Reflections on Deuteronomy 1

Deuteronomy 01 (Contemporary English Version)

1. This book contains the speeches that Moses made while Israel was in the land of Moab, camped near the town of Suph in the desert east of the Jordan River. The town of Paran was in one direction from their camp, and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab were in the opposite direction. Earlier, Moses had defeated the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon. Moses had also defeated King Og of Bashan, who used to live in Ashtaroth for part of the year and in Edrei for the rest of the year. Although it takes only eleven days to walk from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea by way of the Mount Seir Road, these speeches were not made until forty years after Israel left Egypt. The LORD had given Moses his laws for the people of Israel. And on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses began explaining those laws by saying:
   
2. (SEE 1:1)
   
3. (SEE 1:1)
   
4. (SEE 1:1)
   
5. (SEE 1:1)
   
6. People of Israel, when we were in our camp at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God told us: You have stayed here long enough.
   
7. Leave this place and go into the land that belongs to the Amorites and their neighbors the Canaanites. This land includes the Jordan River valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Southern Desert, the Mediterranean seacoast, the Lebanon Mountains, and all the territory as far as the Euphrates River.
   
8. I give you this land, just as I promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now you must go and take the land.
   
9. Right after the LORD commanded us to leave Mount Sinai, I told you: Israel, being your leader is too big a job for one person.
   
10. The LORD our God has blessed us, and so now there are as many of us as there are stars in the sky.
    
11. God has even promised to bless us a thousand times more, and I pray that he will.
    
12. But I cannot take care of all your problems and settle all your arguments alone.
    
13. Each tribe must choose some experienced men who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will make those men the official leaders of their tribes.
    
14. You answered, "That's a good idea!"
    
15. Then I took these men, who were already wise and respected leaders, and I appointed them as your official leaders. Some of them became military officers in charge of groups of a thousand, or a hundred, or fifty, or ten,
    
16. and others became judges. I gave these judges the following instructions: When you settle legal cases, your decisions must be fair. It doesn't matter if the case is between two Israelites, or between an Israelite and a foreigner living in your community.
    
17. And it doesn't matter if one is helpless and the other is powerful. Don't be afraid of anyone! No matter who shows up in your court, God will help you make a fair decision. If any case is too hard for you, bring the people to me, and I will make the decision.
    
18. After I gave these instructions to the judges, I taught you the LORD's commands.
    
19. The LORD had commanded us to leave Mount Sinai and go to the hill country that belonged to the Amorites, so we started out into the huge desert. You remember how frightening it was, but soon we were at Kadesh-Barnea,
    
20. and I told you, "We have reached the hill country. It belongs to the Amorites now, but the LORD our God is giving it to us. He is the same God our ancestors worshiped, and he has told us to go in and take this land, so don't hesitate and be afraid."
    
21. (SEE 1:20)
    
22. Then all of you came to me and said, "Before we go into the land, let's send some men to explore it. When they come back, they can tell us about the towns we will find and what roads we should take to get there."
    
23. It seemed like a good idea, so I chose twelve men, one from each tribe.
    
24. They explored the hill country as far as Bunch Valley
    
25. and even brought back some of the fruit. They said, "The LORD our God is giving us good land."
    
26. You did not want to go into the land, and you refused to obey the LORD your God.
    
27. You stayed in your tents and grumbled, "The LORD must hate us--he brought us out of Egypt, just so he could hand us over to the Amorites and get rid of us.
    
28. We are afraid, because the men who explored the land told us that the cities are large, with walls that reach to the sky. The people who live there are taller and stronger than we are, and some of them are Anakim. We have nowhere to go."
    
29. Then I said, "Don't worry!
    
30. The LORD our God will lead the way. He will fight on our side, just as he did when we saw him do all those things to the Egyptians.
    
31. And you know that the LORD has taken care of us the whole time we've been in the desert, just as you might carry one of your children."
    
