Introduction: Thirty-eight years previous, the children of Israel, gen X, stood at the brink of the Land of Promise and suddenly broke into tears, whining about the giants in the land. For their lack of faith, God destroyed that generation almost in its entirety, leaving less than a handful of believers from them. The next generation, the generation of promise, now stood at the edge of the Land of Promise, with the same concerns. They had to go into the land and face the same peoples. However, the true fight is the spiritual one. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness; against the spiritual [forces] of evil in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). The people of Israel are related by covenant to the true God, the Maker of the Universe. If God be for us, who can stand against us? (Rom. 8:31b). But God demands obedience and exclusive devotion to Him.

The emphasis of the book of Deuteronomy is upon the common man and his entrance into the land. The laws and regulations presented herein deal more with the lay person than with the priests. Most of the regulations concerning the priests have to do with the support and distribution of the Levites and the priests.

Authorship: It is possible that Joshua wrote the first five verses of Deuteronomy and it is very likely that he pieced together the last three or so chapters, interweaving it with explanatory narrative. However the majority of Deuteronomy is messages delivered by Moses to the people of Israel. These messages are said to be spoken by Moses in Deut. 1:5 31:9, 22, 24 and this is attested to throughout Scripture by Old Testament writers (1Kings 2:3 8:53 2Kings 14:6 18:12), by the Apostles (Acts 3:22–23 7:37–38 Rom. 10:19) and by our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 19:7–8 Mark 10:3–5 12:19 John 5:46–47). To assert that He Who is “the Truth” believed Deuteronomy to be the work of Moses and quoted it expressly as such, though it was in fact a forgery introduced into the world seven or eight centuries after the Exodus, is in effect, even though not in intention, to impeach the perfection and sinlessness of His nature, and seems thus to gainsay the first principles of Christianity.

Because the bulk of Deuteronomy is verbal, its literary style, delivery and vocabulary are markedly different from the previous four books. This does not indicate that authorship should be ascribed to anyone other than Moses.

The authorship of Deuteronomy has been disputed by the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis, which came out of the German universities a century ago. They claimed that writing did not exist during the time of Moses and that the purpose of the book of Deuteronomy was to glorify the priesthood at Jerusalem and to centralize the worship at Jerusalem. Several scholars have concurred, placing the date of the writing of Deuteronomy somewhere between 680–621 bc by a prophet who hid the book in the temple so that it would be found and adhered to. Then, in 621 bc, Hilkiah found this book, gave it to Josiah, and Josiah used this bogus book in order to bring about the religious reform found in 2Kings 22–23. Now let’s be realistic: if there was a prophet who was so intent upon religious reform, he certainly would not have been willing to wait several decades in order for religious reform to occur. Furthermore, why would a person so devious and duplicitous be interested in religious reform? How can these scholars even call this man a prophet? Furthermore, this book is littered with prophecies and a stern warning that if a prophet predicts something and it does not come to pass, then he should be executed as a false prophet. How could someone so duplicitous write such accurate prophecies? Furthermore, archeology has shown that writing predated Moses by easily a millennium. And finally, if the purpose of this book as a forgery was to centralize worship in Jerusalem and to glorify the priesthood, then why is the priesthood only alluded to only a few times and why is Jerusalem not even mentioned at all by name? In fact, Luther wrote: that Deuteronomy was: ...a compendium and summary of the whole law and wisdom of the people of Israel, wherein those things which related to the priests and Levites are omitted, and only such things included as the people generally required to know. Vestiges of this corrupt theory can be found throughout certain reference books; I find it in the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia once and awhile, and throughout the otherwise excellent BDB Lexicon. One reason to write a bogus book of Scripture would be to convey new and different ideas—ideas opposed to known revelation. A good case in point is the Book of Mormon. However, as we examine this book verse by verse, what will become apparent is that there is not the slightest trace, throughout the whole book, of any intention whatever to give a new or second law.

Some claim that this book was written by an earnest student of Isaiah, but one of his repeated topics is the remnant of Israel, a phrase never found in this book; and one of Isaiah’s favorite titles for God is the Holy One of Israel, also not found in this book. My point is that the idea this books is a forgery, written almost a millennium after the fact in order to achieve religious reform is illogical from any standpoint. This is simply a Satanic attack upon God’s Word. If you deny that Moses wrote this, then you deny that this book is God’s Word and that every reference in the Old Testament and New to Moses as the human author indicates that those books are not God-breathed either. The fact of Mosaic authorship is more than just a minor detail.

There are three basic reasons which we will examine: Deuteronomy as a whole is completely consistent with the times of Moses as to geography, local color, nations. (2) Deuteronomy continually asserts the authorship of Moses, which is confirmed throughout the Scripture. (3) The material herein contained are appropriate for a nation on the brink of entering into the Land of Promise; and not with a nation in the desert, a nation occupying the land, or a nation divided in the land. It is a military book of law, a code of conquest designed to take a people into a land to conquer it.

Let’s take this in more detailed points as to why it is most logical for Moses to be the author:

1. The book of Deuteronomy continually claims to be the words of Moses (Deut. 1:1 4:44 29:1). Continually, the use of the 1st person singular is tied to Moses and continually, we are told that Moses spoke these words to Israel (Deut. 1:16, 18 3:21 4:5, 14 5:31 29:5). No other book in Scripture so clearly identifies its author as does this book. To assert otherwise is to completely negate the divine inspiration of God’s Word. That is, God’s Word cannot contain a flaw (other than material which has been added or changed in Scripture); if this were not the words of Moses, then it would be clear that this cannot be God’s Word.

2. There is a distinct paternal vein running throughout the book of Moses, which belies Mosaic authorship. Moses has led these young people, many of them since birth and the balance since their teens and younger. Their parents have died out. There are no elders to consult, they have no parents or grandparents to go to. Therefore, we see continued heartfelt warnings of Moses as one would prepare one’s own child upon separation.

3. Joshua, the successor to Moses, also testifies that this is the writing of Moses, in Joshua 1:7 and throughout the last couple of chapters of Deuteronomy, assuming that Joshua pieced those chapters together (Deut. 31:30 32:44 33:1).

4. Other writers of Old Testament Scripture also attributed the authorship of Deuteronomy to Moses (Judges 3:4 2Kings 14:6 Ezra 3:2 Neh. 1:7 Psalm 103:7 Dan. 9:11 Mal. 4:4). To deny that these are the words of Moses is to deny that the rest of the Old Testament is God’s Word. Furthermore, we have many references to Deuteronomy or to the laws found therein in books which were written after the actual date of Deuteronomy, but prior to the date that Deuteronomy was supposedly forged (Joshua 6:17–18 7:25 8:27, 29–30, 32, 34–35 10:40 11:12, 15 Judges 1:17 17:13) Hosea 4:4 5:10 8:13 9:3 Amos 2:6–8). See either the exegesis of these passages or the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; ©1976; Vol. 2, pp. 116–117 for the exact ties to Deuteronomy. Now how exactly to you make references to a book which has not been yet written or how do you follow the laws and precepts of a book which has not yet been written?

5. As has been mentioned, the most quoted book in the New Testament is Deuteronomy, with such phrases as Moses truly said (Acts 3:22), Moses said (Rom. 10:19), and it stands written in the Law of Moses (1Cor. 9:9). To deny the authorship of Moses is to deny the divine nature of New Testament Scripture.

6. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, also quoted from the book of Deuteronomy more often than any other Old Testament book and attributed authorship to Moses when He said Moses permitted (Matt. 19:8), Moses said (Mark 7:10) and Moses wrote (Luke 20:28). To deny that Moses wrote Deuteronomy is tantamount to denying that Jesus Christ is God, our Savior. Most of you have been sheltered and don’t realize that this sort of teaching exists—that Deuteronomy was not written by Moses. In fact, there are many seminaries which teach this blasphemy. The reason we are spending time with it is that the inspiration of God’s Word, the divine nature of Jesus Christ and our salvation all hang upon the authorship of Moses of this book. Remove Moses as the author and this calls into question the most basic issue of our Christian life—our salvation through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now perhaps you see why this is an important issue.

7. We would naturally expect this book to be filled with issues and experiences personally important to Moses. He refers to Egypt as a house of slaves (Deut. 5:6b); the burden of being the leader and judge of this people (Deut. 1:9–18); the viciousness of the attack of Amalek is recalled (Deut. 25:17); the murmurings of the people against him (Deut. 9:22–24); the construction material of the ark of the covenant (Deut. 10:3); and, of course, there is the mention of those close to him: Joshua (Deut. 3:21, 28 31:3, 7, 14, 23), Aaron (Deut. 9:20 10:6) and Miriam (Deut. 24:9). As has been mentioned the bulk of the first four chapters are historical and throughout the rest of the book, there are personal references and remembrances. No later prophet comes anywhere close to mentioning this much about Moses in his own work; and no later prophet reflects upon this history with the close, personal involvement that we see in Deuteronomy.

8. An example which should be dealt with separately is in Exodus, Moses prays on behalf of the people of Israel when they sinned with the golden calf—however, nothing is said of Aaron. However, in Deut. 9:20, Moses mentions that he prayed on behalf of Aaron as well. This is the sort of additional information we would expect from Moses, but not from a writer from a millennium later. Could all these personal Mosaic features have been introduced by some reformer, priest, prophet, or Levite, in order to invest his collection of laws with a Mosaic dress? Is it probable that such an author would have succeeded in establishing a correspondence so natural, so close in manifold and minute particulars, and so profound? Or is it more reasonable to thin that this result proceeds from a true historical connection between the book of the law and the man whose name it has always borne? On every hand if Deuteronomy is acknowledged to be a great book which exerted great influence, should it not also have a great author? Who can fill that place so worthily as the old and tried leader who brought the Israelites out of Egypt, shared their experiences and laid the foundations of their faith?

9. Other than one remark that Moses was the meekest man on the earth, nowhere throughout the entire Pentateuch do we find a single verse praising Moses until Deut. 34:10 in his eulogy.

10. Another remarkable proof of Mosaic authorship is the sudden intrusion of history when dealing with the Law, e.g., the hiring of Balaam to curse Israel (Deut. 23:4) and the evil attack of the Amamlekites (Deut. 25:17). We would expect to find these things mentioned in the historical section; however, they are so fresh on the mind of Moses that they come out in the area dealing with Law.

11. There are geographical and historical information which suggests the writer was a person who observed these things firsthand. Manley wrote: The account of the journeyings in chapters i-iii is altogether realistic and quite unlike an introduction prefixed to a collection of old laws; it bears every sign of originality. The views described and the features of the omissions are also significant: there is not hint of Jerusalem, nor of Ramah, dear to Samuel’s heart, not even of Shiloh, where the Tabernacle came to rest. Everything points to its historical character and early date.

The detailed geographical observations would be superfluous in a document designed to set religious precedence.

12. Throughout Deuteronomy, there are fervent commands to destroy the Canaanites (Deut. 7:16, 22) and to completely blot out Amalek (Deut. 25:17–19),

commands which would have been archaic if written in the time of Josiah.

13. There are also historical significance to the early portion of Deuteronomy which would have been meaningless had they been written hundreds of years later. Moses mentions the areas where the kings of Bashan dwelt in Deut. 1:4; kings who disappeared from history. Moses comments about the Emmin, a people who also disappeared after his time (Deut. 2:10–11; see Gen. 14:5). Moses gives a brief history of the Horites in Deut. 2:12, a point of interest to his listeners, but entirely irrelevant to an audience a millennium later. And Moses mentions the Zamzummin, a Canaanite race, which was known to his audience, but unknown to history (Deut. 2:20–21). How many writers of forgery would have thought to have included this minutiae?

14. In Deuteronomy, we have an area called the hill country of the Amorites (Deut. 1:7, 19, 20, 44) which, soon thereafter becomes the hill country of Judah (Joshua 11:16, 21). A later author may not have thought to make these changes back.

15. Had Deuteronomy been written as a forgery sometime prior to the reign of Josiah, then we would expect to see something about the divided kingdom or Assyrian oppression. However, the names of Judah and Ephraim only occur once each in the blessing of Moses (Deut. 33) and the Assyrians are not mentioned (however, Assyria is mentioned twice in the book of Genesis). The threat of exile should involve Assyria or Babylonia, and not Egypt (Deut. 28:68). It is almost impossible for someone to forge a document which supposedly existed a millennium previous without in some way betraying his present period of time.

16. Had some prophet written Deuteronomy as a forgery a millennium later, he would have been required to study intensely the previous three books of Moses to retrieve all of the details found in Deuteronomy. That being done, that prophet could have easily cited the pertinent passages from the previous books to centralize the worship in Jerusalem (the men had already been instructed to gather three times a year in a place which God would appoint) (Ex. 23:17 34:23 this is by implication of Lev. 16); to extol the support and authority of the sons of Aaron and the Levites (Num. 3:9–10 4:1–49 8:18–26 81:–18); and to call for the destruction of idolatry (Ex. 34:14–17 Lev. 19:1–8 Num. 25:1–18 31:1–16). What is clear is that in Deuteronomy, there were more references to a place of centralized worship (Deut. 12:5, 11–13) than in the previous books. Since they were about to enter into the land immediately after the completion of the book of Deuteronomy and since the laws previously given applied to both their worship in the desert and in the land, it would only stand to reason that centralized worship would be implied in Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus (recall, they built one tabernacle only) and emphasized in Deuteronomy. The problem with these silly non-Mosaic authorship theories is that their originators never studied the previous books of the Bible very carefully. If Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are carefully studied, then the precept that Deuteronomy was necessary to centralize worship, to strengthen the priesthood and to stamp out idolatry becomes a flawed foundation on which to build a flawed theory of authorship.

17. At the time of the writing of Deuteronomy, the authority to uphold the Law was placed in the hands of priests (Deut. 17:9), judges (Deut. 16:18) and the elders of Israel (Deut. 21:21). Had this been written during the time of the divided kingdom, the emphasis of enforcement of the Law would have been upon the king of Israel; however, the concept of kingship is discussed once and that in a way to limit and guide one who would later become king (Deut. 17:14–20).

18. During the time of Moses, there were covenants which followed a certain form called suzerainty-vassal treaties (which we have covered before). There was a particular form for these covenants to be written in and it has been shown by several authors that the book of Deuteronomy follows that form, e.g., G.E. Mendenhall, Law and Covenant in Israel and in the Ancient Near East; Pittsburgh: Biblical Colloquium, 1955 and Meredith Kilne, Treat of the Great King, Eerdmans, 1963.

