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Deuteronomy 1–4 are Moses’ historical recollection for the benefit of the second generation post-captivity in Mitzraim (Egypt). This discourse took between three to five weeks, according to Jewish tradition. By that time, the first generation, at least all the males of that generation, were dead, except for Joshua, Caleb, Phineas the cohen and Eliezer the cohen ha-gadol (high priest).
I’m sure that the second generation had heard from their parents their version of why they didn’t enter the Promised Land, but in these introductory chapters, Moses was setting the record is set straight. This is Moshe’s last opportunity to correct all that history.
The daughters of Zelophahad (Num. 27:1–10) had said their father “died in his own sin” (Num. 27:3 NASB) with the first generation. They understood their parents had made real mistakes in judgment, and deserve to die in the wilderness, but not all the second generation had a correct understanding of why that first generation weren’t allowed to enter the Promised Land.
In this Torah reading, דברים Devarim(“words,” Deut. 1:1–3:22), Moses started giving a more complete record of what happened during the entire 38 years in the wilderness. There there are events that are recorded in the book of Numbers that are not recorded the same way Moses is describing here.
Most likely, the accounts in the original account in the Book of Numbers is incomplete and Moses is making sure a children of Israel have a fuller historical account.
Imagine a nation in which only 5 men are over the age of 60 years old? Wiping out a generation in 40 years, takes a lot. A lot of people have to die.
There were people in their early 20s, when God cursed them and the entire nation has to wait 40 years until all of them die. It’s shocking how that happened, because most people live past the late 50s.
God used the various plagues and punishments to hasten the death of that generation so they would all be dead in 40 years. If God hadn’t intervened to hasten their deaths, the younger generation would have to wait 60-70 years before entering the promised land. It was God’s mercy on the second generation to hasten the deaths of those in the first generation.
But he left them a remnant of 60+ year old elders to enter the Promised land with them: Joshua, Caleb, Phineas the cohen, and Eliezer the cohen ha-gadol (high priest).
Deuteronomy 1:22–46: Who sent the spies out?
The first recollection of the entry of the spies in the Promised Land is recorded in Numbers 13. In Deuteronomy, the sending of the spies is the people’s idea while in Numbers, it looks like it’s God’s idea to send the spies into the land. I believe the recollection recorded is Deuteronomy is more accurate, although both are correct. The version in Deuteronomy gives more detail.
We know that God would not lead His people into a miserable fruitless, desolate, awful land. God is promising them a land of milk and honey.
So, why send spies? What’s the point of investigating the land. They’re trying to verify whether God’s description of the land was true. The people were testing God and doubted God’s provision. Their intent was to find out if God was really bringing them to a good land or not.
Moses had no doubt in God’s provision so he decided to humor them and he approached God with their request to send some spies into the land. God then gave instructions for the spies, one man per tribe. God did not set the people up for failure. They set themselves up for failure because their intentions were not honest and they slandered God in the tone of their request.
I’m sure that Egypt doesn’t grow the same fruits and vegetables and whatever else that grows in the land of Israel. The lands supported two different cultures, different climates, this new land God is bring them into is going to be different than where they came from.
“Israel disobeyed the Lord’s word because they revolted in their heart and murmured in their tents. The Law was not the problem, nor the cause of their rebellion. An unbelieving heart was the cause (Heb. 3:7-11, 19). They judged by outward appearance (we saw the sons of giants there), rather than by faith in the Lord and His word. ‘For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2Cor. 5:7).”1
Did God know ahead of time the spies would bring back a dishonest, unfaithful report? Of course He did.
Moses also goes on to say that the reason that Moses was told right after the debacle with the spies that God was going to forbid him from the Promised Land. Here Moses is not punished for his own sin but he vicariously bore the punishment of Israel’s sin of disbelief.
Deuteronomy 2:1–3:22: Tangling with Edom, Ammon and Moab
Their journey near the land of Edom as recorded in Deuteronomy differs greatly from the version in Numbers 20. Why?
Moses’ request of the nations of Edom, Ammon and Moab were twofold:
- Free passage on the King’s Highway
- Access to food and water for people and animals
None of these nations granted both of Moshe’s requests. Edom did not allow them to pass through but gave them food and water, while Moab gave them free passage but did not give them food and water. God was more upset with the actions of the people of Moab and Ammon than with the Edomites.
Food and water (which support life) were more considered more of a blessing to God than freedom of movement. The nation of Edom showed more compassion on the children of Israel than the nations of Ammon and Moab did.
“No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants,even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD,because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.“Nevertheless, the LORD your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you.“You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.” (Deuteronomy 23:3–6 NASB)
““You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not detest an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land.“The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 23:7–8 NASB)
This informs how we are to treat immigrants. We are to make sure that immigrants — either legal or illegal — are given access to food and water and even medical treatment, but they are not entitled to freedom of movement in our land. We have a right to deport immigrants if they are in our country illegally.
