The Enigma of YHWH’s Hidden Matters: Mysticism or Redaction?

After presenting the blessings Israel will receive for keeping the covenant and the punishments they will receive for violating it (Deut 28), Moses envisions that at some time in the future, gentiles will look upon Israel’s afflictions and ask what Israel did to deserve such punishment (Deut 29:21–23).

In response, some of these gentile onlookers will explain that the former inhabitants had a God, YHWH, who took them out of Egypt and made a covenant with them, but they worshipped other gods. As a result,

^{דברים כט:כו} וַיִּחַר אַף יְ־הוָה בָּאָרֶץ הַהִוא לְהָבִיא עָלֶיהָ אֶת כָּל הַקְּלָלָה הַכְּתוּבָה בַּסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה. ^כט:כז וַיִּתְּשֵׁם יְ־הוָה מֵעַל אַדְמָתָם בְּאַף וּבְחֵמָה וּבְקֶצֶף גָּדוֹל וַיַּשְׁלִכֵם אֶל אֶרֶץ אַחֶרֶת כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה.

^{Deut 29:26} So YHWH was incensed at that land and brought upon it all the curses recorded in this book. ^29:27 YHWH uprooted them from their soil in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as is still the case.”

The next verse, despite the chapter numbering and the Masoretic paragraph division, seems disconnected from this theme:

^{דברים כט:כח} הַנִּסְתָּרֹת לַי־הוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְהַנִּגְלֹת לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ עַד עוֹלָם לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת.

^{Deut 29:28} Hidden matters belong to YHWH our God; but with overt matters, it is for us and our children ever to apply all the provisions of this Teaching.

Certainly, the verse does not reflect the words of the gentiles, as it returns to Moses’ direct speech, referring to YHWH as אֱלֹהֵינוּ “our God”, whereas the gentiles refer to YHWH as אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתָם “the god of their fathers” (v. 24).

At the same time, this verse does not connect to what follows, which is a description of Israelite repentance after destruction and exile:

^{דברים ל:א} וְהָיָה כִי יָבֹאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל לְבָבֶךָ בְּכָל הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר הִדִּיחֲךָ יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ שָׁמָּה. ^ל:ב וְשַׁבְתָּ עַד יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וְשָׁמַעְתָּ בְקֹלוֹ כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם אַתָּה וּבָנֶיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשֶׁךָ. ^ל:ג וְשָׁב יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶת שְׁבוּתְךָ....

^{Deut 30:1} When all these things befall you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart amidst the various nations to which YHWH your God has banished you, ^30:2 and you return to YHWH your God, and you and your children heed His command with all your heart and soul, just as I enjoin upon you this day, ^30:3 then YHWH your God will restore your fortunes and take you back in love…

Standing on its own, the verse appears enigmatic and mysterious. What are the הַנִּסְתָּרֹת “hidden” that belong to the divine, and the הַנִּגְלֹת “revealed” that belong to the Israelites, why is it framed in terms of vision, and what does this have to do with observance of the Torah? Over the centuries, commentators have proposed a wide range of interpretations, at times venturing into mystical speculation.^[1]

Israel’s Repentance: A Supplemental Passage

As critical scholars since August Dillmann (1823–1894) have noted,^[2] the repentance passage beginning with Deuteronomy 30:1 is out of place. In terms of theme and vocabulary, it connects directly with the blessings and curses in chapter 28; it even explicitly refers to הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ “the blessing and the curse that I have set before you, namely the content of ch. 28.”

The end of the passage also shares language from chapter 28. First, from the blessings:

^{דברים כח:יא} וְהוֹתִרְךָ יְ־הוָה לְטוֹבָה בִּפְרִי בִטְנְךָ וּבִפְרִי בְהַמְתְּךָ וּבִפְרִי אַדְמָתֶךָ עַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְ־הוָה לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ לָתֶת לָךְ.^[3]

^{Deut 28:11} YHWH will give you abounding prosperity in the issue of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil in the land that YHWH swore to your fathers to assign to you.

^{דברים ל:ט} וְהוֹתִירְךָ יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכֹל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶךָ בִּפְרִי בִטְנְךָ וּבִפְרִי בְהֶמְתְּךָ וּבִפְרִי אַדְמָתְךָ לְטוֹבָה

^{Deut 30:9} And YHWH your God will grant you abounding prosperity in all your undertakings, in the issue of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil.

כִּי יָשׁוּב יְ־הוָה לָשׂוּשׂ עָלֶיךָ לְטוֹב כַּאֲשֶׁר שָׂשׂ עַל אֲבֹתֶיךָ.

For YHWH will again delight in your well-being, as He did in that of your fathers.

This second part of the verse uses language from the curses in that same chapter:

^{דברים כח:סג} וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר שָׂשׂ יְ־הוָה עֲלֵיכֶם לְהֵיטִיב אֶתְכֶם וּלְהַרְבּוֹת אֶתְכֶם כֵּן יָשִׂישׂ יְ־הוָה עֲלֵיכֶם לְהַאֲבִיד אֶתְכֶם וּלְהַשְׁמִיד אֶתְכֶם וְנִסַּחְתֶּם מֵעַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה בָא שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ.