19. Among those who accept Deuteronomy as Scripture—Christians, Jews and Muslims—all have historically accepted this book from its inception as the writing of Moses.

20. Moses had spent forty years out in the wilderness with the Israelites while God destroyed generation X and one thing that he would logically like to leave with this next generation is the fact that they will go into the land and they will conquer it. Thirty-five times in the book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses using the phrase “go in and possess”; thirty-four times he says “the land which Y^ehowah your God is giving you.” It is logical that Moses would continually use these phrases; it is less logical for a writer of several centuries later to do so.

21. Some references appear to come from a period of time subsequent to the time of Moses. Deut. 2:10–12 for instance has information which may not have been known by Moses. However, most scholars see these verses as being parenthetical, added after Israel entered into the land (and very likely by Joshua who would know this information). These short, parenthetical additions are given as explanatory clauses or to update the names of certain cities or groups of peoples.

22. The book of Deuteronomy differs in style, content and vocabulary from the previous three books of the Pentateuch. Most of the quotations in the previous few books were direct quotations from God. God would have a different vocabulary and style than Moses. Furthermore, some of the writing in the previous books was written narrative, therefore naturally differing in style from the oratory message. As a teacher, I have read many student reports and only one written report comes to mind as a report which sounded as though it were spoken. I recall even making a comment to that effect on the student’s paper, noting that it was a very pleasant, readable style. The subject matter of the previous books was very different. Moses dealt with the building of the tabernacle, the numbering of the tribes, the positioning of the troops, the dietary laws, the leprotic laws, etc. etc. Different subject matter requires a different vocabulary. I have personally written hundreds of mathematical worksheets and the vocabulary found in those worksheets are different than the vocabulary found in this book. What would be unreasonable would be to expect that the style found in the previous three books and this book would be similar. This would be like the fact that the Book of Mormon, although written in the 1800's, was written in an old English style, much like the KJV of the Bible. Now that is silly. A book written in America over two centuries after the KJV, which was produced in England, should not be in the same style.

23. Critics charge that the discovery of this book by Josiah was a fraudulent occurrence and that he used this forgery (written by himself or by trusted men of no character) to (a) destroy idolatrous worship, (b) to give greater power and authority to the priesthood and (c) to centralize the worship of Y^ehowah in Jerusalem. (a) First off, objections to idolatry occur throughout the previous four books and the book of Joshua. Josiah (or some priest from his era) do not need to use some forgery in order to support the destruction of idolatrous worship. (b) The priesthood is given very little mention in the book of Deuteronomy; their powers and authority are nowhere specifically increased. (c) Finally, as has been pointed out, the name Jerusalem, does not occur in the book of Deuteronomy. In a book so filled with prophecy, it would be natural in the hands of a forger to name Jerusalem by name as a prophecy.

24. It is said that certain laws found in Deuteronomy differ from those in the previous three books. The easy, general explanation is that some of what is found in the previous three books deal with a nation on the move in the desert and wilderness. A simple example of this is the troop movement and organization surrounding the ark. This is specific to those circumstances at that time. A major change which was about to take place was that Israel would soon settle into her own land and there were be some minor differences due to that.

25. The phrase beyond the Jordan is used to describe the land east of the Jordan, which is where Moses and company were encamped. This would appear to be a phrase used by those living on the western side of the Jordan. However, this was a specific term which means the other-side land and was applied to the portion east of the Jordan, despite the location of the writer or speaker. Today, we still call the land Trans-Jordan, whether we live in the United States, in Israel or in Trans-Jordan.

26. Occasionally, we find the phrase until this day. This can refer to (a) the period of time of Moses, looking back over the past forty years; (b) the perspective of Joshua, who amended the book of Deuteronomy in perhaps a half dozen places. In no case are we ever looking backwards several hundred years.

27. Deuteronomy contains an account of the death of Moses. When we get to the final chapters of Moses, we will find that most of them were pieced together and edited by Joshua, adding in the blessing and the song of Moses. Therefore, to find an account of the death of Moses is perfectly natural and more indicative of an eyewitness account rather than a writer from a time period several hundred years later.

For most of you, it is sufficient to say that Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy because this is God’s Word and that is what God’s Word says. So the past couple of pages may b=have seemed as though I was beating a dead horse. However, since this theory persists and continually finds its way into Christian literature and Christian seminaries, it is important that it be dealt with carefully. Whereas, the bulk of the quotations found in the previous three books are direct quotes from God which Moses conveyed to the people, Moses spoke to the people in this book in his own words, as moved by the Holy Spirit. Now, don’t get me wrong—he didn’t just start speaking and all of these things came out. We have a written document which recorded what he said, and since voice to print had not been perfected on their computers as of yet, this would indicate the Moses first wrote these dissertations out and then presented them. If you didn’t catch that, let me explain: with their writing materials and their speed of writing, even without vowels, it would have been quite difficult to keep up with Moses and take word-by-word dictation. Since we have this information recorded for us in written form, that would logically indicate that Moses wrote it down first and then read from his notes.

As I had mentioned from the outset, it is likely that Joshua pieced together the last few chapters and possibly wrote the first five verses of this book. A reasonable but distant second choice is Eleazar. I would choose Joshua as my first choice for several reasons: 28. It would be natural for the writer of the book of Joshua to be the one to finished the last few verses of the book of Deuteronomy, since they follow one another historically. This person was likely Joshua. We find the phrase, Moses, the servant of Y^ehowah in Deut. 34:5. Whereas, we do not find this title previously in the Pentateuch, we find is a dozen times in the book of Joshua. This would suggest that the writer of Deut. 34 and the book of Joshua are the same person. Whereas it is possible that any person could write Scripture through the power of the Holy Spirit, eyewitness or not, it is just more likely that the events described were events which one witnessed or was a confident of one who saw these events. The verses Ex. 24:13 and 33:11 indicate a very close relationship between Moses and Joshua. Because we hear the name of Joshua much more often in the book of Deuteronomy than we hear of Eleazar (nine times versus once; and Joshua is mentioned six times in the concluding four chapters), this would indicate that Joshua was more closely associated with Moses.

The Date and Time of Writing: Deuteronomy was written and taught during the last few days (and perhaps weeks) of the life of Moses. Although it appears to me that these messages were likely given during the last week of the life of Moses, one author was of the opinion that Deuteronomy covered a span of forty days (citing Deut. 1:3 to affirm his thinking) and another felt that the time frame herein was approximately a month. Whereas, I do not find forty days represented here, there is also nothing, other than the length of these messages, which would indicate a week either. This would have been written and taught somewhere between 1450–1405 bc. Several authors quote 1406 or 1405 bc as the year in which this book was written. Actually the time period for Deuteronomy is quite easy to determine. The book begins with: And it came to pass in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that Jehovah had command him to them (Deut. 1:3). This means that 39 years and 10 months after the exodus, we begin the book of Deuteronomy. In this book we have very little by way of narrative—nothing that would indicate any period of time passing. We have the death of Moses and then the people mourn for Moses thirty days (Deut. 34:8). After 5–10 days pass in the book of Joshua, we have the verse: Now the people came up from the Jordan on the 10^th of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. This means that the time period for the book of Deuteronomy is less than a month. That gives us another month for the mourning at the death of Moses and a few days for the first few chapters of Joshua.

One very interesting theory was set forth by D. Miall Edwards in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 837 and that was that the message of Deut. 5–26 had been covered before by Moses prior to their first attempt at entering the land from the south thirty-eight years previous. It would make sense that Moses had put together a message to inspire them and to bring them into the land and that he possibly taught it while the spies were in the land. The reason Edwards would assert this is the many named places in Deut. 1:1–2 does not confine us to only across the River Jordan from Jericho but mentions that they are eleven days away from Kadesh Barnea by way of Mount Seir, which is where gen X was stopped in its tracks. Edwards writes: If these statements have any relevancy whatever to the contents of the book which they introduce, they point to a wide area, from Horeb to Moab, as the historico-geographical background of the book. In other words, Deuteronomy, in part at least, seems to have been spoken first on the way between Horeb and Kadesh-barnea, and later again when Israel were encamped on the planes of Moab.

The upshot is that these, in part, are twice-baked sermons, which had no effect upon gen X, but did upon the Generation of Promise. This does not mean that Moses just hauled out the sermon from thirty-eight years previous and read it again. He obviously re-worked it somewhat, adding, for instance, the names of the cities of refuge (Deut. 4:41–43 19:1–13), which would not have been named prior to the invasion and conquering of the land to the east.

Tone and Style: The tone of this book is primary hortatory. Whereas, for instance, the categories of laws and regulations which Moses taught can be roughly grouped, they do not all fall perfectly into these categories, as Moses did not approach his addresses to the people as strictly a more organized structuring of the Laws of God, but as one who was exhorting the people to obey the True and Living God. As ZPEB says: [Moses] is not a historian or a jurist as much as he is a religious teacher

The speeches exhibit an unity of style and character which is strikingly consistent with such circumstances. They are pervaded by the same vein of thought , the same tone and tenor of feeling, the same peculiarities of conception and expression. They exhibit matter which is neither documentary nor traditional, but conveyed in the speaker’s own words. Their aim is strictly hortatory; their style earnest, heart-stirring, impressive, in passages sublime, but throughout rhetorical; they keep constantly in view the circumstances then present and the crisis to which the fortunes of Israel had at last been brought. Moses had before him not the men to whom by God’s command he delivered the law at Sinai, but the generation following which had grown up in the wilderness.

The literary style of Deuteronomy is very marked and individual; in his command of a chaste, yet warm and persuasive eloquence, the author of Deuteronomy stand unique among the writers of the Old Testament

Deuteronomy is a hortatory description, explanation, and enforcement of the most essential contents of the covenant revelation and covenant laws, with emphatic prominence given to the spiritual principle of the law and its fulfillment, and with a further development of the ecclesiastical, judicial, political, and civil organization, which was intended as a permanent foundation for the life and well-being of the people in the land of Canaan

There are certain phrases which we find again and again in this book, which would be consistent with the speaker being Moses. We have certain Moses-isms, e.g., as at this day, that is may be well with you, caused to inherit, the land where you are going in to possess it, with all your heart and with all your soul; these are phrases which are almost unique to the book of Deuteronomy. Furthermore, we have a continued emphasis upon listening, learning and obeying. Moses continually tells his students to hear, to listen, to obey.

Title: The name Deuteronomy comes from the Greek word which means Second Law or repetition of the law. Interestingly enough, this name is based upon a Greek mistranslation of Deut. 17:18. The Septuagint reads: And when he is established in his government, the he will write for himself this second law into a book by the hands of the priests the Levites. Second Law is the word deuteronomion (δευτερονόμιον) [pronounced dew-ter-ah-NO-mee-on]. However, what Moses is saying is that the king must write for himself a copy of the law. The other four names of the first four books of the Torah are based upon the Hebrew; this is based upon the Greek. The Hebrew title of this book is Debarim, which means words.

Chronology: The few events described in this book take place during the last week of the life of Moses.

Deuteronomy and the Suzerainty-vassal treaties:

Treaties of the first and second millenniums bc tend to follow a specific format, quite similar to the writing of Deuteronomy. We have 29. a preamble (Deut. 1:1–5); an historical prologue (Deut. 1:6–3:29); Stipulations of the treaty (Deut. 4–26); Deposition of text (Deut. 31;9, 24–26) and the public reading thereof (Deut. 31:10–12); Witnesses to the treaty (Deut. 31:16–30 32:1–47); and the curses and blessings (Deut. 28). In the ancient world, these covenants generally were in the order of witnesses, curse and then blessings; Deuteronomy is curses, blessings, curses and then witnesses.

The preamble of a suzerain-vassal treaty names the speaker, the one claiming lordship over his vassals. In v. 1, Moses is identified, but he is God’s earthly minister and representative (v. 3). Next we would find a historical section, an historic preamble, if you will, that examines the previous relationship of the lord and vassal. Benefits of this relationship to the vassal are often cited (Deut. 2:7 3:3 4:39). The, the most important portion of the covenant were the laws and expectations, which were set forth in the laws, judgments and regulations which we find in Deut. 5:1–26:19. Then we would have the cursings and blessings, which we find listed in Deut. 27–30. Such a treaty would have to be witnessed by representatives of both sides, which is what we have in Deut. 32–33. Every time the Israelites sang the song of Moses, they were a witness to this treaty. There must also be a place where the treaty would be deposited for reference, and that was handled in Deut. 31:9, 24–26, when Moses gave this document to the priests to place next to the ark of the covenant. A treaty which has been written, ratified, and witnessed was considered to be inviolable thereafter. Hence, we have a cursing for anyone who either added to or took from the words of this book (Deut. 4:2). Finally, the document was to be notarized, which was analogous to the recording of the death of Moses at the very end.

The covenant form found in Deuteronomy is much more similar to those covenants found in the second millennium bc than to those used during the period of the Assyria’s dominance, several hundred years later. In fact, the covenant form from the second century bc was likely unknown to the people under the united monarchy of Israel. Kitchen writes: First, the basic structure of Deuteronomy and much of the content that gives specific character to that structure must constitute a recognizable literary entity; second, this is a literacy entity not of the eighth or seventh century b.c. but rather from ca 1200 b.c. at latest. My personal opinion is that this is not necessarily what Moses had in mind when he wrote these messages to the people. This was a logical approach for him, to state the background for his messages, to list the historical relationship between God and Israel, and then to list the laws to which they were to be obedient to. I personally believe that the similarity in the overall structure of Deuteronomy to the suzerain-vassal treaties was a function of God the Holy Spirit.

Points of Interest: There are times when Moses is so moved by the Holy Spirit in his message that he speaks in place of God, a daring effect which few, if any, pastors should use.

Because Moses is speaking to the people in a series of speeches, he places himself in the 1st person, which he never does in the previous three books.

This book as likely the book discovered by King Josiah which precipitated his religious reforms (2Kings 22–23).

Authority and Inspiration: According to the notes of the Scofield Reference Bible, there are 80 references in the New Testament to the book of Deuteronomy; the NIV Study Bible says that there are almost 100 allusions to Deuteronomy in the New Testament; and Zodhiates claims that there are 200 references to this book in the New Testament. In answering the temptations of Satan, our Lord quoted from this book exclusively and in general, He quoted this book more than any other from the Old Testament.

The concept of inspiration is taken further specifically by this book of Deuteronomy: the laws which Moses gives and the statements which he makes are no longer directly from the mouth of God, as we found in Exodus through Numbers. However, they are given the same weight when it comes to authority by Moses and by later writers of Scripture, as we have seen, even though God spoke the laws in the previous books and now Moses is speaking.

