Crossing Over into Our Covenant
Parashat Nitzavim, Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20; Haftarah, Isaiah 61:10–63:9
Rachel Wolf, Beth Messiah, Cincinnati
In Moses’ final discourses, he makes it clear that entering the land God has chosen, by crossing over from Moab, is equated with entering into our covenant with God. We can’t fully grasp our pivotal purpose as a people unless we understand the irreducible, decisive connection between God, the people of Israel and the Land of Israel and the import of these three for God’s ultimate plan for humanity! After all, God has called this chosen clan Hebrews (עברים—those who cross over).
In Ki Tavo, after reciting the blessings and curses related to living on the land, Moses says this:
These are the words of the covenant [Hashem made with Israel] in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. (Deut 29:1)
As we read Moses’ discourse on the plains of Moab, we are struck by how it prophetically portrays the whole sweep of Jewish redemptive history! Can you feel the drama?
You stand (nitzavim) today, all of you, before Hashem your God . . . that you may cross over into the covenant of Hashem your God, and into his oath that he cuts with you today. (Deut 29:1 my translation)
Wait! Didn’t we enter into covenant at Sinai??
Well, the scriptures seem to indicate that key covenants can take many stages to be fully realized. Let’s look at Abraham as an example: God calls Avram to the land in Genesis 12 saying, “I will bless you and make your name great . . . in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” God then makes a formal covenant with Avram in Genesis 15, one Avram is to “know certainly” (15:13). And then, because of Abraham’s obedience, God says:
By Myself I have sworn, says Hashem, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants. . . . . In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. (Gen 22:16–18)
Yet, even after three stages, God’s history-changing land covenant with Abraham is far from its completion. Abraham’s seed through Jacob had yet to experience many subsequent stages of this covenant, including Sinai. Here in Nitzavim, Abraham’s descendants are about to embark on a new and crucial stage of this covenant.
Entering the land is the way that the people of Israel are now to further the progress of God’s covenant with Abraham (Deut 29:12–13). As Moses ponders the gravity of the covenant and its promises, his discourse reflects a far-reaching prophetic view of Jewish history. He sees that this people he has shepherded will not be faithful, yet God’s mercy will prevail. Still, at this juncture, the people have an opportunity to walk in God’s ways: “See I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. . . . Choose life that both you and your descendants may live” (30:15–20).
Here are some of the stages Moses foresees along the rocky path of the fulfillment of Abraham’s covenant. Much of this language is echoed in Ezekiel 36.
When Israel is expelled from the Land, God’s Name is profaned
When Israel sins by following other gods, the land suffers desolation and loses its fruitfulness. When Israel is expelled from the Land, God’s Name is profaned by the very fact that his people are exiled from his/their Land. In this week’s portion this is stated in a warning from Moses that saw its fruition in the time of Ezekiel (Deut 29:20–29; Ezek 36:19–20).
Likewise, bringing Israel back to the Land is how God sanctifies his Name.
And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations . . . and the nations shall know that I am the Lord . . . when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. (Ezek. 36:23–24; cf. Deut 30:1–6)
After the curses take effect, God takes it upon himself to bring lasting blessing.
Moses seems aware that the curses, the natural effect of the people’s straying, are inevitable. However, after “all these things come upon you,” God is eagerly waiting for the opportunity to heal and bless.
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deut 30:6)
For I will . . . bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. . . . I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. . . . I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes. . . . Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezek 36:24–28)
The curses return upon those who curse Israel.
When Israel is disobedient, God uses the nations to bring the curses upon Israel. But when Israel, God, and the Land come together the curses fall back on those who have cursed Israel (Deut 30:7–10).
The last Haftarah of Consolation, Isaiah 61:10–63:9, speaks of our hope: the fulfillment of the blessing of Abraham. It opens with “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.” This rejoicing is not ephemeral; it is for the time when God finally makes all things right. Here we see God’s “own arm” bringing salvation (Isa 63:2–6). Yet, in context, this is not the salvation of atonement, it is the salvation of judgment: God himself finally judges the nations that refuse to bow to God’s authority; in this God finally overcomes evil and sorrow.
The birth of Isaac is connected to our ultimate hope.
With great insight our sages in Pesikta deRav Kahana 22 understood that Isaiah’s “great rejoicing” here is connected to the birth of Isaac, the heir of Abraham’s covenant. They understood Sarah’s rejoicing at Isaac’s miraculous birth as both causing and foreseeing the worldwide jubilee that God will bring about at the end. After giving birth to Isaac, Sarah exclaims: “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me” (Gen 21:6). The sages discuss the meaning of Sarah’s laughter. In short, Sarah’s joy brings the full covenantal blessing to the world: the blind see, the deaf hear, the insane become sane, and all the babies of the princesses of the world nurse at Sarah’s breast!
This is a profound insight into the far-reaching effects of God’s humble plan to create a priestly nation through the barren couple Abraham and Sarah. We may well meditate on why God, Creator of all, determined that the remedy of the afflictions of the world would depend on something as mortal and undependable as the descendants of Jacob. Yet, it is in this very human, yet supernatural, ongoing covenantal history of our people that we find our hope.
Hebrews 6 also cites God’s land covenant with Abraham as the source of our hope:
Now when God made his promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you greatly and multiply your descendants abundantly” [Gen 22]. . . . [T]he oath serves as a confirmation to end all dispute. In the same way, God wanted to demonstrate . . . that his purpose was unchangeable. (13–17 NET)
Through Yeshua, we, with renewed hope, can reenact the drama of Nitzavim. We, with our people, all of us together, are poised, standing before the Lord, in sight of the land of our inheritance. Our people in Moses’ time were not prepared to walk in the ways of Hashem. But through Yeshua’s work on our behalf, we are made ready to inherit the land. And we are called, in Yeshua, to also sanctify our brethren for this, our inherited national calling to ultimate hope.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture references are from the New King James Version (NKJV).