Deeper Commentary
Deu 1:1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond
the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between
Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab-
Critics have made much of the apparent contradiction between the
geographical details in Dt. 1:1 and the location details in Dt. 4:45,46.
But I suggest that the names in Dt. 1:1 are not intended to be pinned down
to specific locations. There are six of them, and it was unlikely that any
reader would be able to pinpoint a location in the uncharted desert from
these vague places. Rather, we are given a word picture of what the desert
was like. The place names in Dt. 1:1 mean [in order] "Ornamental",
maybe referring to the appearance of sand sculptures made by the wind;
"quagmire", "whiteness", "tower" and "golden".
Another take is that these six places are all the locations of various apostacies of Israel. Six is a number associated with sin. And at each of them, Moses had appealed to Israel with the words we now have in the speech transcripted in the book of Deuteronomy. The Hebrew name for the book is Debarim "These are the words...", suggesting these words were repeated often. They may indeed be the "words of this song" which Moses is described as singing to Israel- as if the whole book is "this song". Israel's failures and God's abiding grace and love is indeed a theme of this song. Deuteronomy records the sins of the generation that entered the land- at Massah (Dt. 6:16, 9:22), Horeb (Dt. 9:8–21) and at Taberah, Kibroth-hattaavah and Kadesh-barnea (Dt. 9:22,23). The context seems to indicate that it was the audience of Deuteronomy, "you", that generation and not their fathers, who had sinned at these places. Moses speaks as if he is talking with that generation when he says that the covenant was made "not with our ancestors... but with us" (Dt. 5:3). And it was "us", "you", whom he says had so sinned in the desert. They entered the land by grace.
The meanings of the place names as mentioned above could all
have idol worship connotations. But the song of "Deuteronomy" is indeed
the deuteros nomos, the second law, which is the name of the book in
Russian [vtoroe zakon]. And the law as repeated here by Moses often
differs to that given previously, reflecting God's adjustment of His
requirements in harmony with His grace towards them. We see here that
God's 'law' can change and His requirements do change as He Himself
progresses in appreciation of His peoples' frailty. We see the same after
the flood, where God promises Himself not to judge the earth with a flood
again because He now perceives more the wickedness of the human heart.
Deu 1:2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to
Kadesh Barnea-
It took Israel 38 years to complete this journey, but it was only 11
days if they walked directly. Their exit from Egypt through the Red Sea
represents our baptism into Christ (1 Cor. 10:1,2), and the wilderness
journey is the prototype of our walk to God’s Kingdom. We tend to walk
around in circles as Israel did, rather than perceiving our end
destination clearly and keeping our focus upon it.
Deu 1:3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of
the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that
Yahweh had given him in commandment to them-
Moses was now at the end of his life; Israel stood on the borders of
the promised land, which he was disallowed from entering. He now gives his
swansong, perhaps in the last month or even day of his life he gave Israel
the address transcripted for us as ‘Deuteronomy’, literally ‘the second
[giving of the] law’. He repeats some of the laws he had previously given
them, with some additional comments and clarifications, and shares with
them his reflections upon their journey. In this book, therefore, we
perceive a man at the point of spiritual maturity.
Deu 1:4 after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in
Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei-
Ashtaroth was the name of one of the deities which the surrounding
tribes worshipped; Edrei means "strength". The message is that the
apparent strength of the idols and those who trusted in them had been
overcome. And having won victories which were foretastes of those Israel
would win in Canaan, Moses now urges the people to go forward in faith. In
Yahweh's strength, they could overcome the idol worshipping tribes,
despite their apparent strength. But Israel still kept those idols with
them.
Deu 1:5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare
this law saying-
"This law" suggests that the law he was now given was significantly
different from the previous law that it could be spoken of as "this law".
Clearly, God's law was open to change and reinterpretation, from its very
beginning. It is mere literalism and legalism which insists that a Divine
law cannot be changed by Him and is therefore eternal in a literal sense.
Deu 1:6 Yahweh our God spoke to us in Horeb saying-
The phrase "Yahweh our God" is used 46 times in Deuteronomy but
hardly ever earlier in the law. Moses is exalting in the fact Yahweh was
really their God, He was abiding by His promise to Abraham to be the God
of Abraham's seed- despite their weakness. This is what we
also perceive in our spiritual maturity, that Yahweh is my very own God,
and not just generic "God".
You have lived long enough in this mountain-
They arrived at Sinai in the third month after leaving
Egypt (Ex. 19:1,2); and left it on the 20th day of the second month of the
second year, so they were there nearly a year.
Deu 1:7 turn, and take your journey and go to the hill country of the
Amorites and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the hill
country, in the lowland, in the South and by the seashore, the land of the
Canaanites and Lebanon, as far as the great river,
the river Euphrates-
This was the boundary of the land promised to Abraham. But sadly
Israel lacked the spiritual ambition to even go there, let alone settle
and inherit the land. It may well be that we inherit the Kingdom, but not
to the extent that we could do. We in this brief life are deciding the
nature of how we will spend eternity.
