Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Deuteronomy chapter 1 as we continue our study through the Word of God and we begin this fascinating book. In fact, J. A. Thompson wrote this in regards to the book of Deuteronomy, “Deuteronomy is one of the greatest books of the Old Testament. Its influence on the domestic and personal religion of all ages has not been surpassed by any other book in the Bible. It is quoted over eighty times in the New Testament and thus it belongs to a small group of four Old Testament books [the others being Genesis, Psalms, and Isaiah] to which the early Christians made frequent reference.”
This is the fifth book of Moses or the Pentateuch, the others being Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. The Hebrew title of this book is “these are the words.” We get our title, Deuteronomy from the Septuagint translation that calls it the second Law.
Please understand that this is not just a repeat of the Law we have covered already but Moses is going to expound on what he has already been given on Mount Sinai as he prepares this next generation to enter into the Promise Land. Much of the Law that we covered was related to the priests, but now Moses is going to speak to the people in general, to give them the information that they will need to know as they walk with God into the Promise Land. And folks, if God felt this book to be that important to the children of Israel and to include it in His Word, He must have a valuable lesson for us to learn and He has many as we will see as we go through the book of Deuteronomy!
To summarize this book I believe Deuteronomy 5:1 does that for us. We read, “And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.’” You see, Moses is telling this generation, as they waited on the boarder of the Promise Land, and I believe that God is also speaking to us, that we need to HEAR, LEARN, KEEP AND DO the things of God because as we do we will be blessed! It is not just head knowledge, it is not just information, but it is application!
Thus, this is Moses farewell address to the nation you might say, as Joshua will be leading the children of Israel into the Promise Land. And Moses wants to give them the tools to be successful in their journeys! With that said, let’s begin reading in Deuteronomy chapter 1, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word.
VERSE 1
The nation is camped in the plains of Moab; on the east side of the Jordan River and Moses is preparing this generation to enter into the Promise Land, as I have said. It is a land that God had promised to them well over 400 years before and now it was coming to pass. And Moses, instead of being angry because he could not enter in because of his misrepresentation of God to the people at the waters of Meribah, he shows his love for God and for the people as he speaks to them the things they need to know and do as they enter the land.
VERSES 2-4
An eleven-day journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea, on the boarder of the Promise Land ended up taking them 40 years because of unbelief. It was there at Kadesh Barnea that spies were sent into the land and when they returned, 10 out of the 12 came back with a bad report causing the entire nation to fall into unbelief and not enter in. Now that generation has died in the wilderness and the next generation is prepared to enter in by faith as God has already given them victories on this side of the Jordan River preparing them for what is ahead, learning to trust in Him.
The time frame here is the fortieth year of the 11-month on the first day of the month and Moses is speaking to the people. And during a 1-month period of time, which the book of Deuteronomy covers, except for the 30-day mourning period after Moses has died at the end of the book, Moses gives what we might call three sermons. The first sermon covers Deuteronomy 1:1-4:43 and it deals with the blessings for obedience and punishment for disobedience. In the second sermon of Moses, it is found in Deuteronomy 4:44-26:19, the longest of his sermons, and it deals with the moral and legal aspects. And the third sermon by Moses is found in Deuteronomy 27-34 and the focus here is the future of the nation. And that is the basic outline for the book of Deuteronomy.
VERSE 5
This is so important for pastors, for teachers, and for any of us to understand. Moses did not just give them information, he didn’t use big, fancy words that no one understood, but he EXPLAINED these things to the children of Israel. The Hebrew word for “explain” is BAAR, (baw-ar’) and it means “to dig deeply” or “to mine” to extract all the nuggets you can from God’s Word and present it in such a way that people understand how to walk with God, His truths! How important that is and that is my heart’s desire as I explain to you the things of God, how to walk with God as we journey through the Word of God in this Promise Land or this Spirit filled life!
