Deuteronomy 29:5

5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes have not become old upon you, and thy shoe hath not become old upon thy foot.

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 temptations which thy eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:

4 Yet the LORD hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.

5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes have not become old upon you, and thy shoe hath not become old upon thy foot.

6 Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drank wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I [am] the LORD your God.

7 And when ye came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we smote them: