Deuteronomy 30:3: “That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.”
Rabbi Solomon Ben Isaac was an eleventh century grape grower and Hebrew scholar whose Hebrew initials form the acronym Rashi. Somehow when I say he had a secular job suddenly it creates the idea that he is not really as great a scholar as one who devotes full time to his studies. I lay no claim to being a scholar but the fact that I drive a bus for the disabled suddenly seems to lessen my appeal as a teacher of Biblical languages. It seems if you are not full time in the ministry you are somehow just not as holy or knowledgeable as one who is full time. That is really a Western form of thought. In Jewish tradition one is not paid to be a rabbi, he is only paid so he does not have to do anything else but be a rabbi. Many great Jewish scholars and teachers had secular jobs, like the Apostle Paul who was a tentmaker or more precisely a maker of tillits. It is that secular job that many times would inspire their studies as apparently it must have done for Rashi because he is considered one of the greatest Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages.
Rashi, as with many Jewish scholars, pays close attention to the little nuances of the Hebrew and rather than just default to what seems logical, he explores the illogical. This verse is one example. Rashi points out that the words God will return or turn thy captive is veheishiv however, the word used in the Hebrew text is veshav. The pronoun is not a third person but a second person singular. Thus it should be rendered: “He will come back.” No one in the Christian world translates it this way.
My question is why not translate it the way it is written in the Hebrew text because according the Rashi, this is a beautiful thought. The sages teach that even in captivity, even when the nation of Israel was living in a sinful state the Divine presence was still in their midst.
God is a possessive lover and He will not let us go even when we fall into sin, He will still stay right by our side. If we fall into captivity because of our sin He will be captive with us. He will always be there patiently waiting for you to take His hand and embrace Him and tell Him how sorry you are and that you want to come back to Him.
I remember growing in the Baptist church and next to salvation messages there was always the message of the return of the back slider. There was always the call for the backslider to return to God. But you know it was always the picture of the backslider wandering away from God but according to Rashi’s translation of Deuteronomy 30:3 you never wandered away from God because he stayed right behind you following you all the way.
Years ago when I was a camp director for young people who were in trouble with the law. We had a young teenager assigned to us who was a member of the black underground. His case study said he hated white’s and authority. Here I was a big white authority and indeed he hated me. I assigned him to one of our black counselors, Big Jim, who was a big bear of a guy who had a heart bigger than he was. He prayed for this young man, fasted for him and kept telling him that God loved him and he loved him. This young man, Terek, never paid attention and did everything in his power to disrupt our program. One day Big Jim came running up to the staff and said: “Terek is getting ready to run and I am not going to stop him.” I told him he had to stop him as the courts put him our custody. Big Jim said he would not stop him that that is what Terek wanted. He said all week he has been telling Terek God loved him and he loved him and Terek wanted him to bring him down just to say: “You see there, you are no different than anyone else who said they loved me.” Then Big Jim said: “You stop him, he hates you anyways.” So I went down to the cottage as Terek packed his bags. I tried talking to Terek but he was totally oblivious to my existence and when he walked out the door I just got right behind him and I said: “The courts put you in my care and I am sworn to never let you out of my sight. Walk back to Pittsburg for all I care, I will follow you and you cannot stop me.”
So Terek took me through the woods, the swamps, the poison ivy, and pull back branches and let them slap in my face but after an hour I heard him say the first words I ever heard him say: “I’m going back now.” I noticed when we got back to camp he was changed. The fire in his eyes was gone and I really thought I saw fear. I preached my best sermon and was well into sermon #2 when he suddenly said: “I ain’t gonna run, can I go back to my cottage?” Realizing my sermons fell on deaf ears I told him ok.
An hour later I see Big Jim and Terek running up to the staff house laughing. I came out and Big Jim said; “Terek has something he wants to tell you.” I knew what it was but I looked at Terek and he looked at me with a light in his eyes as he said: “I’m giving my life to Jesus.” Then this black radical who hated whites and authority put his arms around this big white authority and gave him a hug.
Later that day I was talking with Big Jim and he asked how I kept Terek from running. I told him I didn’t I just followed him as he took me through the swamps, let branches slap in my face and took me through the poison ivy. When I said that Big Jim broke out laughing. I got angry and said: “Laugh will you, next time you go through the swamps, get branches slapped in your face and walk through poison ivy, I’m beginning to itch already.” Big Jim said; “That is not what I am laughing about. The reason Terek got so mad that he wanted to run is because I read the poem The Hound of Heaven to him. I told him: “Terek, I am praying for you and that means that God is going to follow you no matter where you go.” A few moments later he had a good demonstration of that as the camp director followed him through the woods. I had the worst case of poison ivy of my life and even today I rub my neck thinking about that bout of poison ivy and smiling.
I like the way Rashi translates this passage for it tells me that God is truly the Hound of Heaven and He will never let us out of His sight, no matter how sinful we can get.
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