One very interesting point is that in previous books of God’s Word, Moses primarily quoted God when speaking to the people. Whatever God told him, Moses repeated this almost word-for-word. However, with this book, there are only a handful of verses which quote Y^ehowah directly. Moses, with this book, speaks God’s Word directly, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Now, this was not some sort of trance-like state and automatic speaking; Moses had studied God’s Word directly from God, so he had the background. Furthermore, in order for all of this information to be recorded, this means it had to be written down. It is much more likely that Moses wrote his discourses first and then spoke them. However, this in no way minimizes the fact that these are the very Words of God spoken through Moses, without distorting the personality, vocabulary or speaking style of Moses and yet without compromising the very Words of God. In Deuteronomy, we find the very essence of the concept of the inspiration of Scripture.

Geography: Moses and the children of Israel have just come up the east side of the Dead Sea, defeating several armies and taking over much of the land east of the Jordan. They are about to go into the Land of Promise and Moses will not be going in with them. Moses prepares several sermons, if you will, and presents these to the children of Israel across the Jordan River from Jericho. They are in a land which used to belong to Moab, but had been taken from them by the Amonites, which land Moses took from the Amonites. There are no movements to speak of, just several gatherings of the children of Israel to hear Moses speak.

Parallels: There are several parallels found when viewing this book as a whole. The people to whom the Law was first given, although they received it with enthusiasm, they rejected God’s Law and were taken out under the sin unto death. Israel, as a nation, received God’s Law with enthusiasm, yet also fell away, and had to be removed from the land several times and the responsibility given to “the next generation”—the church. Finally, in terms of space, three books were devoted to the exodus of Israel and their forty year wanderings in the desert (actually, the time frame which was covered was really two years of that time). The entire book of Deuteronomy is devoted to approximately one week of history of Israel. This parallels our Lord’s life, wherein most of what was written concerning His stay on this earth was the last week. One of the great parallels between the death of Moses and the death of our Lord was the fact that both of them died according to the commandment of God when their work was finished. Moses was still physically strong and his eye was not dim, yet he died as his work on earth was finished. Jesus Christ would have been at His physical peak in His early 30's but he breathed His last as His work was finished.

Important Quotations: “Hear, O Israel! Y^ehowah is our God, Y^ehowah is One! And you will love Y^ehowah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your ability [lit., might]” (Deut. 6:4–5). These two verses are quoted just about every Sabbath in every synagogue. The word for one can mean alone, unity. When a man leaves his mother and father and cleaves to his wife, they become one flesh.

There are two specific commands barring us from adding to god’s Word or taking from it. Most people are familiar with this mandate at the end of the book of Revelation, but not many know about the one in Deuteronomy: “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, in order that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which Y^ehowah, the God of your fathers is giving you. You will not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor will you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Y^ehowah your God which I command you.” (Deut. 4:1–2).

In this book we have the Ten Commandments repeated in Deut. 5. This does not mean that Moses ran out of things to say; this is a new generation to whom he is speaking. It is possible that many of them had not even heard Moses before (only a small percentage of the two million could have ever actually heard Moses teach).

For the covenant theologians, there are continual reminders that Y^ehowah would not forget Israel. “For Y^ehowah your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.” (Deut. 4:31). Although covenant theologians teach that the church is really a spiritual Israel and that all these promises have been transferred over to the church, there will always be the Jewish race and there will always be the Land of Promise and God will fulfill His promises to His people, the sons of Israel, and that is not us, the church.

One of my personal favorite quotations from Deuteronomy is: “Do not say in your heart when Y^ehowah your God has driven them out from before you, ‘Because of my righteousness Y^ehowah has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Y^ehowah is dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Y^ehowah your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which Y^ehowah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that Y^ehowah your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people!” (Deut. 9:4–6). God blessed Israel in grace, based upon His own character, just as He does us in the Church Age.

Israel was commanded by Moses in the power of the Holy Spirit not to do what was right in their own eyes (Deut. 12:8). God had given them a clear delineation of what was right and what was wrong. Human viewpoint of morality and correctness of action was immaterial. When Israel began to do what was right in her own eyes caused her to enter into one of the darkest period of her history, the time of the judges, when every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6 21:25).

Israel was warned in the book of Deuteronomy not to follow after other gods even if a false prophet or dreamer arose with great signs and wonders. “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ you will not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for Y^ehowah your God is testing you to find out if you love Y^ehowah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You will follow Y^ehowah your God and you will fear Him; and you will keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. And that prophet or dreamer of dreams will be executed, because he has counseled rebellion against Y^ehowah your God.” (Deut. 13:1–5a).

One of my favorite passages deals with the rebellious teenager: “If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, then his father and mother will seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his home town. And they will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city will stone him to death; so you will remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and fear.” (Deut. 21:18–21). There is no time-out or removing his privileges of using the family car for the week; the rebellious teen is executed.

Deuteronomy is filled with prophecies concerning the discipline of Israel: “Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which Y^ehowah has afflicted it, will say, ‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Y^ehowah over threw in His anger and in His wrath.’ And all the nations will say, ‘Why has Y^ehowah done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ Then men will say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of Y^ehowah, the God of their fathers which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not given to them. Therefore, the anger of Y^ehowah burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; and Y^ehowah uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them in to another land, as this day.’ “ (Deut. 29:22–28). Looks at the land of Israel today; doesn’t it appear to be sown with salt? Don’t you see the brimstone flying from the sky into the land? Israel is under discipline.

Outline: Most Christian sources separate the book of Deuteronomy into four addresses of Moses whereas the Hebrew theologians separate this book into eight separate addresses. The latter is the proper way to see the headings of this book, and these eight separate addresses are interspersed with introductory material, a couple of historical events and the last two times God and Moses met face to face prior to Moses being taken into eternity.

1. Moses reviews their history from the Exodus to Kadesh-Barnea, where the people were too afraid to enter into the land (1:6–45)

B. The importance of God’s Word, God’s commandments and the obedience and fidelity of the Israelites (4:1–40)

III. Moses sets apart the three cities to the east of the Jordan for those who have committed unintentional manslaughter (Deut. 4:41–49)

A. Moses repeats the Ten commandments and Moses reminds them of the historical circumstances of the receipt of those commandments (5:1–33)

1. Moses warns them about their contact with the indigenous population of the Land of Promise and about their gods (7:1–5)

3. Exhortation to obey God and to show love as God has shown them love (10:10–22)

V. The third discourse of Moses and the elders of Israel to the people (Deut. 27:1–28:68)

VII. The fifth discourse of Moses spoken to all Israel; Moses turns over his authority to Joshua (Deut. 31:1–8)

VIII. The sixth discourse of Moses, a specific charge to the priests (Deut. 31:9–13)

IX. God speaks to Moses, telling him of his impending death and God speaks to Joshua (Deut. 31:14–23)

X. Moses writes a song and gives the Word of God and special instructions to the Levites (Deut. 31:24–30)

XII. Final exhortation by Moses concerning God’s Word: “It is not an idle word, it is your life!” (Deut. 32:44–47)

XIII. God tells Moses to go up to the mountain to die for breaking faith with Him in the wilderness (Deut. 32:48–52)

Synopsis: Either Moses or Joshua sets the historical scene in the first chapter and then we have recorded several discourses by Moses to the people of Israel. This is one of the few times that Moses spoke his own words as guided by God the Holy Spirit (he did not speak extemporaneously but from his notes). In his first discourse, he recalled the history of Israel and interpreted it. In the second discourse, Moses gave a lengthy set of laws and regulations. In his third discourse, Moses gave the blessings and cursings which were to be read from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. At this point, he became very prophetical. To understand his prophecies made before (e.g., Lev. 26), recall that Moses was essentially repeating what God had told him to say. However, here Moses is not recounting God’s Word but speaking God’s Word. In his next discourse, Moses gives Israel some historical background and then delivered the Palestinian Covenant. Again, Moses is not repeating word-for-word what God had told him, but is explaining in his own vocabulary the result of his study of God’s Word in reference to the covenant between God and Israel. The Moses turns over the reigns of power to Joshua, gives what he has written to the priests, along with instructions. At the end of Deut. 31, God speaks to Moses and to Joshua directly. Finally, Moses writes a song, teaches it to all of Israel, gives his final blessings to the individual tribes of Israel, and then goes to the mountain and dies on the mountain.

Themes: What sticks out in my mind more than anything else is the warnings delivered by Moses to the children of Israel is the apostasy that they might fall into, against which Moses warns. One of the other great themes of this book is love, which is mentioned twenty-two times in this book. It is often on the basis of love for God that Moses exhorts the Israelites to obey Him (Deut. 7:7–8 8:17 9:4–6). Those who picture a God of vengeance and wrath in the Old Testament and a God of love in the New Testament just do not know what is in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ of the New Testament is Y^ehowah, the God of Israel, in the Old. Because of God’s love for us, we are to obey His Word. And let’s understand one thing: the Law is good. Although I emphasize and overemphasize the fact that God cannot save us by Law, that does not imply that the Law is not good. Of course the Law is good. Do you know where the trouble lies? The trouble is with you and me. Therefore, God must save us only by His grace

“Listen and obey the commandments of God" is a phrase used by Moses several times throughout this book. The Generation of Promise, and those which followed, were to listen to God’s Word and to obey it. We find this phrase, or something similar to it, in Deut. 5:1 6:3–4 9:1 10:12 12:1 20:3.

The devotion of Israel to God is to be more than ceremonial; more than mere obedience to Law. The Israelite was to love his God with all his soul, and his heart and all his might (Deut. 10:12 11:1, 13, 22 13:3 19:9 30:6, 16, 20). In fact, obedience to the Law is more often tied to loving God than to the fear of God (Deut. 5:10 6:5 7:8 10:12, 15 11:1, 13, 22 13:8 19:9 30:16, 20). Ideally, your own child obeys you because he loves you and his trusts you, rather than out of simple fear (which is, of course, a motivating factor).

“Remember God's deliverance of you out of Egypt." Moses continually goes back to what God has done on behalf of Israel—to events observed by his listeners, in order to convince them that Y^ehowah is a God unlike any heathen god. Deut. 5:15 7:18 8:2, 18 9:7, 27 11:2 15:15 16:3, 12 24:9, 18, 22 25:17.

Related to God’s deliverance of Israel is the uniqueness of God and the uniqueness of the relationship between God and Israel. There is no God like the God of Israel and God has chosen Israel above all other nations (Deut. 4:35, 39 5:26 6:4 10:17 32:39). Since Israel was set apart to God, she was not to pursue other gods (Deut. 6:14–15 7:4, 6 8:19–20 11:16–17, 20 30:17–18). This is analogous to being married and then cheating on the one that you love above all others. Therefore, God is jealous of all rivals for His love and He despises all forms of idolatry (Deut. 7:4, 25–26 12:31 13:14 18:12 20:18 27:15 29:24–26 31:16–17).

As has been previously mentioned, Moses desires for this generation to enter into the Land of Promise and to take it. Therefore, Moses uses the phrase “go in and possess” thirty-five times; and thirty-four times he says “the land which Y^ehowah your God is giving you.” I recall that my parents expected me to go to college; I don’t recall them even using the phrase if you go to college; the phrasing they used was when you go to college. Moses does the same thing here.

One of the great themes of this book is the teaching of God’s Word to one’s children. “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen, and so that they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and to your grandsons. Remember the day you stood before Y^ehowah your God at Horeb when Y^ehowah said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth and that they may teach their children.” (Deut. 4:9–10). “And these words which I am command you today, they will be on your heart; and you will teach them diligently to your sons and you will talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And You will bind them as a sign on your hand and they will be as frontals on your forehead. And you will write them on the doorposts of your house an on your gates.” (Deut. 6:6–9; see also Deut. 11:18–22). And he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you will command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed, it is your life. And by this word you will prolong you days in the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.” (Deut. 32:46–47). By the way, I wonder if this isn’t the great neglect in the modern home. We talk about the failure of the school and the failure of the church today, and I agree that both have miserably failed in teaching boys and girls, but the real problem is in the home where instruction should have originated.

Point of View: In general, Deuteronomy contains several sermons of Moses spoken to the children of Israel. What is unusual about this content is that Moses often speaks in the first person. When we write and when we speak, we often demonstrate a different vocabulary and, in this case, a different point of view. Although Moses wrote at least the last four books of the Torah, he speaks of himself in the 3rd person throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy (a format followed by most writers of Scripture, with the exception of Luke in the book of Acts and most of the epistles and the book of Revelation). However, in speaking to Israel, Moses does not hide behind the 3rd person but speaks of himself in the first person. At the end of Deuteronomy, we have a song written by Moses, a blessing by Moses for the children of Israel and the death of Moses.

Content: There are portions of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers which are rehashed herein. This is not repetition, per se, as the listeners are a new generation of believers, the generation of promise. Those to whom the rest of the Law was given rejected it and God took them out under the sin unto death. There are times that some of the laws may seem to be a bit different from what had been presented in the previous three books. Some of the material found in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers pertained only to Israel while on foot and while temporarily encamped. Deuteronomy deals in part with their behavior and rituals once they enter the land of Canaan. [Moses]...takes the legislation which the Lord had given to Israel nearly forty years before and adapts it to conditions of settled life in the land to which Israel was soon to go

In the previous three books, there is a fair amount of narrative. This book is primarily the verbal teaching of Moses to the people. Much of this covers their immediate history and their relationship to Y^ehowah, their God. As we have gone through those books, I have interpreted the meaning of their experience. Moses does that throughout Deuteronomy. He reviews the failures of the Israelites and reprimands them; but, much more importantly, he uses their past experiences as a springboard to speak of their future choices. As the NASB notes read: throughout this book, events are charged with meaning. Moses gives a good deal of history; but in nearly every case he relates events to the spiritual lesson which they underscore.

Narrative Content: The narrative in this book is quite limited. There is no movement of the troops of Israel. We have Moses speaking to the people, speaking to the priests, handing the book of the Law to the priests, teaching his song to the sons of Israel, speaking to God, blessing Israel, and then dying.

The New Testament View: As has been mentioned, Deuteronomy is the most quoted book in the New Testament, with the number of allusions being somewhere between 80 and 200. As has been pointed out, our Lord recognized Moses as the author of Deuteronomy. When asked about marriage and divorce, Jesus acknowledges the teaching of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate and divorce her?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Matt. 19:7–9; Deut. 24:1). When tempted by Satan, our Lord quoted exclusively from the book of Deuteronomy (Luke 4:1–13). You know that Satan has hated the book of Deuteronomy more than ever since that time.

