Guidelines for Poetic Verses:#7 of 10
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We finish this poetry series with a complicated example:
The farewell blessing by Moses to the Jews--Dt32-02:05.
We will find here 4 distinct stages to the God-Jewish relationship
* God sought to give the Torah to the Non Jewish nations
* Only Israel wanted the Torah
* The Torah was given eternally
* The Jews continually accept and renew the Torah
Because of the complexity these verses will take a few days



OVERVIEW:
--------
RULE: We have frequently indicated that POETIC verses are
governed by the Rabbi Ishmael rule of CONTEXT. Very often poetic
verses REPEAT the same theme several times. In interpeting these
verses the following guiding principles are helpful:


GUIDELINES FOR INTERPRETING POETIC VERSES
-----------------------------------------
* First, find the overall UNIFYING principle
* Next, try and recognize the WORDS that YOU do KNOW
* Further try and find the SPECIAL NUANCES in the words you know
* Then infer the meanings of other words using PARALLEL STRUCTURE
* Try and find all SUBCATEGORIES of the UNIFYING theme
* Make a ONE TO ONE CORRESPONDENCE between the subcategories of
  The unifying theme and repeated stanzas of the verse based on
  the nuances you recognize in the repeated words.

In a nutshell whereas legal language is analytic, poetic language
is evocative The phrases don't define properties by themselves but
rather evoke an image. BUT THE PHRASES IN CONTEXT DO DEFINE A
PRECISE MEANING.

Those who wish to see this posting on the website should
visit http://www.rashiYomi.com/h7n24.htm


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VERSE: Dt33-02a

In a rather rare move Rashi EXPLICITLY DISCUSSES THE OVERALL
STRUCTURE of the chapter.

--------------------------------------------
 The first two verses show the offers by GOD
--------------------------------------------
Dt33-02 God offers Torah to non jews (who reject it)
Dt33-03 God offers Torah to ----jews (who accept it)

---------------------------------------------------
 The last two verses show the acceptances by ISRAEL
---------------------------------------------------
Dt33-04 The Torah was commanded ETERNALLY to the Jews
Dt33-05 The Jews CONTINUALLY accept the Torah

Certain other details are brought by Rashi but the above
is the simple meaning of the text. First it FOCUSES ON
GODS activities and then it FOCUSES ON ISRAELS ACTIVITIES.
As the chapter develops we will see more meaning in the
above skeleton



VERSE: Dt33-02b

Rashi appears complicated but he can be made simple using the
technique of OTHER VERSES. For we explicitly find that God
prophesized to the Esauv nations In fact Dt02-05 says
>For I have given Mount Seir as an inheritance to Esauv<

Thus we have an explicit other verse stating that the NATIONHOOD
of Esauv comes from Prophecy.

Hence we conclude that God approached many nations and offered
them things: To Esauv He offered Mount Seir to live and to the
Jews He offered the Torah.

This contrast shows the preciousness of the Jews: Whereas other
nations wanted THEIR OWN LAND the Jews by contrast wanted a
MORAL LAW and its guidance.

Rashi further embellishes the above idea: Rashi suggests that if
God gave the non jews LAND, it stands to reason God offered them
the law (which they must have rejected). But the basic idea of
this verse is >THAT GOD PROPHESYED TO EACH NATION AND HELP
SHAPE THEIR NATIONHOOD< It is only the Jews that accepted the
Torah from God


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