Shoftim | For These Nations That You Are to Dispossess

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"For These Nations That You Are to Dispossess Hearken to Soothsayers and to Diviners; But As For You, The Lord Your God Has Not Suffered You So To Do."[1]

In our parasha, Moshe admonishes the people of Israel about the abominations of the peoples of Canaan:

When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that uses divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or one that consults a ghost or a familiar spirit, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord; and because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you. You shall be whole-hearted with the Lord your God. (Devarim 18:9-13)^[2] 

According to the Rambam, the practices described here are vain and futile, and that is why they are forbidden.[3] The Ramban, in contrast, maintains that there is truth in some of the phenomena mentioned:

Scripture states: "For whoever does these things [kol oseh eileh] is an abomination to the Lord," and not: "For whoever does all these things [oseh kol eileh]," because the verse speaks of the majority, but a soothsayer and an enchanter are not abominations, and God did not dispossess the Canaanites because of them, for all people crave to know the future and occupy themselves with many such sciences to know it… Many piously say about enchanters that there is no truth in them whatsoever, for who would tell a raven or a crane what will happen. But we cannot deny things that have been publicly demonstrated… (Ramban, v. 9)

Later in his remarks, the Ramban clarifies that the reason for the prohibition to turn to soothsayers and enchanters follows from what is stated in the section that immediately follows. There it is explained that the people of Israel do not need soothsayers, for they can turn to a prophet of God:

For these nations that you are to dispossess hearken to soothsayers and to diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not suffered you so to do. A prophet will the Lord your God raise up to you, from the midst of you, of your brothers, like to me; to him you shall hearken; according to all that you desired of the Lord your God in Chorev in the day of the assembly, saying: Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said to me: They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like to you; and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not hearken to My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart: How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him. (vv. 14-22)

According to the Ramban, the reason for the prohibition is clear, but the Torah's wording appears to be cumbersome. The first passage includes the soothsayer and the enchanter in its list of abominations, but at the end of that passage it excludes them by way of the formulation, "Whoever does these things," rather than "whoever does all these things." Why include them in the list in the first place, if at the end of the passage we find that they are not included in what is stated there? Why not simply mention them only in the following passage?

The Torah's formulation teaches that these phenomena suffer from two defects. There is something negative about them in themselves, as is explained in the first passage. In addition, they are superfluous because a direct channel of communication exists between God and His people in the form of a prophet. But if there is truth to these phenomena, as argued by the Ramban, what inherent defect does the Torah find in them?

"According to All That You Desired of the Lord Your God in Chorev in the Day of the Assembly"

Before proposing a solution, let us focus upon the second passage cited above, because its internal content requires clarification. As was mentioned earlier, the main point of this passage is that the people of Israel have no need for soothsayers, as they have prophets available to them. From this perspective, it is not at all clear what would have been missing had the assembly at Mount Sinai been omitted. Moreover, when we examine the events as they occurred in real time, it seems that the incorporation of the assembly at Mount Sinai does not at all correspond to the way of thinking reflected in our parasha:

These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and it went on no more. And He wrote them upon two tables of stone and gave them to me. And it came to pass, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain did burn with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and you said: Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that God speaks with man and he lives. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go you near and hear all that the Lord our God may say; and you shall speak to us all that the Lord our God may speak to you; and we will hear it and do it. And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when you spoke to me; and the Lord said to me: I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you; they have well said all that they have spoken. O that they had such a heart as this always, to fear Me, and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! Go say to them: Return you to your tents. But as for you, stand you here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. (5:18-27)

An account is given here of the great fear that gripped the people when they heard the words of God. Fearing for their lives, they rushed to Moshe and begged him to receive God's commandments in their place and then deliver them to them. God praised their idea and acted accordingly. Moshe was left before God to hear His laws and commandments, and it was he who taught the people to observe them.

