Deuteronomy 1:1

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 1:1-3, “These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.[2] (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.)[3] And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them.” We see in the very first phrase that this book is all about “words,” just like the rest of the Bible. God gave the very words that He wanted to give. If you look at it from a human standpoint, you could say that the words came from Moses. But the words actually came from God. Moses was simply the instrument that God used to bring the words to man. It says in verse 3, “Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them.” Was Moses speaking or was God speaking? Both were speaking. God uses people, and God used people to bring forth His Words. It says in Second Peter 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” God gave the words and He preserved the words. It took a miracle to give the Bible, and it took a miracle to preserve the Bible. Why would God give His Word and then not preserve it or allow errors to creep into it? It does not make any sense. Jesus made it clear that God has preserved His Word. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

Words are important, especially the words from God. God gave the words that He wanted to give to the human race. If you do not know Hebrew and Greek, then it is even more important that you use a translation of the Bible where the translators used a literal word-for-word translation whenever they could. That is one of the good points about the King James version of the Bible. It is a translation that closely follows the Hebrew and the Greek. If you do not have a translation like that, then you have someone’s commentary on the Bible instead of the Bible itself. God gave the words.

Another very important lesson for us all here in the first chapter of Deuteronomy has to do with how long it took the children to make their journey when they left Egypt. It says in Deuteronomy 1:2, “There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.” It should have only taken eleven days, but how long did it really take this group of people? It took them forty years. Forty years to complete a journey of eleven days. That happened because they did not take a straight path. They wandered in the wilderness. In order to follow the Lord, we must stay on the straight and narrow way. If we get off that narrow “way,” who knows where we will end up? Jesus can make us fruitful. He is the vine, and we are the branches. Christian, be very careful which way you go. In other words, be careful what decisions that you make. Any life-changing decisions must be taken to Christ and laid at His feet to find His will. Remember the children of Israel. What a waste of time!

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 1:4-8, “After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:[5] On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,[6] The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:[7] Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.[8] Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.” Notice that verse 5 says that Moses would “declare this law.” It says in John 1:17, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” There is a great difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. That difference is law and grace. It was a very good law that God gave through Moses. It was the perfect law of God. The law is good. If anything could have brought righteousness to man, it was this law of God. But the law had one great problem: mankind. No one kept the law, and therefore the law brought a curse. There is no curse in the new covenant, other than the curse that fell on Christ. Even though we live under the New Testament, there is still a purpose for the law. It says in Galatians 3:24-25, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.[25] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” When people try to keep the law in order to please God, they will realize that they cannot keep it, and they will turn to Christ to have a Savior.

It is interesting that even though they are under the law now, a lot of the good things that happen to Israel have nothing to do with the law, but to the promises that God gave before the law was even given. When you believe the promise, you enter into the blessing of the promise. In this case the promise was made to Abraham. The promise was about the land of Canaan, and about what would happen to the descendants of Abraham. The great promise is found several times in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For example, the Bible says in Genesis 12:1-3, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:[2] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:[3] And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” God said to Isaac in Genesis 26:3-4, “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;[4] And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;” This great example where God makes a promise, and then someone believes the promise, and then God always fulfills the promise is the basis for forgiveness of sins and for salvation through belief in Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 4:2-3, “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.[3] For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

God told the Israelites that they would be able to conquer all of the peoples and that is exactly what happened. That is the real reason that Moses was able to defeat the king of the Amorites and the king of Bashan. God promised them the victory and so they had victory. Guess what: Christians also have battles and God promises victory to Christians too. There is nothing to fear when the world has ideas that go against the Christian faith. The world will always tend to do that. Just do not lose your boldness and confidence. It says in First Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And it says in First John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” Finally, it talks about those who will be in a much tougher situation that we are in because they will be living at the time of the antichrist (the beast), and it says in Revelation 15:2, “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 1:9-13, “And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:[10] The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.[11] (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)[12] How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?[13] Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.” First of all, look at verse 11. Moses expresses here his desire for the Jewish people that is one hundred percent in line with the will of God. Moses said, “The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!” There were probably a million or more Jews that Moses led out of the land of Egypt. A thousand times a million is a billion. Contrast Moses’ attitude about the Jewish people to many of the leaders of countries and leaders of religions today. Some are just like Hitler and they have the opposite attitude that Moses expressed. They want to see the Jewish people destroyed or diminished. Thus, they prove that they are not of God and are actually opposed to God’s will. No wonder that they do not believe in Jesus either. We must pray for them because unless they repent, their fate is sealed and they are doomed. Wise is the person like Moses, who knows what God wants and goes along with God. Foolish is the person who hears what God wants, but finds a reason to reject it.

Most of Deuteronomy 1:9-13 has to do with a practical aspect to leading God’s people. One person cannot do it all. The same is true in the New Testament in regards to the pastors of churches. The solution in the New Testament is called “deacons.” If a church grows in size, eventually there are too many practical issues for the pastor to do it all. The pastor needs to concentrate on Bible study, prayer, sermon preparation, and Bible teaching. The word “deacon” means “servant,” and it refers to someone who serves in a practical way such as in serving people at a meal. A deacon helps the pastor with practical needs of the congregation, and the spiritual requirements for a deacon are very similar to that of a pastor. The spiritual requirements are found in First Timothy 3:8 through 3:13. Moses also had high requirements for those who would help him in leadership. Moses said in Deuteronomy 1:13, “Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.”

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 1:14-18, “And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.[15] So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.[16] And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.[17] Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.[18] And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.” The ethical principles that Moses gave for the judges to operate on should be followed by all courts and all judges. Moses said in verse 16, “Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.” The “strangers” were people who were just passing through, or who were foreigners, or who were non-Jews. People should be treated equally, no matter who they are or where they are from. No one should get preferential treatment for any reason. No one should be treated better because of who they are, and no one should be treated worse because of who they are not. God is the judge of the whole earth and He is certainly this way. The ground is level at the cross. God is not a respecter of persons. These principles should be used in regards to the immigration issues of our day also. If someone commits a crime, they should get the same punishment whether they are a citizen of this country or not.

In verse 17 Moses gives some more ethical principles that should govern the behavior and attitudes of courts and judges. He wrote, “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.” What is the temptation for judges to not treat people equally? Why do they favor one over another? One reason is that they fear people, but they ought to fear God. Judges ought to understand that their decisions are being made under God’s eye and oversight. These little judges on the earth will give an answer one day to the Almighty Judge. Hell will be hot and will get hotter for those who have perverted judgment for any reason. Turn to Jesus while you have time.

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