Deu 1:8 Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land
which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to
give to them and to their seed after them-
"Drive out" is s.w. "possess". We must note the difference between the
Canaanite peoples and their kings being "struck" and their land "taken" by
Joshua-Jesus; and the people of Israel permanently taking possession. This
is the difference between the Lord's victory on the cross, and our taking
possession of the Kingdom. Even though that possession has been "given" to
us. The word used for "possession" is literally 'an inheritance'. The
allusion is to the people, like us, being the seed of Abraham. The Kingdom
was and is our possession, our inheritance- if we walk in the steps of
Abraham. But it is one thing to be the seed of Abraham, another to take
possession of the inheritance; and Israel generally did not take
possession of all the land (Josh.
11:23 13:1; 16:10; 18:3; 23:4). The language of inheritance / possession
is applied to us in the New Testament (Eph. 1:11,14; Col. 3:24; Acts
20:32; 26:18; 1 Pet. 1:4 etc.). Israel were promised: "You shall possess
it" (Dt. 30:5; 33:23). This was more of a command than a prophecy, for
sadly they were "given" the land but did not "possess" it. They were
constantly encouraged in the wilderness that they were on the path to
possessing the land (Dt. 30:16,18; 31:3,13; 32:47), but when they got
there they didn't possess it fully.
Deu 1:9 I spoke to you at that time saying, I am not able to bear you
myself alone-
Jethro had advised Moses to appoint elders so that "they shall bear
the burden with you" (s.w. Ex. 18:22). These words recorded here were
presumably said after Moses had accepted Jethro's advice. Ex. 18:12 says
that this happened before they arrived at Sinai; whereas here we have the
impression it happened afterwards. Although "at that time" can be vague. I
suggest Moses is here recollecting the incidents of that broad period, but
arranging them in terms of their significance and not chronologically. Or
it could be that Moses accepted Jethro's advice, but not until some time
later did he operationalize it. After their sin with the golden calf he
may have realized more fully the weakness of the people and his own
inability to personally cope with all the stress.
Deu 1:10 Yahweh your God has multiplied you and behold, you are this day
as the stars of the sky for multitude-
He reminds them of the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham in them,
although this is sandwiched in between his lament at their unspirituality
(:9,12). The new covenant, which is based upon the promises to Abraham, is
fulfilled only by grace. The idea is that the stars could not be counted,
but we have in Numbers a very precise account of the numbers of the
people. So we can assume that Moses is seeing the fulfilment as potential.
Deu 1:11 May Yahweh the God of your fathers make you a thousand times as
many as you are and bless you, as He has promised you!-
The allusion is to the blessing promised to Abraham's seed; but that
is interpreted in the New Testament as the blessing of forgiveness (Acts
3:25,26 etc.). And Moses is speaking here in the context of their
spiritual weakness (:9,12). The fact the people had been numbered (see the
book of Numbers) showed that the promises of the seed becoming innumerable
as the stars had not in fact been fully fulfilled. Moses wished for the
fuller fulfilment to come; and we might detect in that wish a desire for
the coming of the Messianic seed through whom alone that could happen.
We can also conclude that there are degrees of fulfilment of the
promises of the Kingdom, just as one star differs from another in glory,
some reign over more cities than others. "Yahweh your God has multiplied
you" (:10), but Moses wishes for more fulfilment.
Deu 1:12 How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance and your burden and
your strife?-
Jethro had observed how stressed Moses was with the burdens of the
people, and we get the sense that they were at constant strife amongst
themselves. Moses' sense of inability to bear the effects of the sins of
the people could be read as a desire for the Messianic figure who would
bear those sins and their effects; which was to come to full term in the
sin carrying of the Lord Jesus on the cross. For the "burden" was of sin
(s.w. Ps. 38:4). These feelings of Moses were not of themselves to be read
as frustration or weakness; for the same words are used of how God Himself
was weary of bearing the "encumbrance" of His people (s.w. Is. 1:14).
Moses was sharing God's feelings.
But Moses didn't respond to this burden as he might have done; for in frustration he asks God to slay him, as he just couldn't bear the "burden" of the people (s.w. Num. 11:11). God responded at that point by giving 70 Spirit endowed elders to assist Moses (Num. 11:16), and we can assume this was because the sharing of the "burden" with a system of many elders (as suggested by Jethro and as described in Dt. 1:13-16) hadn't worked. Because those men were themselves weak and unspiritual.
"Strife" specifically refers to legal arguments, which were common amongst the Israelites (s.w. Ex. 23:2,3,6; Dt. 17:8; 19:17; 21:5; 25:1). Paul's command not to take our brother to court is an appeal for us to not be like natural Israel in this matter.
These are the words of Jethro in Ex. 18 "the thing is too heavy for you, you are not able to do it alone". His negative opinion of Moses' capabilities ["you are not able"] was absorbed by Moses and came to be felt by Moses. Yet now Moses looks back and sees what happened; he admits this weakness, and later in this chapter speaks of how Yahweh carried the people. He is recognizing that he ought to have believed that, rather than Jethro's opinion of him. And in any case, Jethro's suggested answer to Moses' weakness never worked out in practice and was replaced by the priestly system. I discuss on Num. 11:11 how Jethro's words about "all this people" were clearly unduly on Moses' mind at this time. He was wrongly influenced by Jethro.