This account presents a picture of the institution of prophecy that is completely different from the picture that emerges from our parasha. In the story of the assembly at Mount Sinai, the prophet is described as a religious figure who serves as a mediator between God the commander and Israel, who receive the commandments; his role is to deliver God's commandments to the people. In contrast, in our parasha, the prophet is described as corresponding to an enchanter, as a "kosher fortune-teller," who renders the enchanter superfluous. On the face of it, there seems to be no connection between the different roles of the prophet. On the contrary, to a large extent they are even contradictory. In his "religious" role, the prophet serves the Creator, who wishes to deliver His word to His creatures, whereas in his "civil" role, he functions in the service of man, who seeks to satisfy his curiosity by knowing the future. All in all, it is difficult to understand how the reference to Mount Sinai, which shines the spotlight on the "religious" prophet who delivers God's commandments, is supposed to serve as a prototype for the "fortune-teller" prophet who is to serve as an alternative to the soothsayer, as the logical connection between the two figures is obscure.

"That the People May Hear When I Speak With You, and May Also Believe You Forever"

The assembly at Mount Sinai is described twice in the Bible, but each time the Bible assigns it a different objective. In the book of Shemot, the goal of the assembly is to strengthen the people's faith in Moshe:

And the Lord said to Moshe: Lo, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever. And Moshe told the words of the people to the Lord. (Shemot 19:9)^[4]

In the book of Devarim, the goal of the assembly is to strengthen the people's fear of God:

The day that you stood before the Lord your God in Chorev, when the Lord said to me: Assemble Me the people, and I will make them hear My words that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. (4:10)

Are these two different goals or different aspects of the same goal?

As we know, the assembly at Mount Sinai was interrupted in the middle. This is how the matter is described in the book of Shemot:

And all the people perceived the thundering, and the lightning, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. And they said to Moshe: Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moshe said to the people: Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before you, that you sin not. (Shemot 20:14-16)

It should be noted that Moshe reassures the people that they have no reason to be afraid, for the assembly has already achieved its purpose; from the outset it was intended for this end, that the fear of God be upon them. However, in light of the verses cited earlier, this explanation raises a certain difficulty, as the objective of the assembly in the book of Shemot is not the strengthening of the people's fear of God, but rather the strengthening of their faith in Moshe.[5] This teaches us that Scripture sees these two goals as two sides of the same coin, though we must still understand how the two fit in together.

"But Let Not God Speak With Us, Lest We Die"

The theological innovation that the people of Israel introduced into the world was a revolution in everything related to the relationship between man and God. The tangible and visible closeness between man and God filled man with a sense of security and constituted the basis of his worship. The message that the people of Israel brought to the world must have encountered astonishment, not to mention great doubt. A practical expression of this was provided by Pharaoh, when Moshe appeared before him in the name of the invisible Creator and daringly presented him with far-reaching demands:

And afterward Moshe and Aharon came and said to Pharaoh: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said: Who is the Lord, that I should hearken to His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go. (Shemot 5:1-2)

Surrounded by such a perception, it is not inconceivable that even the people of Israel had doubts about the meaning of this governance. This does not mean that they were in doubt about the very existence of the Creator, the God of their fathers, but rather that they may have wondered for themselves why He was not visible to them. If we are correct about this distinction, it may be assumed that the information that their Creator-Savior intended to address them directly was accompanied by an expectation of physical closeness in that assembly. Indeed, we hear of repeated warnings given to Moshe to distance the people so that they not ascend the mountain, in their desire to perceive their God with their senses. Chazal too gave expression to this desire of the people:

And the Lord said to Moshe: Lo, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever. And Moshe told the words of the people to the Lord. (Shemot 19:9)

Rashi cites the words of the Mekhilta:

"The words of the people, etc." – He said to God: I have heard from them a reply to this statement – that their desire is to hear the commandments from You and not from me. One who hears from the mouth of a messenger is not the same as one who hears directly from the mouth of the king himself. It is our wish to see our king.

