The root , here in the hiphil stem, means "to separate", "to make a division", "to distinguish" or "to select". Moshe is designating the first three of the cities of refuge, those to be located on the east of the Yarden, in the territory of R'uveyn, Gad and Manashe. But the verb is in prefix form, usually translated using the English future tense, but often denoting an incomplete action. This attracts

Rashi: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105CE), French rabbi who wrote commentaries on the Torah, the Prophets and the Talmud, lived in Troyes where he founded a yeshiva in 1067; focuses on the plain meaning (p'shat) of the text, although sometimes quite cryptic in his brevity

In Luke's gospel we find the following piece of narrative: "As the time approached for Him to be taken up into heaven, He made His decision to set out for Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51, CJB). Other translations have chosen stronger words: "He resolutely set His face to go" (NASB), "He resolutely set out for" (NIV), "He moved steadily onward with an iron will" (Living_Bible). Despite David Bivin's persuasive arguments (see "Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus", Bivin & Blizzard, Destiny Image) that this is a Hebrew idiom that has little more weight than "He set out for...", the majority of commentators take the position that this is a moment of specific and deliberate decision: knowing what was to come, Yeshua intentionally and purposefully chose to obey the will of the Father leading inexorably to His execution on the stake. William Hendrikson (New Testament Commentary, Luke, Banner of Truth) says, "Though the contemplation of the indescribable bitterness that lay ahead meant nameless agony for Him (12:50), He was fully determined to accomplish 'the work which the Father had given Him to do' (John 17:4)".

Decisions and actions are linked; we usually do what we have decided to do. However, we often put off making decisions, particularly ones we don't like or seem to involve discomfort or inconvenience. This means that when we actually arrive at the point of action, when further delay is impossible, we end up making an unsatisfactory decision. Moshe went ahead at the earliest opportunity to fulfill the command that

Adonai: either the Hebrew word meaning 'My Master' or - more frequently - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G-d

Further Study: Isaiah 50:5-9; Acts 4:18-20

Application: How good are you at taking decisions and then following through on them? Now would be a good time to review the decisions that you have coming up in the near future and to prepare the options that you could take so that when the time comes, you already know what you must do and can calmly take and act out those choices.

© Jonathan Allen, 2006