Deu 1:13 Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your
tribes and I will make them heads over you-
As explained on :12, this system didn't really work. The 70 Spirit
endowed elders had to be appointed.
Deu 1:14 You answered me and said, The thing which you have spoken is good
to do-
The people liked the idea of a lay leadership, but it didn't really
work. They were effectively rejecting the idea of direct Divine rule over
them. It was the essence of their later desire for a human king and
princes (Hos. 13:10), which was a rejection of God's rulership over them.
Deu 1:15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and known, and made
them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains
of fifties and captains of tens and officers, according to your tribes-
This system didn't really work, because Moses again felt the burden
was too great for him, and the 70 Spirit filled elders were appointed
(Num. 11:16). But this too didn't really work; because in Dt. 17:11; 21:5
we seem to read of the priests effectively being the judges, under the
direct control of Moses and Aaron.
We note Moses set "wise men and known", but this contrasts with the qualifications required by Jethro: "You shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them" (Ex. 18:21). Clearly there weren't that many qualified men to be judges, and so the system didn't work.
Deu 1:16 I commanded your judges at that time, saying, Hear cases between
your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother and the
foreigner who is living with him-
We can deduce from this that one of the frequent causes for
interpersonal strife was the tension between the "mixed multitude" and the
Hebrews. But the entire community was to be accepted as the Israel of God.
It was refusal to accept this which led to so much strife; just as happens
today, due to a like rejection of the idea of all Christian believers
being members of the same body of Christ.
Deu 1:17 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. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring
to me and I will hear it-
The Hebrew mishpat, "ordinances", has a wide range of meaning.
The idea is of judgment, as if God and His Angels gave these laws as their
considered judgment after considering the human condition, and Israel were
to abide by them. But the word also the idea of a right or privilege; and
that is how we should see God's laws. They are only felt as a burden
because of human hardness of neck towards God's ways. His laws are not of
themselves burdensome, but rather a privilege and blessing. The law was
indeed "holy, just and good" (Rom. 7:12), designed to inculcate a holy,
just and good life (Tit. 1:8), a way in which a man should "walk" in daily
life (Lev. 18:4), a culture of kindness and grace to others which
reflected God's grace to man. If we dwell upon the idea of "rights"
carried within the word mishpat, we note that the law begins in
Ex. 21:1,2 (also Dt. 15:12-18) with the rights of a slave- those
considered to have no rights in the society of that day. The "rights" to
be afforded by us to others are the essence of God's rightness / justice.
Deu 1:18 I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do-
Moses repeated to them the various laws he had received on Sinai, as
recorded in the Exodus record. Or the specific reference may be to the
commandments given there about how to judge.
Deu 1:19 We travelled from Horeb and went through all that great and
terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the
Amorites, as Yahweh our God commanded us, and we came to Kadesh Barnea-
"We travelled" may mean this is Moses addressing the new
generation born in the wilderness. Likewise :20, "You have come to the
hill country of the Amorites". For he is speaking 40 years after Israel
left Egypt and the older generation were dead. So this journey from Horeb
or Sinai could suggest that the people returned to Sinai, re-entered the
covenant, and then journeyed to the promised land. The itinerary of Num.
33 would allow for this. It's as if God is starting over with His people;
although Moses' criticisms of that new generation are significant. We get
the impression of God trying and trying to forge a covenant relationship
with the objects of His love, chosen by grace.
And Moses / God appreciated how awful the wilderness was, just as He
appreciates the difficulty of our path to His Kingdom. This journey was indeed through a terrible wilderness, full of
aggressive snakes. It speaks of how terrible indeed is our journey after
the experience of baptism / crossing the Red Sea. It was by God's grace
alone they were preserved.
Deu 1:20 I said to you, You have come to the hill country of the Amorites,
which Yahweh our God gives to us-
The "mountain of the Amorites" could be a way of describing the land
of Canaan. The following context seems to imply this because Israel send
out spies into Canaan to assess how possible it was to take the land.
Thereby they lacked faith in the simple statement that it was God's will
to give them the Kingdom. We can fail to accept the simple implications of
the same promise to us (Lk. 12:32). Hence GNB summarizes :20,21: "You have
now come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God, the
God of our ancestors, is giving us. Look, there it is. Go and occupy it as
he commanded. Do not hesitate or be afraid".
Deu 1:21 Behold, Yahweh your God has set the land before you; go up, take
possession, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Don’t
be afraid, neither be dismayed-
“Let not your heart be troubled… neither let it be afraid” (Jn.
14:1,27) repeats Moses’ final encouragement to Israel “fear not, neither
be dismayed” (Dt. 31:8; 1:21,29; 7:18). "Afraid" can carry the idea of
hesitation (as GNB). If they had entered immediately, in faith in God
without feeling the need to send out spies, then victory would have been
certain. Quick response, "yes straight away", is part of the life of
faith. This is not reckless abandon, but the way of faith. So often the
way of disbelief takes refuge behind all manner of delaying tactics which
the flesh suggests to us, often in the name of wisdom and prudence.
