Deuteronomy 1

 

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite the Red sea, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.) 3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them; 4 After he had killed Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived at Astaroth in Edrei:

 

  • This 11 day journey took the children of Israel 40 years because of unbelief.

 

5 On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law saying, 6 The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb saying, You have lived long enough in this mount: 7 Turn and take your journey; go to the mount of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the plain, in the hills, and in the valley, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and to Lebanon, to the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them. 9 And I spoke to you at that time saying, I am not able to carry you myself alone: 10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, and look, today you are like the stars of heaven for multitude.

 

  • Genesis 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if you be able to number them: and he said to him, So will your seed be.

11 (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you as he has promised you!) 12 How can I myself alone carry the load of you, your burden and your strife? 13 Take wise and understanding men, known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 14 And you answered me and said, The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do. 15 So I took the chiefs of your tribes, wise and well known men, and made them leaders over you, captains over thousands, captains over hundreds, captains over fifties, captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. 16 And I charged your judges at that time saying, Hear between your brothers, and judge between every man and his brother righteously, and the foreigner that is with him. 17 You are not to respect persons in judgment; but you are to hear the small as well as the great; you are not to be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the case that is too hard for you, bring it to me, and I will hear it.

 

  • God expects and requires fairness in judgment.
  • Acts 10:34-35… God is no respecter of persons: 35 But in every nation he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted with him.
  • 2Chronicles 19:6 And said to the judges, Beware what you do: for you do not judge for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment.

 

18 And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.19 And when we left Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said to you, You have come to the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God gives to us. 21 Behold, the LORD your God has set the land before you: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers said to you; do not fear or be discouraged. 22 And every one of you came near to me and said, Let’s send men before us, and they will search out the land, and bring us word again by what route we must go, and to what cities we will come. 23 And the saying pleased me well: I took twelve men of you, one from each tribe 24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came to the valley of Eshcol and searched it out. 25 And they took from the fruit of the land in their hands, brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, It is a good land that the LORD our God gives us.

 

  • God has planned a good life for each person. He gives us a good land.

 

26 Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God: 27 And you murmured in your tents and said, Because the LORD hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where will we go up? Our brothers have discouraged our heart saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. 29 Then I said to you, Do not dread or be afraid of them.

 

God goes before us to find a place for us

 

30 The LORD your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31 And in the wilderness, where you have seen how that the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way you went until you came into this place. 32 Yet in this thing you did not believe the LORD your God, 33 who went in the way before you, to search out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in a cloud by day. 34 And the LORD heard your words, and was furious, and swore saying, 35 Not one of these men of this evil generation will see that good land that I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he will see it, and I will give to him and to his children the land that he has walked on because he has wholly followed the LORD.

 

  • God carries us like a child.
  • He went before them to find a place for them to pitch their tents.
  • He hears our griping.
  • He keeps the land from those who do not believe.
  • He gives the land to those who wholly follow Him.
  • John 14:2-3I n my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

 

37 Also, the LORD was angry with me for your sakes saying, You will not go in there. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun who stands before you, he will go in there: encourage him: for he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, who you said would be a prey, your children, who in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they will go in; I will give it to them, and they will possess it. 40 But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 41 Then you answered and said to me, We have sinned against the LORD; we will go up and fight according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when every man had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up the hill. 42 And the LORD said to me, Say to them, Do not go up or fight so that you not be struck down before your enemies; for I am not among you. 43 So I spoke to you; and you would not listen, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD; you were presumptuous and went up into the hill. 44 And the Amorites, who dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, unto Hormah. 45 And you returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not listen to your voice, nor give ear to you. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained there.

 

  • God warned them not to go fight without Him.
  • They truly didn’t know in their hearts that He was greater than the giants.
  • Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.
  • Romans 10:17 So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

 

                                         Deuteronomy 2

 

The LORD says who lives where on earth

 

1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spoke to me: we circled mount Seir many days. 2 And the LORD spoke to me saying, 3 You have circled this mountain long enough: turn north. 4 And command the people saying, Pass through the boundary of your brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir. They will be afraid of you: so watch yourselves: 5 Do not meddle with them for I will not give you their land: no, not so much as a foot’s width; because I have given mount Seir to Esau for a possession.