VERSES 6-8
Horeb is the same place as Mount Sinai, and it was there that God gave to Moses the Law, spending one year there. Then God said it was time to move on. He did not bring them out of Egypt to dwell at Horeb, but to go and enter the land He promised to them. Would it be easy? Absolutely not but it was also a done deal. All they needed to do is walk by faith and possess what God has given to them. The same is true for us. The Spirit filled life is not always easy, God is stretching us, and He is helping us to grow in the faith, but we must walk!
VERSES 9-18
I don’t believe this is referring to the appointment of elders or judges in Exodus chapter 18 because that time frame is right after the Exodus and here the context is Mount Sinai, right before their departure. Thus, I believe it refers to the appointment of elders or judges that are found in Numbers chapter 11.
Can you imagine trying to take care of the problems, the issues of 2 to 3 million people? Moses was overwhelmed to say the least! In Numbers 11:14-15 we see how overwhelmed he was, “I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now — if I have found favor in Your sight — and do not let me see my wretchedness!” It was so bad Moses wanted to die and thus, God instructed Moses to gather seventy men and make them elders or judges before the people. Of this we read in Numbers 11:17, “Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.” If the situation they face was too tough for them or they didn’t know how to deal with it, then they could bring it to Moses and he would deal with it. It took that burden off of Moses!
VERSES 19-21
Here they are a little more than a year out of Egypt, and
they have seen all that God has done in their lives, and with
that, they are to move on and enter the land of Canaan by faith,
they are not to be afraid. And we have seen all that
God has done for them. He brought them out of Egypt. He brought
them through the Red Sea, destroying the Egyptian army that was
after them. He provided water and manna for them in the wilderness.
He brought them through the land of the Amorites to the boarder
of the Promise Land. Thus, how can they not trust God and enter
by faith? The same way we don’t, UNBELIEF!
VERSES 22-23
Why did they have to send spies into the land to check it out before they entered the land? As I have said, UNBELIEF! God told them to go in and take the land, they said, “Let’s not rush into this. Let’s get a plan, let’s see what we need to do, where we need to go first!” And Moses allowed it and so did the Lord. But they would have been better off entering into the land by faith than try to figure out how God is going to do this, if this would really work and the same is true for each of us!
VERSES 24-25
They all said the land is great and Moses doesn’t mention what the 10 spies also reported, that the cities were fortified, there were giants in the land, we are doomed! And listen to what transpired after this bad report by 10 of the 12 spies was given to the people.
VERSES 26-33
What a tragic word, “Nevertheless.” After all God did for them, protecting them, providing for them, they refused to believe His promise to them. And Moses tried to encourage them to go in by faith, to trust in the Lord who has never failed them, but they refused to enter in by faith and looked at the situation by sight. God did not hate them like they thought, but He loved them, He wanted to bless them but they rejected Him!
How true that is for us. We have seen the faithfulness of God in our lives. We have seen His Word is true. And yet, as He calls us to walk by faith, nevertheless we don’t! And we miss out on the blessings that God has for us. May we learn to walk by faith no matter how difficult the situation is before us because God is more than able to see us through! You see, no matter what we are going through, God loves us, He doesn’t hate us. Please don’t forget that.
VERSES 34-40
Because of their unbelief, this generation, over 603,548 who were able to go to war will die in the wilderness, except for Joshua and Caleb because they trusted in the Lord and were willing to walk by faith. The rest of the people refused to enter in. In fact, we are told in Numbers 14:1-3, “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’” Now the Lord tells them that the generation of unbelief all died in the wilderness and their children, the ones they said would die, are going to enter into the Promise Land. Even Moses would not enter in as I have said; Joshua would now lead the people!
Spurgeon wrote, “Anything, in fact, will serve as an excuse, when the heart is bent on compromise.” God sees through our excuses of why we don’t walk by faith. Yes, we may fool others with spiritual jargon, but they are excuses that God sees through. What an important lesson for us to learn, that as God calls, we need to walk by faith and not make excuses why we are not walking!