The command to subject the animals in Eden [the land promised to Abraham?] corresponds to later commands to subject the tribes living in the land (Gen. 1:28 = Num. 32:22,29; Josh. 18:1). The “fear and dread” of humans which fell on the animals after the flood is clearly linkable with the “fear and dread” which was to come upon the inhabitants of Canaan due to the Israelites (Gen. 9:2 = Dt. 1:21; 3:8; 11:25).
Deu 1:22 You came near to me every one 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-
The sending out of the spies was a concession to human weakness;
Num.
13:17-20 says that they were sent in order to find out whether the land of
Canaan was a good land, and the feasibility of overcoming the people who
lived there. But God had categorically given assurances on these points
already; yet Israel preferred to believe the word of men than that of God.
They had been told not to hesitate but immediately enter the land (see on
:21). However, God made a concession to their weakness, and gave the command to
send out the spies (Num. 13:2). But when Israel heard their faithless
tales of woe, they decided they didn’t want to inherit the Kingdom
prepared for them. When we make use of concessions to human weakness, we
often end up in situations of temptation which we find too strong for us.
The best way is to simply go straight forward in faith in God’s word of
promise rather than relying on human strength.
Deu 1:23 The thing pleased me well and I took twelve men of you, one man
for every tribe-
In this time of final spiritual maturity, Moses was keenly aware of
his own spiritual failings (as Paul and Jacob were in their last days).
This is one of the great themes of Moses in Deuteronomy. He begins his
Deuteronomy address by pointing out how grievously they had failed thirty
eight years previously, when they refused to enter the good land. He
reminds them how that although God had gone before them in Angelic power
(Dt. 1:30,33), they had asked for their spies to go before them. And Moses
admits that this fatal desire for human strength to lead them to the
Kingdom "pleased me well". It seems to me that here Moses is
recognizing his own failure. Perhaps he is even alluding to his weakness
in wanting Jethro to go before them "instead of eyes", in place of the
Angel-eyes of Yahweh (Num. 10:31-36). Moses at the end was aware of his
failures. And yet he also shows his thorough appreciation of the weakness
of his people. Moses admits at the end that Israel’s faithless idea to
send out spies “pleased me well”- when it shouldn’t have done (Dt.
1:23,32,33). He realized more and more his own failure as he got older.
Deu 1:24 They turned and went up into the hill country and came to the
valley of Eshcol and spied it out-
The idea seems to be as GNB "as far as Eshcol". Num. 13:24 explains:
"That place was called the valley of Eshcol because of the cluster which
the children of Israel cut down from there". The Hebrew word for "spied
out" in Dt. 1:24 also means 'to slander' (s.w. 2 Sam. 19:27; Ps. 15:3).
Their slander of the land was in that they misrepresented the strength of
the people there, who were in fact fearful of the Israelites. They brought
up an evil report of the land (Num. 13:32).
Deu 1:25 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
Yahweh our God gives to us-
This is a very positive perspective on what the spies said; they said
that Canaan was a good land, but the inhabitants of the land were far too
strong for Israel, effectively calling God a liar. Moses is very positive
about Israel in Deuteronomy. It’s a sign of spiritual maturity that we
impute righteousness to others and seek to focus on the positive rather
than for ever dwelling on the terrible failures of God’s people.
Deu 1:26 Yet you wouldn’t go up-
This of course applied to a generation previous to that whom Moses
was addressing at this point. There are examples of where the individual
Israelite had the actions of the body of Israel in the past imputed to him
(Dt. 1:26; 5:2; 29:1). This isn’t ‘guilt by association’, but rather an
example of the ineffable unity of all God’s people, wherever and whenever
they lived, over time as well as over space. Thus the most lonely
individual can read the historical records of God’s people in the past and
feel a true sense of community with the people of God, knowing that these
things are his very own personal legacy and spiritual inheritance.
But rebelled against the commandment of
Yahweh your God-
We are left to imagine in what tone of voice Moses said that. Israel
had rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh through disbelief, and
therefore couldn't enter Canaan (Dt. 1:26; 9:7,23,24; 31:27; Num. 27:4);
they were as the rebellious son who rebelled against his father's
commandment (s.w. Dt. 21:18,20). For he himself had rebelled against the
commandment of Yahweh and because of this was also barred from entering
Canaan (Num. 20:24; 27:14). One reason for this was that he had called the
Israelites "rebels" (Num. 20:10), and no sooner had he done so, than he
himself rebelled against Yahweh's commandment just like them, but in a
different way.
