Moses begins his address to Israel in Moab, recounting their journey from Horeb. He reminds them of God's command to enter the Promised Land and their subsequent rebellion at Kadesh-barnea, where they refused to go up due to fear of the inhabitants. This disobedience led to God's judgment, condemning that generation to wander in the wilderness, excluding even Moses, while only Caleb, Joshua, and the children would enter.
These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—in the Arabah opposite Suph—between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
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.
This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the foothills, in the Negev, and along the seacoast to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great River Euphrates.
See, I have placed the land before you. Enter and possess the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.”
So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them as leaders over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and as officers for your tribes.
Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”
And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,
See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring us word of what route to follow and which cities to enter.”
They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us word: “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
You grumbled in your tents and said, “Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be annihilated.
Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”
and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”
who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel.
except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”
And the little ones you said would become captives—your children who on that day did not know good from evil—will enter the land that I will give them, and they will possess it.
“We have sinned against the LORD,” you replied. “We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God has commanded us.” Then each of you put on his weapons of war, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
For this reason you stayed in Kadesh for a long time—a very long time.
Study Notes for Deuteronomy 1
Verse 1
The phrase 'on this side Jordan' refers to the east bank of the Jordan River (Moab), where Moses delivered this final set of sermons before the Israelites entered Canaan.
Verse 2
This parenthetical note contrasts the typical eleven-day journey with the forty years of wandering, immediately highlighting that the delay was caused by human failure, not geographical distance.
Verse 3
This precise dating places the discourse in the final year of the wilderness period, shortly before the Israelites crossed the Jordan and Moses’ death.
Verse 5
Moses 'began to declare this law,' meaning he expounded, clarified, and restated the covenant obligations given at Horeb (Sinai) for the benefit of the new generation.
Verse 6
Horeb is the name commonly used in Deuteronomy for Mount Sinai, the location where the covenant was first established and Israel received the Law.
Verse 8
This verse reinforces the central theological theme of the book: the land is a divine gift rooted in the unconditional promise sworn to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).
Verse 10
Moses praises God for fulfilling the promise given to Abraham (Gen. 15:5) that his descendants would be as innumerable as the stars of heaven.
Verse 12
Moses recalls the necessity of delegating authority (first recorded in Exodus 18) due to the sheer size of the community and the burdens of governance and dispute resolution.
Verse 17
The principle of judicial impartiality is grounded in the theological truth that 'the judgment is God’s,' meaning human judges act as divine representatives and must therefore avoid bias.
Verse 19
Kadesh-barnea was the critical point of decision, marking the end of the initial rapid journey and the beginning of the long, punitive wandering period.
Verse 22
Moses emphasizes that the initiative to send spies came from the people, not God, shifting the responsibility for the subsequent failure of faith onto the Israelites (cf. Num. 13:1, where God permits but does not initiate the spy mission).
Verse 26
The core sin was not merely fear, but active rebellion against God’s direct command to advance and possess the land, demonstrating profound unbelief (cf. v. 32).
Verse 27
The murmuring accused God of malicious intent—that He brought them out of Egypt only to destroy them—a severe spiritual distortion of God’s redemptive purpose.
Verse 28
The 'sons of the Anakims' (giants) represented the exaggerated threat that overwhelmed the people’s faith, causing them to focus on human obstacles rather than divine power.
Verse 30
Moses reminds the new generation of the fundamental principle of Holy War (Yahweh War): the LORD fights for Israel, rendering human fear unnecessary.
Verse 31
The metaphor of God bearing Israel 'as a man doth bear his son' is a tender image emphasizing God’s protective, nurturing, and intimately present care throughout the wilderness journey.
Verse 35
God’s judgment was final: the entire adult generation who had witnessed His power in the Exodus and at Sinai would be barred from the Promised Land due to their persistent unbelief.
Verse 37
Moses includes his own exclusion from the land, linking his punishment (Num. 20:12) to the overall context of the people’s lack of faith and rebellion, underscoring the severity of disobedience.
Verse 39
In an act of grace and faithfulness, the children—whom the fearful parents worried would become prey—are the very generation God chooses to fulfill the covenant promise.
Verse 42
God commanded them not to fight because He was not with them. The subsequent attack was an act of presumption—attempting to obey the command to fight only after the time for obedience had passed.
Verse 44
The disastrous result of the unauthorized battle confirmed that military success depended entirely upon God’s active presence and command, not their belated human effort.
Verse 46
The long, indeterminate stay at Kadesh-barnea marks the transition into the wandering period, where the rebellious generation waited out the forty years of divine discipline.
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The Calling of Disciples
19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
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