The Rebuke - Part III

The view of the Abarbanel essentially merges both curses into one, asserting that the second temple was never the panacea to our exile (please see the previous essay for more information). As fascinating as the Abarbanel’s position is, we must still question the need for two sets of rebuke. If it is all essentially one rebuke, why is there a need to provide new horrors in the second?

We are told in Isaiah Chapter 60, verse 22:

“In Its Time, I Will Hasten It”

“The smallest will become multitudes, and the youngest to a mighty nation, in its time I will hasten it”.

This verse relates to the ultimate redemption of the Jewish people. There will come an unspecified time in which G-d will hasten the redemption.

The Abarbanel here explains:

Even though the Jews are in an interminable exile, at the time of the redemption, they will increase in a miraculous way, until the smallest tribe will be thousands of times larger than it was, and the youngest of the family will become a mighty nation. When will this arrive? In its time, which is decreed and finite in front of G-d….when that time arrives He will do these things in great haste and speed… know that when the redemption arrives it will not take a long time to be achieved, for G-d will accelerate this process… it is stated in Sanhedrin 98a: If they merit it, I will hasten the redemption. If they do not merit it, it will occur in its time. I have explained that there are two possibilities for the redemption to arrive - one is through repentance and the merit of the generation, and one which will occur when G-d decrees it.

Perhaps the only way to resolve the quandary of the two sets of curses is to examine them in the light of the way in which redemption occurs. The first redemption which occurs after a fixed period is one which G-d sets. This is illustrated in the curses in Leviticus. Bnei Yisrael had a fixed time to wait - 70 years - and then G-d decided that it was time to redeem them, giving them the opportunity for a new renaissance in Israel. It is for this reason that G-d states “I will remember the covenant of Yaakov”, saying that it is upon Him to remember, upon him to act. Even then, it is fascinating to note that this is not a panacea; the Jews need to take advantage of this moment of redemption, and they need to act from this temporal world in relation to G-d’s redemption from above. The Jews did not take advantage of the opportunity afforded to them with the rebuilding of the temple, and the exile continues.

The second set of curses in Deuteronomy relate to a different type of redemption. G-d does not intervene here. He does not wait for a specific time, because this redemption is not dependent on His actions - rather upon the moment when the Bnei Yisrael realise their potential by acting through repentance. When the act comes from below, rather than from on high, G-d will respond by increasing our numbers, so that even the smallest of tribes will increase. Until that moment of clarity from the Jewish people, He will not intervene.

It is for this reason that no comfort is granted - not because G-d has no compassion for his people, but because He wants his people to take the stance for which they were created. Perhaps we are being taught here that redemption is a partnership. We act, then G-d acts. G-d acts and then we must act in return.

It takes time for the psyche of the Jewish people to accustom themselves to this concept. Perhaps this time is reflected in the 2 chapters which separate the curses in Deuteronomy and the final conclusion, in which repentance is spoken of, and the ultimate redemption of Israel is at hand. Two chapters are illustrative not of a lapse in G-d’s compassion, but of a waiting for us to hold up our hands with the willingness to be counted.

This idea has massive ramifications for what we see in the world today. Thank G-d we have been granted by G-d with another opportunity for redemption. The land of Israel is in our hands, and despite her many enemies, we are a sovereign nation. The next step is ours. How we relate towards our real function as a people who are a light to the nations, caring for one another, and expressing the light of morality to the world through our own self-development is the crucible upon which the ultimate redemption is to take place. Perhaps we still need time, like those two chapters in Deuteronomy, for this idea to sink in, to take root, and ultimately to sprout into growth and fulfilment of potential.