CHESHVAN 3
And Now
“And now …” (Deu 10:12 ISR)
The
Book of Deuteronomy contains Moshe’s final instructions to the ‘new’ generation
of Israelites, those that have survived the 40 years of wandering, and stand
poised to enter the land their Creator has promised them. This new generation had not been present at
the initial giving of the Torah, had not participated in the sin of the golden
calf, and had not been part of the evil report of the ten spies, which is when
the death sentence was rendered on that previous generation (see Num
14:20-35).
Even
this younger generation had continued to anger the One who carried them. Deuteronomy 9:7 tells us that the nation of Israel had continuously
provoked Elohim to anger, from the time they were first brought out of Egypt,
right up until that present moment, standing on the shores of the Jordan
River. Throughout chapter 9, and the
opening verses of chapter 10, Moshe is reminding this new generation of their
turbulent history.
Despite
all of their rebellious ways, however, Yahweh our Elohim still desired this
nation to be His. His love, grace and mercy are evident in
these first two words of Deuteronomy 10:12:
“and now”; all of those other things
had transpired in the past, and they were now
looking at their present, and into the continuing future.
The
word “and” is a conjugation; it is used to join and connect two separate
thoughts or elements. When used with the
word ‘now’, as in our opening verse, it is connecting a previous time period
with the present, as we can clearly see.
We can see the many actions and attitudes that displeased our Creator
(in the past), and we are turning, looking to see how we can make amends (the
present).
The
Hebrew word ‛attâh
(Strong’s H6258) is the word that has been translated as “now”. One of the definitions of this Hebrew word is
henceforth, which our friend Daniel
Webster defines as “from this time forward”[1].
Where else do we see this
turning from the past, and into the “now”, the “henceforth”? Is it not in the act (requiring action) of teshuvah? The essence of repentance requires us to
turn around, turn away, then from this
time forward, commit ourselves in love and obedience to our Creator. May we be eternally grateful for all of the
“and now” moments we have stumbled through in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment