Moses' Recapitulation Of Their History (Deuteronomy 1:6 to Deuteronomy 4:43).
Moses' instruction will now commence, recapitulating their history, and describing what Yahweh had commanded. He will first demonstrate how their fathers had been satisfactorily established by Him as a populous nation enjoying righteous government, but had failed through unbelief and disobedience to capture the land He had wanted to give them, and because of that unbelief and their refusal to respond to covenant instructions had been driven from it. Thus they had been sentenced to wander for ‘forty years' in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 1:6 to Deuteronomy 2:1).
But now He commands them to go forward, avoiding their brother nations (Deuteronomy 2:2-23), (for there was no point in fighting for what could not be theirs). He had already delivered kings into their hands along with their great and mighty cities, so that parts of the land had already become theirs, and they had thus been able to recognise in their own experience what Yahweh could do for them (Deuteronomy 2:24 to Deuteronomy 34:12). He wants them to recognise how much they owe to their great Overlord. But this is not just a series of battle speeches prior to the great conflict ahead. The whole book is part of a solid covenant which guarantees Yahweh's activity on their behalf and in return makes firm demands on them, and warns of the consequences of future failure, sealing it with a written document in the presence of witnesses (Chapter s Deuteronomy 27:1 to Deuteronomy 31:27). It can also be seen as composed of mini-covenants incorporated within the larger covenant.
We could also liken it to a leasehold of the land. Yahweh is taking His land from others who have broken the terms of their lease, and is ‘giving' it to them for their use. But if they too fail to obey the terms of their lease, they too will be expelled.
Note in all this how he speaks to them as being one with their fathers. What their fathers had done, they had in some sense done. There was a huge sense of community oneness. Yet they were also their own men. Like their fathers they were faced with a choice. What they must ensure was that they broke the mould, and did not behave as their fathers had done. So in one sense they were one with their fathers, and shared in the same covenant promises, and participated in their experiences, but in another sense they were free to make their own choice. They would not thus be able to blame their fathers for what they decided. This brings out the important point that community responsibility did not necessarily blight all in the community. One generation, once they came of age, could throw off what the previous generation had done.
The Command From Yahweh To Go Forward (Deuteronomy 1:6-8).
This is a simple, balanced, initial command in three parts:
a “You ave dwelt long enough in this mountain (Mount Sinai)” (Deuteronomy 1:6).
b “Turn you, and take your journey” (Deuteronomy 1:7 a).
c “Go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all the places near to it, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates” (Deuteronomy 1:7 b).
b “Look, I have set the land before you” (Deuteronomy 1:8 a).
a “Go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them” (Deuteronomy 1:8 b).
Here we have both progression and chiasmus. We have the command to leave the Mount where they have been encamped for so long, to enter the whole of the land, and to go in and possess it, because He had sworn to give it to their forefathers. The chiasmus lies in ‘a' in the parallel between ‘You have dwelt long enough in this mountain' and ‘Go in and possess the land', with the description of the whole land central. In ‘b' “Turn you, and take your journey” parallels “Look, I have set the land before you.” And ‘c' describes the perimeters of the land which they are going to possess.
‘ Yahweh our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, “You have dwelt long enough in this mountain, turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all the places near to it, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” '
Moses opens his speech with the covenant name which is the essence of the book, ‘Yahweh our God'. This is what the book is all about, Yahweh their covenant God (here and Deuteronomy 5:2), Yahweh their only God (Deuteronomy 6:4), Yahweh to Whom they owe all (see below), Yahweh Who spoke to them in Horeb.
He looks back to Yahweh's instruction at Mount Sinai in Horeb (see for this period Exodus 19 -Numbers 10). The One in Whose name he speaks is ‘Yahweh, our God Who spoke to us in Horeb', that is, the One Who spoke at Sinai. He is the One Who had chosen them as His own set apart (holy) people, revealing it especially in that devastating encounter. Horeb includes Sinai and the surrounding area. ‘This mountain' referred to Sinai, where they had first received the covenant.