32. But you still would not trust the LORD,
    
33. even though he had always been with us in the desert. During the daytime, the LORD was in the cloud, leading us in the right direction and showing us where to camp. And at night, he was there in the fire.
    
34. You had made the LORD angry, and he said:
    
35. You people of this generation are evil, and I refuse to let you go into the good land that I promised your ancestors.
    
36. Caleb son of Jephunneh is the only one of your generation that I will allow to go in. He obeyed me completely, so I will give him and his descendants the land he explored.
    
37. The LORD was even angry with me because of you people, and he said, "Moses, I won't let you go into the land either.
    
38. Instead, I will let Joshua your assistant lead Israel to conquer the land. So encourage him."
    
39. Then the LORD spoke to you again: People of Israel, you said that your innocent young children would be taken prisoner in the battle for the land. But someday I will let them go into the land, and with my help they will conquer it and live there.
    
40. Now, turn around and go back into the desert by way of Red Sea Road.
    
41. Then you told me, "We disobeyed the LORD our God, but now we want to obey him. We will go into the hill country and fight, just as he told us to do." So you picked up your weapons, thinking it would be easy to take over the hill country.
    
42. But the LORD said, "Moses, warn them not to go into the hill country. I won't help them fight, and their enemies will defeat them."
    
43. I told you what the LORD had said, but you paid no attention. You disobeyed him and went into the hill country anyway. You thought you were so great!
    
44. But when the Amorites in the hill country attacked from their towns, you ran from them as you would run from a swarm of bees. The Amorites chased your troops into Seir as far as Hormah, killing them as they went.
    
45. Then you came back to the place of worship at Kadesh-Barnea and wept, but the LORD would not listen to your prayers.
    
46. After we had been in Kadesh for a few months, we obeyed the LORD and headed back into the desert by way of Red Sea Road.
    

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    Deuteronomy opens with the words, "These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel." (1:1) It is, then, a record of a series of messages or sermons he delivered to the people of Israel as they camped East of the Jordan River waiting to enter the promised land. It begins in this first chapter as a review of what transpired once they left Mount Sinai to take possession of the land God had promised them.
    
    It was an 11 day journey, Moses said, from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, located at the southern border of Canaan. But this 11 day journey to enter the land became, unnecessssarily, a 38 year wait. This was the result of their lack of faith. Though they had seen God work on their behalf in amazing ways in the recent past (within the past two years), they could not believe that He would do so to enable them to take possession of the land. God's words, promising success, were overpowered by the words of the 'experts' who had gone into the land. And, ironically, it was their children, who they used as an excuse for not encountering the people of the land, who would actually take possession: "Your little children who you said would be plunder, your sons who don't know good from evil, will enter there." (1:39) There is a message here for parents who refuse to follow God's leading in their lives claiming hardship for their children. If God has a plan for parents it is also the plan He has for the children. Are we really protecting our children when we attempt to protect them from God's plan for them? Furthermore, what are we teaching them about God when we do this?
    
    Having faltered in their faith and refused to enter the land, God sentenced them to die in the wilderness without entering the land. If this was their choice it was to be their outcome. They claimed God had just brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. If that was what they wanted to believe, that was what would be their plight. But when faced with this sentence from God they suddenly decided this fate was worse than facing the Canaanites. So they armed themselves and went off to do what they should have done in the first place - take possession of the land. But what God gives us to do is in His hand and not ours. We can't do it in our own strength or at our own will. God was not with them as they attempted to right their wrong. He had decided they would not enter and was not changing His mind. God does not do His mighty works at our whim. He does so to accomplish His purpose, not ours. We benefit from His works, however, when we, too, are seeking His purpose. So, when the Israelites struck out to right their wrong, "the Amorites who lived there came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees." (1:44)
    
    Following this defeat, the Israelites returned to their tents and "wept before the LORD, but He didn't listen to your requests or pay attention to you. For this reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did." (1:45-46)