Deuteronomy 1:34-40

God's Anger and Judgements

Provoked by the people's words (Deuteronomy 1:34) God swore none should see the good land (Deuteronomy 1:35) but Kaleb, son of Y e phunneh; because he had fully followed Jehovah, to him and his children it should be given (Deuteronomy 1:36). Even with Moses was God angry for the people's sake, saying, Thou shalt not come in thither (Deuteronomy 1:37); Joshua shall lead Israel to their heritage (Deuteronomy 1:38); and the people's children possess it (Deuteronomy 1:39). Those addressed must turn back into the wilderness towards the Red Sea (Deuteronomy 1:40). The parallel account, Numbers 14:10 a Numbers 14:39, is divided (somewhat precariously) between JE and P. In Jeremiah, Deuteronomy 1:11-24; Deuteronomy 1:31 (?) Jehovah asks how long the people are to despise Him. He will smite and disinherit them, making of Moses himself a greater nation. Moses argues that other peoples will then say Jehovah is unable to carry Israel to the Land; and pleads His revealed mercy. Jehovah pardons, yet decrees that all who have seen His power but have not obeyed shall perish: only Kaleb who hath fully followed and his seed shall possess it, also the people's little ones shall be brought in. In P, Deuteronomy 1:10 a, Deuteronomy 1:26-30; Deuteronomy 1:32-39 a, the divine glory descends on the tent of meeting and Jehovah asks how long He is to bear with this evil congregation whose murmuring He has heard. All from 20 years old and upwards shall perish except Kaleb and Joshua. This sentence is then expanded, and the spies who have brought an evil report are struck with the pestilence.

All these accounts agree in attributing to the people's unbelief, after the report of the spies, a sentence of death on the adult generation, characteristically defined by P. The differences are (1) the usual distinctions of language (see notes below); (2) D and P omit Moses" argument given by JE; P substitutes the descent of the glory of God; (3) JE and D except Kaleb front the doom, P Kaleb and Joshua (but an addition to D Deuteronomy 1:37 also excepts Joshua); (4) P alone (as usual) associates Aaron with Moses; (5) the addition to D extends God's anger to Moses for the people's sake; JE, on the contrary, declares God will make of Moses a greater people; while P (see on Deuteronomy 1:37) attributes Moses" exclusion from the land to his own sin on an occasion 37 years after the present episode. Part of the analysis of Numbers 14 being precarious and the integrity of Deuteronomy 1:36-39 being doubtful we cannot say whether these differences of fact are reconcilable. Yet their coincidence with the distinctions of style and religious feeling among the three documents cannot be ignored; and the probability remains that here as elsewhere we have more or less independent traditions of the same event. Since Calvin, who in his harmony of the four last Bks of the Pent. removes Deuteronomy 1:37-38 from its context to a connection with Numbers 20:1-13, the explanation has been offered that the deuteronomic. passage is not chronological; but even this arbitrary act of literary criticism does not meet the difficulty of the statement that Jehovah was angry with Moses for the people's sake.