August 8, 2004

Thou Shalt Not Be Afraid of Them

If thou shalt say ("Ki tomar") in thy heart: 'These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?' Thou shalt not be afraid of them; thou shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt: the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out; so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid. ... And the Lord thy God will cast out those nations before thee by little and little; ... But the Lord thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and shall discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed. And He shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt make their name to perish from under heaven; there shall no man be able to stand against thee, until thou have destroyed them.

- Deuteronomy 7:17-24

Rashi explains the meaning of the first word of this selection, "ki," as "dilma" - perhaps. The time may come when you are fearful, and at the time, you should remember that it is in God's power to effectively deal with your enemies.

S'forno, however, alludes to a different explanation (and I believe the Netziv states it explicitly). "Ki" can mean not "perhaps," but "if" or "when." If, when faced with our enemies, we realize that we are unable to vanquish them ourselves, then we will come to the recognition that our only hope is to rely on God, who is certainly able to do so for us. When we reach that recognition, he will take it upon himself to defend us against our enemies. If, however, we put all our faith in our own abilities and believe that we can handle matters by ourselves, we will be left to fend for oursevles, and will ultimately fail in doing so.

(Apply this to the current situation in Israel as you see fit.)

Posted August 8, 2004 3:58 PM
Comments

I am trying to relate this to the Israel situation as you suggested, but it ain't easy. Hoshea says Ashur won't save us but Yirmiyahu says we shouldn't rebel against Bavel. So who do we listen to? Or do we need a prophet to understand our politico-spiritual standing at the given time?
In general, the Devarim model of Israeli civilization seems ideal except for the little caveat that Moshe states, "A prophet from your midst, from your brothers, LIKE ME, will HASHEM RAISE...." (Devarim 18:15). But then we learn that "An no prophet was RAISED up in Israel LIKE MOSHE again..." (Devarim 34:10) Doesn't that present a serious difficulty?

Posted by: Danny at August 9, 2004 5:12 AM

A couple of points in response to your comments:
1) Were it easy, I would have done it myself and not left it to my readers. :-)
2) I've noticed that very rarely will you hear people cite Yirmiyahu, who basically told the people that they didn't currently deserve autonomy and would have to (temporarily) cede sovereignty to Bavel, in the context of political discussions (at least the discussions I've had). Not sure why that is. Perhaps just an inherent bias on the part of the dati l'umi.
3) If you can figure out which one to listen to, I suggest you run for office.
4) There seems to be a difference in the "like" (kaf hadimayon) of the two p'sukim you cite, based on context. The first is saying that we should listen to Jewish n'vi'im, like Moshe, as opposed to sorcerers, etc., and that Hashem will provide us with just such a navi. The second is saying that there never was (note the tense, though we generally assume it to apply to the future as well) a navi who was like Moshe in the level of his n'vu'ah.
5) We don't necessarily need a navi who is on the same level as Moshe to give us the solution; any ol' navi will do.

Posted by: Reuven at August 9, 2004 12:33 PM
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