Shabbat Parashat Chukat - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Chukat - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

  About this it will be said in the Book of the Wars of God, "that which was given at

  the Sea of Reeds and the valleys of Arnon..." [Bamidbar 21:14]

Our verse comes in the middle of the Torah's describing journeys of the Israelites,

coming up to the story of Amon and Moav denying them passage. All of it seems to

connect, except the reference to the "Book of the Wars of God". What is that?

There are lists of "lost non-canonical books" and most commentators include this

title on those lists. What is, or was, this book that the Torah mentions?

Some, such as Onkelos and Targum Yonatan, do not think it is a separate, lost book.

Onkelos translates our verse, "Therefore it says in the book, the Lord waged wars at

the Sea of Reeds and mighty deeds in the valleys of Arnon" and explains "in the book"

as referring to the Torah itself. Yonatan translates the verse more specifically, "it says

in the book of the Torah". Rav Soloveitchik, while perhaps a little less exacting, seems

to fit in this category as well, interpreting the "about this it will be said" to "this

encampment and the miracles that were done in it." He explains it as when people in

the future will relate the story of the splitting of the sea, much as we do at the seder.

Rashi says it is another name for Sefer HaYashar. However, there are a number of

books of that name, some of which clearly came later in time than the Torah, so the

reference could not be to one of those. In fact the most well-known Book of the Upright

itself refers to Torah text in various places. Although Sefer Jashar was assumed to be

our book, various people date that one from the 9th through 11th centuries CE, although

one says it is from 1100 BCE. But all of those would be later in time than the Torah.

A few commentators call it Sefer HaShir, the Book of Songs, which makes sense as

most think the book was a history of pre-Torah Judaism in story, song and poem format,

written by Moshe and Yehoshua.

Rashi asks an interesting question. The verse reads "al kein yei'amar b'seifer milchamot".

He says that if this was a book, the verb should have been ye'kateiv, it will be written,

instead of yei'amar, it will be said. If so, the following word, b'seifer should be understood

as b'sapir, in relating a story, rather than writing in a book. Rashi thus seems uncertain

whether this is a book or a story.

The Gemora [Kiddushin 30b] says the wars of God are the disagreements between Torah

scholars on proper interpretation of the verses, which would indicate that the Talmud

will discuss varying understandings of the miracles of the days of Moshe.

Ramban and Rav Hirsch both come down solidly on the side of a history book, saying

these were common in those days, and that most have been lost over time. Everyone

agrees that if it was a book separate from the Torah, it was a history and that it no longer

exists in our hands.