Parashat Haazinu

This is the third of the 4 Torah portions that Moses spoke on the last day of his life. There are 70 stanzas and Moses calls on heavens and the earth as witness. Haazinu means “give ear”. Ears maintain the balance of the body. The body is a microcosm of the universe. Its very important that we hear the right things for a healthy spiritual life.

This song helps us to understand the importance of thanksgiving for spiritual life. Lack of gratitude is seen in

Deut 32:18- “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful,
and hast forgotten God that formed thee.”

When we are in a desert land, never forget that His eyes are over us.

“He found him in a desert land,
and in the waste howling wilderness;
he led him about, he instructed him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.”

We need to be conduits of God’s light into the earth. Jacob himself became the ladder who connected heavens and earth. When we forget that calling, we fall into various issues of life.

This song outlines the disaster that would come upon Israel when they forsake God. In Christian life we can’t undermine the importance of song. Paul asks us to sing with melody in our hearts to God.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”(Col 3:16)

The power of unity is also mentioned in the song. Unity and Holiness are two key terms that Paul uses often.

This Parashat ends with God reiterating to Moses that he would not enter the promised land “because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.”

God would not allow His word to be dishonored. As His friends, servants we need to honor Him by obeying His word to the fullest.