He Points Out That There Should In Fact Have Been No Problem With Their Possessing Canaan Because Yahweh Had Made Them A Great Nation, Justly and Wisely Watched Over By Their Rulers, And Had Led Them Safely Through The Wilderness. Their Failure Was Not Yahweh's Fault (Deuteronomy 1:9-18).
He now draws attention to the fact that there was no excuse for the failure of their fathers to possess the land, because Yahweh had made them a great nation with an established and satisfactory system of justice. And they are still so, he confirms. They have become a great and well regulated nation through Yahweh's goodness.
This section follows a chiastic pattern:
a I spoke to you at that time saying, “I am not able to bear you myself alone” (Deuteronomy 1:9).
b Yahweh your God has multiplied you and may He do so a thousand times more and bless you as he has promised (Deuteronomy 1:10-11).
c How can I myself bear the weight of your encumbrance, burden and strife? (Deuteronomy 1:12).
d Take wise men, and understanding, and known according to your tribes and I will make them head over you (Deuteronomy 1:13).
e You answered and said, ‘The thing which you have spoken is good to do.' (Deuteronomy 1:14).
d So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over you -- according to your tribes (Deuteronomy 1:15).
c I charged your judges to hear your cases and judge righteously(Deuteronomy 1:16).
b (I charged your judges) ‘You shall not respect persons in judgment but shall hear all fairly for the judgment is God's and any cause too hard you can bring to me' (Deuteronomy 1:17).
a I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do (Deuteronomy 1:18).
The parallels here are not as distinct as in the next section, but they are nevertheless there. In ‘a' and parallel reference is made to ‘at that time' and in ‘a' his concern was at his inability to bear the burden of them while in the parallel he commands them to do what was necessary in order to relieve that burden. In ‘b' he emphasises their great numbers and in the parallel tells how such great numbers are to be judged. In ‘c' he is concerned that he cannot carry the weight of judging them and in the parallel he appoints judges to assist him. In ‘d' he instructs the appointing of suitable persons and in the parallel sets as heads the suitable persons whom they have appointed. And central to all in ‘e' is that it is with their full agreement.
‘ And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone. Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.'
God had blessed Israel, and they had grown apace. Indeed because of the growing largeness of their numbers Moses had had to acknowledge that he had been made to recognise that he could not act as their judge on his own. They had become metaphorically too heavy for him to carry. For Yahweh had multiplied them to such an extent that they were as numerous as the stars in the night sky.
Note the hint of the Abrahamic covenants in mention of ‘the stars of heaven for multitude' (Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 26:4; Exodus 32:13; compare Deuteronomy 10:22; Deuteronomy 28:62). Compare also the reference to ‘the River Euphrates' mentioned earlier (Deuteronomy 1:7) and note Genesis 15:18. Genesis is in mind here. This description was not, of course, intended to be taken literally. He looked up and saw the multitude of stars, and then he looked round and saw a similar multitude of people and tents, and was greatly impressed at their numbers in both cases. He tried to count neither.
Later, if they were disobedient, instead of being like the stars for multitude, it is stressed that they would become few in number (Deuteronomy 28:62). But it was hoped that that would never be.
Note how he is personalising the whole story by speaking to them as though it was they who had been there originally, something most natural to someone who constantly spoke to them as ‘his people' despite their changing make up. These were still the people whom he had delivered from Egypt and who had gone through all the subsequent experiences.
‘ Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!'
And he prayed now that Yahweh, ‘the God of their fathers' would make them a thousand times as numerous as they then were, and bless them as He had promised, in accordance with His promises to the patriarchs (Genesis 12:2-3; Genesis 15:5; Genesis 17:5-6; Genesis 22:16-18; Genesis 26:24; Genesis 27:14). That in itself showed that they were without excuse. It was not through any failure of Yahweh to fulfil His promise about the number of descendants that the problems had arisen. Their numbers were continually increasing. They were part of an inevitable process resulting from Yahweh's sovereign activity which would be irresistible. Their failure lay in themselves.
This tender touch revealed that his unwillingness to bear the weight of their needs was not due to any lack of love, but simply to the requirements of the situation. He had still prayed and longed for the very best for them.
‘ How can I myself alone bear your heavy load, and your burden, and your disputes?'
Indeed his very vision of their success and their rapid growth in numbers had made him recognise that he alone could not bear the weight of having to be judge over them, or of having to deal with their problems and their difficulties. He had recognised that he was insufficient to bear so great a weight. The threefold description - your heavy load, your burden, your disputes -is intended to indicate a complete picture of the problems involved. It had become all too much for him. We too must never be afraid to acknowledge when a task has become too great for us. There is no shame or faithlessness in seeking assistance under God, as long as we stick to our task. Thereby it may be done the better.
