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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
1. The command of God for the breaking up from Horeb—and the promise. (Deu_1:6-8).
a. The promise of victory (Deu_3:24-25)
a. To the consideration of the law generally. (Deu_4:1-8.)
Deu_1:7. Turn you (Deu_1:40; Deu_2:3, with ìָëֶí ), the direction of the face; take your journey, the breaking up and departure; and go, the arriving at the goal. The three imperatives are used to impress the strong desire of the Lord to give Canaan to the people.—As the land of the Canaanites shows, these condensed descriptive terms serve to give the peculiar features, and indeed a very complete and attractive picture of the promised land, as the goal of the journey. The mount of the Amorites, afterwards the mountains of Judah and Ephraim, is the first feature of Canaan which greets the eye of one coming from the south, and is indeed as a highland (comp. Doct. and Ethical, § 2, Deu_1:1-5), with the addition: all its neighbors, the “backbone” (Keil) of the whole land. For the Amorites, comp. Deu_1:1-4. For the plain, Deu_1:1. If the Arabah following the eye includes the valley of the “Dead Sea and the Jordan” (Schultz) throughout, we can scarcely take the hills as the Mount: of the Amorites, but rather as the remaining mountains, especially as the hill region of Galilee, the second member of the mountain system of Palestine, to which follows appropriately in order the vale (Schephelah) from Carmel down to Gaza, and the south (the Negeb) the district stretching from the wilderness to the cultivated and fertile land, from the south end of the Dead Sea over to the region below Gaza; so that and by the sea side (Gen_49:13; Luk_6:17) must include the entire Mediterranean Coast up to Tyre, and at the same time, after the now following comprehensive description as the land of the Canaanites, Lebanon (white mountain from the snow), the last member of the mountain system of Palestine, gives the characteristic finish to the description. The special mention of Lebanon and the extension of the eastern limit to the Euphrates are not to be taken “as an oratorical fulness of expression” (Keil), but as the gleaming out of the divine promise. Gen_15:18; Exo_23:31; Deu_11:24. Unto the great river, the river Euphrates (from the sweet water, or the rapid flow). But “the people were led captive to the very land to which as free and rightful possessors they should have gradually advanced” (Schultz). Comp. Deu_12:20 and also 2Sa_8:3; 2Sa_8:6; 1Ki_5:1; 1Ki_5:4. To such a wide outlook, Deu_1:7, corresponds the lo or behold of Deu_1:8.—They have only to possess the land already given by God ( ðָúַúִּé , perf.).—I have set the land before you.—“The possession of it should therefore be both certain and easy” (Herxheimer). Jehovah is the God of Israel not first since Horeb (Deu_1:6), but already through the patriarchs. References Gen_12:7; Gen_13:16; Gen_15:18; Gen_17:8; Gen_24:7; Gen_26:3-4; Gen_28:13; Gen_48:4. A sacred objectivity appears here, where God speaks of Himself in the third person. So also Moses speaks of himself in the Pentateuch.—Since the giving is one already completed by God, so it makes no essential distinction between unto them and their seed after them.—The distinction is only one of time; to them, in the promise, hence sworn, to their seed in the actual gift. The legal title of the successors to Canaan, depended upon the patriarchs. It was legally, validly given to them, their seed inherited it from them.
