Showing posts with label Deuteronomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deuteronomy. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Guest Blogger Responds to Last Week's Post

Thank you, Yaira, for sharing your insights & wisdom with She Answers Abraham readers!

“You shall completely destroy all the places there, where the nations that you’re dispossessing worshiped their gods: on the high mountains and on the hills and under every lush tree.  And you shall demolish their altars and shatter their pillars and burn their Asherot in fire and cut down the statues of their gods and destroy their name from that place.”
(Deuteronomy 12:2-3)
Yaira:
On first reading, this passage seems harsh and not at all fitting with the concept of religious pluralism. These verses—when removed from their original context and interpreted on a literal, surface level—can lead to fundamentalism and trouble. So first, let’s put them back into context.

By Divine decree, Moses will not cross with the Israelites into the Promised Land—so by the bank of the River Jordan, he gives his final address to the people. He begins by reviewing the exodus from Egypt and the subsequent forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Then he offers guidance about how the Israelites should conduct themselves moving forward.

The central message that I hear in all of his advice, throughout the book of Deuteronomy, is to keep God as the focus of their lives. They are told to love God, “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) The people are told to demolish the worship spaces, altars and statues of the former occupiers of the land because the continued existence of these things would distract them from true service to God.

Next, let’s look beyond a literal interpretation. It’s important to know that what happens in the Torah is not just an event in the distant past. Just as Moses stood addressing the Israelite people thousands of years ago, he stands today, here in my living room, talking to me. What I hear Moses saying to me is that to enter the Promised Land—to uphold a sacred, covenantal partnership—I must clear out all the things in my life that would distract me from a central focus on God. All of those false idols of cash and comfort and consumerism must go, and what must remain is true and constant devotion. When these verses are interpreted in this light, they are a reminder that to live a life grounded in the holy, we must keep our hearts clear of clutter and open to God. 

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*Yaira is a Jew who believes that honest interfaith engagement is an important part of the connective, healing work so needed in the world right now. Yaira has a B.A. in English and is working toward an M.A. in Theological Studies. She is married with two boys and is fueled by laughter, gratitude and radical amazement.


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Taking Possession of Sacred Space

“You shall completely destroy all the places there, where the nations that you’re dispossessing worshiped their gods: on the high mountains and on the hills and under every lush tree.  And you shall demolish their altars and shatter their pillars and burn their Asherot in fire and cut down the statues of their gods and destroy their name from that place.”
(Deuteronomy 12:2-3)
Tziporah:
While I can appreciate the historical context of this commandmentto take possession of the land by abolishing the pagan cults of its indigenous people—reading this text makes me uncomfortable. The sounds of destruction resonate as I chant the Hebrew words aloud: demolish them, shatter them, burn them, cut them down and destroy them.  At first I thought it was the rampant destruction of the environment along with man-made structures that offended my modern, ecological sensibilities. After rereading this section of the Torah, however, I find myself deeply disturbed by a realization: This is not merely an historical account.  In modern struggles over physical space and sacred space, we continue to completely destroy places and utterly dispossess people in order to exert ownership.  And then—after we take possession—what do we have?

Grace:
I share Tziporah’s discomfort with this text if it is treated as a contemporary commandment. But I understand the Deuteronomist’s words as an attempt by a devout man, writing thousands of years ago in a very different culture, to imagine how the God he knew and worshiped might speak to a monotheistic people. As we read and interpret Holy Scriptures today, I think most of us are genuinely striving to listen to God and to heed God’s commands. However, just as we have come to understand the ungodliness of slavery, despite justifications our ancestors quoted from the words of sacred texts, we might do well to realize that we are equally prone to misrepresent in our own time the One who continually reshapes us. When trying to make sense of difficult texts, I find it helpful to recall the words of Jesus: “As you would that others do to you, do you even so to them.” (The Gospel of Matthew 7:12)

Yasmina:
I totally agree that this text ought to be interpreted in light of the time and place it was written, and we need to consider for whom it was intended. I, too, share your discomfort when sacred text is used to justify any wrongdoing, whether it is expropriation, destruction or abuse.  In our days, individuals around the globe misquote sacred texts to purposely spread fear and mistrust in people’s minds. I am deeply concerned when I hear about acts of injustice which violate people and their property, regardless of whether these abuses are physical or emotional. This can make me feel helpless, because it deeply affects our personal states of being, and can lead to despair. However, in response to this state of being, I am empowered by what fills my own heart: a renewed sense of submission to the will of God, because He is the Best Disposer of all affairs.