Preparations for Holy Living

“When you go out to battle against your enemies…” Moshe’s final speech to the people he led out of Egypt continues. When you go out – Ki Teitzei, this week’s parsha, is named from this phrase. The multitude of Jacobites – or Israelites – is about to go in to the land of Canaan to possess the promised land. The last time they went out was when they were brought out of Egypt by G!d’s strong hand and mighty arm, as we are reminded over and over again throughout the Hebrew Bible.

The following verses set out how a man should treat a wife he takes captive from a battle and any family coming from that union (children). The treatment shows a lot of compassion for the woman, which is perhaps surprising in ancient society, but even moreso sets an incredulous instruction for the sons when considered against earlier narratives:

“If a man  has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn. But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn.”

The stories of the patriarchs and especially Joseph would be irreversibly different if these rules has been followed – would the Israelites have actually been in the place they were, standing before the promised land, if favor had not been shown to the second-born sons, or the firstborn son of the most loved wives?

From this point, the parsha begins to enumerate rules for livestock and plants, then provides damages for various offenses against women, by women, and against the community. The types of people unacceptable in the “assembly of the L!rd” are listed so there will be no confusion and holiness will be maintained. Moshe reminds the people that G!d has previously turned curses into blessings for them (Balaam). We see the idea of going out to battle again:

“When you go out as an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.”

Why?

“Since the L!rd your G!d walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy…”

The second half of the section is made up of rules concerning how the people should relate to one another, perhaps to keep order in the society and prevent chaos resulting from conflicts. This is the section of rules we read today and question how they may be relevant in our society. (The rabbis of the first and second century C.E. also asked these questions, as we have preserved in the Mishnah which has been handed down to us.

The last few verses of this parsha contains a key rule for the Israelites, which has arguably affected the course of their history if we take it at face value:

“Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear G!d. Therefore it shall come about when the L!rd your G!d has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the L!rd your G!d gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.”

But – later they would “forget” – rather, King Saul would spare their king Agag, allowing the lineage to go on. This has brought about much Jewish folklore, but also caused later problems in the Tanakh.

Overall, this parsha seems heavy: full of rules, a reminder of later defeats and disobedience. The imminent possession of the land of Israel may be its redeeming feature. Following in a pattern of the last several parashot, Moshe is communicating the rules of conduct G!d has set out for correct living as a new nation. So many years later, we know that the Israelites weren’t so great at following all these instructions. Perhaps we can learn from this to pay attention to what G!d wants us to do, so often similar to the ancient Israelites: to love him, to love others, to bring people into our society and live as a community.