2. Deu_1:9-18. It belongs to God to go before; the part of Moses now follows. This is an order of arrangement, not a chronological order. At that time, Deu_1:9, is the same as at Horeb, Deu_1:6 (comp. Deu_1:18 with Exo_18:5; Exo_17:6). And I spake in no way excludes the counsel of Jethro (Exo_18:17 sq.), but rather pre-supposes his very words (§ 4, Deu_1:9).—[It is probable that Moses received Jethro’s suggestion, took it to God, received the divine approval, and then proposed it to the people, which was specially suited to his purpose in this address. At that time, in Moses’ view, includes the year’s residence at Horeb. And hence there is no inconsistency between the narrative in Exodus and the statement here. The transaction may have been commenced before the law was given, and concluded afterwards.—A. G.]—Compare the ìàÎàåּëַì ìְáַãִּé with ìֹàÎúåּëַìÎìְáַãֶּêָ Exo_18:18; Deu_1:12; àֶùָּׂà with åְðָùְׂàåּ , Exo_18:22.—As Deu_1:6 to us, so here: to you.—In Genesis 12 the promise of the land was closely connected with and dependent upon the promise of a great people. Moses here makes prominent the fulfilment of this promise, and that the promise of the land had thus received a visible pledge, Deu_1:10 sq. Hence the literal reference in Deu_1:10 to Gen_22:17; Gen_26:4; Gen_15:5; Gen_17:2. Hence also in Deu_1:11 the wish for a thousand-fold increase, with which was connected the wish for a blessing according to Gen_12:2. With this agrees the God of your fathers. This fulfilment obviously renders some arrangement necessary, through which the physical enlargement may become moral also, may be formed into a legal organism, so that as in connection with the divine law-giving, so also in and through this human arrangement or institution, all that which is needful for Israel’s journey to Canaan, especially for its possession of the same, and as a consequence its settlement therein may be provided. Deu_1:12. A resumption of Deu_1:9. For bear, comp. Heb_1:3. The fact that îַùָּׂà occurs also in Num_11:17 does not justify the inference, that the appointment of the Judges here must be connected with the appointment of the Seventy elders there.—[The time and place are both different, and although there is a resemblance in the expressions which Moses uses, it is entirely natural that he should use them on both occasions. We are constantly doing the same with all the variety and flexibility of modern languages. It would be strange indeed if they should not occur in the narratives of entirely different events.—A. G.]—(V. Gerlach), your cumbrance is the people itself; burden, their concerns which they laid upon Moses; your strifes, åְøּéáְëֶí , with a vivid recollection of Exo_18:13 sq., the litigated questions and interests.
Deu_1:13. Take (give) for you men.—Those who should in this trust act for their good must proceed from themselves. Or they should themselves give what they need (Jdg_1:15). The fuller description of these men corresponds to Exo_18:21 sq. While Jethro dwells more upon the moral qualities, Moses brings out into prominence the technical qualifications for the office. Wise, in reference to the fear of God; understanding for the definite peculiar cases; known, with respect to the whole people; their good report among them. (Vulg.: quorum conversatio sit probata. Comp. Act_6:3; 1Ti_3:7.) Among your tribes belongs to the whole clause, the entire demand.—Rulers, comp. Deu_1:15; Exo_18:25. [Shebet, the word used in Deuteronomy for tribe, designates the tribe as a political corporation; Matteh, which occurs frequently in the other parts of the Pentateuch, but never in Deuteronomy, is used in reference to its genealogical stems and branches. Wordsworth.—A. G.]
Deu_1:14. A recognition of the proposal of Moses on the part of the people, and Deu_1:15 a recognition of the natural relations of the people on the part of Moses. The chief of your tribes, i. e. those who were found at the heads of the several tribes. Since the tribal institution thus lay at the foundation, the arrangement into 1,000, 100, 50, 10, aids only in cases where unusual numbers are concerned. Because there will be insight or understanding wherever there is true wisdom, the second requisite is here omitted in the enumeration.—Judges, from ùָׁèַø , connected with ùָׁæַø to press together, with = ùָׁãַø ñָãַø to rank, to dispose in order, so that “shoter” signifies one who sets in order, and connected with this, a writer, as Schnell says: “one who is to keep the tribe register, and who appears in everything where reading and writing give occasion, and especially in all financial transactions.” It belongs to those entrusted with the office of Judges, that they should order all for the legal transactions, should see that the judgment in each case is recorded, and should provide for its execution; a scripture guide in every position high or low. Sept. Exo_5:15; Exo_5:19. ãñáììáôåῖò , here ãñáììáôïåéóáãùãåῖò . It belongs to the judicial function, Deu_1:16, especially first to hear, then to judge. For the first he should act and move as between his brethren. For the last he has to execute righteousness (Deu_16:18; Joh_7:24). The brotherly open ear must be associated with the incorruptibly closed hand, and indeed before him each one is and remains only “a man,” whether he deals with “his brother” or with a “stranger.” âֵּø includes settlement, residence in itself, whether temporary or permanent, as e. g., the one who works for wages. As in this relation justice allows no distinction, so neither between the small and the great, i. e., poor and rich, the lowly and the exalted. No face, no person is to be regarded in judgment; ðָëַø in Hiph. looked upon with partiality, neither in the hearing nor the judging; and thus especially fear, the most spiritual and yet the most natural and human form of corruption is repudiated. The completion to Exo_18:21. (Self-seeking to the thirst for gain). All human reverence and respect disappears when the judgment is set forth with such emphasis as of God (Rom_2:11), when the Judge acts for him and is responsible to him (2Ch_19:6). Hence Exo_18:15; Exo_18:19, inquire of God, and bring before God. The judicial summons of the Arabs to-day is, “thou art cited before the judgment of God;” so also in the Koran. The cause that is too hard looks back to Exo_18:26. A hint of the “chief judicial authority” (Schultz), as for the present of Moses, so perhaps in a general way already an intimation of the kingdom, chap. 17. The hardness or difficulty depends upon the nature of the cause; the solution should be given to the judges (for you) and could also be made known to the parties in the case appealed. (It is interesting to notice here the fifty-eight times occurring termination åּï in Deuteteronomy used only in the older books). Deu_1:18. The transition from right-speaking in judgment to right-doing in life, from the judges to the people (“you”). Either because Moses points to Exodus 21 sq., or else gives here a summary conclusion to the passage from Deu_1:9 sq. The Divine law-giving, the decalogue, is not mentioned in the whole paragraph. But comp. upon Deu_4:13.