Verses 26-28 form the central point of the chiastic structure of Deuteronomy 1. The essence was that they refused the offer of the Kingdom:
A. go in and possess the land (vv. 6-8)
B. triumphs and multiplication of Israel (vv. 9-12)
C. wise leaders chosen (vv. 13-18)
D. go up and possess the land (vv. 19-21a)
E. do not fear the peoples (v. 21b)
F. request for spies (vv. 22-24)
G. good report of spies (v. 25)
H. BUT, you were not willing, you rebelled; you did not believe
(vv. 26-28)
-G'. evil report of spies (v. 28)
- F'. rejection of the spies (v. 28)
-E'. expressed fear of the peoples (v. 28)
-D'. land is withheld, and given to others (vv. 34-40)
-C'. foolish choice by the leaders (v. 41)
-B'. defeats and decrease of Israel (vv. 42-44)
-A'. do not go in and possess the land (vv. 42, 45, 46)
Deu 1:27 and you murmured in your tents and said, Because Yahweh hated us
He has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the
hand of the Amorites, to destroy us-
Israel continually "murmured" against Moses (Ex. 15:24; 16:2,7,8; 17:3;
Num. 14:2,27,29 cp. Dt. 1:27; Ps. 106:25; 1 Cor. 10:10). Nearly all these
murmurings were related to Israel's disbelief that Moses really could
bring them into the land. Likewise Israel disbelieved that eating Christ's
words (Jn. 6:63) really could lead them to salvation; and their temptation
to murmur in this way is ours too, especially in the last days (1 Cor.
10:10-12). "In your tents" reflects how God judges apparently
secret conversations and thoughts, muttered in the unspoken assumption of
confidentiality or within human minds. Their words as stated here were
likely their thoughts rather than their actual spoken words. But God
counts thoughts as spoken words. Again we have highlighted the importance
of being spiritually minded.
We marvel at how the passionate love of God for Israel at this time, falling in love with them and not beholding iniquity in Jacob, could be perceived now as hatred for Israel. It is a psychological classic, revealing the fickleness of the human mind when it is not firmly based in faith in God's stated words.
The bizarre claim that "Yahweh hates us" [perhaps they never
said this, but their belief system implied it] means that their lack of
faith influenced their theology. This often happens. Because a man had an
angry and abusive father, and refuses to break free from that, he ends up
believing God is like his father. Either God is very good, or very bad. We
continually face that choice. As Paul puts it, we place God in the dock.
He is either true, or a liar. Dt. 7:8 and elsewhere in Deuteronomy, Moses
seeks to correct them by teaching them quite simply that God loves them
and doesn't hate them: "it
is because the Lord
loves
you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that
the Lord has brought you
out" (RSV).
Deu 1:28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart 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’-
The ten spies perceived the people as so strong that they could never
defeat them, whereas Joshua and Caleb perceived how things really were-
which is how Rahab described it. The paradox is that the hearts of the
Canaanites melted (Josh. 2:11), and this is the phrase used of how the
hearts of the Israelites melted (Dt. 1:28). Both sides were scared of each
other; but victory could have been with Israel. They wasted so much
potential.
The Israelites were aware of the existence of unusually large people –
the Zamzumin, Zumin, Rephaim, Nephilim, Emim, and Anakim (Dt. 1:28;
2:10,11,20,21; 3:11). The bed of Og, King of Bashan, a Rephaim, was nine
cubits long, over four meters (14 feet) – Dt. 3:11. In Canaanite mythology
these giants came from intermarriage between human beings and the gods;
but Moses in Genesis 6 is surely addressing this myth and correcting it.
He’s saying (by implication) that this didn’t happen, but rather the Godly
seed and the wicked intermarried; and yes, at that time, there were giants
in the earth, but they were judged and destroyed by the flood, and the
implication surely was that the Israel who first heard Moses’ inspired
history could take comfort that the giants they faced in Canaan would
likewise be overcome by God.
Deu 1:29 Then I said to you, Don’t dread, neither be afraid of them-
The fact we were called to baptism therefore inspires us to believe
that we really will be there in the Kingdom. This is prefigured by the way
in which Moses pleaded with those who doubted in the wilderness that the
fact they had been brought through the Red Sea was a guarantee that God
would likewise bring them into their inheritance in Canaan (Dt. 1:29-33).
Yet they failed to believe this; they forgot the wonder of their Red Sea
deliverance, just as we can forget the wondrous implications of our
baptism, and thus lose faith in our ultimate salvation.
Deu 1:30 Yahweh your God who goes before you, He will fight for you,
according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes-
God had 'gone before' Israel through the Angel which was to lead them
through the desert (s.w. Ex. 23:23). But as with all religious but not
spiritual people, they wanted a visible leader. And so when Moses
apparently disappeared in the mountain, they demanded that gods be made to
"go before us". It was only by grace that God responded that despite their
apostacy, He would still "go before you" through the Angel (Ex. 32:34;
33:14). Even the Gentile world had more faith than Israel in this; they
believed that Yahweh "went before" His people in an Angel (Num. 14:14).
But Israel themselves at the time of the golden calf didn't believe that.
Moses in his final speech therefore urges the people to believe that
indeed the Angel was going before them (Dt. 1:30,33; 31:6,8).
Deu 1:31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how Yahweh your God
carried you as a man carries his son in all the way that you went, until
you came to this place-
This is again a reflection of repentance by Moses. For in Num. 11:12,
we note the alternative reading of the LXX, quoted in Acts 13:18: "as a
nursing father He [God] carried them in the wilderness". It was God who
carried the people, but Moses had been trying to do it in his own
strength, without sharing it fully with God; and so he had wrongly
complained that God was unreasonably asking
him to carry them,
and in frustration and depression wanted God to kill him. We note how God
is there likened to a woman, a nursing mother, of a very difficult infant
child; although as God He is presented as a "father". In those days it was
common for a wealthy woman to employ another woman to be a 'nursing
mother' for her infant child. But God likens Himself to such a woman, or
to a poor woman who couldn't afford to hire such a woman.
