Moses, A Faithful Servant

Rabbi Melanie Aron

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Moses is known throughout Jewish tradition as “eved Adonai”, God’s servant, sometimes even more strongly expressed, as “eved neeman”, a faithful servant. In fact, at the conclusion of Deuteronomy, the book which is really about Moses more than anything else, we are reminded of Moses’s uniqueness, “never again would there be a prophet like Moses”, we are told, “with whom God spoke face to face”, intimately, and with full confidence.

Therefore it is quite a surprise to read in this week’s Torah portion about a situation in which God gave Moses explicit directions on how to proceed, and to find Moses doing just the opposite.

The Jewish people are about to enter the land of Canaan. God gives Moses instructions concerning the descendents of Esau and Lot, whose land holdings they are to respect, and with whom they are not to engage in battle. Then attention turns to the Amorite Kingdom of Sihon, which was not a kindred people. There God tells Moses that the people have permission to “begin to take possession and contend with him in battle.” Immediately after this we are told though that Moses:

“sent messengers to Sihon with words of peace saying: Let me pass through thy land, I will go along by the highway, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor unto the left. Thou shalt sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money that I may drink; only I will pass through on my feet.”

Abravanel, the famous Spanish Jewish commentator of the medieval period, asks a good question in commenting on this section of the Torah. “How could Moses ignore the Divine command to go into battle and instead negotiate for a peaceful passage?”

From this question our tradition has an opportunity to restate an important lesson on the value of peace. With regard to most of the commandments, we are to follow them if an opportunity arises. For example, if we find a loss object, we are to return it, if we come across a donkey struggling under its load, we are to lift it, if we are harvesting our field and forget a sheaf, we are to give it to the poor. But with regard to peace, it teaches, “seek peace and pursue it.” This is a commandment that is so important that we don’t wait until we have an opportunity to fulfill it, but have to go out and make opportunities to do this mitzvah. This is a mitzvah that overrides others and so Moses for the sake of peace, is permitted even to override God’s explicit directions.

I think there is also a second explanation as well, one which goes to the heart of what it means to be a faithful servant, or even in our own times a good friend. A truly faithful servant, and a truly good friend, is not just a yes man, someone who agrees with everything you say. We see this with Moses on several occasions, where God is angry and says, leave me alone, but Moses pursues the conversation, leading to God reconsidering an ill advised course of action. Here too Moses takes the initiative to attempt a solution that would avoid warfare. Unfortunately the Amorites are closed to any compromise and will not work with Moses to secure safe passage across their territory. War does become necessary- perhaps explaining why God didn’t suggest to Moses that he negotiate. Still by telling us this story, the tradition is reminding us, that just because someone tells us to do something, it does not remove our responsibility to think carefully about what is right in that situation. This is not disloyalty, but is loyalty of a higher level.

Moses is “eved neeman”, God’s faithful servant, because he is true to God’s intent, to the values that God has taught, even if that means standing up to God’s explicit instructions in a particular situation.