Vayelech: prediction

Vayelech: prediction

Vayelech speaks about Moshe preparing for his death.  He designates Yehoshua as his successor, he writes the song that Israel will carry with them through all the hard times to come.  Moshe warns Joshua of Israel's inevitable rebellion and fall. 

The premise of the parsha is prediction. These predictions are not like those of the (other) prophets.  The (other) prophets warn the people of the consequences of their rebellious actions.  They describe the severity of Gd's reaction to their sins.  They are explicating the warnings seen at end of  Bamidbar.  They are describing a reaction. 

Moshe is predicting the behavior of the people.   He is predicting that they will rebel.  He has already described the consequences of rebellion against GD in detail.  Now, he is making an actuarial  statement.  The probability of misbehavior is overwhelmingly high.  It is not psychlogy, it is statistics.

The most determined of future events is death.No one denies that every living person will die. 

 Failure is also overwhelmingly probable.  Success is the outlier, the rarity. That is the second law of thermodynamics.  Pretty depressing. But facing the truth is the first step in dealing with it. 

That is what Moshe does.  He deals with his mortality and the overwhelming probability that the Israelites  will fail to abide by their Divine contract.  He deals with succession and he writes the Torah. He immortalizes the message

Pre Diction: what is said before, before the event, before the demise