Deuteronomy 1:1-8--The Command to Leave Horeb

Deuteronomy 1:1-8
English Standard Version

The Command to Leave Horeb
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them, 4 after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, 6 “The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’

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We just finished Book One of the Psalms (we'll return for Books Two, Three, Four and Five later as we break up the Old Testament by reading from the Wisdom Books along the way).  For now, we're going to finish up the Law with the book of Deuteronomy which is often just referred to in the Old Testament as "The Book of the Law" as this is the second telling of the Law and the history of the people to a new generation who had not seen the slavery in Egypt or the Passover or the Exodus for themselves.  This is for those not counted in the first census that we studied in the book of Numbers, but were counted in the second census and their generations to come after them.  This book it to help prepare the people for the place that the LORD has prepared for them so that they may be careful to do all that is written in it so that they may have the LORD's favor in all that they do and wherever they go.  We'll see that this Book of the Law will be something the LORD will refer to in His commission to Joshua at the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of the book of Joshua and we've already seen how important it is to other biblical figures like David (and we'll see this even moreso when we get to psalms like Psalm 119).

The first thing we see in the book of Deuteronomy is the command for the people to pack up and get ready to move out for the Promised Land.  They have been encamped on the Plains of Moab for a long time at a place called Horeb.  The exact geographical location is given as well as the exact date.  This is real history that happened in a real place at a real time.  It is not a story that starts with "once upon a time in a land far, far away" like our fairy tales do.

Moses recites the Law to the people after their defeat of King Og and King Bahan and the Moabites and the others that came against them in the book of Numbers and everyone from that original generation who had turned their backs on the LORD and the inheritance that He had prepared for them fell in the wilderness--save Moses (we know he too will die as the LORD already said who the only two would be who would cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land) and Joshua and Caleb--the two faithful spies from the book of Numbers.

The LORD tells them they've stayed in that place long enough and it is time for them to break camp and head out towards the lowlands of the Amorites and the Canaanites and to begin to take the Land which He had promised to them.  My version says Negeb, but yours may say Negev (they are the same thing as the "b" and "v" have similar sounds).  This is The South in Israel and refers to the southern desert wilderness area that is hyper-arid.  It would not look like it was much of a Promised Land and would look a lot like the wilderness they had been travelling through for a long time, but this is where the LORD told them to begin--though he told them the campaign would continue until they had taken all the land that had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--from The Great Sea to the Great River Euphrates.  From the land of Lebanon to the North, to the Red Sea and Nile River to the South.  Every place where the LORD had led Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), Moses and later Joshua--they were all promised that everywhere their foot stepped was part of the Promised Land that The LORD would give to His people.  Now it is time for the people to start to see the fulfillment of that promise.

Because God is faithful to make good on this covenant to these people in this place at this time, we can trust Him to make good on His covenant of redemption to all His people called by His name in all places at all times to deliver them to the even greater Promised Land of the New Heaven and the New Earth where we will dwell with The LORD forever and ever.