Chapter One

Moses reminds the Hebrew people of the command to set out from Sinai toward Canaan. — The appointment of commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens. — The sending of scouts into the land of Canaan. — The people’s murmuring and the judgment of God’s righteousness. — The unauthorized incursion into the southern borders of Canaan and the defeat at Hormah.

Deuteronomy 1:1. These are the words that Moses spoke to all the Israelites beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab, Deuteronomy 1:2. at a distance of eleven days’ journey from Horeb, by the road from Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. In view here is the southern part of the eastern Transjordan region and the adjacent wilderness. The Hebrew Dej-zahab (Russ.: “Dizahab”) is rendered in the LXX by a common noun: “Katakhrysea” (Slav.: “with golden mines”).

Deuteronomy 1:3. In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel everything that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. Deuteronomy 1:4. After he had struck down Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth at Edrei, “The fortieth year” — after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt.

Deuteronomy 1:5. beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law and said: “To expound the law” — Deuteronomy is not a codification of any laws new in relation to those set forth in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers: it represents a morally edifying reproduction, in the majority of cases, of those same laws that are recorded in the aforementioned books. “After the passage of forty years,” remarks Theodoret, “when by divine decree those who were condemned (to die in the wilderness) had perished, God commands the counting of their children, who had reached the same age as their fathers at the time of the first census. These children, as He was bringing them into the promised land, God, through the prophet, teaches the law that had been given to their lawless fathers” (Commentary on Deut., question 1).

Deuteronomy 1:6. The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb and said: “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain! Deuteronomy 1:7. Turn and set out on your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors — to the plain, to the hill country, to the lowland, to the Negeb, and to the seacoast — to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates; Deuteronomy 1:8. See, I am giving you this land; go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers — to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob — to them and to their descendants after them. Recalled here is that time when, after the proclamation of the law and the construction of the tabernacle, the Lord commanded the people to march toward the southern borders of the land promised to them (Num 10:12).

Deuteronomy 1:9. And I said to you at that time: I am not able to bear you alone; Deuteronomy 1:10. the Lord your God has multiplied you, and see, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven; Deuteronomy 1:11. may the Lord, the God of your fathers, multiply you a thousand times more than you are now, and bless you, as He has promised you; Deuteronomy 1:12. How can I alone bear your burdens, your loads, and your disputes? Deuteronomy 1:13. Choose for yourselves, from your tribes, men who are wise, understanding, and experienced, and I will appoint them as your leaders. Deuteronomy 1:14. You answered me and said: the thing you have told us to do is good. Deuteronomy 1:15. And I took the heads of your tribes, men who were wise, [understanding,] and experienced, and set them over you as leaders — commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and overseers, by your tribes. Deuteronomy 1:16. And I charged your judges at that time: hear out your brothers and judge fairly — between a man and his brother, as well as the foreigner among him; Deuteronomy 1:17. do not show partiality in judgment — hear out the small and the great alike; do not be afraid of any person, for judgment belongs to God; and any case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it. Deuteronomy 1:18. And I gave you at that time instructions concerning everything you should do. Moses speaks of the appointment of subordinate leaders from among the people, on the advice of Jethro (Exod 18:13-26). According to the calculations of the rabbis, for the 600,000 men who came out of Egypt (Exod 12:37), the following number of officers was appointed: 60,000 commanders of tens, 12,000 commanders of fifties, 6,000 commanders of hundreds, 600 commanders of thousands — a total of 78,600 persons. The passage under comment does not refer to those 70 elders who were chosen to share with Moses the burden of the supreme governance of the people and who, as the prophet’s closest assistants, were illumined by the spirit of prophecy (Num 11:11-17).

Deuteronomy 1:19. And we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us, and we came to Kadesh-barnea. Deuteronomy 1:20. And I said to you: you have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving to us; Deuteronomy 1:21. See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession of it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you; do not be afraid or dismayed. Deuteronomy 1:22. But you all came near to me and said: let us send men ahead of us so that they may explore the land for us and bring us word about the road by which we should go up and the cities into which we should enter. Deuteronomy 1:23. The plan seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from among you, one man from each tribe. Deuteronomy 1:24. They went up and came to the hill country and reached the valley of Eshcol, and they spied it out; Deuteronomy 1:25. and they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and they brought us word and said: the land that the Lord our God is giving to us is good. Deuteronomy 1:26. Yet you were not willing to go up, and you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, Deuteronomy 1:27. and you grumbled in your tents and said: the Lord, out of hatred for us, has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites and destroy us; Deuteronomy 1:28. where are we to go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: the people there are greater and taller than we are; the cities are large and fortified to the heavens; and we even saw the sons of Anak there. Deuteronomy 1:29. And I said to you: do not be terrified or afraid of them; Deuteronomy 1:30. the Lord your God who goes before you — He will fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, Deuteronomy 1:31. and in this wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, throughout all the way you traveled until you came to this place. Deuteronomy 1:32. Yet in spite of this word you did not trust in the Lord your God, Deuteronomy 1:33. who went before you on the way to seek out for you a place to camp — in fire by night to show you the road by which to go, and in the cloud by day. Deuteronomy 1:34. And the Lord heard the sound of your words and was angry, and He swore, saying: Deuteronomy 1:35. Not one of these people, of this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers; Deuteronomy 1:36. only Caleb son of Jephunneh shall see it; to him I will give the land on which he walked, and to his sons, because he followed the Lord faithfully. Deuteronomy 1:37. The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying: you too shall not enter there; Deuteronomy 1:38. Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you — he shall enter there; encourage him, for he is the one who will bring Israel into possession of it; Deuteronomy 1:39. and your children, about whom you said they would become prey to enemies, and your sons who today do not yet know good from evil — they shall enter there; to them I will give it, and they shall take possession of it; Deuteronomy 1:40. but as for you, turn and set out into the wilderness by the road toward the Red Sea. Cf. Num 13:1.

Deuteronomy 1:41. And you answered at that time and said to me: we have sinned against the Lord [our God;] we will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us. And each of you girded on his weapons of war, and you rashly resolved to go up into the hill country. Deuteronomy 1:42. But the Lord said to me: tell them: do not go up and do not fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be struck down before your enemies. Deuteronomy 1:43. And I spoke to you, but you did not listen and rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country. Deuteronomy 1:44. And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and struck you down in Seir all the way to Hormah. Deuteronomy 1:45. And you returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord did not listen to your cry and did not pay attention to you. Cf. Num 14:40-45.