but one thing is necessary…
The Children of Israel set up camp on the East side of the Jordan in the Plains of Moab. A conquest of the Land was imminent. Moses remembered what happened 40 years earlier, on the date of the ninth of Av, three days from today, when the former generation refused to conquer the land.
Moses understood that "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint … (ProveArbs 29:18)". In other words, "without the Prophetic Word in our hearts to lead and guide us, we throw off the restraint to indulge in our own carnality, fear, and laziness, and we then lack the courage to do these things which we are to do. As a result, we perish. This is probably a good diagnosis of what happened to the first generation, and why they did not conquer the land.
Moses was certainly not going to have a repeat of this. The Text tells us that he took it upon himself to expound this Torah to the people; he knew the Prophetic Word will give people strength and courage to conquer the Land (Deuteronomy 1:5). Moses sat down and made sure to ingrain in this new generation why they were there, and the reasons for the upcoming battles.
Why did Moses need to 'expound'? The Torah seems to be skimpy on details. The plain literal text leaves much unanswered. The Talmud abounds with commentaries providing plausible answers, but Jewish sages always knew that when the Messiah comes, He will provide us with the final answers.
They were right! Just as 3,400 years ago Moses undertook to elucidate the Torah to a second generation of Israelites out of Egypt; just as he sat to teach a people who had not seen Egypt about the plagues, the opening of the Red Sea, what happened at Mt Horeb and all the lessons learned in the desert; just as Moses explained to them the reasons why God saved them out of Egypt, immersed them into a new nation, gave them the Torah at Horeb; just as in the Plains of Moab he was getting them ready for the final step of their full redemption, for the conquest of the Promised land, Yeshua also came to us 2,000 years ago. He came to teach His generation, and through them, us. He started His ministry with John on the East side of the Jordan not far from where Moses was teaching the Israelites and He spent His life teaching people who haven't seen the miracles in Egypt, once and for all elucidating the Torah for them and for us, in order to prepare us for our final entry into the World to Come.
The main component Yeshua used to elucidate the Torah for us was to remind us of the Father's love, mercy, and compassions (Exodus 34:6-7). People followed Yeshua wherever He went drinking His Words of wisdom. May we also, the generation of the remnant, take time from our busy schedule to sit at the feet Yeshua that He may elucidate the Torah for us and prepare us for the Word to Come.