3. Deu_1:19-21. And we departed, Deu_1:19. Thus, so far as God and Moses were concerned, everything was ready for the journey to Canaan, but alas! it was not so on the part of the people. Comp. Num_11:12. All that wilderness here embraces the whole desert generally considered as lying over against Canaan. “The demonstrative äַäåּà and the addition which ye saw rest upon the same vivid representation, which lies at the foundation of the peculiar local determinations in Deu_1:1-2.” (Schultz). Because all therefore also great and terrible, comp. Deu_8:15; Deu_32:10. Stretching from Cairo to the Euphrates, and divided into eastern and western by the Mountains of Edom, it is the western part, the Arabia petræa which is here spoken of. From Horeb northwards, especially in the desert Et-Tih, the region is characterized by fruitlessness, scarcity of water, black chalk hills, boundless plains of blinding white sand, the sport of suffocating west winds, and lying under the heavens glowing as metal. The journey from Horeb to Kadesh, which in Deu_1:2 is described as the way of Mount Seir, is here laid down as the way of the mountain of the Amorites. The former is characteristic in the East, the latter in the North, and is moreover expressly pointed out in Deu_1:7, as the divinely announced goal. As the Lord our God commanded us. Moses, Deu_1:20, refers to this goal, Deu_1:7, as now attained, and repeats, Deu_1:21, the promise (Deu_1:8). Go up, possess—“asyndeton emphaticum. Comp. Deu_2:24; Deu_2:31.”—J. H. Mich.
4. Deu_1:22-25. As these words of Moses complete the narrative, Num_13:20, what follows down to Deu_1:46 appears as the completion made by an eye-witness like Moses; so pervading, and at the same time so undesigned and natural is the reference to Numbers 13, 14 (§ 4, 1. 10). While Moses passes over the preceding events recorded, Num_11:12, he dwells expressly upon that which introduced the catastrophe. åְéָúֻøåּ in Num_13:21 differs from åְéַçְôְּøåּÎìָðåּ here as a mere passing through, differs from the most careful and thorough exploration. Jehovah speaks for the believer, the people speak from a weak or small faith. And bring us word (answer) again, (Deu_1:25) as a parenthesis, so that åְàֵú – àֶúÎ specializes the object nempe viam, or de via. What way to take, and what fortified places to possess. Deu_1:23. Moses approves the desire of the people because it was not unreasonable, and “because the divine help never dispenses with the wise, careful, and zealous use of all human means and strength, but rather demands it.” (Kurtz). In Num. it is represented as a command of God, and the more so because God wills that the deep purposes of the heart “should come into the light, and be overcome or controlled.” (Kurtz). Canaan was to be conquered and possessed by faith, otherwise the reproach of failure would rest upon Jehovah and His covenant with Israel. Twelve men, according to Numbers 13; none for Levi, but two for Joseph, one each for Ephraim and Manasseh. Deu_1:24, comp. Num_13:23 sq. The valley of Eshcol (from ùׁêְ , ùָׁëֹì dense, interwoven), grape clusters, grapes from near Hebron, whose clusters are said sometimes to weigh from eight to twelve pounds. åַéְøַâְּìåּ Piel; to discover, because going often here and there, thus corresponding to åְéָúֻøåּ in Num_13:21. The feminine àֹúָäּ refers to the land (Deu_1:26 or Deu_1:22) as the suffix Deu_1:38. Deu_1:25, literally, as Num_13:20. And brought, sq. between two, bearing the cluster upon a pole, in order to carry it without injury, Num_13:23. What they brought vouches for their report as to the goodness of the land. Deu_1:28 brings out the rest of the report. [It shows upon what slight grounds objections are raised, that the narratives in regard to the spies, which are plainly subsidiary, should be urged as instances of discrepancy. The obvious order here is: the plan originated with the people, was approved by Moses, was submitted to God, and carried out under His express sanction. Wordsworth well remarks, “A forger who personates Moses, would have taken good care that his own statements should be seen to be in perfect harmony with the records of Moses himself. The semblances of discrepancies are not marks of spuriousness, but rather of genuineness.”—A. G.].
