from the one that prevailed at that time.
Chapter 18
verses 3 and 4 present the “priest's due from the people, from
those that offer a sacrifice, whether an ox or sheep, that they shall give to
the priest the leg, and the two cheeks, and the stomach, the first of your
grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your
flock, you shall give to him.” Concerning “this order of giving the priests of the
fruit of the land and the fruit of the flocks,” Daat Mikra observes that it was
a way to ensure that the priests will not lack “even when there is shortage or
famine in the land, because whatever the people have available will also be
made available to the Levites. And moreover, since the gifts are handed from
one person to another, from lay people to priests, these individuals will be
encountering one another as well as exchanging views with each another, and
thus drawing closer together. The Israelite (that is the “non Levite”) will
learn the priest’s lofty manners, and the priest will get to know the customs
and way of life of the ordinary farmer, his talk and concerns, and thus
together all of them will become one single holy people”.[1] In reference to “customs”
(mentioned by the commentator above), the text (18:3) reads: “And this will be
the priests’ due….” The word for “due” is “mishpat” – sharing its root
with the Parasha’s title, which aside from meaning “judge/judgment, litigation,
govern” etc. also means “custom” or “manner” (e.g. Ex. 21:9).
Most of chapter 19 is devoted to the cities
of refuge and to the “ancient boundaries.” The cities of refuge were set up in
order to prevent the avenging of blood, in cases of unintentional killing. The blood
avenger is called a “go’el dam,” literally “redeemer of blood” (vs.
6, 12). The role of a redeemer is to mete out justice (within his family), and
bring about the required cleansing from pollution created by the shedding of
innocent blood (ref. v. 10). All three of these terms, that is, “meting out
justice,” “cleansing” and “pollution” are designated by the root g.a.l (gimmel,
alef, lamed). In this way the term’s tri-fold meaning portrays accurately the
ultimate Go’el – Redeemer - whose death, whereby He has taken upon Himself
sin’s pollution, accomplished all of these and more.
As to the “ancient boundaries,” in 19:14 we
read: “You may not remove your neighbor's landmark, which those formerly have
set in your inheritance, which you shall inherit in the land which YHVH your Elohim
is giving you, to possess it.” The word for “remove” is “tasig,”
of the root “sug” (samech or sin, vav, gimmel), meaning to “move away”
and therefore often accompanied by “achor” (“backwards”), as is seen in 2nd
Samuel 1:22: “the bow of Jonathan did
not draw back (nasog achor”). According to Rashi, he who moves
the marking of a property (in order to extend his own lot) is actually
“backsliding,” or “retreating” away from the ones “formerly set” and from the
way they were originally determined. The emphasis here on “the land which YHVH
your Elohim is giving you to possess it” leads to the inference that it is He
who sets these boundaries in the first place, and therefore altering them would
indeed constitute “backsliding.” In
Proverbs we find the same verb, “sug,” used very similarly in 22:28 “Do not
move the old landmark which your fathers have set.”
The war regulations (chapter 20) stipulate
who will be exempt from the obligation to go to battle. In 20:5-8 four such
cases are cited. The first is a man “who has not dedicated [or consecrated
or inaugurated] his new house” (v. 5 emphasis added), being the verb
“chanach” (ch.n.ch, chet, noon, kaf/chaf) which also means to “train”
(e.g. Gen. 14:14, Avraham’s trained servants are called “chanee’chim.” See
also, Prov. 22:6) as well as “consecrate and habituate.” The second person to
be exempt from army service is he “who planted a vineyard and has not begun
to use it” (v. 6 emphasis added). The verb here is “chalel” (of the
root ch.l.l, chet, lamed, lamed, which we examined at the end of Parashat
Yitro, relating to Ex. 20:25) and also means “profane, pollute, defile, begin,
bore holes, entrust, release, dance and a dead body” (example of the latter,
“chalal,” is found in 21:1). In a typical Hebrew fashion we find here that
‘ends meet’ and come full circle. ‘Profane,’ as stated, of the same root
(ch.l.l) is also ‘hollow’ (void of real content), but ‘release’ (once again,
ch.l.l)2 affords an opportunity for a (new) ‘beginning’ (ch.l.l) and for doing
away with profanity. A dead body has certainly been emptied out of its content
(soul and spirit), and the dead person is therefore released from obligations,
BUT at the same time, as our verb points out, there is also a new beginning
here… albeit in another dimension. And so, similar to the tern “chet,” - “sin” -
into which is built the means for reform (“cha’teh” – “cleansing”), here too,
profanity and defilement are couched in a term which provides for a
transformation by way of a new beginning. The other two who are exempt from army
duty, are he who is betrothed but has not consummated the marriage, and he who
is fearful.
In last week’s Parashat R’eh we discussed
the meaning of “male,” being “he who remembers,” and then pointed out the
special reference there to those who belong to YHVH as “those who are being
remembered” (16:16) – “z’churim.” Surprisingly, the same reference to males
occurs here too (20:13), although this time it is applied to “all the men of a
city which refuses to make peace” and who are to be “struck.” Thus, these men
who are destined to be put to death are no less known and remembered by
YHVH, who is indeed “in all and over all” (Eph.4:6)!
Lastly, the Parasha deals with the “decapitated heifer” – “egla arufa”
(21:1-9), in connection with the case of an unknown murderer: “And
the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to an ever-flowing stream,
which is not plowed nor sown. And they shall break the heifer's neck there by
the stream” (v. 4). The word for the “nape of the neck” is “oref”
(such as in “stiff necked” – “k’sheh oref”), hence the verb for “breaking the
neck” is “arof.” Although the heifer is killed while the elders pray
that their own sin be atoned for, its killing is not a sacrifice or an offering
which is why it is slaughtered. For this reason its carcass is buried rather
than burnt.3 The heifer symbolizes the restitution (atonement) of the blood of
the dead person, as he cannot be fully avenged without his murderer being
found. Additionally, the shedding of innocent blood defiles both people and
land, thus this occasion renders the opportunity for the elders of the area to
“wash their hands off of the matter” and be counted innocent of the blood of
the deceased (ref. 21:6, 7). The usage of the “nape of the neck” for the action
of decapitating the heifer also alludes to the Hebrew idiom of “turning the
neck,” which means to “turn away from” or “reject” (Jeremiah 2:27 for example).
In this way, the elders’ action constitutes a declaration that they have
rejected and renounced the evil deed which has been committed also applying vicariously
to the entire people of Yisrael (ref. vs. 8,9) as well as to the land (see 19:10).
1 Davrim with Daat Mikrah Commentary, Pub. Mossad Harav
Kook, Jm. 2001.
2 Etymological Dictionary of
Biblical Hebrew, based on the commentaries of Samson Raphael Hirsch, Matityahu
Clark, Feldheim Publishers, Jerusalem – New York
3 Da’at Mikra
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