Deu 1:32 Yet in this thing you didn’t believe Yahweh your God-
Heb. "In spite of this word" of grace, of a second chance;
they refused to believe the word of God, preferring the word of a majority
of "experts" with supposed first hand information. We see many
similarities in the battle of faith today. Again Moses is quoting the words of his own condemnation, for not
believing Yahweh his God (Num. 20:12). Disbelief in God was the reason
Israel too were barred from entering Canaan (s.w. Dt. 1:32).
When Moses
reminded them of this, he was alluding to how he was in essence no better
than them, having also been rejected from entering Canaan for disbelief
(Num. 20:12 "Because you didn’t believe in Me... therefore you shall not
bring this assembly into the land"). So we wonder in what
tone of voice he reminded them of this.
For he appealed to them as a fellow sinner, in this sense no better than
them. And this was the potential power of his appeal.
Deu 1:33 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-
The tragedy was and is that God has gone ahead of us to
prepare a place in His Kingdom, in our case, that 'going ahead' three days
journey referring to the Lord's death and resurrection. But they chose not
to believe, and to instead believe the word of 'experts', the 10 spies,
and to return to Egypt. See on Num. 10:31. Moses accepted Jethro's advice on the basis that
he will "surely wear away" (Ex. 18:18); even though his natural strength
never abated (Dt. 34:7), and God surely would not have asked him to do the
impossible. Jethro at this time seems to have seen Yahweh as only one of
many gods; he was a pagan priest. He prophesied that if Moses followed his
advice, "all this people shall go to their place in peace"- which they
didn't. Num. 10:31 suggests Moses saw Jethro's knowledge of the desert as
better than the Angelic " eyes" of Yahweh (2 Chron. 16:9; Prov. 15:3) who
were going ahead of the camp to find a resting place (Num. 10:33 cp. Ex.
33:14 cp. Is. 63:9). It seems Moses recognized his error on the last day
of his life, when he admits Yahweh, not Jethro's wisdom, had led them (Dt.
1:33). Likewise Paul in his final communication comments on the way that
Mark with whom he had once quarrelled was profitable to him (2 Tim. 4:11).
We note that Yahweh both "went before" them and yet also "carried" them as a father (:31). He is both with us and yet also in the future with us, taking care of our future.
Deu 1:34 Yahweh heard the voice of your words and was angry and swore
saying-
As noted on Dt. 1:26,32, Moses is pointing up the similarities
between himself and Israel. Yahweh was angry with him and barred him from
entry to the land (Dt. 1:37; 4:21), just as He had been angry with Israel
and barred them likewise (Dt. 1:34). He however became their
representative, having sinned in essence as they had, but having found
forgiveness.
Deu 1:35 Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the
good land, which I swore to give to your fathers-
Time and again in the Biblical record, Abraham is held up as a very
real example, in whose steps all God's people are to tread. For example,
as Abraham was bidden leave Ur and go and "see" the "land" of promise
which God would "give" him (Gen. 13:15), so the spies were told to go and
"see" the "land" which God had "given" them (Num. 13:18; 32:8,9- the same
three words as in the promises to Abraham)- yet they lacked the faith of
Abraham to believe that really, they could possess that land. They did
"see" the land, yet they were punished by being told that they would not
now "see the land" (Num. 14:23; Dt. 1:35). They saw it, but they didn't
"see" it with the eyes of Abraham. And so it can be with our vision of
God's Kingdom. Remember that Moses was the author of both Genesis and
Numbers- such connections aren't incidental. Moses wished the people to
see themselves as going forward in the spirit of Abraham- and hence he
wrote up the Genesis record for Israel's benefit an inspiration.
Deu 1:36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it and to him I
will give the land that he has trodden on, and to his children, because he
has wholly followed Yahweh-
Joshua and Caleb were earlier characterized by the comment that they
“wholly followed the Lord” when they went to spy out Canaan (Num. 14:24;
32:11,12; Dt. 1:36; Josh. 14:8,9,14), and urged Israel to go up and
inherit it. This refers to the way that the Angel had gone ahead of them,
and they faithfully followed where the Angel had gone, and believed that
Israel could follow that Angel wherever it led. When Israel finally did go
into the land, they were told that Joshua would ‘go before’ them, and they
were to follow him and thereby inherit the land (Dt. 31:3). From this we
see that circumstances repeat in our lives.
Caleb was head of a household within the tribe of Judah. It could be argued that he was directly related to Judah through Hezron and Pharez (1 Chron. 2:5,18,25). But "Kenizzite" (also Num. 32:12) could refer to the Gentile tribe of Gen. 15:19; or to a man called Kenaz, memorialized by Caleb naming his son with that same name (1 Chron. 4:15). And Jud. 1:13 could mean that Caleb's father was called Kenaz. ‘Caleb’ means ‘dog’ in Hebrew, and God alludes to this in describing Caleb as His faithful follower (Num. 14:24). The intimacy between a man and his dog can be seen between God and His man. The genealogies are constructed in such a way that they don't preclude Caleb having been a Gentile who was fully accepted into the tribe of Judah.