^{Deut 28:63} And as YHWH once delighted in making you prosperous and many, so will YHWH now delight in causing you to perish and in wiping you out; you shall be torn from the land that you are about to enter and possess.

It is unclear why ch. 30 no longer follows ch. 28. Perhaps chapter 29 is a later addition, or ch. 30 itself is late,^[4] and was inserted in the wrong spot or moved to after 29 to add a hopeful ending.^[5]

If the repentance passage (30:1–10) is set aside, then Deuteronomy 29:28 directly precedes 30:11–14, allowing these four verses to be read as a resolution of the puzzling statement in the opening verse,^[6] making this into a coherent passage on its own:

^{דברים כט:כח} הַנִּסְתָּרֹת לַי־הוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְהַנִּגְלֹת לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ עַד עוֹלָם לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת. // ^ל:יא כִּי הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם לֹא נִפְלֵאת הִוא מִמְּךָ וְלֹא רְחֹקָה הִוא. ^ל:יב לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִוא לֵאמֹר מִי יַעֲלֶה לָּנוּ הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְיִקָּחֶהָ לָּנוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵנוּ אֹתָהּ וְנַעֲשֶׂנָּה. ^ל:יג וְלֹא מֵעֵבֶר לַיָּם הִוא לֵאמֹר מִי יַעֲבָר לָנוּ אֶל עֵבֶר הַיָּם וְיִקָּחֶהָ לָּנוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵנוּ אֹתָהּ וְנַעֲשֶׂנָּה. ^ל:יד כִּי קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשֹׂתוֹ.

^{Deut 29:28} Hidden matters concern YHWH our God; but with overt matters, it is for us and our children ever to observe all the words of this Teaching. // ^30:11 Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. ^30:12 It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” ^30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” ^30:14 No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.

The hidden–revealed polarity serves as a metonym^[7] for the opposition between רחוק (distant) and קרוב (near). Thus, verse 30:11 clarifies that המצוה הזאת (this instruction) is not רחוקה (distant), that is, it is not נסתר (hidden), and therefore it does not belong to the divine realm.

Hidden: A Metonym Far and Inaccessible

This relationship between vision and distance is not unique to Deuteronomy. A similar connection, articulated in the same terms, also appears in Jeremiah:^[8]

^{ירמיהו כג:כג} הַאֱלֹהֵי מִקָּרֹב אָנִי נְאֻם יְ־הֹוָה וְלֹא אֱלֹהֵי מֵרָחֹק. ^כג:כד אִם יִסָּתֵר אִישׁ בַּמִּסְתָּרִים וַאֲנִי לֹא אֶרְאֶנּוּ נְאֻם יְ־הֹוָה הֲלוֹא אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲנִי מָלֵא נְאֻם יְ־הֹוָה.

^{Jer 23:23} Am I only a God near at hand—says YHWH—and not a God far away? ^23:24 If a man enters a hiding place, do I not see him?—says YHWH. For I fill both heaven and earth—declares YHWH.

Here the riddle-followed-by-solution style works in the opposite direction. First, Jeremiah asks the opaque question of whether YHWH is only a close-by deity or a far-away one. Then, Jeremiah explains that as a far-away deity, YHWH sees all, even hidden things, as he expresses again in his prophecy against the Edomites:

^{ירמיה מט:י} כִּי אֲנִי חָשַׂפְתִּי אֶת עֵשָׂו גִּלֵּיתִי אֶת מִסְתָּרָיו וְנֶחְבָּה לֹא יוּכָל...

^{Jer 49:10} But it is I who have bared Esau, have exposed (ג.ל.ה) his place of concealment (ס.ת.ר); He cannot hide…

In Jeremiah, as in Deuteronomy, the נסתרות (hidden) is equated with the רחוק (distant), accessible only to YHWH who sees and accesses all, but not to humans who are limited in their powers.

Expanding on this theme, the next verses (vv. 12–13) cite two examples of distant realms: the heavens and what lies beyond the sea. The inaccessibility of these realms to human beings is expressed rhetorically in the question: “Who can take (ל.ק.ח) the Torah to us from these places?”

Amos employs similar imagery and terms to illustrate the opposite, namely, how God can access such places to get the sinner who tries to hide there:

^{עמוס ט:ב} אִם יַחְתְּרוּ בִשְׁאוֹל מִשָּׁם יָדִי תִקָּחֵם וְאִם יַעֲלוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם מִשָּׁם אוֹרִידֵם. ^ט:ג וְאִם יֵחָבְאוּ בְּרֹאשׁ הַכַּרְמֶל מִשָּׁם אֲחַפֵּשׂ וּלְקַחְתִּים וְאִם יִסָּתְרוּ מִנֶּגֶד עֵינַי בְּקַרְקַע הַיָּם מִשָּׁם אֲצַוֶּה אֶת הַנָּחָשׁ וּנְשָׁכָם.

^{Amos 9:2} If they burrow down to Sheʾol, from there My hand shall take them; and if they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down. ^9:3 If they hide on the top of Carmel, there I will search them out and take them; and if they conceal themselves from My sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

YHWH can reach the heavens or below the sea;^[9] humans cannot.