One of the standard ways to quote God’s Word is it stands written. The verb is in the perfect tense, meaning that it stands written in the past with results that stand forever. Paul used this phrase when quoting from the book of Deuteronomy in Gal. 3:10: For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it stands written, “Cursed is ever one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them.” James uses the same phrase in Acts 15:15, 17. Our Lord uses the same phrasing to quote Moses in Matt. 4:4, 7 and 10. Our Lord quotes Deuteronomy as authoritative in Matt. 18:16b. Our Lord quotes Moses from Deuteronomy in Mark 7:10 in order to clarify what had been misinterpreted by the scribes.

Finally, as has been mentioned, Deuteronomy is quoted many times throughout the New Testament as authoritative, using the phrases as Moses said (Rom. 10:19) and it stands written in the Law of Moses (1Cor. 9:9). Peter, under great inspiration, said, “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers; to Him you will listen in everything He says to you. And it will come to pass that every soul that does not heed that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.’ “ (Acts 3:22–23; Deut. 18:15, 19).

Chart: Although an outline was wonderful for me to recall the portions of Deuteronomy and to organize my thinking, I don’t know if anyone else reads the outline. I don’t know that I have ever read another person’s outline. However, there is a section of Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts which I found to be quite informative, and that is their chart on p. 56, which I have stolen, changed considerably and adapted to my own notes:

Heading	Introduction to the book of Deuteronomy	The first discourse of Moses	Moses sets apart the three cities three cities of refuge the east of the Jordan	The second discourse of Moses given to all Israel
Scripture	Deut. 1:1–5	Deut. 1:6–4:40	Deut. 4:41–49	Deut. 5:1–26:19
Writing Style	Introduction	Lecture	Narrative	Lecture
Author	Joshua or Moses	Moses
Topics	The time, the place and recent events	A review and a divine interpretation of Israel’s history and stern exhortation	A refuge for unintentional manslaughter is set aside	The decalogue, ceremonial laws 12:1–16:17), civil laws (16:18–18:22), criminal laws (19:1–21:9) and laws which deal with the family and prosperity (21:10–25:19)
Writing Category	Historical	Interpretive	Legal
Time and Place	Roughly a one week period of time around 1406 bc in the plains of Moab

Heading	The third discourse of Moses and the elders of Israel to the people	The fourth discourse of Moses to the all Israel	The fifth discourse of Moses spoken to all Israel	The sixth discourse of Moses, a specific charge to the priests
Scripture	Deut. 27:1–28:68	Deut. 29:1–30:20	Deut. 31:1–8	Deut. 31:9–13
Writing Style	Lecture
Author	Moses		Moses edited by Joshua
Topics	Blessings and cursings from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim	Prophecy of the stern discipline to come; the Palestinian Covenant; exhortation	Moses publicly recognizes Joshua and encourages Israel in war	Moses gives the Law to the priests and tells them to read the Law when all Israel gathers
Writing Category	Prophetical
Time and Place	Roughly a one week period of time around 1406 bc in the plains of Moab

Heading	God speaks to Moses, telling him of his impending death and God commissions Joshua	Moses writes a song and gives special instructions to the Levites; The Song of Moses; concluding remarks to people	God tells Moses to go up to the mountain to die	The blessing of Moses to the people	The Death of Moses
Scripture	Deut. 31:14–23	Deut. 31:24–32:47	Deut. 32:48–52	Deut. 33:1–29	Deut. 34:1–12
Writing Style	Narrative	Narrative; song; exhortation	Narrative	Last blessing	Narrative
Author	Moses	Joshua and Moses	Joshua editing (Moses and God speak)		Joshua
Topics	God tells Moses what will occur and tells him to write a song	God’s special protection afforded Israel; severe but tempered discipline of Israel; final vindication	God tells Moses to go die on the mountain and reminds him as to why	Moses blesses the twelve tribes; not necessarily prophetical material	Moses goes to the mountain to die; there is no prophet like Moses
Writing Category	Prophetical				Historical
Time an d Place	Roughly a one week period of time around 1406 bc in the plains of Moab

Final Comments and Conclusions: Because our Lord quoted from it against Satan, you know that this would become one of the most attacked books of the Bible. This is why so much time was spent in this introduction covering the authorship of Deuteronomy. There should be no question in your mind as to the fact that Moses wrote this just as Scripture says. Now prepare yourself for the exegesis of one of the most incredible books of the Old Testament. Enjoy!

Introduction: Deut. 1 begins several sermons given by Moses to the generation of promise. This chapter in particular will cover a time period of one year. We will travel from Mount Sinai to the Land of Promise and end with Israel's failure at the foot of the land promised them by God. The generation of twenty years and older who left Egypt have all died, with the exception of Moses, Joshua and Caleb. The failures covered by Moses were observed by the children of generation X; now Moses will give the divine viewpoint concerning these failures in hopes that the new generation, the generation of promise, will profit by the mistakes of the elders rather than repeat them. In this chapter, as in all of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses will recall events in a topical manner.

These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel, beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the plain over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban and Hazeroth, and De-Zahab; [Deut. 1:1]

Moses is a very exact person. We already know where he is—he is at Jordan Jericho, across from the city of Jericho where Joshua will invade in a month or so. The phrase, beyond the Jordan, refers to the east side of the Jordan (Deut. 3:20, 25). The term wilderness is a general term, referring to the uninhabited areas that the Jews transversed. The plain, or Arabah—it is a proper noun when used with a definite article as it is here—is the valley which runs from the sea of Galilee down to the Gulf of Aqaba, and this name is retained in the name Wady el-Arabah. These other areas might describe the border of Arabah. We have never heard of Suph before, and it occurs nowhere else in the Bible. The word means reeds and it might be the area of the Dead Sea which extends southward or the gulf of Aqaba extending northward. In either case, it is south of where Moses and the children of Israel are right now. Another option is tha there are reeds off the Jericho River at that place. Paran is a roughly defined area north-northwest of the Gulf of Aqaba and Hazeroth, a stopping point, was along the Gulf of Aqaba. The city or area of Laban is mentioned only here and some think it might refer to Libnah, although that would be possibly too far north. Tophel is sometimes identified with Tafile, which is fifteen miles southeast of the Dead Sea. I could not even find De-Zahab or Zahab in my Bible dictionaries or encyclopedias. The point of this geography is that these areas are pretty well spread out, however, they likely are the bordering area for Arabah.

J. Vernon McGee gives the brief description of the promised land, including Jerusalem, which he could see from Mount Nebo: What I saw did not look like a promised land at all. It looked like a total waste, and this reveals what has happened to that land down through the centuries. When Moses looked at it, I think he was seeing a green and a good land. Today it is a desert. It looks like the desert area of California and Arizona

The journey from Mount Sinai (or, Horeb) to Kadesh-barnea, would be eleven days. There is a certain amount of irony exhibited by the the author here; from Mount Sinai, to enter into the land, for the average person, would have been an eleven day journey. Israel took over thrity-eight years to complete this same journey.

There are around twenty stops between the wilderness of Sinai and Kadesh-barnea listed in Num. 33:15–36. ZPEB associates Horeb (the Mount of God in Ex. 3:1) with Mount Sinai, which makes sense because the golden calf incident, which occurred when Moses was receiving the Law, was at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex. 32 Psalm 106:19). However, Horeb is separate from Mount Sinai in Ex. 17:6 in Rephidim, which is one stop away from Mount Sinai (Ex. 17:1–17 Num. 33:14–15). This obviously causes us some severe problems. Horeb is thought to be synonymous with Mount Sinai, but then separated from Mount Sinai. So we need to tackle the Doctrine of Horeb—not finished yet!! Mount Seir is in Edom, where the descendants of Esau, Jacob's twin brother, lived. This places the Jews directly north of the Gulf of Aqaba, along which the Israelites traveled toward the Land of Promise. Kadesh-barnea was their last stop prior to sending the spies into the land. This short travelogue will be the time period which Moses speaks of in this chapter, which begins in Num. 10:11, the date being 2/20/2 ae

and ends with Num. 14:45, perhaps a few months later (with the exception of Moses choosing men to judge under him, which goes back to Ex. 18, not too much earlier than 2/20/2 ae).

These first two verses tie the book of Deuteronomy to the rest of the Pentateuch. If we leave out the areas listed, then we have The sermons of Moses to the people up to the eleventh month of the fortieth year.

And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first [day] of the month Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that Y^ehowah had commanded him concerning them; [Deut. 1:3]

The date of this message is 11/1/40 ae, thirty-eight years after the events herein described, making this roughly 1407 bc. Almost all of the book of Deuteronomy will be a quotation of Moses speaking to the children of Israel. This is his swan song, his farewell sermon. Being that this sermon is about thirty-five pages long, this would have been delivered over a period of several days. Moses will recall this history of the fathers of his listeners and properly interpret this history for them. This verse does not tell us that God specifically commanded Moses to deliver these sermons; Moses took it upon himself, operating under the influence and guidance of God the Holy Spirit, to teach the things to the generation of promise the things spoken by God to Moses and delivered to their parents, gen X.

After his striking down down Sihon king of the Amorite, who was dwelling in Heshbon, and Og, king of the Bashan [or, king of the wide, open area], who was dwelling in Ashtaroth in

Edrei, [Deut. 1:4]

Having only a very rudimentary understanding of the Hebrew language, I am dependent upon my language sources, which occasionally fail me. Here, for instance, Owen's translates this as the king of Bashan, whereas it actually reads king of the Bashan; which accounts for other translations you may have read. Bashan means plain, large open area, champaign; and, as was mentioned back in Num. 33:21, is not necessarily the name given to that country by the natives, but could be a designation given it by Moses or by the Israelites. The definite article seems to indicate that.

The way v. 4 reads, it sounds as though Ashtaroth is in Edrei; however, this is properly understood as Ashtaroth is where Og, king of the Bashan lived; and Edrei is where he died. This is elliptical and it should read: After his striking down down Sihon king of the Amorite, who was dwelling in Heshbon, and Og, king of the Bashan [or, king of the wide, open area], who was dwelling in Ashtaroth [whom he struck down] in Edrei. The and as is found in several of the other codices, helps us somewhat with this understanding. It is clear from Num. 21:33 and Deut. 3:1 that Edrei is where the Israelites defeated Og, king of the Bashan.

Israel has just had two great victories east of the Jordan, conquering a great deal of land which has gone to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and a portion of the tribe of Manasseh. These victories were principally the efforts of the generation of promise. But Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his border. So Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. The Israel struck him down with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon; for the border of the sons of Ammon [was] Jazer. And Israel took all these cities and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her villages (Num. 21:23–25).

There is a verb in the next verse which is difficult. First let's examine what other translators have done:

The Emphasized Bible ...did Moses take in hand [or, to take upon himself]

to expound this law, saying...

The verb in question is the Hiphil perfect of yâal (ל ַא ָי ) [pronounced yaw-AHL] and BDB gives its meanings variously as to show willingness, to be pleased, to determine, to undertake. In the Niphal, the easier version, this means to be foolish. However, the Hiphil is tougher to follow. We find this verb in the Hiphil perfect in Gen. 18:27 and 31, translated in the NASB venture, and footnoted as undertaken. We don't see this verb again in the Hiphil perfect until Joshua 7:7, where it is translated willing, content. We find this verb several times in the Hiphil imperfect in Ex. 2:21 Joshua 17:12 Judges 1:27, 35 17:11. What appears to be the case is that this is an act of free will, this is an act where a person desires to do something, but it comes not from lust but from contentment from a comfortable position; even from a relaxed mental attitude. I have willingly chosen to translate this willingly chose. Strong's #2974 BDB #383

Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses willingly chose to explain this law, saying: [Deut. 1:5]

God had already given the Law to Moses who had given it to the people. Moses had been enjoined to write it down, which he did, and, we will see later in Deuteronomy, that the Law was, in some way, distributed (not to every person or to every tribe, but the general population did have some access to it, as they will be directed to write verses down and carry them around and learn them. So Moses is not giving them the Law here, but he is explaining it. The Law which Moses spoke of was more than the actual words spoken by God between Ex. 20 and Num. 36. Here, the use of the word Law, goes beyond the Ten Commandments and the ordinances and the divil and criminal laws recorded by Moses. Here, the word law, if we look to what Moses will begin explaining, covers the recorded events of the previous three books of Scripture. How should I put this? God the Holy Spirit definitely, and Moses, probably, recognized that all which had been recorded by Moses in the Pentateuch was the Law of God. Near the end of his life, Moses will definitely realize that he is recording God's Word. That will be the clear indication of Deut. 4:1 and 12:32. Moses teaches, develops, interprets, and adjusts the Law throughout the book of Deuteronomy, applying it to different sets of circumstances (they were in peace outside of their country and how they were looking at entering their land, going to war and being at war for a considerable amound of time. The book of Deuteronomy renews the covenant which God had made with their fathers of the Jews.

Although the book of Numbers appeared to end artificially and abruptly. there is no doubt that this is a new topic or a new book. We have five verses which introduce this book. As you have found out, I am interested in certain details, such as, how did this come to be written down? I have three different notions: (1) Moses wrote his sermons down, much in the way that many studied pastors do, making certain points, referring back to certain doctrines and occurrences, keeping in mind that this is being spoken to an audience. (2) Moses may have verbally put this sermon together and spoke it to his servant Joshua, who wrote it down and Moses delivered it from his notes. (3) Moses may have spoken extemporaneously, which appears to be the case, but then it had to be written down in order for us to have it in the form that we do today. Either Moses wrote this down after the fact (which I find doubtful) or these are the notes that Joshua took. I favor #1 or #3. I like option #1 just because a pastor should have something to say and that comes as a result of study. The idea of a pastor just standing in front of his congregation just winging it, as though God's Word comes directly from him, makes me nauseous. Usually what is delivered under those circumstances is pap, half-truths and a great many inaccuracies. At best, the pastor might evangelize his congregation for the umpteenth time.

Moses did have a different sort of seminary professor than most of us have had (the Lord Jesus Christ Himself); but then his professor was certainly more exacting than ours. In either option, Moses had the student hours behind him. I originally leaned toward option #3, as we smoothly move from the book of Deuteronomy into the death of Moses, into the book of Joshua, both of which were recorded by Joshua. What more natural thing would there have been than to have written the sermons of Moses as he gave them and then continue with a post script? After writing about the death of Moses, then Joshua would have realized that that is part of his duties under Y^ehowah, to record the history of Israel and the doctrine of Jesus Christ. However, there is a passage or two in Deuteronomy (Deut. 31:9, 24) which tell us this was written by the hand of Moses.