Although not recorded in Num. 14:24; Dt. 1:36, it appears Caleb was specifically promised Hebron at that time. Caleb had explored that area as a spy (Num. 13:22) and taken a special liking to it. We see therefore his spiritual ambition; 'this shall one day be mine'. And we can do the same, as we in this life spy out our future inheritance.
Deu 1:37 Also Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes saying, You also
shall not go in there-
See on :34. Moses truly was made spiritually strong out of weakness. His faith
fluctuated, until at last he came to a spiritual height at the end of his
life. He was willing to give his physical and eternal life for Israel's
salvation (Ex. 32:32). In a sense, his desire was heard. Because of the
sin of a moment, caused by the provocation of the people he loved, God
decreed that he could not enter the land of promise. For their sakes he was barred from the land; this is the emphasis of the Spirit (Dt. 1:37; 3:26; 4:21); and Ps. 106:32,33 says that Moses was provoked to sin because Israel angered God, and that therefore "it went ill with Moses for their sakes". Truly, God works through sinful man to achieve His glory. Thus Moses says that he must die “Because ye [plural] trespassed against me” (Dt. 32:51). This all helps explain why Christ had to die, apart from the fact that he was mortal. He died the death of a sinner for our salvation, he felt all the emotions of the rejected, the full weight of God's curse; for "cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" in crucifixion (Gal. 3:13). We have seen that Moses is a superb and accurate type of the Lord Jesus. Therefore Moses in his time of dying must grant us insight into the death of our Lord, the prophet like him (Dt. 18:18). See on Ex. 32:32.
Ez. 20:38 says that the rebels in the wilderness “shall not enter into
the land”, with reference to how when Moses called the people “rebels” and
beat the rock, he was disallowed entry into the land. Because he called
them rebels, i.e. unworthy of entry to the Kingdom, he also was treated as
a rebel. If we condemn others, we likewise will be condemned. On another
level, he was simply barred for disobedience; and
on yet another, his
prayer to the effect that he didn’t want to be in the land if his people
weren’t going to be there was being answered; and on yet another and
higher level, his offer to be blotted out of the book of inheritance for
Israel’s sake was also being heard. Thus God works within the same
incident in so many ways!
Deu 1:38 Joshua the son of Nun who stands before you, he shall go in
there; encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it-
This states clearly that “Joshua… he shall cause Israel to inherit [s.w.
possess]” the land. Yet by the end of Joshua’s life, Israel were not
inheriting the land in totality. He didn’t live up to his potential.
Joshua didn’t give the people rest (Heb. 4:8); but he said he had (Josh.
22:4). He failed to fulfil the potential of Josh. 1:13-15- that he would
lead the people to “rest”. The Messianic Kingdom could, perhaps, have come
through Joshua-Jesus; but both Joshua and Israel would not. Or we
can understand that Joshua through his military victories indeed 'caused'
Israel to inherit the Kingdom, but they failed to make good on his work.
Exactly as in the case of his namesake, the Lord Jesus.
Deu 1:39 Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be a prey-
This is a classic example of "But think of the children!" being used
as an excuse for personal lack of faith and commitment. In fact it was
their little ones whom they were hurting, and condemning them to wasting
much of their lives wandering in the desert as a result of their parents'
sins and unbelief.
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-
What were the motives of Adam and Eve for sinning, for accepting the
serpent's suggestion? Considering this can help open a window onto the
question of the origin of Adam's sin. They were attracted by the
idea of "knowing good and evil". But this phrase is elsewhere used in the
Bible about how an adult 'knows good and evil', but a child can't (Dt.
1:39; 2 Sam. 19:35; Is. 7:16). Adam and Eve were immature; like children,
they wished to 'grow up', they resented the restraints which their
immaturity required them to be under; they wanted, just as children want,
to be the all-knowing adults / mature people whom they had seen the Elohim
as. As children long to escape from what they see as meaningless and
onerous restrictions, whilst having no idea what this would really mean in
practice and how un-free it would really be- so Adam and Eve were
attracted by the idea of having the knowledge of good and evil just for
the bite of the forbidden fruit. I find this a perfectly understandable
explanation of the motive for Adam and Eve's sin. It seems a
quite imaginable exercise of the freedom of choice and behaviour which God
had given them. There is no hint that 'Satan made them do it', or that
they were 'possessed' by some sinful spirit.
Deu 1:40 But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness
by the way to the Red Sea-
This looks ahead to the terrible sending away of the rejected from
the judgment seat at the last day. "Turn" is s.w. "turn away". They had
turned away from God in their time of opportunity, and often wished to
return to Egypt. And so it was appropriate for them to be told to return /
turn away from the Kingdom. Condemnation is really self chosen, and will
be a living out of the decisions already taken by the condemned. Truly "we
make the answer now"; the essence of judgment is now. The
rejected will be "condemned with the world", simply sent back into the
world they so loved, as Israel were sent back on the route to the Red Sea.
