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Deuteronomy 1

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Setting the Stage for Moses' Address 1–5

1
These are the words which Moses spake unto all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. ​
2
It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea. ​
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 Jehovah had given him in commandment unto them; ​
4
after he had smitten Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.
5
Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, ​

The Command to Leave Horeb 6–8

6
Jehovah our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mountain: ​
7
turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
8
Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. ​

Moses Appoints Leaders and Judges 9–18

9
And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10
Jehovah your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. ​
11
Jehovah, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many 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
Take you wise men, and understanding, and known, according to your tribes, and I will make them heads 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 heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.
16
And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the sojourner that is with him.
17
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; ye shall hear the small and the great alike; 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 ye shall bring unto me, and I will hear it. ​
18
And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.

The Sinful Failure at Kadesh-barnea 19–46

19
And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as Jehovah our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. ​
20
And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the hill-country of the Amorites, which Jehovah our God giveth unto us.
21
Behold, Jehovah thy God hath set the land before thee: go up, take possession, as Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, hath spoken unto thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.
22
And ye came near unto 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 unto which we shall come. ​
23
And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe:
24
and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and spied 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 Jehovah our God giveth unto us.
26
Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God: ​
27
and ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because Jehovah 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 are we going up? our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. ​
29
Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30
Jehovah your God who goeth before you, he will 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 Jehovah thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place. ​
32
Yet in this thing ye did not believe Jehovah your God,
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 ye should go, and in the cloud by day.
34
And Jehovah 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 the 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 wholly followed Jehovah.
37
Also Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither: ​
38
Joshua the son of Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage thou him; for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39
Moreover your little ones, that ye said should be a prey, and your children, that this day have no knowledge of good or 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 to the Red Sea.
41
Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against Jehovah, we will go up and fight, according to all that Jehovah our God commanded us. And ye girded on every man his weapons of war, and were forward to go up into the hill-country.
42
And Jehovah 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 hearkened not; but ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country.
44
And the Amorites, that dwelt in that hill-country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even unto Hormah. ​
45
And ye returned and wept before Jehovah; but Jehovah hearkened not to your voice, nor gave ear unto you.
46
So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 1

Verse 1

on this side Jordan — Eber means a region across, here the east bank, and the speech is given 'in the plain' (arabah, the Jordan valley), 'in the land of Moab' (v.5). The place-names mark the wilderness stages behind them; Hazeroth was one (Num 11:35).

Verse 2

eleven days' journey — The direct road from Horeb to Kadeshbarnea 'by the way of mount Seir' is set beside the forty years of v.3. The long delay came from what happened at Kadesh: the refusal to go up (v.26) and the oath of vv.34–35.

Verse 3

the fortieth year… the eleventh month — The speech is dated to the day, in the year the LORD had fixed: 'each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years' (Num 14:34). Moses speaks 'according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment'.

Verse 5

to declare this law — Ba'ar means to make plain (it is also the word for engraving), and 'law' is torah, instruction. Moses expounds the law already given; he later 'wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests' (Deut 31:9).

Verse 6

Ye have dwelt long enough — Rab means much or enough. The command to leave Horeb came when 'the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle' in the second year (Num 10:11). The stay at the mount where the covenant was made (Deut 5:2) ended by the LORD's word.

Verse 8

I have set the land before you — 'Set' is nathan, to give, the same verb as 'to give' at the end of the verse. The LORD 'sware' (shaba', to bind oneself by oath) the land to the patriarchs, as in the covenant with Abram (Gen 15:18).

Verse 10

as the stars of heaven — This is the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham: 'tell the stars, if thou be able to number them… So shall thy seed be' (Gen 15:5; also Gen 22:17). 'Multiplied' is rabah; Moses says again in 10:22 that the LORD 'hath made thee as the stars of heaven'.