One of the things which I find fascinating are the actual nuts and bolts of what is really occurring. I don't believe that I have even seen this addressed in this way? There are over two million Israelites. With a microphone system and a stage speaker, it would have been difficult to address even a quarter of that number. There is no indication that Moses had either, nor have I found yet a supernatural implication. There are millions of Christians on this planet; even in this nation. Only a fraction of those actually have a real interest in God's Word. If there is an inconvenience tied to attending church, such as distance or lack of a nursery, then some will not attend. If they oversleep or don't feel like getting up in the morning, others will not attend. If it is not a friendly church or if there are no activities arranged for the young people or for the single adults or for the retired but still active, then some will not attend. The point here is that not all two million of these Israelites have a strong interest in God's Word and there are certainly inconveniences and things that they would object to. We too often try to lump groups of people together as though they are one person. This is the essential basis of all prejudice. Here we have two million individuals, far greater than their predecessors, but all carrying within them one each old sin nature. Therefore, some would attend these talks of Moses and many would not. We will see a certain amount of repetition in these sermons of Moses—they are given in such a way, that those who attend several sessions will get something new each time, but those who attend only a few, will walk away with important information also. I recall bringing an evangelist into our high school and he spoke six or seven times in a row. The students flocked to see him, some staying for all sessions. He gave the save essential message each time, but each time is was different enough that anyone attending all sessions got something new everytime. I know this, as I attended all sessions.

So we have Moses speaking to a huge group of people, perhaps as many as several thousand during each session. We have complete silence during his message and all the weather conditions are perfectly suited for his message to reach the entire congregation. Furthermore, this information was also recorded, word-for-word, so that others could hear what Moses had to say.

"Y^ehowah our God has spoken to us in Horeb, saying, 'Enough of you—of dwelling in this mount; [Deut. 1:6]

This begins Moses' first spoken discourse as recorded in Deuteronomy. This will continue until Deut. 4:40, wherein we will have perhaps a word of explanation or an appendium (vv. 41–49), followed by his second disertation.

My hypothesis is that Horeb is a designation for several different mountains; but I have not finished its study. Here it makes sense for us to be speaking of Mount Sinai, which is the second longest place where the Jews stayed prior to entering the land (they remained there about a year). The method here is specific. God psoke directly to Moses and told Moses it was time to move out. This commandment was certainly not intended for Moses only, but for all the congregation of Israel. However, Moses, as commander and chief of two million people—was he to wander about from tent to tent saying, it's time to get going? That is impractical. Now it came about in the second year, in the second month on the twentieth of the month that the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony; and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settle down in the wilderness of Paran. so they moved out for the first time according to the commandment of Y^ehowah through Moses (Num. 10:11–13). God had already commanded the children of Israel that when the cloud was lifted up from the tabernacle that it was time to move out. They moved to Mount Sinai under those directions and, having spent a year or so there, were moving out again.

" 'Turn and journey for you, and enter the mount of the Amorite, and to all its neighboring places, in the plain [or, in the Arabah], in the south [or, in the Negev], and in the haven of the sea, the land of the Canaanites, and of Lebanon, to the great river, the river Euphrates; [Deut. 1:7]

This are the places where God has told Israel to go. This is not a travelogue, like Num. 33, but it is a list of that which God would give to Israel. The mount of the Amorite is the area east of the Jordan, around the two seas; the Arabah is the area south, south east of Israel—north, northwest of the Gulf of Aqaba. The Negev is the area directly south and southwest of Israel. The land of the Canaanites is Israel, with Lebanon being slightly north of that on the coast of the Mediteranean. The last phrase is the surprise—this is the common designation for the River Euphrates. Suddenly we are thrown into the middle of the cradle of modern civilization, to the far east of Israel, in the land of Babylon. Even as a border, it is some distance from where we consider to be Israel proper. However, this is the land promised originally by God to Abram. On that day, Y^ehowah made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as gar as the great river, the river Euphrates." (Gen. 15:18). "Every place on which the sole of your foot will tread will be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the Western Sea [i.e., the Mediterranean]." (Deut. 11:24).

" 'See, I have set before you the land; go in and possess the land which Y^ehowah has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them, and to their descendants [lit., seed] after them.' [Deut. 1:8]

This has been God's command to Israel since they left Mount Sinai—they were to go into the land and take it. God gave the land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to their descendants. It was now to claim this land. Notice that this promise was not fulfilled until after their deaths. God has promises open to us concerning our salvation and our eternal future, the complete fulfillment of which doe snot come to pass until after our death.

"And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I am not able by myself to bear you; [Deut. 1:9]

Moses, on several occasions, had asked God to relieve him of his duties. He was reluctant to lead the Jews in the first place, and faced incredible pressure from their incredible malcontent. Moses appointed men under him on a couple of different instances. Moses was first advised by his father-in-law: And Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is took heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me; I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You are the people's representative before God and you bring the disputes to God. Then you teach them the statutes and the laws and make known to them the way in which they are to walk, and the work they are to do. Furthermore, you will select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you will place them [as] leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties and leaders of tens. And let them judge the people at all times; and let it be tht every major dispute thtey will bring to you, but every minor dispute, they themselves will judge. soi it will be easier for you, and they will bear [responsibility] with you. If you do this thing and God command you [to do this thing], then you will be able to endure, and all these people will also go to their place in peace." So Moses listened to his father-in-law, and did all that he had said (Ex. 18:17–24). This organization petered out because all of the men who were chosen by Moses had died the sin unto death, with a very few exceptions, and Moses had to delegate the responsibility again. So Moses said to Y^ehowah, "Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found grace in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all ths people upon me? Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You would say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You had sworn to their fathers'? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, 'Give us meat that we may eat!' I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is took burdeonsome for me." Y^ehowah therefore said to Moses, "Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the spirit, Who is upon you, and I will place [Him] upon them; and they will bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone." (Num. 11:11–14, 16–17).

"Y^ehowah your God has multiplied you, and, observe, you [all] [are] today like the stars of the heavens for multitude; [Deut. 1:10]

The first phrase of this verse, Y^ehowah your God, occurs nearly 300 times in this book alone, apart from the number of times the proper name of God is used (Y^ehowah). Moses had almost exclusive speaking rights to God, and the people themselves saw many manifestations of God and many miracles, but they did not speak to Him face-to-face. Moses emphasizes that Y^ehowah is their God as well as his; in fact, this phrase downplays Moses' special relationship with God and emphasizes that these Jews have a particularly close relationship with Y^ehowah, God of the Universe. In a very few weeks, Moses will be gone; however, Israel will not fall apart. God gave them their great leader and they still have God. They will not have the gift, but they will still have the Giver, Who is infinitely greater. Therefore, Moses will to emphasize nearly 300 times that, although he will be gone when they enter into the Land of Promise, Y^ehowah their God will lead them and He will fight for them.

One of the problems in the book of Numbers was the vast quantity of Israelites that some scholars have been caused to doubt these numbers. However, there is every indication that there were an unusually large number of Jews. A hundred thousand Jews is large, but not really that unusual, other than they are traveling together as a group. However, two million Jews is an incredibly large number, appearing to the casual observer as the stars in the heavens. When God first made this promise to Abram, Abram had no sons whatsoever. And Abram said, "O, Y^ehowah God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus?" And Abram said, "Since You have given to me no offspring, a son of my house will be my heir." Then, observe, the Word of Y^ehowah came to him, saying, "This man will ot be your heir, but one who shall come forth from your own loins—he will be your heir." And He took him outside and said "Now look toward the heavens and number the stars; you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Then he believed in Y^ehowah and He determined it to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:2–6; see also Gen. 18:17–19 22:15–18). God repeated these promises to Isaac and to Jacob. And Y^ehowah appear to him [Isaac] and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I will tell you. Remain in this land and I will be with you and I will bless you, for to you and to your descendants will I give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. And I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and I will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My [designated] responsibilities [for him] and My commandments and My statutes and My laws." (Gen. 26:2–5). And he [Jacob] had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. and behold, Y^ehowah stood above it and said, "I am Y^ehowah, the God yof your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie. I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, observe, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." (Gen. 28:12–15).

"May Y^ehowah God of your fathers continue adding to you, as you [all] [are], a thousand times, and may He continue blessing you as He has promised [lit., spoken to] you. [Deut. 1:11]

The intent of the Hiphil (or, causative) stem likely reads as translated. Young's Translation reads: Jehovah, God of your fathers, is adding to you, as ye are, a thousand times, and doth bless you as He hath spoken to you. However, in this context, it sounds reasonable for Moses to say, "Y^ehowah, your God has multiplied you, and, observe, you are this day as the stars of heaven in multitude. May Y^ehowah, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand--fold more than you are, and bless you, just as He has promised you!" Not only has God fulfilled the promise to Abrahamn to make his seed, these Jews, but Moses wishes that God continue to bless them in numbers. Recall that this time in history was a time when soaring population growth was a wonderful thing.

Even though the bulk of two million Jews had been sentenced to the sin unto death and that had been carried out, there were still a large number of believing Jews who remained. "Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy persons in all, and now Y^ehowah your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven." (Deut. 10:22).

"How do I bear your [wearisome] pressure by myself, and your burden and your strife? [Deut. 1:12]

It was quite difficult for Moses. He had led the life of a quiet sheepherder for a long time, his chief difficulty in life was his wife—however, he got along quite well with his in-laws. However, the Jews were under a lot of pressure and Moses felt as if he carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders. Every problem that these Jews had were his problems. People seek power for a great many reasons, but Moses did not. He took responsibility for the people under his authority and defended and protected them, although they often had roast Moses for Sunday dinner. A man with authority takes responsibility for those under him. To add to these pressures were the times that these people would complain to Moses and oppose God and God's grace. It was more than any great man could handle.

It might be worthwhile examining these three words. Tôrach (ח ַרֹט ) [pronounced TO-rahk] is a rarely used word (here and Isa. 1:14) with a rarely used verb cognate (Job 37:11); with such scant references, we will have to go with load, burden, wearisome pressure; although there are other Hebrew words which mean that. Strong's #2960 BDB #382. The second word is another word for burden: massâ (א ָ ַמ ) [pronounced mahs-SAW] and it is found throughout the Old Testament consistently translated

burden (Num. 4:15, 19 2Kings 8:9 Isa. 15:1 17:1). Strong's #4853 BDB #672 The last word is rîy^bv (בי .ר) [pronounced ree^bv] and it means strife, dispute, controversy. This word is used often for legal contentions. These are all the legal disputes which the Jews brought before Moses. Strong's #7379 BDB #936 You might at first think that such power and authority would be great. People come to you with their disagreements and you get to tell them how it's going to be resolved. Some love to solve other people's problems. Guaranteed, after years of these disputes, many of them petty and riddled with personal vendettas, that they would become quite wearisome.

"Give for yourselves men, wise and intelligent, and known to your tribes, and I will set them for your heads; [Deut. 1:13]

This is when Moses could no longer handle all the pressure of the continually court cases which were brought before him. Besides all of his great responsibilities, he was the judge and jury for all disputes great and small. It was actually his father-in-law who suggested that he delegate this responsibility to others. What is put into place is a system of leadership and authority.

"And you [all] answered me and said, 'Good [is] is the thing which you have said—[it would be good] to do.' [Deut. 1:14]

Moses actually had to do this on a couple of occasions. Once, when he was overburdened with court cases (this was at the suggestion of his father-in-law) and once when the sheer pressure of leadership was beyond what he could handle and God gave him men below him to delegate authority to.

"And I took the heads of your tribes, mean, wise and known, and I appointed them heads over you, princes of thousands, and princes of hundred, and princes of fifties, and princes of tens, and authorities for your tribes. [Deut. 1:15]

I must say that this sounds interesting—I can see authorities over fifty, but an authority appointed over ten, which is the size of a large, basic family unit or a very small extended family unit—that seems excessive. What I am assuming here is that there responsibilities were very limited. We have two million people who are on the move, spending forty years in a wilderness and desert area. Information has to be disseminated on a regular basis. Not everyone could see the tabernacle, nor could there be much organization when it came to movement. However, this allowed for the dissemination of information. Let me see if I can explain this on a level that we can understand. In teaching for twenty or more years, there were meetings with the entire faculty (roughly 150) and there were meetings with the heads of each teaching department, and they in turn met with their departments (5–20) and explained the pertinent information to their department. So rather than a court system designed for ten people (or even fifty), this was a way that Moses could speak to all of the people or get the word out to all of the people without publishing a daily newspaper or running the information on a computer service that everyone could download or announcing it on the morning show on TV. Depending on what was covered, groups of ten to a thousand would be pretty much the range of crowd size that any one individual could communicate to.

"And I commanded your judges at that time, saying 'Carefully listen to both sides of a dispute [literally, hearkening between your brothers], the you [all] will judge righteousness between a man and his brother and his temporary resident; [Deut. 1:16]

"There will be one standard for you; it will be for the emmigrant as well as the native, for I am Y^ehowah your God." (Lev. 24:22). One of the most revolutionary aspects of Jewish Law was the emphasis upon fairness to be delivered to the temporary resident—the man from another country who was traveling through Israel or who had decided to stay for awhile. In most countries, the immigrant and the alien will be the first people to be exploited. Their treatment by employers, policemen, the court system will often be unduly harsh. Israel was a light to the world—they represented Y^ehowah, the one true God, to the world. God is a God of righteousness and justice and perfection and Y^ehowah was the God of all mankind. Therefore, his servants could not show partiality.

" 'You [all] will not discern faces in the judgment; as the little, so the great you [all] will hear; you will not be afraid of the face of any, for the judgment is God's and the thing which is too hard for you, you [all] will bring near to me, and I will hear it.' [Deut. 1:17]

In both places where the word judgment appears, it is preceded by the definite article. This is not a reference to s specific judgment which is pending; Moses does not have a specific judgment in mind that he is referring to. Here the definite article is one of species, meaning that this refers to any particular judgment that they are faced with.

