Having traced the loss of the past generation, Moses now reminds GenB of their journey from the hill country of Seir to the plains of Moab—where they are now encamped, ready once again to advance into the Promised Land—and of the territories they have gained in the course. This story is told through four vignettes: ♥
1. The Lands Denied to Israel, 2:2-31
1. The Conquest of the Trans-Jordan Lands, 2:32-3:11
3. The Division of the Trans-Jordan Lands, 3:12-20
4. Moses' Denial from the Land, 3:21-29.
A cursory reading gives the impression that this section stands in contrast to the previous one. Nonetheless, this section also picks up themes from the previous section and extends them. Section A (The Loss of the Past Generation) has opened with the command that Israel has tarried on that particular phase of their journey long enough (1:6). The present section opens with a similar remark ("Then Yahweh said to me, 'You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north,'" v2-3), which serves thus to mark it out as a new section. In contrast to Section A, which opens with a charge to GenA to go in and possess the land promised to them and concludes on a gloomy note of total rejection, this section opens with a series of denials—nothing of the lands that Israel was about to pass through, Edom, Moab and Ammon, would be given to them—but ends with Israel victorious with two and a half tribes having their inheritance apportioned to them. This theme of gain is particularly reflected in the use of the inheritance leitmotif, expressed through the various forms of the root, yrsh, "to take possession of," or "to dispossess," found a total of sixteen times in this section. The movement of thought, from promise to fulfilment, contrasts sharply with the story of loss of the previous section:
| GenA 1:6-2:1 | Call to Faith & Decision: | "See, I have given . . . Go in and take possession of the land," 1:8. |
"See, Yahweh your God has given . . . Go up and take possession of it," 1.21. | ||
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Judgment and Promise to Next Generation: | "The little ones that you say will be taken captives . . . they will enter the land. It is they who will take possession of it,"1:39. |
Parenthesis 2:2-24a | [Lands denied to Israel because they have been given to the descendants of Esau and Lot for their possession; yrsh occurs nine times in this unit.] 2:2-24a. |
GenB 2:24b-3:29 | Call to Faith & Decision: | "See, I have given Sihon into your hand . . . Begin to take possession of it,"2:24. |
"See, I have begun to deliver Sihon . . . over to you. Now begin, take possession so that you possess his land,"2:31. | ||
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Fulfilment: | "Of the land we took possession of at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites . . ." 3:12. | |
"Yahweh has given you this land to possess it," 3:18. | ||
"But all you men of might must cross over with your brother Israelites . . . until they too have taken possession of the land Yahweh your God is giving them," 3:20a. | ||
"After that you may each return to take possession of what I have given you," 3:20b. |
That the verb yrsh is the most important word in this section is obvious. It has already appeared as an imperative in the command given to GenA at Horeb (1:8). It was then repeated to them at Kadesh Barnea to "go up, take possession of the land"(1:21). After their rebellion, God had pronounced that none of that evil generation would see the land, but promised that their children will "possess the land" (1:39). Now, counter-balancing the twin imperative of 1:8 and 21, a new call to faith—repeated and frame in an inclusio— is issued to the new generation to "begin, take possession of it"(2:24 & 31). And in fulfilment of the promise of 1:39, yrsh (together with ntn "give/given") appears four times in 3:12-20, to record the new generation's possession and division of the Trans-Jordan lands and Moses' instruction to drive on beyond the Jordan to possess the land there. In between this movement from the failure of GenA to the success of GenB, yrsh is used nine times in the account of the lands denied to Israel because they have been given to other peoples as their possessions (2:2-23).1
This theme of gain, however, is carefully tempered in several ways.
1. The recall of the conquest and division of the Trans-Jordan lands is framed by two sombre accounts, a) the complete elimination of GenA (2:15) and b) the decisive denial of Moses from the Promised Land (3:26-27), each of which is highlighted by the central fact of rejection being set at the core of their respective chiastic frames.
2. Despite the conquest and division of the Trans-Jordan lands amongst the two and a half tribes, this allocation is provisional, subject to the fulfilment of their fellow Israelites taking possession of the land across the Jordan.
3. This theme is, as we shall see in the detailed comments below, reflected in the use of the dominant verb of locomotion, 'abar, "go across," "pass through," in this section. The verb accounts for 18 of the 36 occurrences of the eleven different verbs of locomotion in this section.2
4. Providing further texture to this theme of gain, and contrasting it with the theme of loss of the previous section, is the use of the two mutually reinforcing motifs of war and destruction.
A. Milchamah, "war," "battle," is used six times in this section, a third of the total in the book of Deuteronomy.3 In the previous section, GenA had been reprimanded for taking up "weapons of war" (kele milchama) despite the divine warning not to do so (1:41).4 In this section GenA is referred to (sarcastically?) as "that entire generation of fighting men ('anse hammilchama, lit., "men of war")" (v14) and "these fighting men" (v16). Ironically, it is only after the last of these "fighting men" had died that Israel was commanded to engage in war (2:24), and when any real fighting for the land actually took place.
B. The destruction motif is expressed through the elimination of three groups of people, each represented by a different verb:
a) the destruction of the Anakite-like inhabitants—the Emites and the Zumzummites, the Horites and the Avvites— by the present occupants of the lands denied to Israel is expressed by the verb shamad,
b) the elimination of Sihon, Og, and their people is expressed by the verb charam, which denotes utter destruction, and
c) the demise of GenA—"the fighting men"—is expressed through different forms of the root, tmm, a word which, ordinarily, means 'complete.' This last act of elimination is, as we shall see in the details below, emphasized in a way that is not true of the earlier acts of destructions.
Had the past generation not rebelled against Yahweh—accusing him of wanting to destroy (shamad) them (1:27)—they would have, with Yahweh's help, destroyed the Amorites, dispossessed and displaced them, just as the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites had so destroyed (shamad) the previous inhabitants of the lands that they now occupy. Instead, they had earned the solemn oath from Yahweh that none of them would see the Promised Land, and now in their complete elimination, that terrifying oath is made good. Yahweh keeps his promise, for good towards those who obey and for evil towards those who rebel against him. Perched once again on the edge of the Promised Land, with all the potential for conquest that their parents had at Kadesh Barnea, Moses's recall challenges GenB to think afresh of what success in possessing the land will demand from them.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, rev., 2021