Verse 12

your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife — There are three Hebrew nouns: torach (a load), massa (a burden) and riv (a legal dispute). The complaint echoes Jethro's, 'this thing is too heavy for thee' (Ex 18:18), and Moses' own, 'I am not able to bear all this people alone' (Num 11:14).

Verse 17

Ye shall not respect persons — 'Respect' is nakar, to recognise, and 'persons' is literally 'faces' (panim): the judge is not to know the face. The ground is 'the judgment is God's'; Jehoshaphat repeats it, 'ye judge not for man, but for the LORD' (2 Chr 19:6); see also James 2:9.

Verse 19

great and terrible wilderness — 'Terrible' is yare, to be feared. Moses expands it in 8:15, 'wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought'. Jeremiah recalls the LORD as the one 'that led us through the wilderness' (Jer 2:6).

Verse 22

We will send men before us — Here the proposal comes from the people, and Moses approves it (v.23). Num 13:1 records the LORD speaking to Moses about the spies. 'Search out' is chaphar, literally to dig, to explore; the people asked for a report on the route and the cities.

Verse 26

would not go up, but rebelled — 'Would not' is abah, to be willing; 'rebelled' is marah, the verb used again in v.43. The refusal was against 'the commandment of the LORD', and the psalmist names it: 'they believed not his word' (Ps 106:24).

Verse 27

ye murmured in your tents — Ragan, to grumble. Ps 106:25 repeats it: 'murmured in their tents'. The charge that 'the LORD hated us' (sin'ah) reverses the exodus; Num 14:3 gives the same complaint, and Deut 9:28 repeats the words.

Verse 28

walled up to heaven — 'Discouraged' is masas, to melt: the spies made the heart dissolve. 'Walled up' (batsar, fortified) with 'to heaven' is a figure for great height, repeated in 9:1. The 'Anakims' are the men Num 13:28 reports, 'the children of Anak'.

Verse 30

he shall fight for you — Lacham, to fight. The same promise was given at the sea: 'The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace' (Ex 14:14). The LORD 'goeth before' them, as in the pillar of vv.32–33, and Moses repeats the promise in 3:22.

Verse 31

bare thee, as a man doth bear his son — Nasa, to lift and carry, the verb of 'bear' in vv.9 and 12: Moses could not bear the people alone, but the LORD had borne them all the way. Isaiah applies the image: 'which are borne by me from the belly' (Isa 46:3).

Verse 35

this evil generation — Dor, a generation. The oath of v.34 bars the men of the unbelieving generation; only Caleb (v.36) and Joshua (v.38) are excepted. The psalm cites it, 'I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest' (Ps 95:11); Hebrews adds, 'they could not enter in because of unbelief' (Heb 3:19).

Verse 37

angry with me for your sakes — Anaph, to be angry. Moses' own exclusion was spoken of at Meribah: 'Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me' (Num 20:12). He repeats the thought in 4:21, and Ps 106:32–33 says 'it went ill with Moses for their sakes'.

Verse 39

your little ones, which ye said should be a prey — Taph, little ones; baz, plunder. The people had said 'our wives and our children should be a prey' (Num 14:3). The LORD answers: 'your little ones… them will I bring in' (Num 14:31); those with no knowledge of good and evil inherit.

Verse 42

for I am not among you — Qereb, the midst. The defeat that follows is the result of the LORD's absence, stated beforehand. Num 14:44 notes that 'the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp' when the people went up.

Verse 44

as bees do — Deborah, the bee: the Amorites swarmed out in pursuit. A psalmist uses the same figure of enemies, 'They compassed me about like bees' (Ps 118:12). Chormah (Hormah) means 'devoted'; the name was given at Num 21:3.

Verse 46

many days — Rab, the same word as 'long enough' in v.6: the stay at Horeb was enough, but at Kadesh the stay was 'many days', unspecified. The sentence of 'each day for a year' (Num 14:34) had already been passed, and the people were at Kadesh again in Num 20:1.