"You will do no injustice in judgment; you will not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly." (Lev. 19:15). People are prejudice in court cases and disputes for all kinds of reasons. In Houston, there is no zoning, so most neighborhoods are regulated by a neighborhood association. It is not unusual for such an association to come down hard for minor infractions on someone who they do not know or do not like, yet to look the other way for offenses committed by a friend on the board or a member of the board itself. Similarly, neighbors will report offenses of people that they do not know, but rarely report offenses of someone that they know and like. In court cases, some people will favor a particular race over another race, some will take the side of the poor over the rich or vice versa—there are so many ways that justice can be perverted. Our system of justice, based very definitely upon the Mosaic Law, is filled with discrepancies and unfair treatment. Moses urged his people against such favoritism—he urged them to listen to a case based upon the merit alone—to ignore the faces of those they are trying, whether friends, or relatives, or strangers, and to examine the facts and render a just decision based upon what is right. And in any case where a judge felt unable to render a proper verdict, then there was the appellant court, the highest court of the land, the judgment of Moses. This even allowed for a situation where a judge was prejudice and did not want to rule, afraid to rule in favor of his family or friends. Such a case could be taken to Moses.

Such a standard of justice is demanded because the Jews are to reflect the character of their God, Y^ehowah—Jesus Christ, the creator of the heavens and the earth. "For Y^ehowah your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty and the awesome God Who does not show partiality nor does He take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love fore the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You will fear [and rspect] Y^ehowah your God; you will serve Him and cling to Him and you will swear by His name." (Deut. 10:17–20). This was not a minor point of the Law—this was repeated several times: "You will appoint for yourselve judges and officefs in all your towns which Y^ehowah your God is giving you, according to your tribes and they will judge the people with righteous judgment. You will not distort justice; you will not be partial and you will not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice and [only] justice you will pursue, and you may live and possess the land which Y^ehowah your God is giving you." (Deut. 16:18–20; see also Deut. 24:17).

So you are not a judge or an arbitrator; you are just Charlie Brown, off the street, whose opinion means little even in your own household. Nevertheless, my brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with personal favoritism. For if a man comes into you assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? (James 2:1–3a, 4). You do this all the time. You have this distorted view of those who are celebrities in this life, whether movie or TV personalities or sports figures, and you think there is something special about them because (1) they entertain you and (2) because they have more money than you can conceive of. These are just people; they have old sin natures; they are unfaithful to their mates and they sin; and many of them will spend eternity in hell. The person wearing trashy clothes or the homeless person—the ones you have spoken disparagingly about—they might be your next door neighbors for all of eternity. These earthly celebrities, as far as your memory goes, will be long gone. Their importance will fade just like the monetary wealth that you accumulated in this lifetime will fade. You are a witness to everyone around you, no matter how inferior or superior you consider them to be. Your giving inordinant defference slights both the rich and the poor alike; the rich feel as though they deserve your adoration because of something they have done, and the poor feel as though you have slighted them. In either case, you have been a poor witness for Jesus Christ.

We have a long history of what results when we judge a person incorrectly. The Jews chose Saul as their king, because he was tall, handsome, seemingly intelligent with what appeared to be some spiritual life. King Saul, Israel's first king, was one of their worst kings. Whe his successor, David, was to be chosen, God told the prophet Samuel: "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for god [sees] not as man sees, for man looks at the appearance, but Y^ehowah looks at the heart." (1Sam. 16:7b).

Moses was the highest authority of the land in the human realm. One of the greatest leaders you can have is a person who has the ability to lead but does not desire that position. Most leaders are warped by lust for power and approbation, as well as greed. Moses was a man of great integrity who would have spent the rest of his life shepherding in Midian had not God specifically called for him to lead Israel.

"And we journeyed from Horeb and traveled all that vast and fearful wilderness which you [all] have seen—the way of the hill country of the Amorites, as Y^ehowah our God had commanded us, and we came in to Kadesh-barnea. [Deut. 1:19]

Even though this movement took place thirty-eight years ago, this is still vivid in the mind of Moses and his hearers; they were in their youth during that time, having known very little other than child slavery in a slightly more hospitable environment prior to this march. However, the descriptors great and terrible, repeated in Deut. 8:15, indicate a graphic recalling of what had occurred before, etched forever in the mind of Moses and his listener. Barnes wrote: This language is such as men would employ after having passed with toil and suffering through the worst part of it, the southern half of the arabah; and more especially when they had but recently rested from their marches in the plain of Shittim, the largest and riches oasis in the whole district on the Eastern bank near the mouth of the Jordan

Moving two million Israelites from point A to point B in a wilderness/desert is a nightmare of logistics. This was simply done through a series of miracles. The books of the Law never hedge on that point. "For Y^ehowah your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years, Y^ehowah your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing." (Deut. 2:7). "He led you through the vast and fearful [or, dreadful] wilderness, serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint. In the wilderness, He fed you manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end." (Deut. 8:15–16; also see Deut. 32:10–12).

The word Amorite is used several ways in the Bible. In Gen. 15:16 and this passage, it refers to the pre-Israelite population in the land of Canaan. The implication might be that the Canaanites, as well as other groups such as the Moabites or the Phœnicians, may have their origins in the Amorite. This general usage of the term, as found in this verse, along with the great similarities in language as found in the Mari texts, is closely related to Ugaritic, Canaanite, Hebrew and Arabic. In fact, there are certain ancient words which are found only in the Mari texts and in the Biblical Hebrew. Rather than indicating a universal trade language (or a language of convenience to facilitate trade), there are likely common origins. Gen. 10:15–16 relates the Canaanites to the Amorites (Canaan was the father of the Amorites). There was, in Gen. 11, a language confusion brought on by the Holy Spirit; so we do not know how many similarities between languages remained. However, this helps to explain why two seperate groups of people, the Amorites (descended from Ham) and the Hebrews (descended from Shem) would have striking similarities in their language—they had the same father, Noah and God obviously allowed some overlap in the languages. The travelogue is from Mount Sinai to the hill country below Judea, south-southwest of the Salt Sea, then across to Kadesh Barnea.

"And I said to you, 'You [all] have come into the hill country of the Amorite, which Y^ehowah our God is giving to us; [Deut. 1:20]

This was the first approach of Israel to the Promised Land. Moses will not be giving a chronological sermon here, because (1) he is not approaching this material chronologically and (2) this is a collection of several sermons given to perhaps slightly different audiences at different times.

" 'Observe, Y^ehowah your God has set before you the land; go up [and] possess [it], as Y^ehowah, God of your fathers, has spoken to you; fear not, nor be frightened.' [Deut. 1:21]

God had given the Land of Promise, the land of Canaan to the Jews, and all they had to do was to go up into the land and take it. God had searched out the land and had determined that it was good. However, he land was filled with degenerate, cancerous groups of people who needed to be wiped out. This was not a racial or a religious or a cultural problem; this was strictly spiritual. The inhabitants of the land had rejected God as god had revealed Himself to them and had chosen to worship the creature rather than the creator. For when they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks; in fact, they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and fourj-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to an immoral status, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever, Amen (Rom. 1:21–26).

The Jews had just seen the premier army of their time destroyed before their eyes—God buried the Egyptian armed forces under millions of gallons of water before their eyes. God had performed miracle after miracle before the eyes of these people. Therefore, they did not have to fear any of the inhabitants of the Land of Promise.

"And you [all] came near to me, all of you, and said, 'Let us send men before us, and they will search for us the land, and they will bring back [to] us word—the way which we should go up into it and the cities unto which we would come in;' [Deut. 1:22]

Some of the translations translate the last portion of this verse: the way which we must go up into it and the cities unto which we must go in. These verbs are in the Qal imperfect, so I don't altogether follow from whence comes the implied imperitive; however, I though this should be noted.

This verse tells us that the idea of sending out a spy force first into Canaan was an idea of the people. They wanted to know what they were getting into. On the surface, there does not appear to be anything wrong with this particular move—in fact, if anything, it seemed to be a prudent thing to do. Some of those who had the ear of Moses suggested this and he Moses took this idea to God, as he was wont to do. Y^ehowah said, "Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you will send a man from each of their fathers' tribes, everyone one a leader among them." So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the mouth of Y^ehowah, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel (Num. 13:2). This is God's permissive will. God knows what the lay of the land is and He knows who the people are who dwell therein. God does not need to have the land carefully reconnoitered. We do not know the motivation of the people, whether they were stalling or being prudent. However, one thing that we learn in the Bible is one of the worst things you can do is appoint a committee to study something and give their collective opinion. The board of decons for a church, with a few wonderful exceptions, are the weakness of the church. Often they stand in opposition to a pastor, sometimes to one who is teaching God's Word faithfully. This is totally wrong in God's plan.

"And this suggestion [lit., the word] is good in my eyes and I took from out of you twelve men, one man for a tribe. [Deut. 1:23]

Moses was to take men who were undoubtedly leaders of the tribes, men upon whom he could depend (or at least, men upon whom he thought he could depend). As things went, these men did what they were supposed to, cooly and professionally, then acted like a bunch of ninnies when they returned.

"And they turned and went up to the hill country, and they came in to the valley of Eshcol, and they spied [lit., tracked or footed] it; [Deut. 1:24]

The land around the Salt Sea is hill country; below that to the west is the valley, which runs to the Mediteranean Sea. This valley area is mostly forested, surrounded by grassland, surrounded by (perhaps) some desert area (although, at that time, it could have been mostly forest). This valley, running through the midst of Israel was the area which was examined carefully by the spies. It is from this valley that the spies brought back the enormous grape cluster. The word Eshcol means a cluster of grapes.

"And they brought with their hand from the produce [or, fruit] of the land, and brought it down to us, and brought us back word, and said, 'Good is the land which Y^ehowah our God is giving to us.' [Deut. 1:25]

This is all in accordance with the promise of God. This particular area, particularly compared to the surrounding regions, was beautiful and prosperous, much more so then than now.

"And you [all] were not willing to go up, and you [all] provoked the mouth of Y^ehowah your God; [Deut. 1:26]

Both the spies, ten of them at least, and the people were guilty of the sin of fear here. The ten campaigned hard to keep from having to go into the land agressively, and the people believed them. Joshua and Caleb, two of the spies, had the wherewithall to know that God would protect them and deliver the land into their hands. God had fulfilled all of His promises to them and they were willing to trust God. Despite the minority report and despite the signs and wonders that they had observed first hand, the people chose instead to fear the giants of the land and refused to go against them.

"And you murmured in your tents, and you said, 'In Y^ehowah's hating us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorite—to destroy us; [Deut. 1:27]

It is amazing how easily these Jews were dissuaded. They had heard two conflicting reports; the minority report of Caleb and Joshua who urged them to go up into the land and to take it; and the majority report that the giants of the land were just too big for the Jews to go in and conquer. The first report agreed with the promises of Y^ehowah and the second did not. The people had free will and they chose to go against the promises of God. After hearing both sides, the people cried and mumbled and complained to one another, and the concensus the next morning was Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the entire congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! And why is Y^ehowah bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?" (Num. 14:1–3). And the irony is that Moses is now speaking to the little ones who their parents said would become plunder. The Psalmist many years later reminds them: They had forgot the God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt—wonders in the land of Ham; awesome things by the red Sea. Therefore, He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen on stood in the breach before Him, to turn away His wrath from destroying them. Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe in His Word, but they grumbled in their tents; they did not listen to the voice of Y^ehowah; therefore, He swore to them that He would cast them down in the wilderness (Psalm 106:21–26).

" 'Where can we go up? Our brothers have melted our heart

, saying, A people greater and taller than we, cities great and walled up [or fortified] to heaven, and also we have see there sons of Anakim.' [Deut. 1:28]

The western Samaritan and the Septuagint codices read greater and more in number than we; however there were very few populations which rivaled the size of the Jewish race. The inordinately large population of Israel has been attacked from several sides, including from fundamentalist Christianity. There are many reasonable arguments put forth to decrease the size of Israel, but then God's promise to make them as the stars of heaven becomes less significant in the process. Furthermore, as things stand, all the numbers in Scripture make sense; reduce the population by claiming that the word thousand stands for family, and the numbers no longer add up.

We have all seen the comedy routine where someone who is afraid faces a man with a gun, and, when later telling others about it, a small .38 seems to turn into a .44 magnum. The Jewish people were likely shorter than average. I hate to put any numbers on this, but let's say their males were along the lines of five foot to five foot six, for the most part. The giants in the land don't have to be seven or eight foot tall. They were likely around six foot tall. Ten of the spies, rather than just calling these people tall, they exaggerated somewhat. They referred to the people of Palestine as Nephilim. "There also we saw the Nephilim—the sons of Anak of the Nephilim—and we became like grasshoppers inour own sight, and so we were in their sight." (Num. 13:33). This is pure exaggeration. The Jews knew of the Nephilim (and that fact is interesting). They were a cross between the human race and angelic creation and the descendants of same. This was at a time when God allowed the co-mingling of angelic creation and mankind (certainly Satan suggested in his appeal trial that, if he could have some hands on ability with respect to the earth, that he would make it greater than what God had first created). The demonic acts included sexual relations with women and the earth became filled with part man, part angel inhabitants. In fact, there was so much violence in the world, that, by the time of Noah, that there were few if any 100% human males on the earth, apart from Noah and his immediate family. All flesh had become corrupted. It was this race that God removed from the earth with a flood (God used water to cleanse the earth). This race of partial man was known throughout the ancient worlds, becoming a part of their mythologies (almost all great ancient peoples have a mythological history of an earth with half-man, half-god beings existing at one time). The accurate account is found in Genesis 9 and these creatures were known as Nephilim; however, these people in Palestine were not Nephilim—that was an exaggeration to the n^th degree. The exaggeration is more apparent by the remark walled up to heaven. The noun is mî^bv^etsâr (ר ָצ ׃ב ̣מ ) [pronounced miv^e-TZAWR] and it is translated strongholds, fenced, fortress. It refers to a city where there have been precautions taken in order to preserve its integrity from attack from without. Strong's #4013 BDB #131 The corresponding verb, which is found here, is the Qal passive participle of bâtsar (ר ַצ ָ ) [pronounced baw-TZAHR], which means walled-up, fenced, fortified in the Qal passive participle; in the Qal active participle, it is translated grape-gatherer (Jer. 6:9 49:9 Obad. 5*). Strong's #1219 BDB #130 The exaggeration is obvious when we are told these cities are walled-up to heaven. It is another one of those portions of the Bible when it is clear that this is not to be taken literally. However, the spies who did not want to go into battle against these giants used this exaggeration in order to similarly disuade the others of their camp.

