Your Eyes Have Seen
The verses that struck me most in Parshat Devarim were the very last ones:
And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, "Your eyes have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms through which you will pass.
כאוְאֶת־יְהוֹשׁ֣וּעַ צִוֵּ֔יתִי בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹ֑ר עֵינֶ֣יךָ הָֽרֹאֹ֗ת אֵת֩ כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֜ה יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֙ לִשְׁנֵי֙ הַמְּלָכִ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה כֵּֽן־יַֽעֲשֶׂ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ לְכָל־הַמַּמְלָכ֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַתָּ֖ה עֹבֵ֥ר שָֽׁמָּה:
22Do not fear them, for it is the Lord, your God, Who is fighting for you."
כבלֹ֖א תִּֽירָא֑וּם כִּ֚י יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם ה֖וּא הַנִּלְחָ֥ם לָכֶֽם:
I thought about this in context of all that had come before. Moses recounting the low points of the Jewish people. The times they had messed up. The times they had forgotten or betrayed God- or betrayed him. How Moses had to bear the brunt of their punishment because God got angry at him due to them. And yet, despite all this, despite all the darkness and all the hurt, there’s many reminders of conquest. Of what Bnei Yisrael can do and overcome. Of what they have already done -the vanquishing of Sichon and Og. Of how God has already fought for them.
Your eyes have seen.
It is your God who is fighting for you.
And I thought about story arcs. And how powerful storytelling does exactly this. It takes you to the low places, the dark places, the hard places. And then it lifts you up.
This is what Moses is doing. This isn’t just a speech. This is an exercise in storytelling. Moses is telling the Jews about the low places they have been. The times they have messed up. But even then, even at those low points, he intersperses his statements with reminders. Positive reminders. Exhortations of hope.
In the first aliyah- God has given you the land. You are as numerous as the stars. May God bless you!
In the second aliyah- The Lord has set the land before you. Go up and possess it.
In the third aliyah- And I said to you ‘Do not be broken or afraid.’ Joshua will be strengthened to lead you.
In the fourth aliyah- Your little ones will go into the land and possess it.
In the fifth aliyah- The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. And specific examples of God fighting for Bnei Yisrael.
In the sixth aliyah- More examples of God helping Bnei Yisrael to utterly destroy the enemy.
In the seventh aliyah- Your eyes have seen…do not fear the enemy, for God is fighting for you.
And that’s when I realized what a masterpiece this is. Because this is a true story, which means it’s littered with bad parts. With rebuke. But it’s also an uplifting story. Because even within the rebuke, in every single aliyah, you can find Moses reminding the Jews that God has given them the land, that they will possess it, that God will fight for them, that there is always hope.
I recognized this after reading the latest Human of New York series, which is 13 posts long. Here is the link to the first post. This is also a story of a man who has been down in the dumps. A drug addict, a drug dealer, arrested and in prison, where he was supposed to rot and die. And the common thread throughout the entire story is how he kept on striving and hustling, even when he was at his lowest point. He kept on striving and he won in the end. He credits a lot of people, including President Barack Obama, for giving him the strength to go on. And I was reading this story, and then reading the parsha, I realized how similar these two narratives are.
They are both stories of times when people have messed up- badly.
And there are times they lost hope and disappointed other people who cared about them (in his case, his family members, in our cases, Moses and God).
But there was still hope. There was always hope.
And that’s the undefeated thing that rests in the hearts of all men- and especially of Bnei Yisrael. Hope triumphant. Despite all the odds, no matter how dark the night, no matter how wild the storm, no matter the misery you feel- your eyes have seen God in your life. He has rescued you before, and He will do so again.
And I find that immensely comforting.
Because it means that I will go through hard times. I will go through sad times. I will go through times where I don’t even know why I am here. But I have seen God in my life before and I know that I will see Him again. Your eyes have seen, Moses reminds Joshua. You know that this is true because you have lived this before. You have witnessed this. You have come out on the other side. And you will triumph again.
Because hope never dies. Hope is forever.
And my eyes have seen.
