- Devarim / Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22
- Yeshayahu / Isaiah 1:1-27
- Timoteos Aleph / 1 Timothy 3:1-7
In this Parasha Moshe (Moses) is giving bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) a summary of all their travels, right from the time they left Mitzrayim (Egypt). Now, you may wonder why he would be telling them all this, why he would be giving such detail of every twist, turn and stop. The reason, we know of course, is because this is a new generation. Even though some of the people he was talking to may have experienced all that went on during the years of wondering in the wilderness, many were too young to now remember. Plus there were many that had been born while bnei Yisrael was wondering in the wilderness so they had no knowledge of what took place. This new generation, therefore, needed to “zachor” (remember) everything that had taken place, and they also need to know why it all took place, but most of all this new generation needs to know their history so that they will not repeat it. That is why I believe Moshe went into such detail.
History has a way of repeating itself when we do not zachor. If we remember and choose not to take our history seriously, then our future will suffer. Each one of us has taken history lessons in school. Learning our history built our knowledge of the country we live in. It built our patriotism and hopefully it will help us and our politicians not to repeat some of the mistakes our forefathers made. Moshe wanted to make sure this new generation and all future generations would never forget the exploits, wanderings, wars and rebellions that took place from the time bnei Yisrael left Mitzrayim to the time they arrived at the boarder of the Promises Land.
Devarim {1:6} HaShem our G-D spoke to us in Horeb, saying, You have lived long enough in this mountain: {1:7} turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all the place near thereunto, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. {1:8} Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which HaShem swore to your avot (fathers), to Avraham (Abraham), to Yitzchak (Isaac), and to Ya’akov (Jacob), to give to them and to their seed after them. {1:9} I spoke to you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: {1:10} HaShem your G-D has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude. {1:11} HaShem, the G-D of your avot, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you! {1:12} How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? {1:13} Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. {1:14} You answered me, and said, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do. {1:15} So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. {1:16} I charged your shoftim (judges) at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brothers, and judge righteously between an ish (man) and his brother, and the sojourner who is with him. {1:17} You shall not show partiality in mishpat (judgement) ; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the mishpat is G-D’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it. {1:18} I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do. {1:19} We journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as HaShem our G-D commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. {1:20} I said to you, You are come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which HaShem our G-D gives to us. {1:21} Behold, HaShem your G-D has set the land before you: go up, take possession, as HaShem, the G-D of your avot, has spoken to you; don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed. {1:22} You came near to me everyone of you, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come. {1:23} The thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one ish for every tribe: {1:24} and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. {1:25} They took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which HaShem our G-D gives to us. {1:26} Yet you wouldn’t go up, but rebelled against the Pi (Bidding) of HaShem your G-D: {1:27} and you murmured in your tents, and said, Because HaShem hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Mitzrayim, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
How well did bnei Yisrael remember their history? Sadly, not too well, as we all know, because they repeated many of the same mistakes their forefathers made. This eventually landed future generations in a very similar position as their forefathers. When their forefathers rebelled against HaShem by refusing to enter the land of Canaan HaShem turned them around, did not give them the land and caused them to wander forty years in the wilderness where they eventually died off. Now, this new generation was about to enter the land and they were being charged by Moshe to learn their history so that they could teach it to their children. However, only a generation later it was proven that bnei Yisrael had not learned anything from their history. They rebelled against HaShem again and again. Their forefathers, because of their rebellion, were not allowed to enter the land, eventually, because of the new generations’ rebellion HaShem threw them out of the land.
Unless we learn from our history we are bound to repeat it. I am not talking here about our national history — I am talking about our personal history! We have all rebelled against the L-rd at some time or another in our lives and for it we have suffered consequences, some very serious, some less serious, but they are consequences none the less. I do not know about you, but I certainly can relate back some of the consequences that I have experienced in my life to times that I rebelled against the L-rd. Sadly, like bnei Yisrael in some cases, I did not learn from my personal history and repeated the same mistake twice, which resulted in more intense consequences. Needless to say, I am now very aware to learn from my past mistakes, and I am making every possible effort not to repeat them.
Korintim Alef (1 Corinthians) {10:1} For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; {10:2} and all were tevilah (immersed) into Moshe in the cloud and in the sea; {10:3} and all ate the same spiritual food; {10:4} and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Mashiach (Messiah). {10:5} Nevertheless, with most of them G-d was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. {10:6} Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved.
Shaul (Paul) was warning the Corinthians and of course us here that everything that happened to bnei Yisrael happened as examples for us. Simply speaking, he is saying, “If we do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat it!”
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