5. Deu_1:26-33. This subsequent report corresponds throughout with the narrative in Num_13:27-28 sq. Ye would not, precisely as Mat_23:37! The inward negative of men to the goodness of God, which then came to a decision in outward act, becomes in experience a rejection by God. Our paragraph relates the decision in act, that in experience, the rejection on the part of God is related in Deu_1:34 sq. “Moses dwells long at Kadesh, because the prolonging of that preparatory condition in which Israel was still, arose here. The natural corruption even of the chosen people is here shown, and proved a fact of importance for the whole future, since Israel even in the fields of Moab was not yet redeemed therefrom. Thus Moses addresses the Israelites around him, as if they were the authors of the apostacy at Kadesh and the rejected race, while in fact they were the new generation who were preserved in contrast to those rejected (Deu_1:35-39). Baumgarten. Deu_1:27 : murmuring, to wit, against the command and promise of the Lord, Deu_1:7. Comp. with Deu_1:21. øָâַï to chide, mock, Niphal to be peevish, morose. In your tents points back to the night, Num_14:1. Because the Lord hated us, they said, and think of the leading out from Egypt, as Num_14:2, and look upon the Canaanites also, as Num_14:3. In regard to the first, directly contrary to Exo_20:2, but comp. Deu_9:28. With this reviling of the very fundamental act of benevolence, this generation yielded up its own existence. Whither, sq., to what region of the well-occupied and fortified land shall we turn? Our brethren, viz., the spies, who give us brotherly counsel while Jehovah hates us, Num_13:31 sq. Discouraged, melted. Greater in number, and taller in size, and thus stronger. Great cities in extent, and walled up to heaven. High walls and towers, and mountain fastnesses. Comp. Deu_9:1, where Moses ironically appropriates the exaggerated utterances of their cowardice. Cowardice and pride go together (Gen_11:4), but never faith, to which God in heaven is all (Psa_73:25), and nothing on earth reaches to heaven. The living vivid representation, moreover, vouches for its originality. Sons of the Anakim, are the descendants of a peculiarly tall, giant-like race. Thus the statement concerning the three sons of Anak, Num_13:22-23, is completed. Comp. Deu_2:10. The encouragement and assurance of Moses, Deu_1:29 completes the narrative, Num_13:30; Num_14:6 sq., and after Deu_1:5 was to have been expected. There the narrative treats of Caleb and Joshua, the exceptions among the people, here it treats of Moses in his relation to the people. Comp. Deu_7:21; Deu_1:21. With Deu_1:30 comp. Deu_1:33. A verbal reference to Exo_14:14; Exo_14:25 for an introduction to what follows. Your own past experience should be that which is most assuring, is Moses’ encouragement. Deu_1:31 comp. with Deu_1:19. As a man doth bear (is wont to bear and will ever bear). The points of comparison are: the mercy which takes up the faint and perishing; the care which bears them upon the arm, and goes with them through every danger; the wisdom and power which bring them home. Comp. Exo_19:4; Isa_46:3-4; Act_13:18; Num_11:12. Deu_1:32 : åּáַøָּáָø äַåֶּä And with (in) this word. The peculiar position of the pause accent intimates so much as this, surely: in spite of, notwithstanding this assurance, or directly, is it credible! Not believing in Jehovah. The participle represents the faithless conduct of the people as an enduring, permanent condition; as Jehovah Deu_1:33 (Deu_1:30) is represented as going before them. Comp. Exo_13:21 sq., ìָúåּø . Comp. Num_10:33.