And this will be what the weeping and gnashing of teeth will be all about,
anger with themselves.
Deu 1:41 Then you answered and said to me, We have sinned against Yahweh;
we will go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God commanded
us. Every man of you put on his weapons of war and presumed to go up into
the hill country-
They recognized they had "sinned", but it was just a passing flush of
conscience, just as Saul and Pharaoh used the same phrase but without
meaning in the words. Their sin was that of disbelief; and so it was
inappropriate for them to now talking of going up with weapons to "fight"
for entry to the land in their own strength. We must enquire whether our
own 'repentance' is likewise just a passing feeling of bad conscience. For
if they had perceived in what they had sinned, i.e. in the matter of
faith, then they would have realized that all talk of weapons and fighting
was inappropriate.
Deu 1:42 Yahweh said to me, Tell them, ‘Don’t go up, neither fight, for I
am not among you, lest you be struck before your enemies’-
Moses had pleaded so strongly for Yahweh to "go among" them. He
realized that those prayers had been answered at the time, but not
ultimately. The Angel in the pillar of cloud had already turned away into
the wilderness, and was not going to go up before them into Canaan.
We must compare this "I am not among you" with the other
scriptures which speak of Him "carrying" them as a baby (:31) and
continually caring for them. So "not among you" must mean that His
'presence amongst' His people carries with it the idea of working with
them in their endeavours, positively confirming them in their path. But
even when He cannot do this, He has not abandonned us and still carries
us, kicking and struggling, as best He can given our freewill choices and
His respect for that freewill.
Deu 1:43 So I spoke to you and you didn’t listen, but you rebelled against
the commandment of Yahweh and were presumptuous and went up into the hill
country-
These Israelites who had crossed the Red Sea (cp. our baptism) and
were now rejected from God’s Kingdom, because they themselves had said
they didn’t want to inherit it, now wanted more than anything else to be
there. This is a major Biblical theme- that the rejected will desperately
ask to be allowed in to God’s kingdom; the foolish virgins will knock on
the closed door begging for it to be opened (Mt. 25:11; Lk. 13:25),
just as the rejected, wandering Cain lived eastward of Eden, and the
barred entrance to the garden was on the east. Our
ultimate destiny is to stand before the Lord wanting to enter His Kingdom
with every fiber in our being. But this must be our attitude now, for then
it will be too late to change anything.
Deu 1:44 The Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you
and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah-
It was as if the Israelites had knocked the bee hive, and provoked
the bees to attack them; hence the Amorites chased Israel "as bees do"
(Dt. 1:44). The hornet had been sent ahead of Israel to as it were chase
out the Amorites; but now it was as if this was reversed, and they chased
the Israelites. For in their hearts they were no better than the Amorites.
LXX "from Seir".
Deu 1:45 You returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh didn’t listen to
your voice, nor gave ear to you-
Israel did not obey / hearken to the voice of Yahweh, and He did not
hearken to their voice in prayer (Dt. 1:45; 9:23; 28:15; Josh. 5:6; Jud.
2:20; 6:10 cp. Dt. 8:20 s.w.). 2 Kings 18:12 states this specifically. God
hearkened to Joshua's voice in prayer (Josh. 10:14) because Joshua
hearkened to His voice. It was to be the same with
Saul. He didn't hearken
to God's voice (1 Sam. 15:19) and God didn't hearken to Saul's voice in
prayer in his final desperation at the end of his life (1 Sam. 28:18).
If
God's word abides in us, then our prayer is powerful, we have whatever we
ask, because we are asking for things according to His will expressed in
His word (Jn. 15:7). They "returned", i.e. repented-
but only in the sense of re-thinking and wanting a
changed outcome. There is no confession of sin, nor recognition that their
sin consisted of unbelief. As Paul argues in 2 Cor., there is "Godly
repentance" and on the other hand, the sorrow / repentance of the world
which all the same leads to death. We must therefore enquire whether our
repentance is sincere, or just mere regret.
Those rejected by God at His judgment still desperately want to enter
His Kingdom (Mt. 25:11). In that day of final judgment, all present will
desperately want only one thing- to enter the Kingdom. Nothing else will
matter. We should have that spirit with us now.
Deu 1:46 So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you
remained-
The ecclesia in the wilderness were ‘types of us’. They were rejected
from entry into the Kingdom; and when that finally sunk in, they “returned
[s.w. convert, turn back] and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not
hearken to your voice” (Dt. 1:45). The rejected will “return [s.w.
convert] at evening: they make a noise like a dog [whining for
acceptance], and go round about the city [cp. the foolish virgins knocking
on the closed door]” (Ps. 59:6,14). Nobody will be indifferent at the
final judgment. All will desperately seek to enter the Kingdom; and we
must realize that now.
Like Israel at this point, they will not want to return to Egypt [the
world], but will be unable to enter the Kingdom. It will be an
unbearable
limbo, of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The descriptions of condemnation
in figurative language all refer to this awful psychological anguish.
Knowing the terror of the Lord, we are to persuade men now, to in faith go
ahead and inherit the Kingdom.
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