Deuteronomy 1

1 These are the words which Moshe spoke to all Yisra'el beyond the Yarden in the wilderness, in the `Aravah over against Suf, between Paran, and Tofel, and Lavan, and Hatzerot, and Di-Zahav.

2 It is eleven days' [journey] from Horev by the way of Mount Se`ir to Kadesh-Barnea.

3 It happened in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moshe spoke to the children of Yisra'el, according to all that the LORD had given him in mitzvah to them;

4 after he had struck Sichon the king of the Amori, who lived in Heshbon, and `Og the king of Bashan, who lived in `Ashtarot, at Edre`i.

5 Beyond the Yarden, in the land of Mo'av, began Moshe to declare this law, saying,

6 The LORD our God spoke to us in Horev, saying, You have lived long enough in this mountain:

7 turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amori, and to all [the places] near thereunto, in the `Aravah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore, the land of the Kana`anim, and Levanon, as far as the great river, the river Perat.

8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya`akov, to give to them and to their seed after them.

9 I spoke to you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:

10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude.

11 The LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!

12 How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?

13 Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.

14 You answered me, and said, The thing which you have spoken is good [for us] to do.

15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.

16 I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear [the causes] between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the sojourner who is with him.

17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.

18 I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

19 We journeyed from Horev, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amori, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-Barnea.

20 I said to you, You are come to the hill-country of the Amori, which the LORD our God gives to us.

21 Behold, the LORD your God has set the land before you: go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you; don't be afraid, neither be dismayed.

22 You came near to me everyone of you, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come.

23 The thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe:

24 and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the valley of Eshkol, and spied it out.

25 They took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God gives to us.

26 Yet you wouldn't go up, but rebelled against the mitzvah of the LORD your God:

27 and you murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Mitzrayim, to deliver us into the hand of the Amori, to destroy us.

28 Where are we going up? our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky; and moreover we have seen the sons of the `Anakim there.

29 Then I said to you, Don't dread, neither be afraid of them.

30 The LORD your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Mitzrayim before your eyes,

31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that the LORD your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.

32 Yet in this thing you didn't believe the LORD your God,

33 who went before you in the way, to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34 The LORD heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,

35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers,

36 save Kalev the son of Yefunneh: he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he has trodden on, and to his children, because he has wholly followed the LORD.

37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, You also shall not go in there:

38 Yehoshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there: encourage you him; for he shall cause Yisra'el to inherit it.

39 Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Suf.

41 Then you answered and said to me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. You girded on every man his weapons of war, and were forward to go up into the hill-country.

42 The LORD said to me, Tell them, Don't go up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be struck before your enemies.

43 So I spoke to you, and you didn't listen; but you rebelled against the mitzvah of the LORD, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country.

44 The Amori, who lived in that hill-country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Se`ir, even to Hormah.

45 You returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD didn't listen to your voice, nor gave ear to you.

46 So you abode in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you abode [there].

Deuteronomy 1 Commentary

Chapter 1

This book repeats much of the history and of the laws contained in the three foregoing books: Moses delivered it to Israel a little before his death, both by word of mouth, that it might affect, and by writing, that it might abide. The men of that generation to which the law was first given were all dead, and a new generation was sprung up, to whom God would have it repeated by Moses himself, now they were going to possess the land of Canaan. The wonderful love of God to his church is set forth in this book; how he ever preserved his church for his own mercies sake, and would still have his name called upon among them. Such are the general outlines of this book, the whole of which shows Moses' love for Israel, and marks him an eminent type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us apply the exhortations and persuasions to our own consciences, to excite our minds to a believing, grateful obedience to the commands of God.

The words Moses spake to Israel in the plains of Moab, The promise of Canaan. (1-8) Judges provided for the people. (9-18) Of the sending the spies-God's anger for their unbelief and disobedience. (19-46)

Verses 1-8 Moses spake to the people all the Lord had given him in commandment. Horeb was but eleven days distant from Kadesh-barnea. This was to remind them that their own bad conduct had occasioned their tedious wanderings; that they might the more readily understand the advantages of obedience. They must now go forward. Though God brings his people into trouble and affliction, he knows when they have been tried long enough. When God commands us to go forward in our Christian course, he sets the heavenly Canaan before us for our encouragement.

Verses 9-18 Moses reminds the people of the happy constitution of their government, which might make them all safe and easy, if it was not their own fault. He owns the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham, and prays for the further accomplishment of it. We are not straitened in the power and goodness of God; why should we be straitened in our own faith and hope? Good laws were given to the Israelites, and good men were to see to the execution of them, which showed God's goodness to them, and the care of Moses.

