Presence

I don't think I'd ever really focused on Parshas Devarim as a whole before; most people will tell you that it's just a recounting of some background history, how we got to where we are, and that the real stuff doesn't start till a bit later. I disagree. I think Devarim itself is a very nice and important self-contained narrative.

Moshe begins by recounting a selection of the history of the past fourty years. Beginning with the institution of a judicial hierarcy that removed Moshe from direct contact with the people, then the sin of the spies in slandering the Land, followed by a recounting of Israel's encounters with the various nations bordering the Land of Israel. It seems somewhat random, until you focus on one aspect. Giants.

Moshe's speech begins with the qualification, "after he had smitten Sichon, the Amorite King...and Og, King of Bashon." When Moshe recounts the spies slander, he focuses on their statements regarding the people of the land, "...greater and taller than we...and even children of giants have we seen!" When recounting the encounters with the nations bordering Israel, the descendants of Lot and Esau are not the focal point; instead, the nations that descend from the giants, Sichon and Og, are the main focus, and Moshe completes the parsha by turning to Yehoshua and saying, "Your eyes have seen everything that Hashem your God has done to these two kings; so will Hashem do to all the kings where you cross over...You shall not fear them, for Hashem, your God, He shall wage war for you."

By focusing on the giants, I think the narrative thread of the parsha is quite clear. The meraglim used the giants to strike fear into the hearts of their brothers, causing them to abandon the land and causing God to give up on them. Now that this generation has completely died off, Moshe presents to the next generation the vanquishing of these very giants as proof that they need not fear as their fathers did. Moshe has showed them that these giants can be beaten, and they need not fear anything that lies before them.

This accounts for just about all the pieces presented in Parshas Devarim very nicely, except for one thing. What is the pertinence of Moshe recounting the story of how Yisro set up the hierachical judicial system? I think the answer has to do with the underlying trait that engendered the decision. Moshe recounts the people's acceptance of Yisro's plan as, "You answered me and said, "The thing that you have proposed to do is good." When describing the Land of Israel, the spies also used a very definite language, "Good is the Land that Hashem, our God, gives us!"

Now isn't the time to really elaborate on this, but it is my conjecture that what made the sin of the spies so horrible, horrible enough to merit God's sentencing the entire generation to death in the desert was because it stemmed from Man's primal interest in Good and Evil. Adam's original eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is essentially recapitulated here by the spies, and subsequently the entire nation, when they judge the land on their own terms. The same element of Good, when once again used as a rejection of closeness to God, stems from the same primal attribute of Man. By distancing themselves from Moshe, they set the stage for distancing themselves from the Land, and from God.

It's important to consider this in connection with Parshas Devarim, where the B'nei Yisrael sit finally on the edge of the Land, just about to enter and posses it. And to consider the lineage of the giants that had to be defeated before this could happen, and what aspects of Man they represented. The connection to 9 Av should also be readily apparent.

By the way, I had a little help on finding the giants as the glue for the parsha. See this shiur for an excellent overview of the parsha as a whole, and how the giants play a role; I went in a bit of a different direction, but the patterns are the same (hat tip to Yehupitz for the link).