Dvarim: Things

The word dvarin is confusing.  It means sayings, but it also means things, like in the Bobby Darin 1962 song. Perhaps it means both. 

This parsha reads like a memoir. The perspective shines through.  This remembrance of things past focuses on the ultimate achievement, the conquest of  the land. The first  fact recalled is how close Mt Sinai is to the border of the Promised Land, an 11 day journey.  It took forty years.  The journey did not have much of  a physical impedance, the block was in another realm. 

The memoir has elements of regret.  Moshe should have acted better, vetoed the spies. 

It has elements of self justification: Moshe recognized that the task of leading this large people with so many mediocre intellects  was too great for any single man. 

It has elements of ambivalence: The children of Lot and Esau had conquered their lands from aboriginal peoples and now their claims were to be respected.  Hence the Hebrews justify their conquests. 

The parsha humanizes Moshe. 

Thinkin' 'bout the things we used to do.