Compare for this description Numbers 11:14 which was immediately followed by the appointment of the seventy elders. Moses was ever aware of his dependence on the assistance of others raised up by God.
‘ Take for yourselves wise men, and understanding, and well known, according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. And you answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do.”'
So they will remember that he had arranged for them to appoint their own wise men over them, suitable men, men of understanding and high reputation, tribe by tribe, to be heads over them, something which they had recognised was a good idea and which they had agreed to do. For they too had recognised how numerous they were. Note again the threefold description indicating completeness of provision.
‘ So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads (rosh) over you, captains (sar) of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers (shoter), according to your tribes.'
Thus he had set up a system of leaders and men of authority, to act as judges and magistrates, leaders in military activities, and general advisers and mediators, covering all levels of their society from highest to lowest. Note the use of different words for the leaders, ‘heads' (rosh - those of high position), ‘captains' (sar - usually with military leadership in mind. Discipline was necessary in the running of their camp and they must ever be ready to resort to arms), and ‘officials' (shoter - probably more those with administrative authority, and clerks of the court. Its root meaning is ‘to write'). He was covering every aspect of leadership. The actual carrying out of this initially is partly outlined in Exodus 18, see especially Exodus 18:25, but it would be a continuing process as further illustrated in Numbers 11:14-30. He does not here mention the part that his father-in-law had played in it. He wants them to recognise their own full part in it. (Such subtle distinction emphasises that these really are the words of Moses). But he does want them to recognise that they had seen themselves as mature enough and numerous enough to do it. It presumably also combines the appointment of the seventy elders (Numbers 11:14-30, see Numbers 11:14). Note the differing size of units, ‘thousands', ‘hundreds', ‘fifties', ‘tens', not literal numbers but descriptive of different sized tribal units. They had been catered for even down to the smallest group.
Moses was possibly conscious as he said this of the fact that these who were before him also needed to have confidence in their leaders if they were to succeed in what lay ahead. They needed to see them as wise and understanding and qualified for their responsibility. Then they would follow them the more readily.
(This use of number words is a reminder that very often in ancient days what seem to be ‘numerical expressions' are often in fact descriptive of something else. A ‘thousand' was a large group, a' hundred' and ‘a fifty', medium sized groups, and a ‘ten' a small group, regardless of actual quantity. And these leaders would not only act as judges and mediators, but also as military leaders. Thus a ‘thousand', or ‘a hundred', or ‘a fifty', or ‘a ten' could be a military unit, or the leader of it).
‘ And I charged your judges at that time, saying, “Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the resident alien who is with him. You shall not respect persons in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's. And the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.” '
He explains that he had then exhorted all the appointed ‘judges' (people placed in authority) to judge rightly and fairly, treating equally both native-born and foreigner. They were to have no respect of persons in their judgments, but to judge small and great alike, and to judge righteously. And if they found that they had a case which was too hard for them, or they did not know what decision to come to, they could come to Moses for him to hear the case. For he had not been deserting them. They always had him to turn to, as the representative of the King. And the king was always the last court of appeal.
“Judges.” In those days there was no separation between the ruling authorities and the system of justice. The rulers were the judges. The military leaders in the Book of Judges were mainly called judges because having gained their victories they then began to rule their section of Israel. Deborah ‘judged' Israel even though she was not a military leader (Judges 4:4).
The constant reference that we find to ‘resident aliens, sojourners', that is foreigners who lived among them without actually joining the covenant, although expected to keep the ordinances and statutes and not to openly worship other gods, is a reminder of the conglomerate make-up of the camp. Most present at Sinai appear to have responded to the covenant and become ‘true' children of Israel, but there would always be the odd one or two who did not, and others may well later have joined them later in the journey through the wilderness once they had left Sinai and have partly held aloof. There would probably be a small but constant stream of people who liked the idea of joining with them as they journeyed through the wilderness, and who seemingly were welcomed. Israel were ever to remember that they had been in bondage in Egypt and were on the whole to refrain from doing the same to others, and were to show hospitality to strangers. They were to treat all fairly, as they would have liked to be treated in Egypt.
So as a people they had been established in justice and righteousness, and the law of Yahweh had been firmly but fairly applied. They had experienced a level of justice which was the lot of very few outside Israel. And they had become an established people. The point that he is making is that all that could be done for them had been done.
‘ And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.'
And having appointed the judges he had told them all the things that they should do. He had outlined to them God's commandments, and His statutes, and His ordinances, and had made clear what was required of all. And the same for the people. Moses here therefore claims to have brought to them previous revelation, as found in Exodus to Numbers.
So they had gone forward confident in themselves as a people, and satisfied with their position as a nation. All had appeared ripe for a successful invasion of the land. But as so often happens it is when we become complacent that danger lurks.