A careful reading of the verse indicates that the revelation at Mount Sinai was supposed to be a dialogue between God and Moshe, with the people of Israel watching from the sidelines, but the people objected. Thus, the commandments issued forth as direct speech to the people, but they could not bear it and immediately collapsed. Nevertheless, God crowned the assembly as a success. The very fact that the people understood that they lacked the strength to stand before the direct speech of God was an important lesson in itself.

According to the Ramban, the people never doubted the institution of prophecy. However, since they never actually experienced the closeness of God, they may have thought that at this time when the family of Yaakov was turning into a nation, the constant and intimate connection between God and His chosen ones could spread to the entire people and not focus on select individuals. This is precisely what the assembly at Mount Sinai was meant to teach them – that prophecy is an exceptional phenomenon and not the legacy of all.

This is the seam line where the various objectives of the assembly at Mount Sinai meet. The recognition that not every person can stand up to the word of God leads to heightened reverence for God. At the same time, it leads to the recognition that the individual who is in fact capable of standing before it is the pinnacle of the human race.

"O That They Had Such a Heart As This Always, to Fear Me, and Keep All My commandments, That it Might Be Well With Them"

While the people believed that increased closeness to God would help them, God tried to show them that the opposite is true. Excessive closeness between man and God paralyzes man and reduces his area of activity, thus preventing him from fully realizing his humanity. Appropriate distance from the Creator clears space for His creatures to develop along a path that they can conquer with their hard work. Even if this sometimes involves failure, a person must learn to get up and push on in his own way. God's guidance is undoubtedly needed, but it is given in a measured manner and by way of people suited for the task, who have reached a level of closeness that does not paralyze them. However, the average person needs distance so that he will be able to realize his uniqueness as a human being while recognizing the awesomeness of God, the Creator of all. Thus, God summarizes the assembly by saying that His distance from the people is necessary – not because of His haughtiness or abandonment of them, but just the opposite: "That it might be well with them and with their children forever."

"The Lord Your God Has Not Suffered You So To Do"

Let us now return to the beginning of our discussion, where we argued that the plain meaning of the text indicates that turning to soothsayers involves some inherent defect. From the assembly at Mount Sinai we learned that man's excessive closeness to higher powers jeopardizes his independence. Man is called upon to advance in accordance with his own abilities, on the one hand, and his limitations, on the other. Over-reliance on external factors is liable to cause him to lose his human balance. Therefore, even if there is truth in the words of the soothsayers, as the Ramban argues, and perhaps precisely for that reason, consulting them is destructive. From time immemorial, man has wanted to know what awaits him in the future, but he has earned his greatest praises for his efforts, while the events of tomorrow are hidden from him. Knowing the future would cause man to push aside his vision and focus on considerations of profit and loss. Such a culture is liable to lead to the burial of human initiatives that do not initially succeed because the events of tomorrow quashed them, but afterwards might prove to be a springboard for the human race.

Therefore, the soothsayer has justly acquired his place in the list of abominations; he is part of the culture that the Torah seeks to condemn. Turning to soothsayers was forbidden not because of the institution of prophecy, even though the prophet is the Torah's answer to such culture; therefore, the soothsayer is mentioned once again in the passage dealing with the prophet. We can better understand the alternative of the prophet in light of the end of the passage dealing with him.

The Test of the True Prophet

            At the end of the passage dealing with the prophet, the Torah provides us with tools to identify the true prophet:

And if you say in your heart: How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him. (18:21-22)

We now learn that the prophet's test focuses precisely on… fortune- telling!

In this way the Torah tries to portray the figure who mediates between man and his Creator. The primary function of the prophet is not telling the future, but rather guiding man along the path of truth, but the Torah wishes also to calm the person's soul. The figure who guides him can also predict the future, and therefore a person should not fear that perhaps in the future his instructions will be harmful to him, for the words of the prophet take that also into consideration. However, the Torah unequivocally emphasizes that the prophet's main function is guiding man to walk in his own path that will lead him to strengthen his personality in the way of God.

(Translated by David Strauss)