Messianic Education Trust
		Living in Exile     Ki Tavo   (Deut 26:1 - 29:8(9))

D'varim/Deuteronomy 28:37   And you will be for an astonishment, for a proverb and for a taunt in all the peoples where the L-rd will lead you there.

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

Imagine that you were there, on the plains of Moab, hearing Moshe give his final address to the Children of Israel. You stand there as part of the entry generation, waiting to cross the river Jordan and take possession of the long-promised land, to gain an inheritance that meant you would no longer be a landless peasant and agricultural worker but would have the security of land ownership to give you stability in a region of instability. Your inheritance, the land to be granted to you by lot, among all the portions of your tribe would be so much yours that you couldn't ever sell it permanently; it would always come back to you in the year of Jubilee. Your land was to be allocated on an equal basis with every other Israelite, not on the basis of acreage but of agricultural yield, so that it should always guarantee - provided you put the work in - to feed you and your whole family year after year, even after giving your tithe to The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem and providing for the poor in your community. This is a prize beyond value, a priceless gift and you can't wait to get started.

Moshe has just been outlining the blessings that HaShem will pour out on His people if they obey Him: material and agricultural abundance, rain, many children, and safety from the surrounding nations: "abounding prosperity in the issue of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil in the land that the L-RD swore to your fathers to assign to you" (D'varim 28:11, NJPS). All you have to do, Moshe says, is "obey and faithfully observe the commandments of the L-RD your G-d ... and do not deviate to the right or to the left from any of the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day and turn to the worship of other gods" (vv. 13-14, NJPS). Who wouldn't sign up for that? But then Moshe's tone changes and he starts to talk about the curses that will befall the people if they don't follow HaShem; it sounds like the opposite of the blessings you have just heard. But Moshe doesn't stop; after all your livestock have been seized, your crops eaten, your children taken away as slaves and all your possessions consumed by others, you will be turned off your land, out of your inheritance, and sent away into exile. This is the stuff of nightmares, beyond your worst fears; in exile in some foreign land you will long for home and have no way to get there.

Where does our text fit into this picture? It belongs to the second half of the story, of what will befall the Children of Israel when - and Moshe insists on using the word 'when' rather than 'if' - the Children of Israel have lost their land and their inheritances because they will not obey the L-rd our G-d. When we have been expelled from our land, lost our inheritance and find ourselves in exile, in a land that we do not know, where we do not want to be, we will be "an astonishment, a proverb and a taunt among all the people where the L-rd our G-d has led us." That is exactly what happened in Babylon, when we wept as we remembered home and "our captors asked us there for songs, our tormentors, for amusement, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion'" (Psalm 137:3, NJPS). This has been the Jewish story too for nearly two thousand years as we have been in exile among the nations, expelled from this country and that country, taxed, abused and persecuted at the hands of Christendom. The wandering Jew has been the archetypical figure of ridicule and taunt, the parable of what happens to the people who disobey the L-rd G-d and reject His Messiah.

Looking more closely at our Hebrew text, we can see how the people of G-d will be received in exile. Firstly, לְשַׁמָּה, for an astonishment; this comes from the root שׁמם, a desolation or an astonishment, metonymically an object of astonishment. Who Is ...

Rashi: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105 CE), 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
Rashi thinks that "all who see you will be astonished over you", while Jeffrey Tigay suggests they will be "a source of consternation, or shock, to those who see your condition" and reports that "Jeremiah describes this response graphically: 'So their land will become לְשַׁמָּה a desolation, an object of hissing for all time. Every passerby will be appalled and will shake his head' (Jeremiah 18:16, NJPS)." The second word, לְמַשַל), for a proverb or parable, comes from the root משׁל, a parable, saying, proverb or maxim. Here Tigay suggests that it means "an example to whom people will refer as an illustration of extreme misfortune." Gordon McConville observes that "the horror of other nations at their suffering contrasts with their intended position as exalted over all the peoples," adding that "the people's suffering actually becomes proverbial."¹

Last in the set of three words is וְלִשְׁנִינָה, translated above as a taunt. Rashi, based no doubt on his own personal experience, says "a topic of conversation; it means they will speak of you." What Is ...

Targum Onkelos: An early (1^st-2^nd Century CE) translation/paraphrase of the Torah into Aramaic; attributed to a Roman convert to Judaism, Onkelos; used in Babylonian synagogues during the Talmudic era
Targum Onkelos changes this to the Aramaic וּלְשׁוֹעֵי, from the root שׁעי, to talk, converse, relate² - an expression of retelling. Tigay chooses the translation, 'byword' with the explanation, "an object of repeated discussion. This interpretation derives שְׁנִינָה from the root שׁנה, to repeat. Another possibility is that the word means 'the object of sharp or cutting remarks' from the more common שׁנן, to sharpen." The Who Is ...

