The article argues that the relationship between Israel and the nations is shaped not only by each nation’s character, but by whether it chooses to support Israel’s mission or oppose it. It says that nations that help Israel are remembered for generations, while those that stand against it eventually disappear from history. That theme is tied to Parashat Chukat, where Israel reaches year 40, as Miriam and Aaron die and leadership passes from the wilderness generation.
As Israel approaches the land, it is commanded not to attack Edom, Ammon, or Moab, but then defeats Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, taking territory east of the Jordan that will later belong to the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of Manasseh. When Og gathers his forces, God tells Moses, “Do not fear him,” which the author says implies Moses was worried, not because of Og’s size, but because of a deeper question about whether this battle fit the divine plan.
The article cites Rashi’s tradition that Og was the survivor who informed Abraham that Lot had been captured, prompting Abraham’s war against the four kings, and it notes Maimonides’ warning that such rabbinic stories are not always literal. It then presents two peshat explanations from Ramban, either Israel needed strengthening after Sihon, or Moses had not been commanded to fight Og and feared he was acting outside God’s plan.
The deeper point, the article says, comes from the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, where God foretells Israel’s exile and says the Amorites’ sin must first be completed. Og, then, is part of the long divine timeline. The piece extends that idea to the present war, saying Israel’s response to the hostage crisis has become a regional struggle over Israel’s standing and identity. It says Israel remembers which countries supported the UN Partition vote on November 29, 1947, and how nations treated the Jewish people in exile, and concludes that God continues to guide Israel’s rebirth and that the nations should learn to stand with truth and justice.