At this point Yahweh had told their fathers that they had been in Horeb (at Sinai) long enough. They must leave this place where they had experienced the wonder of their powerful God and were to journey on into the land that He had prepared for them, ‘the hill-country of the Amorites' (the long range of mountains west of Jordan), and all connected with it; the Jordan Valley (the Arabah), the lowlands (the Shephelah), ‘the South' (the Negeb; compare Genesis 12:9; Genesis 20:1; Numbers 13:17), the seashore (the coastal plain), where the Canaanites dwelt, Lebanon, north of Canaan, even to the great river, the River Euphrates. (For Lebanon see Joshua 1:4; Joshua 13:5-6. Although in ancient days ‘Lebanon' was also sometimes used to include a part of Canaan where there was a valley of Lebanon - Joshua 11:17; Joshua 12:7). The vista was large, from the Euphrates in the north to the Negeb. This is regularly given as the land which Yahweh had set aside for them if only they had been willing to take it (Genesis 15:18; Exodus 23:31; Joshua 1:4). In a sense it was the range of David's empire if we include treaty nations, but because of disobedience it never became a reality, and at other times the land promised is depicted in less full terms.
The mention first of ‘the hill-country of the Amorites', here and also in Deuteronomy 1:20, must be seen in the light of Deuteronomy 1:43-44 where it was in that very place that the Amorites would defeat their fathers. Thus his hearers must now face up to their victorious enemy in the very place of their previous humiliation and defeat them in turn. Such a victory would then give them confidence for the future. God very often has to bring us back to a place where we have suffered defeat in order that we might triumph and thus restore the balance, and our confidence in God.
“Yahweh our God.” This is emphatic in the sentence. He is the One Whose covenant this is. It designates Yahweh in His uniqueness and distinctiveness, the God Who has a special relationship with Israel, the One to Whom they look, the God to Whom they have a special responsibility. Compare its use in Exodus (Exodus 3:18; Exodus 5:3; Exodus 8:10 etc.) where it is used only in solemn declarations to Pharaoh.
As the covenant title it occurs eleven times in Moses' first speech, where after its emphatic use as the opening words of Moses, having reference to His speaking to them in Horeb (Deuteronomy 1:6, compare Deuteronomy 5:2), it connects with Yahweh's personal commands to them (Deuteronomy 1:19; Deuteronomy 1:41; Deuteronomy 2:37), Yahweh's giving of the land to them (Deuteronomy 1:20; Deuteronomy 1:25; Deuteronomy 2:29), and Yahweh's power to deliver their enemies into their hands (Deuteronomy 2:33; Deuteronomy 2:36; Deuteronomy 3:3), being finally used to emphasise His special nearness to them (Deuteronomy 4:7). It occurs nine times in Deuteronomy 5-6 at the commencement of his second great speech, again to emphasise His making of a covenant with them (Deuteronomy 5:2, compare Deuteronomy 1:6), His oneness as their God (Deuteronomy 6:4), the hearing of His voice at Horeb (Deuteronomy 5:24-25; Deuteronomy 5:27 (twice)), His direct commands given to them (Deuteronomy 6:20) and with the need to fear Him and keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 6:24-25) and then not until Deuteronomy 29:15; Deuteronomy 29:18; Deuteronomy 29:29 in Moses' third covenant speech where reference is to their standing before Him in making the covenant, a warning against turning away from Him, and to His being the One to Whom secret things are known. It stresses His mightiness and uniqueness and sovereignty as their covenant God.
