Deuteronomy 1:1-46
1 These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Reda sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2 (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)
3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;
4 After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:
5 On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
6 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nighb thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
8 Behold, I have setc the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
9 And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10 The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
11 (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)
12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
13 Taked you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
14 And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and madee them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
17 Ye shall not respectf persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.
20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouragedg our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
33 Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,
36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath whollyh followed the LORD.
37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto 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 of the Red sea.
41 Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.
42 And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
43 So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and wenti presumptuously up into the hill.
44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
45 And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.
Deuteronomy 1:1. In the plain over against the Red sea. סו Suph, red, not being joined in the text with ים Yam, sea, should not be rendered the Red sea. Zuph being the name of a town, and also of a district in Moab, many think that the latter is here to be understood.
Deuteronomy 1:3. In the eleventh month. The Deuteronomy comprises only the space of a single month.
Deuteronomy 1:6. Ye have dwelt long enough; that is, about a year, in Horeb.
Deuteronomy 1:13. Take you wise men. The people elected the rulers, and God, who alone has all power, invested them with authority. From the seventy elders, down to the people, there was a vast gradation of magistrates and officers. The appointment of good and religious magistrates is among the first and best cares of a prince.
Deuteronomy 1:17. Ye shall not respect persons. A judge must come into court with clean hands, and know the case only, and not the persons.
Deuteronomy 1:28. The Anakims, giants, thought to be so called because of the large golden torques which they wore about their necks. The word literally is, born of the earth.
REFLECTIONS.
Moses having now but thirty seven days to live, though he knew not the exact number, was desirous happily to finish his work. Every evening or morning, he enlivened the devotion of the nation, by a rehearsal of the law and of the works of God. And oh how happy was Israel to have in this venerable man, the best of kings, the greatest of prophets, and the most enlightened of instructors. He opened the new series of his ministry by a review of providence for two eventful years, from the emancipation from Egypt, to the sentence passed on the revolted fathers at Kadesh-Barnea, to die in the desert.
In this rehearsal he marks the divine appointment of rulers, among the leading blessings which God had accorded to the nation; and surely an order of men who spend their life in determining causes, reconciling differences, and punishing delinquents, is inconceivably valuable for the peace and quiet of society.
In the probation of Israel at Kadesh-Barnea, an event so often referred to in the sacred writings, the people were taught to attribute all their calamities to the greatness of their sin. Some visitations, it is true, come in course of providence, when neither child nor parent has so sinned as to occasion the calamity. John 9:3. Yet it is always sanctifying, under the hand of God, to trace our unworthiness and defects. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.
Moses, and all the subsequent prophets, in reviewing this calamity, lay the emphasis on unbelief. It fermented in their hearts, it paralyzed exertion, and occasioned all their other sins; and its consequences still are equally dreadful. In the gospel age it has driven the Jews from Jerusalem, and made them a reproach among all nations. While this principle predominates in the heart of man, the gospel is nothing worth, and judgments have no effect. What is still worse, after awhile, the Lord gives some men up to the hardness of their hearts.
But how calamitous to see Israel within a few stages of the promised land, and impatient to enter, and yet hurled back into the desert, under the high displeasure and inexorable oath of an offended God. Just so, some men for awhile sit under the gospel, and promise fair for conversion; but alas, some awful habit, or some predominating passion, blasts our hopes, and provokes the Lord to sentence them to the corruptions of their own hearts. How careful should we be to cherish the first overtures of grace, and to cultivate the early impressions of religion.
The importance of this will farther appear, if we consider that when the angry God is once induced to pass sentence on a provoking sinner, he perhaps will not reverse it. The sins in the desert were committed against so much light, and in the face of so many miracles, that he would neither retract nor reverse the sentence: their carcases fell in the wilderness. Moses himself was not exempt, because he twice struck the rock in a wrong spirit. The Israelites trembled, and repented. They went up to the mountains to fight; but the Amorites chased them with slaughter and vengeance. Let us learn to fear this awful God; let us learn wisdom by Israel's folly, and obedience by their revolt. Let us above all know, that we cannot conquer our enemies while in our sins.