In this wider context, Deuteronomy employs a trope about God’s reach but inverts it: Moses is not asking the Israelites to attain YHWH’s reach, but rather something much more modest—something fitting for human beings. If YHWH’s teaching were distant and part of the divine realm, the Israelites would have a legitimate excuse not to follow it. Instead, the teaching is in the accessible, human realm; the words are within reach of everybody to accomplish. Consequently, if the Israelites do violate the teaching, they will have no excuse.

The Words of Torah are Overt and Accessible

The first three verses elaborate on the opening claim of הַנִּסְתָּרֹת לַי־הוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (“hidden matters belong to YHWH our God”), while the last verse explains the second half: הַנִּגְלֹת “overt matters” are the things that are close to you, meaning teachings that you can observe. Note the chiastic parallelism between the two verses: the verb ע.ש.ה/י “do, observe” and the noun ד.ב.ר “thing, word” appear in both, but in reverse order:

^{דברים כט:כח} … וְהַנִּגְלֹת לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ עַד עוֹלָם לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת.

^{Deut 29:28} … but with overt matters, it is for us and our children ever to observe all the words of this Teaching.

^{דברים ל:יד} כִּי קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשֹׂתוֹ.

^{Deut 30:14} No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.

As R. David Zvi Hoffmann (1843–1921) notes, that final verse refers not to study, but to the performance of the laws:

^{ד"צ הופמאן דברים ל:יד} "לעשותו"—מתייחס אל תיבת ״קרוב״, כלומר הדבר קרוב הוא לעשות.

^{Hoffmann Deut 30:14} “To observe it”—this goes together with the word “close,” meaning, it is close (=accessible) to do.

Other notable literary features of the combined paragraph are the repetition of the verb ע.ש.ה/י four times, and the recurring of the negative construction ולא “and not” also four times.

Nistar and Niflaʾ—Synonymous Terms

Avraham ibn Ezra (1089–1164) implicitly notes the connection between the opening verse and the rest of the passage when he comments that נסתר (hidden) and נפלא are synonyms:

^{אבן עזרא דברים ל:יא} "נפלאת" – נסתרה.

^{Ibn Ezra Deut 30:1} “nifleʾt”—hidden.

This translation is bolstered by the occasional rendering of both roots with the same Aramaic root, כ.ס.י “hidden.” For example, in the negotiations between Jacob and Laban upon making their covenant, Jacob says:

^{בראשית לא:מט} ...יִצֶף יְ־הוָה בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ כִּי נִסָּתֵר אִישׁ מֵרֵעֵהוּ.

^{Gen 31:49} ...“May YHWH watch between you and me, when each man is hidden from sight of the other.

Onkelos translates the final phrase with אֲרֵי נִתְכַּסֵּי גְּבַר מֵחַבְרֵיהּ “when each man is hidden from his fellow.”^[10] נפלא is translated similarly in the context of creating a supreme court:

^{דברים יז:ח} כִּי יִפָּלֵא מִמְּךָ דָבָר לַמִּשְׁפָּט...

^{Deut 17:8} If a case is too baffling for you to decide…

^{תרגום ירושלמי–קטעים דברים יז:ח} ארום יתכסי מנכון פתגם לסדר דין...

^{Fragmentary Targum Deut 17:8} If something is hidden from you for deciding judgment…^[11]

Noting the Targum, Rashi (1095–1104) translates the verse in our passage as “hidden”:

^{רש"י דברים ל:יא} נפלאת היא ממך – לא מכוסה היא ממך כמו (דברים יז:ח) "כי יפלא" "ארי יתכסי"...^[12]

^{Rashi Deut 30:11} “Is not too baffling for you”—not hidden from you, like “if a case is too baffling” [is translated as] “If it is hidden.”^[13]

Why Was the Verse Detached from Its Context?

Given the rhetorical and conceptual connection between the opening verse (29:28) and the continuation of the passage (30:11–14), one may ask why later redactors interrupted the flow by inserting the section on future repentance (30:1–10) in the middle. It could be explained as a scribal oversight, i.e., that the redactors themselves failed to perceive the connection between the verses. However, it seems more plausible that they did recognize it, yet chose to interrupt the flow because of one verse within the repentance passage that is explicitly related to 30:11–14.

^{דברים ל:ד} אִם יִהְיֶה נִדַּחֲךָ בִּקְצֵה הַשָּׁמָיִם מִשָּׁם יְקַבֶּצְךָ יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וּמִשָּׁם יִקָּחֶךָ.

^{Deut 30:4} Even if your outcasts are at the edge of the heavens, from there YHWH your God will gather you, from there He will take you.

This verse is the positive counterpart to verse (30:12) which affirms that humans cannot access the heavens, and therefore they could not “bring” (לקח) the Torah if it were there. Verse 4 in the repentance passage, states that YHWH will access the edge of the heavens and bring (לקח) the Israelites who have been cast out there. The theoretical, counterfactual claim of verse (30:12) shifts in verse (30:4) into a concrete and optimistic prophecy of the future redemption.