Deuteronomy 29:5

5 ¹I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.

Deuteronomy 29:5 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 29:5

And I have led you forty years in the wilderness
From the time of their coming out of Egypt unto that day, which though not quite complete, is given as a round number. Eupolemus ^F4, an Heathen writer, confirms this date of the ministry of Moses among the Israelites; he says, Moses performed the office of a prophet forty years:

your clothes are not waxen old upon you:
were not worn out; all those forty years they had been in the wilderness, they had never wanted clothes fitting for them, according to their age and stature, and which decayed not; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 8:4);

and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot;
which were necessary to wear in travelling, and especially in a rugged wilderness; and yet, thought they had been always in use during so long a time, were not worn out, which was really miraculous; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 8:4).

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30. p. 447.

Deuteronomy 29:5 In-Context

3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.

4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.

6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

7 And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them.

Cross References

• 1. 29:5 ch. 1:3; 8:2, 4; Amos 2:10; Acts 13:18