The reference to the Anakim is first found in Num. 13. We have no genealogy leading us to them. However, they were well-known to the Israelites. These Jews do have an academic background; that is, even during their time in Egypt, even under great slavery, they were aware of some of the things which went on in the outside world and the size and power of the Anakim was legend. Furthermore, the cities in Palestine were fortified. The Jews were not allowed a fortified city; it is likely that the cities in Egypt were not walled so they have the question, how can they go up? Where can they go up? How is it possible to invade this city? The cities are surrounded by great walls and behind the walls are giants. "But the men who had gone up with Caleb [and Joshua] said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us." So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spired out, saying, "The land through which we have gone in spying it out is a land that devours in inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of stature. The people who live in the land are strong and the cities are fortified—ver large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan." (Num. 13:31–32, 28b).

There are two kinds of fear herein exhibited; just a general, unshakable, unreasoning fear—and a specific fear of the inhabitants of Palestine. Moses was oriented to God's plan; however, these people were not. Moses did say this to the children of Israel; however, he did not record this in the book of Numbers. Moses also said this to them when they faced Egypt: But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the deliverance of Y^ehowah which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. Y^ehowah will fight for you while you keep silent." (Ex. 14:13–14). God knew about the giants in eternity past and, had Israel marched into the land as per God's command, they would have beaten these giants. He knows about every adversity in our lives and has made provision for them—and God did this in eternity past. He had done the same for Israel, and 600,000 men died, along with most of their wives, because they feared when God told them not to fear.

" 'Y^ehowah, your God, Who goes before you—He will fight for you, according to all that He has done with you in Egypt before your eyes; [Deut. 1:30]

This only stands to reason—the purpose of leaving Egypt was to go to the Land of Promise, which God had promised for centuries to the seed of Abraham and it would be illogical for God to lead the people out of Egypt with great signs against great odds, and then desert the people at the edge of Palestine. The Jews have seen God perform great miracles; why would He not keep His word and continue to perform these miracles, where needed? Moses repeats this promise in Deut. 3:22 and 20:4.

" 'And in the wilderness, where you have seen that Y^ehowah your God had carried you as a man bearing his son, in all the way which you [all] have gone, till you came into this place. [Deut. 1:31]

The movement of two million people through deserts and wilderness in areas which could potentially be filled with enemies, through periods of no food and water, providing such necessities by miracles. The Jews witnessed these things day after day—assisting them in the invasion of Palestine would be a small thing for God to do. Paul spoke to a group of Jews in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch on his first missionary journey: "And for a period of about forty years, He bore them up in His arms as a nurse in the wilderness." (Acts 13:18). Furthermore, Israel is God's forever: "Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel; You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; even to your old age, I will be the same and even to your graying years I will bear [you]. I am He and I will carry [you]; and I will bear [you] and I will deliver [you]." (Isa. 46:3).

" 'And in this matter you [all] did not place trust in Y^ehowah your God, [Deut. 1:32]

The first generation, generation X, placed little or no faith in God. God made continued promises to the, showed them great signs and miracles, and they refused to trust Him. Moses trusted God in almost all things. When God game him directions, he followed these directions explicitly. Generation X was just the opposite. "Therefore, I was angry with this generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways.' As I swore in My wrath, 'They will not enter My rest.' " (Heb. 3:9–10). Jude was even more harsh than the writer of Hebrews: Now I desire to remind you, thought you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe (Jude 5). How do you think that you will personally fair in this life if you choose not to trust the Lord Who bought you?

" 'Who is going before you in the way to search out for you a place for your encampment, in fire by night, to show you the way in which you [all] should go, and in a cloud by day.' [Deut. 1:33]

God gave these people something that they could all see, each and every day. When they were moving toward the Land of Promise, God led them with a cloud and with fire, and they could all visually see that. Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning. so it was continuously; the cloud would cover it, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp. at the mouth of Y^ehowah the sons of Israel would set out and at the mouth of Y^ehowah they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped. Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the sons of Israel would keep Y^ehowah's charge and they remained camped. Then according to the mouth of Y^ehowah they set out...whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out (Num. 9:15–20, 22). This cloud and fire thing was mentioned because every Jew who wanted to could, on any given day, go to the tabernacle and see the cloud or the fire. Daily, there was a sign to them that God was faithful; that God could be trusted. This is apart from the daily sign that God provided them with manna.

Here, as in many other areas, the Jews were totally illogical—if God is going to lead them all the way from Egypt to Palestine, it makes absolutely no sense for Him to desert them at the foot of Palestine. We believers find the same thing in our lives. God leads us or deposits us in a particular geographical area, and—perhaps due to a small amount of adversity—we suddenly stop trusting Him, even though he has opened all the doors up until that point in time. God does not take us somewhere and suddenly drop out of sight and leave us to the wolves, as it were. When God leads, He remains with us. Even when we screw up, God remains with us. However, our problems and the mess that we make of our lives are to be solved by Him in His way.

"And Y^ehowah heard the voice of your words, and He was angry, and He swore [to you] saying, [Deut. 1:34]

The night prior to the entrance into the land, gen X cried and complained, bitched and moaned, as they were famous for. Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "It would have been preferable to die in the land of Egypt or to die in the wilderness!" (Num. 14:1–2). God's stated preference was to kill every Jew and begin His nation anew with Moses. And Y^ehowah said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? I will strike them down with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they." (Num. 14:11–12). Moses doesn't tell this generation, at least in these messages, that God was ready to kill them all and begin all over again.

" 'Not one of these men of this evil generation sees the good land which I have sworn to give to your fathers; [Deut. 1:35]

God was actually much more graphic than this. And Y^ehowah said to Moses and Aaron, saying, "How long [must I remain] with this evil generation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. Say to them, 'As I live,' says Y^ehowah, 'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.' " (Num. 14:26–29). Moses doesn't exactly sugar coat what God told him; however, he isn't quite as graphic as your corspes will fall in this wilderness. One of the things which this generation X chanted was it would have been better to have died in the wilderness; God heard their voice and answered their prayer, so to speak. However, Moses is speaking to the children who have, over the past thirty-eight years, been bereaved of their parents, so Moses softens what God said; he is a bit more diplomatic because of his audience.

Generation X could not see past the giants and the fortified walls—the land was exactly as God had promised. God had an agenda which deals with the world, not just with the Jews (we might do well to remember that God's agenda still is with the world and it does not confined to ourselves or our church). Part of this plan included the destruction of the cancerous growth of people who recognized the beauty and wealth of Palestine and therein settled. Part of God's plane included their elimination. So far in medicine, the most effective way to stop cancerous growth, when it is possible, it to remove it completely—to cut it out. God must perform such an operation on various groups of people. We see great areas where there is continual warfare. We see great diseases decimating various populations. These things are not random—this is a part of God's plan. This does not mean that every person struck down with a horrible disease is an unbeliever or a believer out of fellowship. God has some of us die in this way as a witness to the unbeliever and to the believer who is out of fellowship. We have nothing to fear from death. Death is immediate deliverance from pain and discomfort, from distress and unhappiness, to perfect happiness and no more sorrow and no more tears. We have this confidence which takes us through the door of death. Our Lord has conquered death.

" 'Except Caleb ben Jephunneh——he saw it, and to him I give the land on which he has walked, and to his sons, because he has fully followed after Y^ehowah.' [Deut. 1:36]

The twelve men who went into the land observed different things. The ten who formed the majority report saw the giants and the fortified cities and did everything in their power to dissuade the children of Israel concerning the movement into Palestine. However, Caleb and Joshua saw the land just as God had promised—they saw the beauty of the land and its great prosperity. The giants and the fortified cities were just a detail. They noticed this and knew that God was able. The key is that Caleb and Joshua knew God's Word and they believed God. Thieme called that knowledge of doctrine and faith-rest. You, as a believer, need to start there, along with the filling of the Holy Spirit. God has tremendous earthly blessings which he has set before you—you need only take them by faith.

Caleb was forty years old when he was sent out to spy the land. At the time of this sermon, he was eighty. It will take Israel only five years to conquer most of the land given them by God, and Caleb will enter the land as strong and as youthful as he was at forty; Caleb told Joshua, "And now behold, Y^ehowah has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Y^ehowah spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now, observe, I am eighty-five years old today. I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in." (Joshua 14:10–11). That is God's grace. Moses too was blessed with youthfulness and health throughout his 120 years on this earth (Deut. 34:7). This is by no means a promise to any of us, but God does bless by providing strength, health and youthfulness. One of the first people who comes to mind is R.B. Thieme, whose father and uncle all died at relatively young ages; however, he always appeared to be vigorous and in the best of health, with very little change in physical appearence over the final twenty or thirty years of his ministry.

The fact that God has given such strength and blessing to some would be a damn good reason to get with His Word.

Caleb also took this statement to mean that he could claim whatever piece of land that he wanted, and that he did in Joshua 14–15, which we will discuss later.

"Also with me Y^ehowah has been angry for your sake, saying, 'Also, you will not go in there.' [Deut. 1:37]

The Jews rebelled against Moses due to the lack of water—this was the second occasion and this was the second generation, the generation of hope—and Moses made the mistake of striking the rock twice rather than speaking to it (Num. 20:11–12). Such a mistake confused the perfect analogy which God had set up.

" 'Joshua, son of Nun, who is standing before you, he will go up into there; you will strengthen him, for he will cause Israel to inherit [the land]. [Deut. 1:38]

Now here is an interesting thing: Moses, when he failed, immediately asked God to take care of his people and asked God to provide for them a leader. He was not even presumptuous enough to choose a leader on their behalf, knowing that men make serious mistakes in this regard. However, notice what is said as compared to what occurred. The Y^ehowah said to Moses, "Go up to this mountain of Abarim and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. And when you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was; for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My mouth to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water." (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin). Then Moses spoke to Y^ehowah , saying, "May Y^ehowah, the god of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of Y^ehowah may ot be like sheep which have no shepherd." (Num. 27:12–17). Moses mentions very little of this to the generation of promise. He doesn't go to the Jews and ask, "Do you think this is fair? Don't you think that god is being too hard on me?" Nor does he go to them and tell them that his first thought, hearing that he would not enter the land was for them—that they have a leader. He only mentions that he will not go into the land and that Joshua will be his replacement. Moses was very grace-oriented and, unless backed into a corner, was not going to sing his own praises to the congregation of Israel. Moses gave up his position of leadershp graciously (who knows, perhaps he was relieved). On several occasions, he made it clear that Joshua, son of Nun, would lead in his stead (Num. 34:17 Deut. 3:28 31:7).

" 'And your infants, of whom you [all] had said, "For a prey they are," and your sons who have not known today good and evil, they will to in there and to them I will give it, and they will possess it; [Deut. 1:39]

Moses is speaking to the infants, however, he is speaking of a time forty years ago when God spoke to Moses to speak to the people, and in this way, spoke to this degenerate generation, gen X. God promised that the generation of promise would take the land, and now Moses is speaking to these people prior to their invasion of the land. [Generation X is complaining about their ot in life] "And why is Y^ehowah bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?" (Num. 14:3). God's response: "Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness." (Num. 14:32).

This passage gives us some clue as to the age of accountability, but we have to be careful here. God had specific duties for the generation of men who were twenty years and older; they were to believe God, enter into the land and take it from the population which lived there. God had given them a specific responsibility and they failed at that responsibility. Those who were nineteen and below were not yet given this responsibility, so they were not yet responsible. I have heard one person place the age of accountability at age twenty because of this passage. We have that age in this place because that is the age cutoff that God assigned specific responsibilities to. However, bear in mind the context and the dispensation. These people did not have the Holy Spirit as we have the Holy Spirit. It is my opinion that today the age of accountability in a civilized society is much younger. I hesitate to place a number on it, but perhaps somewhere between age four and twelve. Children can be saved somewhere between ages three and six. Furthermore, it should be clear to any of you who know anything about young people and drugs that some children begin taking drugs at age eight or ten or twelve and it damages their lives and psyches for the rest of their time on earth. If God allows young people to do this to themselves, then that would be the time that a child has some responsibility in the presence of God.

One thing is absolutely clear: if you have children, you must begin early with them. They need to see you as an example of faith and they need to hear the gospel. They need to understand Who Jesus Christ is and that they must make a decision from their own soul. Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Prov. 22:6). As a child, I was stubborn, self-willed and as hard-headed as children go; and this carried on into my early twenties. However, my parents, who were both unbelievers, gave me some of the very best training and discipline along with their personal consistent daily example of moral behavior. However, although I departed from their excellent teaching on a consistent basis for many years, I returned to it. Luckily, I was not too old before I began to realize that my parents had given me a great deal in the way of love, training and discipline. So all children need consistent training, guidance, your good example, and they need the gospel.

J. Vernon McGee points out that this passage tells us that children who die in infancy are automatically saved. The children who were not faced with the responsibility of going to war under God's direction did not die the sin unto death as did their parents. They were given the exact same chance as their parents had. God allowed them to live and then, when the time was right, placed the decision before them.

What we have in the previous few verses is an example of short-term prophecy. God told Israel to go and take the land; Israel did not, so God withdrew, for that generation the promise of the land. He promised to scatter their corpses in the desert and bring their children into the land. He promised that only Joshua and Caleb would remain from generation X. All of these predictions and prophecies came true. The prophetic aspect of the Bible is both long-term (such as, Lev. 26) and short-term. God's Word must stand, both to the generation that it was written to and to the many generations that follow.

" 'And you [all], turn back and return to the wilderness, in the direction of the sea of Reeds [lit., turn for yourselves, and journey toward the wilderness, the way of the sea of Reeds].' [Deut. 1:40]

If the Jews would not obey God, then there was no reason for them to enter into the land. They could not remain right on the outskirts of the land, or the inhabitants would eventually storm down and kill many of them. Therefore, they had to back off. From the edge of the land, they were instructed to return to Kadesh-barnea. However, in keeping with their habit of disobeying God, they did just the opposite.

"And you [all] answered and said to me, 'We have sinned against Y^ehowah; we, even we, will go up and we will fight, according to all that which Y^ehowah our God has commanded us;' and you [all] prepared for yourselves [lit., gird on each his] weapons of war, and you [all] were ready to go up to the hill-country. [Deut. 1:41]

The verb were ready might be rendered thought it easy. It is a tough call, as this verb occurs only here in Scripture.

