Admitting errors

 D’varim

Deut. 1:1 - 3:22

 

The Book of Deuteronomy (D’varim – “words”) takes the form of a series of lectures by Moses to the People as they prepare to enter the Land. Together, these instructions constitute Moses’ farewell address.  D’varim is sometimes called the “Mishneh Torah”, literally, the “second teaching of the Torah” (this is where we get the Greek name of the Book). 

            On another level, we can look at this as a kind of a homecoming saga. Like the Odyssey, the Gilgamesh epic, or The Wizard of Oz, much of this Book is about “getting home.” What distinguishes this Book are the detailed instructions about how to create a civil society after we get “home,” how we should relate to each other, especially to the most vulnerable in our society, and how we should relate to God and to the Land.

Deut.1:22 “Then all of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to.’ It looked good in my eyes, and so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe.”

    Here, Moses recalls the tragedy of the twelve spies, which happened 40 years prior. Interestingly, this statement by Moses differs in important ways from the first recounting of the events in Numbers 13; God had ordered the spires to be sent out, and 10 of the 12 gave fearful reports, at which point God threatened the destruction of all, until Moses obtained a reprieve and a "reduced sentence" of wandering in the desert for 40 years.

Here, even though the results were terrible, Moses takes responsibility, essentially stating that ​"it seemed like a good idea at the time, so I agreed.​" It was his fault, not the entire People, who were so frightened that they received the punishment.

Moses admits to an error. A bad decision is what it is, ​a bad decision. It would be refreshing if our current leaders in the United States and Israel agreed with this concept​.