That You May Live

“Abortion Stops a Beating Heart,” “Abortion=Murder,” “Pro-Life,” “Choose Life.” Bumper stickers bearing these various slogans are highly commonplace on today’s motorways. Moving billboards of personal opinion, these stickers carry heavy implications regarding the hot-button topic of abortion (which has been debated into the proverbial ground). But when the statement “Choose Life” first emerged, its original insinuation was unrelated totally to abortion or any choice regarding politics or specific religious belief. The statement “Choose Life” was part of a valedictory issued by Moses in which the culmination of the covenantal code of ethics occurred. In this farewell, Moses instructed God’s people, not to fight against abortion with “Choose Life” bumper stickers, but instead to choose and ethical way of life, invoking deeper meaning than a decal or a debate.

The Hebrew statement, “Uvacharta Bachayyim,” found in Deuteronomy, means “Choose life, that you may live,” a slightly elongated form of the more common “Choose Life” slogan. This directive is part of the larger quote, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day; I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life-if you and your offspring would live-by loving your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him. For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that the LORD swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.” By issuing such a decree, Moses called the Hebrew people to a higher mandate than simply living an ethical life. Spelled out in these lines is a merism of totality-heaven and earth, life and death, blessing and curse. Hereby, Moses defines his axiom “Choose life, that you may live,” with the implicit motivator of retributive justice. This implication is the culmination of the covenantal code of ethics, laid down in every biblical parable since Genesis, and served as a warning to the Hebrew people. Moses, with his departing words, was preparing the Hebrew people for a lifetime of survival, as he, the last great prophet of Judaism, was preparing himself for his own retribution.

For His people to simply survive in the Promised Land, however, was not the desire of the Hebrew God; Moses’ duty with his dictation was to groom the Hebrews in the ways of the teachings of God, with his own recollection and interpretation, so that as a nation, Israel might perpetuate in an objective manner, adding nothing to the teachings and taking nothing away. Applying to future generations and to each individual, Moses’ delegation was to serve as the foundation of the reputation of the Hebrew people as a whole, and as a part of the greater world as they inhabited the Promised Land. The Promised Land was just that-promised-however, the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could inhabit it only as long as they were worthy to do so, symbolizing the obligation of the Hebrew people to God and to other human beings. Adhering to the idea of retributive justice, the notion that if enough Hebrews wandered from God’s ethical code, their occupation of the Promised Land and their community would fall into peril, is inherent.

Fortunately or unfortunately, another thread is woven into the Hebrew tapestry by Moses’ “Choose Life” proclamation: free will. By issuing the responsibility of securing the blessings of God for the present and posterity to the Hebrews, God through Moses also gave the option abandon the covenantal agreement. This bestowed upon God’s people freedom of choice, but not without warning. Moses also says, “I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His laws, and His rules, that you may thrive and increase, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess.” This is the precursor to the “Choose Life” directive, which he tactfully follows with, “But if your heart turns away, and you give no heed, and are lured into the worship and service of other gods, I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish; you shall not long endure on the soil that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.” By these words, the listening standing ones are made aware of the consequences of their actions in the land they are entering, and yet, some are later led to ignore their own retribution, seeking their own fortune in a world they perceive as godless.

Moses, as the last great prophet in Jewish tradition, spoke for God when he uttered the words “Choose Life,” meaning not the couched opposite “Do Not Kill.” He meant instead to instruct the Hebrew people in the ways in which he’d been instructed to by God, and to present God’s chosen nation with the knowledge and ability to take up the bride of God’s blessings or to shun God and his covenant. That Moses’ valedictory has been so misrepresented and misinterpreted is both a tragedy, and in some cases, a religious travesty.