The Edomites refused to allow the children of Israel to cross their borders. Moshe and the children of Israel did not whine about their “right” to walk on the King’s Highway. They respected the Edomites request and did not transgress their territory. God respects national boundaries. He actually is the one who establishes them.
God also values life. It’s obvious that He is not thrilled necessarily with everything we do in America, we have our own cultural problems, but when we value life, God takes note of that.
The descendants of the genocidal slave drivers of Egypt were not considered as bad as the people of Ammon and Moab, because the people of Ammon and Moab denied the Israelites food and water.
God didn’t hold the Egyptians of every single generation guilty of what the Pharaoh had done.
One of the main complaints the spies had about the Promised Land is the fact the land was full of “giants.” That was a lame excuse.
The Ammonites and Moabites were able to destroy the giants that had lived in their territory with God’s help, even though they didn’t acknowledge it.
The first generation of the children of Israel who left Egypt were too chicken to fight the giants even though they were more numerous than the Ammonites and Moabites. The Ammonites and Moabites had fewer men and yet were brave enough to fight for the land.
I think the reason the children of Israel of that generation were more fearful is because of their history of slavery. They were too afraid to bravely step out and do something different.
““Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.Moreover the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished. So it came about when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people,” (Deuteronomy 2:14–16 NASB)
God killed off the entire generation who were fit to go to war but were too cowardly to actually do so. God did not allow them to die of a natural old age. Many of them died at a relatively young age. The youngest of that generation died by the age of 60, which is a relatively young age especially when you see that Moses died at the age of 120.
Uncomfortable truth: Killing of women and children in conquered cities
There is a section here that doesn’t sit well with us in our modern views of warfare, but the children of Israel weren’t comfortable with this either. Think about how many children died in the flood? How many children died in the plague of the first born in Egypt?
““Then Sihon with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz.“The LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people.“So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor.” (Deuteronomy 2:32–34 NASB)
“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Edrei …. We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city.” (Deuteronomy 3:1–6 NASB)
In God’s perspective, death is temporary. When humans die, they sleep for a while and will get up later. God knows what He is doing, we don’t. He can reverse death, we can’t.
Why did God ask them to wipe out every single Amorite? Because God did not want the children of Israel to learn their heinous cultural practices, such as child sacrifice.
The Amorites and the other tribes in Canaan didn’t even love and respect their own women and children. The Israelites slaughter of the Amorite children was a far more merciful death than the Amorites and the other tribes gave their own children.
How Yehudah became like Sodom and Gomorrah
The haftarah (parallel) reading to Devarim is Isaiah 1:1–26. Yeshiyahu compared the people of Yehudah (Judah) to the terrible people of the nations around them. He calls Judah out because they actually did follow in the steps of the Amorite that they refused to annihilate as God commanded.
“Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9 NASB)
Why did God leave a remnant? God can work more easily with an individual than with a group. An individual is more teachable than a crowd. Peer pressure is a strong deterrent to doing what is right.
“God will not forgive false religious piety, but He will accept the sacrifice of “a broken spirit, / A broken and humbled heart” (Ps 50:19).”2
There’s a difference between failure to do what is right (sin and transgression) versus enjoying doing what is evil in God’s sight (iniquity). What is the solution?
“ ‘Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil,Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.’ Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:16–20 NASB)
The LORD doesn’t say keep the Shabbat, do the proper slaughter, etc. to move away from iniquity. He brings them back to basics — restore their relationships with mankind.
Covering those sins, transgressions and iniquities is another matter. In God’s grace, He gave Israel — and all grafted into that olive tree from the nations — the memorial of Yom haKippurim (“Day of Coverings,” i.e., Day of Atonement; Leviticus 16) and the True Covering (Hebrews 7–10).
The children of Israel destroyed the Amorite kings but then turned around and became just as evil as them because they did not heed God’s instruction to obliterate the Amorites’ disgusting culture.
The Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites did not live their lives in fear of the unknown. They were not fearful of the Canaanite kings. The Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites conquered the giants with God’s help, even though they didn’t acknowledge His input or honor Him. God gave them their territories as a promise to Abraham, even though they didn’t honor Him as their God.
The Israelites didn’t have the same degree of bravery their cousins did. They didn’t follow God’s direct instructions and suffered as a consequence. Their leaders became rotten; they ignored Torah, and the people suffered.
This is why God hits the reset button from time to time, and sets aside a remnant to carry His truth into the world. A remnant is more teachable than a mob.
Summary: Tammy
1 Metropolitan MAXIMOS et al., eds. Orthodox Study Bible. Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), paragraph 1900. https://accordance.bible/link/read/Orthodox_Study_Bible#1900
2 Metropolitan MAXIMOS et al., eds. Orthodox Study Bible. Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), paragraph 7537. https://accordance.bible/link/read/Orthodox_Study_Bible#7537