Verses 19-46 Moses reminds the Israelites of their march from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea, through that great and terrible wilderness. He shows how near they were to a happy settlement in Canaan. It will aggravate the eternal ruin of hypocrites, that they were not far from the kingdom of God. As if it were not enough that they were sure of their God before them, they would send men before them. Never any looked into the Holy Land, but they must own it to be a good land. And was there any cause to distrust this God? An unbelieving heart was at the bottom of all this. All disobedience to God's laws, and distrust of his power and goodness, flow from disbelief of his word, as all true obedience springs from faith. It is profitable for us to divide our past lives into distinct periods; to give thanks to God for the mercies we have received in each, to confess and seek the forgiveness of all the sins we can remember; and thus to renew our acceptance of God's salvation, and our surrender of ourselves to his service. Our own plans seldom avail to good purpose; while courage in the exercise of faith, and in the path of duty, enables the believer to follow the Lord fully, to disregard all that opposes, to triumph over all opposition, and to take firm hold upon the promised blessings.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY

This book is sometimes called "Elleh hadebarim", from the words with which it begins; and sometimes by the Jews "Mishneh Torah", the repetition of the law; and so in the Syriac version, with which agrees the Arabic title of it; and when the Greeks, and we after them, call it "Deuteronomy", it is not to be understood of a second, a new, or another law, but of the law formerly delivered, but now repeated, and also more largely explained; to which are likewise added several particular laws, instructions, and directions; all which were necessary, on account of the people of Israel, who were now a new generation, that either were not born, or not at an age to hear and understand the law when given on Mount Sinai; the men that heard it there being all dead, excepting a very few; and these people were also now about to enter into the land of Canaan, which they were to enjoy as long as they kept the law of God, and no longer, and therefore it was proper they should be reminded of it; and besides, Moses was now about to leave them, and having an hearty desire after their welfare, spends the little time he had to be with them, by inculcating into them and impressing on them the laws of God, and in opening and explaining them to them, and enforcing them on them, which were to be the rule of their obedience, and on which their civil happiness depended. And sometimes the Jews call this book "the book of reproofs", because there are in it several sharp reproofs of the people of Israel for their rebellion and disobedience; and so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem begin it by calling it the words of reproof which Moses spake That this book was written by Moses there can be no doubt, from De 1:1, 31:4,9,24, only the eight last verses, which give an account of his death, and of his character, were wrote by another hand, equally inspired by God, as either Eleazar the priest, as some, or Samuel the prophet, as others; or, as it is the more commonly received opinion of the Jews, Ezra; though it is highly probable they were wrote by Joshua his successor. This book was written and delivered by Moses, at certain times in the last month of his life, and towards the close of the fortieth year of the children of Israel's coming out of Egypt. And that it is of divine authority need not be questioned, when the several quotations out of it are observed, as made by the apostles of Christ, in Ac 3:22, Ro 12:19 Heb 10:30, Ga 3:10 out of \De 18:15 32:35,36 27:26\ and by our Lord himself, Mt 18:16 from De 19:15. Yea, it is remarkable, that all the passages of Scripture produced by Christ, to repel the temptations of Satan, are all taken out of this book, Mt 4:7,10 compared with De 8:3, 6:10,13, and the voice from heaven, directing the apostles to hearken to him, refers to a prophecy of him in De 18:15.

\\INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 1\\

The time and place when the subject matter of this book was delivered to the Israelites are observed by way of preface, De 1:1-5, and it begins with reminding them of an order to them to depart from Mount Horeb, and pass on to the land of Canaan, which the Lord had given them, De 1:6-8, and with observing the very great increase of their number, which made it necessary for Moses to appoint persons under him to be rulers over them, whom he instructed in the duty of their office, De 1:9-18, and he goes on to observe, that when they were come to the mountain of the Amorites, they were bid to go up and possess the land; but, instead of that, they desired men might be sent to search the land first, which was granted, De 1:19-23, and though these men upon their return brought of the fruits of the land, and a good report of it, particularly two of them; yet being discouraged by the report of the rest, they murmured, distrusted, and were afraid to enter, though encouraged by Moses, De 1:24-33, which caused the Lord to be angry with them, and upon it threatened them that they should die in the wilderness, and only two of them should ever see and enjoy the land, and therefore were bid to turn and take their journey in the wilderness, De 1:34-40, but being convinced of their evil, they proposed to go up the hill, and enter the land, which they attempted against the commandment of the Lord, but being repulsed by the Amorites, they fled with great loss, to their great grief, and abode in Kadesh many days, De 1:41-46.