CHESHVAN 3
And
Now
The Book of Deuteronomy
contains Moshe’s final instructions to the ‘new’ generation of Israelites,
those that survived the 40 years of wandering, and stand poised to enter the land
their Creator had 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 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 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 the ‘and
now’ moments we have stumbled through in our lives.
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