Devarim – De-Escalation In the Torah: Where?

God’s instructions to Moshe as the people prepared to cross through the lands of Esau were clear: אַל תִּתְגָּרוּ בָם” = don’t provoke them.” [1] Same thing with Moav: “אַל תָּצַר אֶת מוֹאָב וְאַל תִּתְגָּר בָּם מִלְחָמָה – don’t give Moav any trouble and don’t instigate a war with them.”[2]  Then Amon: “אַל תְּצֻרֵם וְאַל תִּתְגָּר בָּם don’t give them any trouble and don’t provoke them.”[3]

Then the Israelites got up to King Sihon of the Amorites, and God’s instructions were equally clear in the opposite direction: “וְהִתְגָּר בּוֹ מִלְחָמָה provoke a war with him.”[4]  A Midrash makes God’s point clear, “When God told [Moshe] to make war with Sihon [God explained] even if Sihon doesn’t want to [make war with you], you should provoke war with him.”[5]  And so, explicitly instructed by God to instigate war with Sihon, what did Moshe do?

וָאֶשְׁלַח מַלְאָכִים מִמִּדְבַּר קְדֵמוֹת אֶל סִיחוֹן מֶלֶךְ חֶשְׁבּוֹן דִּבְרֵי שָׁלוֹם …

So I sent messengers into the Kedmot wilderness to Sihon King of Heshbon with words of peace …[6]

According to the midrash, God decided that Moshe was right, making this one of three instances where God learned from Moshe.  God adopted Moshe’s approach later on in Deuteronomy, ruling that “When you draw near to a city to make war with, [first] call out to the city for peace.”[7]

Thus, it turns out that Moshe taught God the value of de-escalation. God was interested in asserting dominance, saying that through attacking Sihon, “I will begin to place the dread and fear of you upon all of the nations under the heavens who will hear your name and tremble and shake before you.”[8]  But Moshe was right.  The first step in any conflict should be an attempt to resolve that conflict, to seek to rearrange the relationship into one that is better for all involved.

In our very fraught environment of black lives matter protests, I think that Moshe presents an apt lesson for protestor and police alike.  Our goal cannot be to establish one group as dominant over the other but for each group to respect the valid needs and concerns of the other.

God, too, provides an important lesson for the moment in demonstrating the ability to reconsider and change.  As my colleague Rabbi Robert Pilavin noted when I introduced the above midrash for discussion among UTJ rabbis:

We are predisposed to thinking of Hashem as the paradigm of Perfection. …Maybe we have it backwards.  Being created b’tzelem E-lokim (in the image of God) may mean that, unlike other creatures, we have the Divine capacity for [change].  Hashem’s (dare we say it) “vulnerability” and capacity to re-evaluate matters and (when needed) to “change course” is not His weakness, but His strength.  It is that non-rigidity of thinking, perhaps, that He hopes we will emulate.

Today’s moment calls on all of us to re-evaluate a great many things.  What are the structures in our society that are working well, and what are not?  How can even venerable institutions and individuals in our society – police officers and protester, governments and advocacy groups alike – learn to do better and to work better with each other?

Perhaps by finding genuine concern for each other’s well-being and by humbly reviewing our part both in what is good in our society and what needs improvement, we can find our way through a troubling today and toward a better tomorrow.

[1] Deut. 2:5.

[2] Deut. 2:9.

[3] Deut. 2:19.

[4] Deut. 2:24.

[5]  במדבר רבה (וילנא) פרשת חקת פרשה יט

לג ד”א אז ישיר ישראל זה אחד מג’ דברים שאמר משה לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא וא”ל למדתני … השלישית כשאמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא עשה מלחמה עם סיחון אפי’ הוא אינו מבקש לעשות עמך את תתגר בו מלחמה שנאמר (דברים ב) קומו סעו ועברו את נחל ארנון ומשה לא עשה כן אלא מה כתיב למעלה ואשלח מלאכים א”ל הקדוש ברוך הוא חייך שאני מבטל דברי ומקיים דבריך שנא’ (שם /דברים/ כ) כי תקרב אל עיר להלחם עליה וקראת אליה לשלום

[6] Deut. 2:26.

[7] Deut. 20:10.  כִּי תִקְרַב אֶל עִיר לְהִלָּחֵם עָלֶיהָ וְקָרָאתָ אֵלֶיהָ לְשָׁלוֹם

[8] Deut. 2:25 הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה אָחֵל תֵּת פַּחְדְּךָ וְיִרְאָתְךָ עַל פְּנֵי הָעַמִּים תַּחַת כָּל הַשָּׁמָיִם אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁמְעוּן שִׁמְעֲךָ וְרָגְזוּ וְחָלוּ מִפָּנֶיךָ.