 

  • God led His people every step of the way.
  • He owns the land and gives it to whoever He wants.
  • God removed the Canaanites and gave their land to Israel.
  • Verses 9-23 mention 4 other groups of people that God dispossessed and replaced with others.
  • He does this when people become full of idolatry and iniquity because idolatry leads to eternal death.
  • God rules over all men on earth. _
  • Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, the fullness of it; the world, and they that dwell in it.
  • Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I will not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul: he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

 

6 You will buy food from them for money so that you may eat; you will also buy water from them for money so that you may drink. 7 For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the works of your hand: he knows your walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing. 8 And when we passed by our brothers the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

 

  • God blessed all the works of their hands, in the wilderness, before they got into the promised land.
  • The children of Esau were called Israel’s brothers because Esau was Jacob’s brother.
  • The LORD knows the wilderness we walk through.
  • He is with us.
  • He provides so that we lack nothing.

 

9 And the LORD said to me, Do not distress the Moabites or contend with them in battle: for I will not give you any of their land for a possession because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession. 10 The Emims dwelt in it in times past, a great people, and many, and as tall as the Anakims; 11 Who also were considered giants like the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims. 12 The Horims also dwelt in Seir prior to this; but the children of Esau succeeded /inherited them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place; like Israel did to the land of his possession, which the LORD gave to them.

 

  • God only destroys a people when their iniquity is full (Genesis 15:16).
  • God gave His people the best land for their possession (Deuteronomy 8:7, Ezekiel 20:6).
  • He gives us a glorious land to possess.
  • Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

 

13 Now rise up, I said, and go over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered. 14 Now the days we walked from Kadesh-barnea, until we came over the brook Zered, was 38 years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the camp, as the LORD swore to them. 15 For the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the camp, until they were consumed.

 

  • These men that were destroyed had seen God’s power in the ten plagues on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the quail, the manna, and water from the rock twice.
  • Like Pharaoh, they refused to believe in God though He’d proved Himself to them over and over again.
  • Psalm145:20 The LORD preserves all those that love him: but he will destroy all the wicked.

 

16 So it happened, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, 17 that the LORD spoke to me saying, 18 Today you are to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab: 19 And when you come near, across from the children of Ammon, do not distress them, or meddle with them: for I will not give you any possession of the land of the children of Ammon; because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession. 20 That also was regarded as a land of giants: giants dwelt in it in ancient times; the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;  21 A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded/inherited them, and dwelt in their place: 22 As he did to the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded/inherited them, and dwelt in their place even until this day: 23 And the Avims who dwelt in Hazerim, to Azzah, the Caphtorims who came out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their place.)

 

  • God dispossessed the giants for His people.
  • Goliath is another example of God destroying giants for His people (1 Samuel 17).

 

24 Rise up, set out, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: engage him in battle, begin, possess his land. 25 This day I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the nations that are under the whole heaven, who will hear the report about you, and tremble, and be in anguish because of you. 26 So I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27 Let me pass through your land: I will go along by the highway, I will not turn to the right hand or to the left. 28 You will sell me food for money so that I may eat; and give me water for money that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet; 29 As the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me;) until I pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God gives us.

 

  • God put the dread and fear of them on the all nations under the whole heaven.

 

God hardened the spirit of a king whose iniquity was full


30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as appears this day. 31 And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before you: begin, possess, that you may inherit his land. 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. 33 And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we struck him, his sons, and all his people.

 

  • God gives mighty victories.
  • These people were steeped in evil and would not turn to God.
  • 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

 

34 And we took all his cities at that time, utterly destroyed the men, the women, and the little ones of every city, we left none to remain: 35 Only we took the livestock for plunder to ourselves, and we took the spoil of the cities. 36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, to Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all to us: 37 Only you did not come unto the land of the children of Ammon or to any place of the river Jabbok, or unto the cities in the mountains, or unto whatever the LORD our God forbid us.

 

  • Acts 17:24 God that made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, since he gives to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the boundaries of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after him, and find him, though he is not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being.

 

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SUMMARY: Deuteronomy 1, 2

 

  • God expects and requires fairness in judgment
  • He goes before us to find a place for us
  • The Lord says who dwells where on earth
  • He protects what He has given to all nations
  • He hardened the heart of a king whose iniquity was full