“Leave the light on, please” says the child, “I’m scared of the dark.” One of the most common emotions expressed by little children is fear. Long before they become comfortable articulating happiness, excitement and sadness, small children speak of feeling frightened.
Though we speak of it less as we grow up, we still feel it. Just ask the adult who has been invited to give a speech before a large gathering. People fear approaching strangers, they fear harmless insects and they fear looking over the edge of tall buildings; there are all kinds of phobias.
To be sure, there is a healthy fear that keeps us from doing dumb and dangerous things, but what about the fears we all have for utterly harmless activities? I don’t know what your particular fears and phobias are but I’m sure you have them. I know I do.
It’s worthwhile overcoming the fears that hold us back. Though about 10,000 books on dealing with fears and phobias have been published, I find that I need only one book.
Let’s glance at Deuteronomy, the book recited by Moses during the last thirty-six days of his life as he attempted to strengthen Israel and help them overcome their own fears of the next phase of their national development—conquering the Promised Land.
The book opens with the first verse providing geographic coordinates describing where this happened.
These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan…
(Deuteronomy 1:1)
Verses 2 and 3 provide time coordinates describing exactly when this all happened.
There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb…And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month…
(Deuteronomy 1:2-3)
And in a perfectly logical sequel, the fifth verse reads:
On this side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Torah, saying.
(Deuteronomy 1:5)
However, just before verse 5, the narrative is interrupted in a most perplexing way:
After he killed Sichon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived at Ashtaroth Edrei.
(Deuteronomy 1:4)
Huh? What has this got to do with anything? Moses did many marvelous feats and vanquished many enemies along the way during the previous forty years in the desert. Why mention just these two obscure rascals, Sichon and Og?
Well, it turns out that Sichon and Og are what are described as giants. In fact, there are seven nouns used in the Torah to describe giants: refaim, eymim, giborim, zamzumim, anakim, avim, and nefilim. And here is the strangest thing. Far from being somewhat uniformly distributed throughout Scripture, they are heavily concentrated in the book of Deuteronomy. Though briefly alluded to in some of the other books such as Genesis and Joshua, no book of the Bible contains anywhere near the number of references to giants as the book of Deuteronomy.
Are these really massive men of grotesque proportions? Are they what we imagine Goliath to have been? Well, strangely enough, not one of these terms is used in describing the life and death of Goliath in I Samuel 17. We are told he stood over six cubits tall, but he is never referred to as a giant. So what is a giant?
While each of the seven words has a nuance of its own, Ancient Jewish wisdom employs these terms for the fears that terrify and paralyze us. During his final speech Moses repeatedly mentions the ‘giants’ reminding Israel in his fourth sentence that he already slew two of these monsters. He describes them and assures Israel that they too will be able to overcome these representations of paralyzing phobias.
Adapted from Thought Tools December 2012
Love your teachings so much! I used to watch you on TCT network, what happened to your show? I can’t seem to find it anymore!
Miss it greatly,
Cathy
Dear Cathy-
Occasionally TCT television network changes the broadcast times for our Ancient Jewish Wisdom show and occasionally they preempt it for fundraising. But remember, you can watch the show any day, every day, any time by simply going to http://www.tct.tv/watch-tct/on-demand-ajw
Cordially
RDL
Rabbi,since I discovered on YouTube, I have listened to you with great interest of your revealing of the Bible in a special way. I will use my knowledge and experience to better my people, and not to retire. Hope I had met you earlier. Thanks.
I love Rabi & Susan’s tv shows, full of wisdom, things I’ve not thought about or heard in church sermons. Thank you so much
Thank you Teresa–
Our job, as with everyone else also, is to deliver value that people can’t get anywhere else.
Cordially
RDL
My Rabbi,
Thank you for your G-d wise advice. I’ve had a horrible fear of failing for many years. I’ve therapy several times and still couldn’t shake it, so-o-o I just ordered your CD.
Good Going Mark,
Please do let us know how you do. Don’t worry about the therapy, or the fear, just leap ahead.
Cordially
RDL
Dear Rabbi;
Some of us fear the unknown. We serve a mighty God. We read and learn He is good, but there is so much to Him that we need a Rabbi to help understand some things. It calms me when I read from your wisdom all the while concerns me about how much I don’t know. How does the main character Moses eventually lose his life and position? Not knowing is where I get having a healthy fear of God from.
Whoa! With so much focus on the 12 spies and their views on giants in Numbers 13, this feat of Moses being a giant slayer before God was totally overlooked by me. Thanks for being a Rabbi!
Thanks for an apt Thought Tool, dear Rabbi. On the practical side of your lesson, I am reminded of my late Father, a decorated war hero from the 1940’s and 1950’s. He was trained in every art of combat, to include not only conventional weapons, but also limbs and bare hands. He advised us not to fear enemies for their large size. He found that we small, wiry ones can maneuver in and out and do damage, while the great big lummox, overconfident in his size, is getting his bearings. Such are our enemies: never as great as our overweening fears make them. Who was it said: ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself?’ (I know you know who it was). I’ll wager the man knew his Torah.
Praise be unto Adonai for you and ancient Jewish Wisdom. May you & yours be richly blessed