Deuteronomy Chapter 1:1-19

Deuteronomy 1:1–19 NIV

1 These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. 5 East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying: 6 The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.” 9 At that time I said to you, “You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone. 10 The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky. 11 May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised! 12 But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself? 13 Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.” 14 You answered me, “What you propose to do is good.” 15 So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials. 16 And I charged your judges at that time, “Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you. 17 Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.” 18 And at that time I told you everything you were to do. 19 Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.

A summary

Today we begin to look at an address that Moses makes to the people that starts in verse 6 and end in chapter 4:43.

Moses here is addressing Israel according to verse 3. It is addressed to the redeemed people of God. And they were getting ready to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land. But Moses himself will not go in. He desperately wants to go in but it will not happen.

They have ended up just north of the Dead Sea. They are much further north than the first time they were supposed to go into the Promised Land. The first time they were at a place called Kadesh-Barnea, a place we will return to before the end of the Chapter but next week. They did not cross over at the same place because, we surmise, that it had negative memories for it was the place where they refused to obey God the first time.

The place where they were about to cross led into the place called Moreh where Abraham in Genesis 12:6-7 was told that this will be the land which would be given to his descendants. It is here that Abraham built an altar to the Lord and where, later on, the Israelites would renew their covenant completely but without Moses to lead them. By then Joshua would have taken the reigns.

Not only that they were about half-way between the North and South boundaries of what would become their land. This map shows where each of the tribes had been apportioned land.

The tragedy of this whole journey is that according to verse 2 it should have only taken 11 days but instead took nearly 40 years. When they had arrived at the Jordan the first time it was all supposed to happen tomorrow but tomorrow took 40 years.

Now the previous generation had all died in the desert apart from Moses, Caleb and Joshua.

Deuteronomy 27:9 NKJV

Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the Lord your God.

They are reaffirmed as the people of God. They are the army of God, a spiritual force rather than a political one.

This sermon that Moses speaks gives a history of what had happened before from verse 6 in this chapter through to chapter 4 just prior to giving the ten commandments again.

First we shall see the history of the Exodus to the time they got to the River Jordan the first time. That’s what we shall see in this chapter through to the first verse of chapter 2. Then there is the history of the time when the old generation has gone and what has happened in very recent times - that is mostly chapter 2 and 3. And in chapter 4 it is a history of remembering the grace of God through both times so that they would live faithfully unlike the previous generation. The whole point is to remember the lessons of history.

Moses spends all of one verse to explain 38 years of time in the desert. The rest of the chapter is dedicated to what takes place over the course of a few weeks. Why? The wanderings in the desert are not significant at all except to get rid of all the previous disobedient generation. But the time at Kadesh-Barnea when they should have gone into the land Moses is still livid about and spends the last half on this alone though they were only there about two weeks.

How much territory?

Deuteronomy 1:7 NKJV

Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.

Just how big is the territory that has been given to Israel? This may come as a giant surprise. Let’s read another verse to confirm what we have just read:

Deuteronomy 11:24 NKJV

Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory.

Are we getting the size of this now? It is from the River Nile and the Mediterranean Sea to the River Euphrates. Do you know where the Euphrates is? Turkey, Syria and Iraq and passes through Babylon down to the Persian Gulf and acts as a border between Iraq and Iran.

Let’s look at a map. Clearly Moses considered going over the Jordan to be entrance into the Promised Land. But this was always supposed to be the beginning. When they have crossed over and they will renew the covenant in relation to the land. On Moses’ side of the Jordan the renewed covenant had happened with God tying Himself to the people of Israel and vice versa but they had to cross over the Jordan for the second part of the ceremony to bind the land to Israel. And this would be done later after Moses’ death. And it is yet to be fulfilled for Israel to have all this land as we can see from the map. It has been promised to them but only in David’s and Solomon’s day did it cross over the Jordan and expand but still small in relation to the Promise.

Too much

Then verses 9 to 18 about a problem. There are now two million Israelites. And Moses is saying this is too much for him to handle. God has fulfilled His promise in multiplying them (and Moses said may this long continue as a fulfilment of the promises made to the Patriarchs but not only in numbers but spiritually) but what kind of people are they? They are a massive group of complainers and grumpy. Moses has had enough. Their complaining had got to him. (.12) Remember this is Moses giving a history of their journey to now of the Exodus generation.

The proposal is simple enough - choose some leaders. Divide and conquer. If the work is too much for one person then let’s distribute the work load. If we read in Exodus we find out that it was actually his father-in-law Jethro that suggested this.

OT312 Book Study: Deuteronomy The Proposal

“This is ridiculous, son. If you carry on, you carrying the people all by yourself, you and they will never get there. You’ve got to divide the work among the people.

The people said: that’s a great idea. And we see they did this in verse 15.

Deuteronomy 1:15 NKJV

So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

OT312 Book Study: Deuteronomy The Charge to the Judges

Moses is talking actually pastorally to the other administrators: “Be careful how you judge. Trust God. The judgment is God’s. You are agents of God’s judgment, and if there is a case that you can’t handle, bring it to me, and I’ll hear it.” I think the assumption is: “I will take it to the Lord and will ask the Lord for a divine response to a case that we can’t solve.”

Onward ho!

Here, in verse 20, we have the journey from Horeb, which is Mount Sinai where the ten commandments were originally given. The whole area is wilderness. Wilderness is simply desert. Nothing grows there. There is no food; no water; no protection from the sun. And then they arrive at Kadesh-barnea. And next week we will find out why this place had haunting memories for Moses.

Bibliography

Barry, J. D., Bomar, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., Mangum, D., Sinclair Wolcott, C., … Widder, W. (Eds.). (2016). In The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Block, D. I. (2018). OT312 Book Study: Deuteronomy. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Elwell, W. A. (1995). Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (1996). Commentary on the Old Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Deuteronomy. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.

Merrill, E. H. (1994). Deuteronomy (Vol. 4). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Richards, L. O. (1991). The Bible reader’s companion (electronic ed.). Wheaton: Victor Books.

Thompson, J. A. (1974). Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 5). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 09:10 25 April 2018.