VERSES 41-46
Now they changed their minds and decided that they would go in. They didn’t like what God just said. It was not a godly sorrow that lead to repentance and thus, God saw through it and warned them not to go in. But they refused to listen, and that is never a good thing, to turn a deaf ear to what God has said. They walked in the flesh now, in arrogance and their enemies defeated them because you can’t win apart from God! And after their defeat they wept, not over their sin but because they were defeated by the Amorites. And we are told that God refused to listen to their cries. Thus, they would wander in the wilderness for forty years until this older generation died out and the next generation was ready to enter in!
VERSES 1-7
Moses is remembering their wilderness wanderings and as they passed through the land of Edom or Seir they were not to take anything from them, they could buy it from them but the land was not theirs, it was the people of Edom who were to live their. You see, the descendants of Esau were distant relatives to the children of Israel; he was the brother of Jacob.
VERSES 8-15
The Moabites were also distant relatives to the children of Israel. They were descendants of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. And God once again tells them not to take this land because it belongs to them. And the Moabites were a strong people for they defeated the Emim, a Canaanite people and these people were large, giants you might say. The Hebrew word is REPHAIM, which also means “fearsome ones.” Tough dudes you might say or I’m just dating myself! In Deuteronomy 2:20 we will see the Amorites call them Zamzummin. That is a great name.
VERSES 16-23
Once again they were not to take the land of the Amorites, also descendants of Lot and a distant relative to the children of Israel.
VERSES 24-37
We just read that God told the children of Israel not to take the land of the Amorites and yet, here we see God tell them to destroy king Sihon and the Amorites, to take their land. Why the change? I believe it is because this land originally belonged to the Moabites and king Sihon drove them out and took over this land. Thus, as Israel tried to pass through, king Sihon would not let them and thus, Israel destroyed them and took back this land. God gave them this victory!
VERSES 1-2
As they continue their move towards the Promise Land, they now have to go through the land of Bashan, whose king was Og. And the Lord is encouraging them not to be afraid. Their faith had to be growing as they defeated Sihon king of the Amorites and thus, here was another step of faith for them to take.
VERSES 3-11
What the previous generation was afraid of, this next generation was not and they did walk by faith and defeated the land of Bashan and king Og. This would once again help their faith to grow and prepare them for the many battles they would face in the Promise Land.
On the east side of the Jordan River, Og was the only Rephaim left and he was a big dude! Either his bed or more likely his burial sarcophagus measured 14 feet long by 6 feet wide! Man, you could put a whole family in that thing!
VERSES 12-17
Once again we see the land divided up between the 2½ tribes who refused to enter into the Promise Land: Rueben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. God would allow this, although it was not His perfect will for them, but first they would have to fulfill some obligations that we will read of next.
VERSES 18-20
These Trans-Jordan tribes had to go and help their brethren in the conquest of Canaan, but only those who could go to war, the rest were to remain in the Trans-Jordan area. Once they fulfilled their obligation, then they could go back to their families on the east side of the Jordan River.
VERSES 21-22
Moses encourages Joshua to stand strong in the Lord, not to be discouraged because God will see them through the coming battles just as He saw them through these recent ones. They will be victorious; they just need to walk by faith! You see, even for us, as we look back on the past victories that God has given to us, it gives us strength in the present situations we face. May we learn the lesson and use the past victories to help us to walk by faith today!
VERSES 23-29
In the Hebrew it speaks of Moses not just asking the Lord once or twice if he can go into the Promise Land, but he kept asking until finally God said, “Enough of that!” You can understand the heart of Moses, 40 years leading these people and now he can’t enter in, but God told Him and he just didn’t want to listen and God ended any more conversations about this.
For Moses, he was allowed to look from Pisgah into the Promise Land, and he sees all that Israel will occupy. Thus, I believe this is a supernatural experience as God gave to him a view of the entire land all the way from the north to the south and westward to the Mediterranean Sea. And in the New Testament we see Moses in the Promise Land as he is on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and I believe he is one of the two witnesses that will be ministering during the Tribulation Period! It just shows how gracious our God is.