The Radak: Rabbi David Kimḥi (1160-1235 CE), rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher and grammarian; born in Narbonne, France; best known for his commentaries on the Prophets, he also wrote a philosphical commentary on Bresheet that makes extensive use of the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel; influenced by a strong supporter of Ibn Ezra and Maimonides
Radak and Who Is ...

The Rashbam: Rabbi Samuel ben Asher (1085-1174 CE), a grandson of Rashi; lived in Northern France; worked from the plain meaning of the Hebrew text even when this contradicted established rabbinic interpretaton
Rashbam connect שְׁנִינָה with the word וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם to repeat, say again and again, in "and you shall diligently teach them to your children" (D'varim 6:7). Putting all three together, Who Is ...

Abraham Ibn Ezra: (1089-1167 CE), born in Tudela, Spain; died in the South of France after wandering all around the shores of the Mediterranean and England; a philosopher, astronomer, doctor, poet and linguist; wrote a Hebrew grammar and a commentary on the Bible
Ibn Ezra predicts that "Israel will be an astonishment: a proverb to the ear and a byword in the mouth." Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
Hirsch concludes that the very fact of exile will be a powerful object lesson to the nations: this is what happens to G-d's people when they do not obey Him.

At a time when unprecedented levels of migration are happening all over the world, particularly refugees fleeing from war zones but also significant numbers trying to escape from poor or oppressive regimes, many nations are trying to stem floods of inbound immigrants - legal and illegal - who all have their story to tell, their case to be heard. The rising costs of providing for immigrants, the housing shortages created by having to find accommodation for would-be migrants, and the disturbance caused by the influx of so many people with such different standards, lifestyles, language and dress, is causing social unrest - sometimes and increasingly violent unrest - in many countries and communities. It is becoming more difficult and unsafe to be an exile, whether geographical or social. Exile status attracts unwanted attention and disapprobation; discrimination and demonisation are under way as reluctant host communities adopt stereotypical views of their new or changed neighbours; the willingness to welcome and show practical hospitality is wearing thin.

Where does that leave us as exiles in our world today? Has the very word 'exile' become a byword or a reproach? Do exiles carry a stigma that hinders the very communication that they exist to make? Rav Sha'ul tells us that "we are the aroma of Messiah to G-d among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing" (2 Corinthians 2:15, ESV). In the world, our presence as the disciples of Yeshua brings the smell of Messiah; just like sweat and after-shave, wherever we go people are affected by the aroma we carry - either they smile or they wrinkle their noses. That is why Sha'ul goes on, "to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life" (v. 16, ESV); to those who are being saved, the aroma of Messiah is life and draws them towards G-d, to those who are perishing, the aroma of Messiah is death and pushes them away from G-d. If you are a fitness fanatic, then the smell of sweat alerts you to a fellow work-out enthusiast and you introduce yourself and start swapping notes; if you are not, then you move away to the other side of the room where the after-shave and body-spray make you feel more comfortable. In the same way, if you are searching for G-d, then the words of the gospel attract you and you draw near to make sure you have heard correctly; if you are a hardened atheist, then you shy away from such superstitious poppycock and find somewhere else where you don't have to listen to all that nonsense.

Amazingly, in the wisdom of G-d - because "G-d chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; G-d chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:27, ESV) - exiles are the most powerful witness for G-d among the nations today, the most effective proof that He is alive and working and that His people are prepared to do just about anything for Him. Why be an exile when it is so much easier to be like everyone else? The Psalmist laments that, even though Israel has trusted in G-d rather than themselves and "have boasted in G-d all day long" (Psalm 44:9), G-d has rejected them, has "made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations" (v. 12). Israel has been faithful, he cries, "our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way" (v. 19), they have not "forgotten the name of our G-d or spread out our hands to a foreign god" (v. 21). Despite that, he moans, "for Your sake we are put to death all day long, we are considered sheep to be slaughtered" (v. 23, CJB). After talking about a number of things that might cause even the firmest of human relationships to break - "tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword" (Romans 8:35, ESV) - Rav Sha'ul quotes the Psalmist and insists that, "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (v. 37, ESV).

Whether an ancient Israelite or a contemporary disciple of Yeshua - Jew or Gentile - the question is exactly the same: will we or will we not obey the words of our G-d?

1. - J. G. McConville, Deuteronomy, Apollos Old Testament Commentary, (Leicester, Apollos, 2002), page 406.

2. - Michael Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Palestinian Aramaic, 2nd Ed., (Ramat-Gan, Israel: Bar Ilan University Press, 2002), page 562.

Further Study: 1 Kings 9:6-9; Matthew 10:31-33; John 16:32-33

Application: Are you prepared to do just about anything for Yeshua? Will you put your neck on the line, stick out from the crowd or even your closest group of friends in order to tell someone who really needs to know - perhaps is begging to know - about Yeshua? Would you reveal your identity as a believer in order to defend the name of Yeshua in a potentially hostile context, even at great cost to yourself?

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© Jonathan Allen, 2025

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