Shabbat Parashat Devarim - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Devarim - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller

God destroyed them before them and they drove them out and dwelled

in their place, just as He did for the children of Eisav who dwell in Seir,

who destroyed the Horite before them." [Devarim [2:21-22]

We as a people are often accused of taking land that we, in the words of

the argument, took of our own doing. We know that God gave us this land.

What's more, He gave many other lands to many other nations as well. In

numerous verses, the Torah tells us that God gave Mt. Seir to Eisav, and it

is repeated in 2:5 of our parsha this week. In verse 9, God tells Moshe not

to distress Moav "for I shall not give you an inheritance from their land, for

to the children of Lot have I given Ar as an inheritance." Rashi explains

that Ar is "the name of the country."

We are also criticized for kicking out the Canaanites from our land. But

again, the Torah presents the same situation for others. Referring to the

land of Moav/Ar, verse 2:10 says, "The Emim dwelled there previously." In

2:12, "And in Seir, the Horites dwelled previously and the children of Eisav

would drive them away from before themselves and dwelled in their place

as Israel did to the land of its inheritance which God gave them."

Our verse refers to Ammon and the fact that God helped them drive out

the Rephaim who had been in the land He assigned to this part of the

children of Lot.

Rav Joseph Soloveitchik captures what the Torah is trying to teach us here.

"When Sichon and Og refused to cooperate, Moshe declared war and crushed

them. Yet Edom was not touched. Once the king of Edom denied their request,

they changed their route and went around Seir."

Why did Israel do this? Because all of the land belongs to God, who gets to

decide who He wishes to give it to, who gets to live on it. Moshe did not decide

not to attack Edom/Eisav, he just followed his instructions. The same is true for

these other nations and lands--God decided who gets them and who gets kicked off.

If these other nations have a claim to the land they conquered, it is only

because God gave it to them. For exactly the same reason, Israel has an

undeniable claim to the land God gave to us. All the land of the earth belongs to

God, and only He may choose who may live on each part.