This is the place that Moses will die and where the book of Deuteronomy ends. Of this Thompson makes this remark, “In fact, Moses’ death is not recorded until chapter 34, so that the whole book of Deuteronomy is framed between the announcement of Moses’ impending death and the announcement of his actual death. The book is thus, in a sense, the spiritual testament of Moses, Israel’s great Lawgiver.” As I have said, it is his farewell address to the nation, his last will and testament you might say!
One more point before we move on. Like Moses, there are consequences to our sin. Yes, we need to repent, as Moses did, but he faced the consequences of his actions and so do we. May we grow in the Lord, not fight against Him, and learn to walk by faith representing Him correctly before the unsaved and the saved and that can only be done as we put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to walk in the Spirit!
VERSES 1-8
God has given them instructions and then He tells them not to add to or take away from His Words, just obey them! And just in case they think they know better than God, He reminds them of the sin at Baal of Peor and how God judged the people for their sin and spared those who obeyed Him. There are consequences to sin! And the Lord reminds them that He is close to them, no other nation could say that.
Tragically today many are adding to or taking away from God’s Word. They have no fear of God; they don’t realize the judgment of God. In Revelation 22:18-19 we see this thought repeated for us, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” God still means what He says and says what He means! May we take heed for what other people are closer to God than those who have come to Him through Jesus Christ! Don’t add to or take away from God’s Word, believe it by faith and walk accordingly!
VERSES 9-20
They were not only to take the things of God and obey them but they were to teach them to their children, to pass the things of God on and we are to do the same with our children. He also wants them to remind their children of the things that took place at Mount Sinai, that God is personal, He loves them and has given to them His commandments to live by!
God has brought them out of their bondage in Egypt and they are not to make any images of Him to worship by. And today, in the church we see all kinds of things that people are bowing down before to worship God by and God did not accept it then and He does not accept it today!
VERSES 21-24
Moses uses himself as an example of what not to do, to look at his failure and the consequences of his actions and don’t follow his example here. I try to share with you some of the lessons God has taught me, my victories and my mistakes so that you may learn and be encourage. If I only told you my victories, you would be discouraged. But God tells us in His Word of the victories and defeats of His people so we can learn and be encouraged to keep walking, we are a work in progress!
VERSES 25-28
Listen to the warning of Moses before they even enter the land. This prophecy of Moses came to pass as he warns them of the coming idolatry and the subsequent captivity because of it. And folks, this warning was given several hundred years before the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem and took the Southern Kingdom of Judah into captivity for their idolatry! God was basically saying to them, “If you like idolatry so much, then I will send you to the capital of idolatry, Babylon! Let me know if that is what you want!” And they did learn the lesson; they never succumbed to idolatry again, although they did have other problems! God gave to them the desire of their hearts and it was not the Lord and may we learn the lesson here!
VERSES 29-31
What a promise of God to them. Yes, they will eventually go into captivity for their idolatry, but when they come to their senses and repent of their sin, when they return to God, God will forgive them. Why? Because God loves them and is gracious and He has made a covenant with Abraham and He will keep it!
VERSES 32-40
Moses wants the children of Israel to think about all that God has done for them, something He has never done with any other nation! God has a plan, a purpose for them and they needed to understand this. Now, in light of all that God has done, is doing and will do, they needed to keep His commandments, obedience just makes sense, it is just foolish to disobey God who loves them. What a lesson for us to learn. In all that God has done, is doing and will do in our lives, how God has chosen us to be His people, it is foolish not to obey!
VERSES 41-43
Here we see Moses set up the three cities of refuge that were located on the east side of the Jordan River and once they occupy the Promise Land Joshua will set up the other three cities of refuge. And you can check out our study in Numbers chapter 35 as we dealt with these cites of refuge but they were basically places to flee if you accidentally killed someone, it was a place of protection from the avenger of blood!
VERSES 44-49
Here’s the point. They need to not only hear God’s Word but also apply God’s Word to their lives. They needed to enter the Promise Land not by a do-it-yourself approach but in obedience to God’s Word. That is still true today folks. We not only need to hear God’s Word but we must also apply it to our lives. We can’t do it on our own or our own way but we need to do it His way! May we learn the lesson!