Deuteronomy
Chapter 1
Campaigns of the Tribes
These are words that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the other side of the Jordan River in the Arabah desert. They were facing Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
From Mount Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea, they traveled an eleven-day journey through the mountains of Seir.
But now it was the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after they left Egypt when Moses told the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him regarding them.
After defeating Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei,
Moses explained this law. They were in the land of Moab, on the other side of the Jordan.
Historical Summary
Moses said:
“The Lord, our God, spoke to us at Mount Horeb: ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
Leave this place and go into the territory of the Amorites and to their neighboring peoples in the Arabah, the Mountains, the Lowlands, the Negeb, and the seacoast, into the land of Canaan and Lebanon up to the great Euphrates River.
Look: I am giving you this land; you will take possession of it and live in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all their descendants.’”
Appointment of Judges
I said to you then: ‘I alone cannot be responsible for all of you.
The Lord, your God, has multiplied you, and now, you are as numerous as the stars in heaven.
May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more and bless you just as he promised.
But how can I alone resolve all your problems and disputes?
And I gave to half of Manasseh’s tribe the other half of the kingdom of Gilead and the whole kingdom of Og or Bashan with the whole of the Argob region. The entire land of Bashan was called the land of the giants.
Look for intelligent, keen-sighted, and experienced men from each of your tribes, and I will place them as leaders over the people.’
And you answered, ‘What you ask us to do is right.’
So, I selected wise and experienced men from the leaders of your tribes and appointed them as leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, as well as secretaries for each tribe.
I also gave this instruction to the judges: ‘Take care of the complaints of your fellow Israelites and judge fairly the lawsuit between an Israelite and his brother, or between an Israelite and a foreigner living among you.
Do not be influenced by anyone when you judge, but listen to the poor and the rich alike, the powerful and the weak, and do not be afraid of anyone because you act in place of God. And if a very difficult case arises for you, refer it to me, and I will attend to it.
At that time, I established what you had to do.
Sending Spies into Canaanite Territory
Finally, having left Horeb, we passed through that vast and terrible desert that we saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord had commanded us, and arriving at Kadesh-Barnea,
I said to you: ‘We have come to the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord, our God, gives us.
Look, Israel, at the land the Lord gives you; take possession of what was promised to your ancestors. Do not be afraid or discouraged.’
Then all of you gathered around me and said, ‘Better send some men before us to explore the land and map out the roads leading to the cities where we are to go.’
That was a good suggestion, so I took twelve men from among you, one from each tribe,
who set out and climbed the mountains on foot until they came to the Valley of the Grapevines.
And once there, they took with them the fruits of the valley, and upon their return, they recounted to us what they had seen. They told us, ‘The land the Lord gives us is good land.’
Nevertheless, you did not want to go up into the mountains but rebelled against the commands of the Lord.
And you began to murmur in your tents: ‘The Lord does not like us; he made us leave Egypt to turn us over to the Amorites, who in turn will kill us all.
Where shall we go? The messengers have frightened us with what they told us: the people who live in the land are taller and stronger than we are. The cities are great and are fortified with high walls. We have seen giants there as in times past.’
Then I said to you: ‘Have no fear and do not be afraid of them.
The Lord who leads you will likewise fight for you as he did in Egypt.
You have also seen what he did in the desert where he carried you all the way just as a father carries his son until we came to this place.’
But still you would not believe the Lord, our God,
who went before you in all your journeys, and has instructed you where to set up camp; by night, he has shown you the way with fire and by day with a cloud.
And when the Lord heard the rumblings of your complaints, he was angry and swore:
Not one from this perverse generation will see the beautiful land which I swore to give to your ancestors
except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and I will give him and his children the land he trod on because he has faithfully followed the Lord.
The Lord was also angry with me because of your fault, and he said to me: ‘Neither will you enter there;
but your assistant, Joshua, the son of Nun, will enter. Encourage him because he will be the one to give Israel its inheritance.
Your children will enter there; to them will I give the land, and they will possess it, although you feared they would become the prey of your enemies.
But for you, go back into the desert by the Red Sea.’
And you answered me: ‘We have sinned against the Lord, our God. Now, we will go and fight as he has commanded us.’ So, each one took his weapons and considered climbing the mountains easy.
But the Lord told me: ‘Tell them not to go and fight because I am not with them, or else they will be defeated by the enemy.’
I told you this, but you did not listen. You disobeyed the Lord’s order and went up to the mountains instead.
Then the Amorites who live on those mountains came out to meet you; they struck you and pursued you like bees from Seir to Hormah.
And you returned with much weeping in the presence of the Lord, who did not want to hear you nor listen to your voice.
So you were to remain at Kadesh for many days, and you know how long it took.
Commentaries
Introduction.
These opening verses serve as an introduction to Moses’ first discourse, setting the scene both geographically and temporally: “all Israel” is gathered “on the other side of the Jordan” (1); that is, in the plains of Moab, at the entrance to the land the Lord is about to give them. The wilderness period has ended, lasting forty years; the reason for this long span, which contrasts with the “eleven journeys” from Horeb—that is, Sinai, as named in this book—to their current location, will be explained by Moses in 1:19-46: it was due to the people’s rebellion, caused by their stubbornness in doubting the signs and miracles of the Lord.
Historical Summary.
The authors attribute to Moses a unique historical overview that highlights the most critical moments of Israel’s journey, from their departure from Horeb-Sinai to their arrival in Moab. The Lord demonstrates his faithfulness to his promises by defining the boundaries of the land he had promised to the ancestors of the people (8). These territory limits are, in essence, ideal; Israel always envisioned them but only actually reached them during David’s reign (cf. 2 Sm 8).
Appointment of Judges.
Moses recalls the moment he decided to organize the people with judges to help him govern. This moment is also mentioned in Exodus 18:24-26 and Numbers 11:24f. However, in Exodus and Numbers, their roles are not clearly explained: “Listen and decide according to justice… Do not be partial… Hear equally… Do not let yourselves be intimidated….” This is because the “discourse” reflects the experiences of people who are already in the promised land, rather than those before. The writers’ technique has been to place the audience, who have over five centuries of history, back in that time so they can “hear” from Moses himself about the path the people should have taken from the start.
Rereading the past allows Israel, divided between those displaced to Babylon and those who did not go into exile, to imagine reuniting itself as the people of God. The reconstruction approach developed by the Deuteronomist tradition (D) differs from that of the Priestly tradition (P). The Deuteronomists focus on “listening” and “obedience” to the Word of the Lord, as well as the “practice” of justice. Let us remember how crucial this same attitude is for Jesus: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it” (Lk 11:28). The Priestly tradition’s (P) proposal, on the other hand, aims for absolute holiness through perfect worship.
Sending Spies into Canaanite Territory.
Historical memory reveals a major failure by the people against their Lord: distrust, which is seen as rebellion (26-28). Despite the testimonies from the spies who explored the land (cf. Nm 13), the people overall became discouraged and complained against the Lord. In response, the Lord denied that generation entry into the Promised Land; only the next generation would receive that privilege (34-40). This judgment also affected Moses himself (37; cf. Nm 14:20-35). Even though the people showed repentance and decided to fight the Amorites, their initial mistake was to be punished: hence the account of their defeat. This serves as another lesson for the people of the sixth century B.C. to reflect on when judging their past and planning their future.