Deuteronomy 1

Deuteronomy 1:1

I. MOSES’ FIRST DISCOURSEAPPROACHING THE LAND (Chaps. 1-4) A. Introduction (1:1-5)1:1, 2 As the Book of Deuteronomy opens, the children of Israel are camped on the Plains of Moab, which they had reached in Num_22:1. In Deu_1:1 their location is said to be in the plain opposite Suph. This means that the wilderness, of which the Plains of Moab were an extension, stretched southward to that portion of the Red Sea known as the Gulf of Aqaba. The journey from Horeb (Sinai) by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea, on the threshold of Canaan, required only eleven days, but now thirty-eight years had passed before the Israelites were ready to enter the Promised Land! 1:3-5 Moses delivered his subsequent discourse to the children of Israel, preparatory to their entering Canaan in the fortieth year after they left Egypt. It was after both Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan had been slain (Num. 21).

Deuteronomy 1:6

B. From Horeb to Kadesh (1:6-46)From Deuteronomy 1:63:28 we have a review of the period from Mount Sinai to the Plains of Moab. Since most of this has already been covered in Numbers, we shall simply summarize it here: God’s command to march to the Promised Land and possess it (vv. 6-8); the appointment of judges over civil matters (vv. 9-18); the journey from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea (vv. 19-21); the sending of the spies and the subsequent rebellion (vv. 22-46). With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, no soldier who had left Egypt was allowed to enter the land (vv. 34-38).