This was an interesting turn of events. The Jews whined and cried and refused to go up into the hill country to fight against the inhabitants. So God told them that they would not enter into the land but that their children would instead. This did not set well with the Jews, so they decided that they had two choices: either go back into the desert and wilderness where they had just spent the better part of two years in thirst and hunger or they could attack the inhabitants of Palestine. This was not a choice which God had placed before them—these were options which they manufactured in their own minds. God had already made a ruling and He would affirm that ruling. If this doesn't make sense to you, then you just do not know human nature. Man is not necessarily logical and he does not tend toward making the right decision all of the time. With the facts fully before him, man makes some extremely stupid decisions. There are certain men who are adulterers who give it very little thought; but there are a considerable number of men who realize, sometimes for weeks and months in advance, that a decision to commit adultery could ruin their marriage, break the heart of the woman they love or once loved, and cause years of pain suffering to their children and to themselves for years to come—and then they go right ahead and do it. That is the essence of human nature to know what is right, and then to do just the opposite. In fact, one of the fallacies of sex education in the public schools is that it is thought that if you present this material intelligently before the students that, even if they choose to have sex as minors, at least they will know enough to use contraception. Let me educate you as to how the adolescent mind works. They first of all see this as a green light to experiment, and sometimes they might use contraception (and sometimes they won't). This is human nature. I have talked to fifteen-year-olds who thought that it was okay to get wasted, to drink to excess, just as long as they didn't drive (and, most of the time, they don't drive; but sometimes they do). This generation X of Israel were given the truth day in and day out; they had seen great miracles and they had the leading of God—and whatever God told them to do, sometimes they did it and sometimes they did they exact opposite.

The insidiousness of human viewpoint is lost here in this shuffle. They have been told that they can go and take the land, yet, their leaders influenced them for fear. Moses explains that God would have led them and God would have fought for them, but no more. Here is where human viewpoint creeps in—okay, they could have gone up and taken the land. So now they will—they are not placing their faith in God or in His Word, but, since Moses has told them that they would have been able to conquer the land, the reasoning is that the ability to conquer the land lies within themselves. That is, they are the ones able to conquer the land, apart from God. Let me make this clear: apart from God, you are nothing. You are worthless at best and a spiritual detriment to those around you at worst. No matter how much personal talent that you have, or innate intelligence, or good looks, or favored background, we are nothing in this life apart from God. There are only two things that move us into God's will—and no, it is not sincere emotion and a vow to do good—it is God the Holy Spirit, Whose filling is achieved by naming your sins to God; and the study of God's Word. The psychological hoops you jumped through to walk out in front of everybody and re-dedicate your life; your promises to God to never do this or that again; your fervent emotion—these things mean nothing. This is the charge of the Israelites up into the hill country without God. God left us His Holy Spirit and His Word. Jesus Christ, in the book of John particularly, tells the disciples that He will leave, but His purpose in leaving is to send to them God the Holy Spirit. These are the two things which are left here on earth for us. If you neglect one or both of them, then your life is meaningless. Have you ever accumulated wealth or possessions or a particular possession in a dream, and then you woke up and you did not have it? This is what your life will be; you will stand before God at the end of your life and you will have nothing worthwhile that you have carried from this life into the next. Now, you will have no more sorrow, no more tears, and your shame of wasting your life will be momentary—but you will be picking cotton on my plantation and your life will not have glorified God.

"And Y^ehowah said to me, 'Speak to them: "You will not go up, nor fight, for I am not in your midst, so that [lit., and] you [all] are not struck down before your enemies." ' [Deut. 1:42]

The Jews were out of fellowship. They did not confess their sins to God. They did confess them to Moses, and then immediately went against God's will. Naming your sins to God does not do you a whole lot of good if you put yourself out of fellowship a tenth of a second later. They were operating under the strength of the flesh and they had determined in their minds that they had options which they really did not have. God had not, after that night of great fear, give them two options. He told them that it was time to back up, return to the desert, and their children would come back and take the land. So that there was no confusion, God spoke to Moses and Moses told the people that they no longer had the option of entering into the land and fighting against the inhabitants therein. God would not be with them if they did such a thing and they were enjoined not to go into the land, or they would be struck down by their enemies.

"And I said to you, and you did not listen, and you provoked the mouth of Y^ehowah and you acted proudly, and you went up into the hill country; [Deut. 1:43]

That generation X did exactly the opposite of what God had commanded them to do. In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, "Here we are; we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which Y^ehowah has promised." But Moses said, "Why then are you transgressing the commandment of Y^ehowah, when it will not succeed? Do not go up, so that you will not be struck down before your enemies, for Y^ehowah is not among you." (Num. 14:40–42). They were given fair warning that this would not fall within the will of God and they were told that they would not win. However, gen X was not known for listening to God or to reason.

"And the Amorite, who is dwelling in that hill country, came down to meet you, and they pursued you as the bees do, and the struck you down in Seir, [all the way] to Hormah." [Deut. 1:44]

As mentioned back in Ex. 23:28, the meaning of this Hebrew word translated bees has been lost to history. The Septuagint translated it wasp; however, that was likely a guess. It is preceded by the preposition for as, meaning that, in any case, this is analogous. It does not refer to a specific people in history.

The Amorites had the most powerful nation at that time in the land of Canaan, so their name is lent here to represent all of the inhabitants of Canaan (specifically the Amalekites and the Canaanites of the hill country—Num. 14:45). This is the more general usage of the term Amorites, which appears to mean westerner. When someone says to me, a resident of Houston, you people of the South, in reference to myself and those in Houston, he does not take into account that a very large number of us moved here from somewhere else. We are called southerners, although our culture and background are decidedly different. Moses is using the name Amorite in a similar fashion.

When this generation went before the men of Palestine, they, when faced with these men of war without God being with them, turned tail and ran. But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of Y^ehowah nor Moses left the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah (Num. 14:44–45). The inhabitants of Palestine took this as great sport and pursued them, chasing them but moving slow enough to get them out of the land. They probably didn't know where the encampment of the Jews were and chased them far enough to get close to it. It wasn't that they could not catch the Jews—part of the fun was the chase and the observance of the fear; and, the closer they could get to the encampment of the Jews, the better. This would be an example to the others and there might be some more killing that could take place.

"And you turned back and you wept before Y^ehowah, and Y^ehowah had did not listen to your voice, nor did he give ear to you; [Deut. 1:45]

God is omnipresent, and, even though the rumors were quietly spread throughout the camp, and that those very demonstrative Jews who cried aloud in public as well as the ones who did in private, were all observed by God. Everything that we do is done before God. Now these people have been beaten down and they are in tears again. God made it clear to the people the sequence of events and He made clear to them His power and when He would be with them or not. When they chose to ignore Him, He chose to ignore them. When you are out of fellowship, you have no contact with God. We are very willful in our lives and we make dozens, if not hundreds of wrong choices which strictly reveal our own will and our own lusts. God is not with us in these. God does not stay with us when we push Him away. We have one way back to Him and that is rebound and His Word.

Perhaps you have gone through some difficult times and perhaps it has been because you have been out of fellowship and because you have opposed God's will. And now, the discipline is so great, that you are caused to cry before God. Some people, under various types of psychological pressure, wander up before a church and cry there. Aren't these tears indicative of repentance? Did not the Israelites who cried in front of God after this defeat—was this not repentence before God? We live in a world of tears and tears sometimes are meaningful and sometimes they are not. I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the changing of [your] mind; for you were made sorrowful according to [the norm or standard of] God in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to [the norm or standard of] God produces a change of mind leading to a salvation [or deliverance] without regret; but the sorrow of the world produces death (2Cor. 7:9–10). You were wrong, you were disciplined by God, and, it hurt so bad that you are now crying. The key, is this a sorrow caused by hurting, by discipline, by not getting just what you wanted? Or is this a sorrow according to the norm and standard of God? These sons of Israel cried on three occasions with respect to this incident. The night before they were to enter the land; after they realized that they had missed the opportunity to enter the land due to their unbelief and that God had placed them under the sin unto death; and after they had been defeated when they presumptiously attacked the Canaanites of the land. "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "Would we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!" "Your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, [those of you] who have grumbled against [God]" And when Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly. [Moses is speaking]: "Then you answered and said to me, 'We have sinned against Y^ehowah; we will indeed go up and fight, just as Y^ehowah our god commanded us.' And every man of you girded on his weapons of war, and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. And Y^ehowah said to me, 'Say to them, "Do not go up, nor fight, for I am not among you; or you will be defeated before your enemies." ' So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead, you rebelled against the oath of Y^ehowah and acted presumptiously and went up into the hill country. And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. Then you returned and wept before Y^ehowah, but Y^ehowah did not listen to your voice, nor give ear to you." (Num. 13:33–14:2b, 29, 39 Deut. 1:41–45). Some criminals, when they are caught or when they are sentenced to jail, weep. Do they weep because they realize they are wrong and wish they could undo the wrong that they did? Sometimes; but, usually, they weep because they were caught and because they will now suffer as a result of that

The next verse is a good verse to expand upon, as it is crucial to the activity of the Jews during their time in the desert:

The Emphasized Bible And ye abode in Kadesh many days,—how many were the days that ye abode [there]!

KJV "So you abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there."

NRSV After you stayed at Kadesh as many days as you did, [we journeyed back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea... (part of Deut. 2:1 was added here)

Young's Lit. Translation ...and ye dwell in Kadesh many days, according to the days which ye had dwelt.

The first half of the verse is generally correctly rendered: we have the Qal imperfect of yâsha^bv (ב ַש ָי ) [pronounced yaw-SHAH^BV] and it means to remain, sit, dwell. Strong's #3427 BDB #442 Many days is a phrase we first find in Gen. 21:34, which could have indicated a period of time from 5 years to perhaps 20. This prhase is found again in Gen. 37:34 when Jacob has found out (incorrectly) that his son Joseph has died—his mourning for many days went on for years. He still held his children responsible as late as Gen. 42:38, which is quite a number of years later. Many days here was an inordinate amount of time, several years at least. Lev. 15:25 has the same phrase, which may not refer to more than a week or two, but the key is we are talking about an unusual amount of time—more than what is ordinary. They Jews remained at the foot of Mount Sinai for about a year, which was because Moses was obtaining the Law from God. There were two trips involved and this was not a period of many days, as this was a reasonable amount of time. However, the time that they spent at Kadesh-barnea fell under the phrase many days—an unreasonable amount of time.

The emphasize this, we follow this with the kâph preposition, which means like, as;. which in turn is followed by the phrase the days. Then there is the relative pronoun which, and the 2nd masculine plural, Qal perfect of yâsha^bv again.

"And you [all] kept remaining [or, kept dwelling] in Kadesh many days, as the days which you [all] had remained [or, dwelt]." [Deut. 1:46]

There is an emphasis here not just upon an inordinate amount of time, which would have been the first phrase all by itself, but that is followed by a second phrase which further emphasizes the first phrase. This is why The Emphasized Bible translates it as how many were the days that ye abode [there]! This indicates that they spend a great deal of time in Kadesh-barnea; of no other stopping place in the deserft was it said that they spent many days. (Num. 9:19 was likely a retrospective addition to the chronological narative, not added later but added when Moses and the children of Israel were residing in Kadesh-barnea and Moses was recording God's Word for the first time). We will also have the sons of Israel wandering around Mount Seir for many days in the following verse. Joshua used this term many days to describe the amount of time that the sons of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh remained with their children of Israel to conquer the land, even after they had chosen their own territory. This was a period of several decades.

	Introduction to the Book of Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 1	Deuteronomy 2	Deuteronomy 3	Deuteronomy 4	Deuteronomy 5
Deuteronomy 6	Deuteronomy 7	Deuteronomy 8	Deuteronomy 9	Deuteronomy 10
Deuteronomy 11	Deuteronomy 12	Deuteronomy 13	Deuteronomy 14	Deuteronomy 15
Deuteronomy 16	Deuteronomy 17	Deuteronomy 18	Deuteronomy 19	Deuteronomy 20
Deuteronomy 21	Deuteronomy 22	Deuteronomy 23	Deuteronomy 24	Deuteronomy 25
Deuteronomy 26	Deuteronomy 27	Deuteronomy 28	Deuteronomy 29	Deuteronomy 30
Deuteronomy 31	Deuteronomy 32	Deuteronomy 33	Deuteronomy 34

Deuteronomy 1	Deuteronomy 2	Deuteronomy 3	Deuteronomy 4	Deuteronomy 5
Deuteronomy 6	Deuteronomy 7	Deuteronomy 8	Deuteronomy 9	Deuteronomy 10
Introduction	Kukis Homepage	Exegesis	Doctrines	Pentateuch

Deuteronomy 1	Deuteronomy 2	Deuteronomy 3	Deuteronomy 4
Deuteronomy 6	Deuteronomy 7	Deuteronomy 8	Deuteronomy 9
Introduction	Kukis Homepage	Exegesis	Doctrines

Deuteronomy 1	Deuteronomy 2	Deuteronomy 3	Deuteronomy 4	Deuteronomy 5
Deuteronomy 6	Deuteronomy 7	Deuteronomy 8	Deuteronomy 9	Deuteronomy 10
Introduction	Kukis Homepage	Exegesis	Doctrines	Pentateuch

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Deuteronomy 6	Deuteronomy 7	Deuteronomy 8	Deuteronomy 9	Deuteronomy 10
Introduction	Kukis Homepage	Exegesis	Doctrines	Pentateuch

The Interpretations Of Deuteronomy 1:44
The problem is this: in Num. 14, Israel is pushed back by the inhabitants of the hill country, which are said to be Canaanites and Amalekites. In this passage, they care called Amorites.
1.	The most common explanation is what I have given already: the term Amorite has a general and a specific usage. In general, it means westerners and refers to the diverse peoples in the land of Canaan. Moses was making a point in Deut. 1 which did not require him to specifically name the groups who beat Israel down. For his flow of speech, it was simpler to name them by one name. We often find the term Canaanite used in general, but it is because the groups referred to are Canaanite in origin. The Amalekites are not Canaanite, they are a Semitic people, descended from Esau (Gen. 36:15–16 1Chron. 1:36). Therefore, using the term Canaanite would be incorrect if referring to both groups. However, as has been mentioned, Amorite is more of a general term which alludes to factious groups in a particular territory, rather than referring to any particular racial group.
2.	All three groups could have been in those hills. In Num. 14, the Amalekites and Canaanites are references and in Deuteronomy, the Amorites are mentioned. The biggest problem here is the consistency with which we find these terms—throughout all of Num. 14, we have Amalekites and Canaanites; throughout all of Deut. 1, we find the term Amorite used exclusively.
3.	A third possibility is that Moses simply made a mistake. This would contradict the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. A similar explanation is that the person who wrote this, someone who is not Moses, made a mistake. Again, this contradicts the inspiration of Scripture.