Compare its use in Joshua (only in Joshua 18:8; Joshua 22:19; Joshua 22:29; Joshua 24:17; Joshua 24:24) in solemn declarations when the covenant is being emphasised, and its only use in Judges in Deuteronomy 11:24; and in 1 Samuel in Deuteronomy 7:8 where the same applies. Compare also 1 Kings 8:57; 1Ki 8:59; 1 Kings 8:61. These are all the uses in the former prophets (the historical writings up to Kings), save that it is exceptionally used outside of speech in 1 Kings 8:65, but that simply stresses its significance, for there the covenant emphasis is central and it is actually in the nature of a declaration. It is thus used for a distinct purpose and is not simply ‘a mark of style'. It stresses the close personal covenant relationship between Him and His people. It also occurs nine times in the Psalms, and it occurs fifteen times in Jeremiah, where it could be described as a mark of style, or possibly as indicating the influence that Deuteronomy has had on him. On the other hand ‘Yahweh your God' (addressed either to singular Israel (196 times in Deuteronomy out of 257 times in the whole Old Testament) or the plural children of Israel (46 out of 138) occurs in Deuteronomy 242 times out of 395 in the Old Testament as a whole, and is especially a common address from Exodus to Joshua.
As Israel had settled down at Horeb, we too can tend to settle down in a place where God has blessed us or revealed Himself to us. But the warning is that we must not do so any longer than God knows is good for us. Rather we must lift up our eyes and ask ourselves, ‘what is it about the future that God is preparing me for?' Then we must go forward into the ‘unknown', knowing that our hand is in the hand of God, and that ahead lies great blessing for us as long as we trust Him and obey.
‘ Look, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.'
And to trust and obey had been what God desired of Israel. They had been told to look at the land that was before them, recognising the great privilege and opportunity that was theirs, and to go forward. This was His land, the very land that Yahweh had sworn to give to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to themselves (who were ‘their seed after them'). It was the land where He would dwell among them as their king. Thus the gift of the land is confirmed, and is closely linked with the patriarchal covenants given in Genesis. They were to behold it, and then to go in and possess it, for it was theirs, a gracious gift from their great covenant Overlord.
Yahweh was offering them the thing that men then coveted most and would die for, land! What men dreamed about was available to them, a gift from Him. And not only land but His land, watched over and protected by Him. And this was not because of their own merit but because He had chosen out Abraham and through him would bless his ‘descendants', so that through them He might bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 12:7). It was the symbol of a glorious future. And they had reason to know what He could do, for He had done it against the Egyptians.
As we consider this in relation to ourselves we must, however, beware of putting emphasis on the land. The emphasis should be on what the land symbolised, a fruitful and blessed future with God under His Kingly Rule. Today the land of Canaan/Israel no longer matters. It is no longer the promised land. Those who see it as such hope in vain. The promised land is the heavenly rule to which it pointed, and that should be men's aim. We may safely leave the land to those who want it to fight over it. There is no Holy War in Israel today. God has moved on to something more important, the war against evil and death and Satan.
For what God really guaranteed to Abraham was a glorious and fulfilled future expressed in terms of a fertile country. The writer to the Hebrews saw this for he explained that Abraham was looking for a city with foundations whose builder and maker was God (Hebrews 11:10). A fertile land, a well founded city, both were pictures of a blessed and sure future, in our terms a heavenly hope, and it was this that was promised to Abraham. It was only expressed as it was because Abraham could have had no conception of such a heavenly hope.
And we may be sure of this. If Israel today are to be blessed it will not be by being in the land, but by their responding to Jesus Christ, their true Messiah, and finding salvation and a heavenly inheritance in Him (Romans 11:26; Hebrews 11:14-16; Hebrews 13:14). To draw up a great plan for the future of Israel in the physical land of Palestine is to go backwards. That is not to deny that God may have brought some parts of Israel back to Palestine in order that there they may eventually recognise in Jesus Christ their Messiah in some possible great outpouring of the Spirit. It is only to deny that there is to be a future, earthly, Jewish kingdom acknowledged as such by God. Any blessing to Israel must now come through the Gospel, through the Kingly Rule of God as described by Jesus, and through the heavenly kingdom where He reigns over all.