Commentary on the Torah

by Richard Elliott Friedman

watchful. This is the fifth time that Moses uses this word in his speech. Its concentration here calls to mind another element of the beginning of the Torah, where forms of this word are played upon: Humans are placed in the garden of Eden “to watch over it” (Gen 2:15); but when they eat from the forbidden tree they are removed from the garden, and cherubs are placed “to watch over the way to the tree of life” (3:24)—that is, to keep humans away; and in the next episode Cain lies about his brother Abel’s whereabouts by saying “Am I my brother’s watchman?” (4:9). The point of this: The word “watch” marks a gradual descent by humans away from their initial condition of closeness to God. But then the word is used in a new way when God says that the merit of Abraham is that he “kept my watch” (26:5). (This phrase is generally translated “keep my charge” in this work, but I used the word “watch” in Gen 26:5 in order to make known this development in Genesis.) The word thus comes to point the way to a return to harmony with the creator, and thus it resurfaces meaningfully here in the Torah’s final book.