Throughout the Book of Deuteronomy, a change in identity for the people comes into view.
Up until now, the people had been referred to as Bnei Israel (the Children of Israel) but a shift takes place beginning in Deuteronomy 1:
Deuteronomy 1:1 These are the words Moshe spoke to all Isra’el on the far side of the Yarden River, in the desert, in the ‘Aravah, across from Suf, between Pa’ran and Tofel, Lavan, Hatzerot and Di-Zahav.
This isn’t just a one-off statement. They were then called that 10 more times throughout Deuteronomy.
This word “all” here is actually two words: el-kol.
el - Ox: Strength: Power: One who holds authority over others such as judges, chiefs and gods. In the sense of being yoked to one another.
kol - Complete: Vessel: Whole: A container for holding contents. Something that is full or whole.
Combined these carry the idea that there is a “yoking together the whole of” Israel. It’s no longer the individuals, it’s all of them. Together, as one. The Bride, if you will.
In fact, the word for bride (kallah) has the root kol and means “the one added to the man to make him complete.”
Before now, there were only two instances where the Torah uses this distinction. The first was in Exodus:
Exodus 18:24 Moshe paid attention to his father-in-law’s counsel and did everything he said. 25 Moshe chose competent men from all Isra’el and made them heads over the people, in charge of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 As a general rule, they settled the people’s disputes — the difficult cases they brought to Moshe, but every simple matter they decided themselves.
The second is in the Book of Numbers:
Numbers 16:31 The moment he finished speaking, the ground under them split apart — 32 the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all the people who had sided with Korach and everything they owned. 33 So they and everything they owned went down alive into Sh’ol, the earth closed over them and their existence in the community ceased. 34 All Isra’el around them fled at their shrieks, shouting, “The earth might swallow us too!” 35 Then fire came out from YHVH and destroyed the 250 men who had offered the incense.
Both of these instances seem to address a maturity in the group as a whole. One with selecting leaders and the other in the space of reverence.
The physical teaches the spiritual.
We are all birthed out of darkness into the light. When you are born you are a new creation. But you need help. You rely on others to carry you, feed you, protect you. You aren’t sure how to live on your own and your very existence relies heavily on someone else.
But you begin to grow. And those that love you, teach you. They teach you how to stand on your own legs so that someday you may be able to do the same for someone else.
As you progress out of childhood, you then join yourself with someone in an intimate way -- a way that you’ve never been engaged with any other person before. And through that intimacy you birth a new generation and the cycle repeats.
Your spiritual progression is exactly the same. We see the birth of this nation, Israel, follows this progression as well.
Deuteronomy begins by making the claim that the Children have now matured and grown into a Bride. No more will they need manna to fall from the skies as they will be going into a place where they themselves will plant, grow, and harvest food.
They will begin to stand on their own legs.
Yes, they still are Abba’s children but they are adult children. And life changes as an adult child.
They have entered into a new level of responsibility. It is now “all” Israel. We are tasked with working together in community in order to remain alive. The authority of their Father is still intact but it is now operating in a different way.
They are not just individual families anymore. They are a nation.
Moses is indicating that once the Israelites crossed the Jordan they would have to become a nation, not just a family. They would have to learn to function collectively. They were about to create a society. They would have to fight wars, defend themselves, institute systems of justice and welfare, and learn the necessity for, as well as the limits of, politics.
None of that had been necessary in the wilderness. God provided their needs, fought their battles, sent them food and water and gave them shelter. God would still be with them in the future, but only rarely in the form of miracles. No longer would it be God serving the people – giving them all they need. It would be the people serving God. That was to be their new identity. The nation would be defined by the covenant their parents had made at Mount Sinai. It would be their constitution, their mission, their task, their destiny. They were about to become, not just individuals, but a people.
-Jonathan Sacks
It’s not just about you. It’s not just about your family. It’s about the bigger picture.
We are likely familiar with the idea that the Spring Feasts detail the first coming of the Messiah and how that sets in motion the personal redemption of you and your family. As such, the Fall Feasts define the redemption of a nation, Israel. The Bride.
Birthed in the Spring, mature in the Fall. Individuals in the spring, all in the Fall. From seed to harvest.
The question is: where are we on this path?
Are you migrating towards independence from the Body or unity within the Body?
Genesis 2:18 YHVH, God, said, “It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.”
Seclusion and loneliness leads you down the path of darkness.
We are called to be one in unity -- not many making up a unit.
Yes, you matter. But it’s within the context of the Bride as a whole that you fulfill His Torah.
Torah is relationship. It is impossible to keep Torah as a single individual. Yes, impossible.
Matthew 22:33 When the crowds heard how he taught, they were astounded; 34 but when the P’rushim (Pharisees) learned that he had silenced the Tz’dukim, they got together, 35 and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh’eilah to trap him: 36 “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?” 37 He told him, “‘You are to love YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ 38 This is the greatest and most important mitzvah. 39 And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.”
The call is clear -- love Abba, love others. Impossible to do alone.
But there is comfort in retreating. Tucking yourself into a bubble of isolation gives us the appearance of safety and security. You control the variables of your life so that you can enjoy your life -- at least so it seems.
Hiding is, in effect, disobedience. Pulling back and living your own life is not the life of the Bride. It’s the life of a child. Remaining in a state of perpetual selfishness has no other outcome than death.
We all need one another -- not just for everyone else’s benefit but for our own as well.
Life does not really come forth until such a time as you die to yourself. The seed must go into the ground in order to have a harvest. You must be born again.
Selfishness cultivates infertility.
No life comes forth despite you controlling the lifestyle you desire. Death appears time and time again, and it drives you crazy. So you double down on building your life. Surrendering everything in hopes of securing true life.
But it remains elusive. You’d have better luck grabbing the wind and holding on to it tightly.
An individual is more concerned about their own lives whereas a nation is more concerned with the lives that come after. A transition from “what matters to me” to “what matters to those that come after me”. It’s generational thinking.
But infertility is a self-correcting tool to eliminate those that want their own life. Despite cries for an offspring, that child would only serve as fulfilling a personal desire. Generational thinking changes the focus. It removes a desire for outcomes that fulfill yourself but instead fulfills Abba’s desire.
We need to grow up. We need to step out of childhood into adulthood. We need to step into our call as a nation -- as one Body. The Bride.