6. Deu_1:34-40. The long break in the narrative intimated here Deu_1:34, by the words And Jehovah heard, sq., as in Deu_1:32, by the pause accent, serves to set the disposition of Israel at its full measure and value, and at the same time shows how slow to wrath God was (Gen_6:11; Gen_6:5; Jam_1:19). The oath in the rejection (Psa_95:11; Heb_3:18; Heb_4:3) as in the promise (Deu_1:8; Deu_1:35). Deu_1:35. àִí “if”—because in the formula of the oath the second clause is generally wanting, it being clear of itself—here stands for: surely not; No one, because the whole body (the generation) is evil, in opposition to the good land. Comp. Num_14:23; Num_14:28. Deu_1:36. Caleb is named first (Deu_1:38) as also in Num_13:30. Upon which he hath trodden. Comp. Jos_14:9 : Because he hath wholly followed the Lord—[lit., fulfilled to go after, E. V. Marg.]. The perfect following is that which holds on when the other falls away. Deu_1:37. Also against me. Moses certainly distinguishes between the wrath breaking out upon Israel (Deu_1:34 ÷öó ) and the displeasure, the growing anger of Jehovah (hithpael from àðó ), letting loose upon him also the excluding judgment as it concerned the people. But that he excepts himself from the exception of Caleb, and feels himself to be included under the wrath of Jehovah in a general sense; this genuine Mosaic classing of himself with the people still beloved by him, although in the rejection, can only be intimated. The incident alluded to, Num_20:12, falls historically during the second coming of Israel to the borders of the promised land, and with the new generation. In his love for the people, and in the result, Moses connects it with the great catastrophe, Numbers 14. This connection moreover was even then referred to, if not designed, since Moses’ name was not mentioned, Num_14:24; Num_14:30; Num_14:38. The offer of a new people, sprung from himself, was indeed made to him, Num_14:12, but by so much the more was it obligatory upon him, that in his own person, included in the punishment with Israel, as in the grace of Jehovah it was illustrious for all Israel, he should sanctify the Lord in the eyes of the new generation. Comp. § 1. Where the rock was, 1Co_10:4, there was the anointed.—For your sakes, áִּâְìַìְëֶּí , from âìì , to separate, to disjoin; hence a movement like the rolling, breaking waves of the sea, and so here signifies your rebellion, falling away, uproar, and thus expresses the occasion, the cause of Moses’ offence, entirely in accordance with Num_20:2 sq. Comp. Deu_3:26; Deu_4:21 (§ 4, Deu_1:11); Psa_106:32-33. It is, however, clear from this how correctly the new generation in the discourses of Moses hitherto has been embraced with the old. The present rejection of the leader, Moses, forms the only difference here between the generations. With Caleb (Deu_1:36) Joshua also belongs among the exceptions—but his name occurs here (Deu_1:38) first in this connection, because he at the same time fills the place of Moses.—Which standeth before thee.—[A phrase which, as the Bib. Com. says, as it alludes to a leader of the people in the place of Moses, shows how naturally Moses came to speak of his own rejection and its cause here, although it actually occurred long years after, and in connection with another sin of the people.—A. G.]—For the daily humiliation of Moses, but still also in his loving care for Israel, for his daily consolation. But comp. Num_11:28; Exo_24:13; Exo_33:11; Deu_10:8; Deu_18:7.—Encourage him.—Comp. Deu_3:21-22. If in éָøַùׁ (Deu_1:8; Deu_1:21) the signification, to take possession by conquest, is the prominent thought, so in ðָçַì the possession by inheritance. Joshua the executor of the inheritance. Deu_1:39. Moreover, your little ones.—Comp. Num_14:3; Num_14:31.— åְèַôְּëֶí from èôó , not to trip, to take short, quick steps, but as in Isa_3:16, to turn back or around here and there, a harsh depreciating expression, to which agrees well the which in that day had no knowledge.—While ye know so well what is good, and what is evil for yourselves, let alone for them. Ironically. The way of the Red Sea, Deu_1:40; comp. Deu_2:1; Num_14:25. Contrast to Deu_1:7, by the sea-side.
7. Deu_1:41-46. For Deu_1:41 comp. Num_14:40. It was merely saying, for ye act after as before, directly against Jehovah’s command. They saw the loss, from which they would now relieve themselves.—That we will go up and fight, etc., borders closely upon the ye would not go up, Deu_1:26. What is said is done as quickly as possible. Each one girds upon himself his weapons of war—those which he was wont to wear in battle, especially his sword upon the left thigh (1Sa_25:13). So lightly did they regard what had occurred. (The Rabbins connect úָּäִéִðåּ with the äִðֶּðּåּ of the people, Num_14:40.)—[See Textual Note.—A. G.]—The Lord had only to keep pace therewith (comp. Num_14:44). Jehovah warned them to no purpose, Deu_1:42. Comp. Num_14:42; Deu_7:21; Deu_31:17 (Exo_13:15). His declared will meets the same perverse treatment as in Deu_1:26. There they refused to go up and murmured; here they will not hear, and presumptuously (Exo_21:14) ascend into the hill. Deu_1:44. The Amorites are taken for the Canaanites as a whole, but specially for those who inhabited the southern mountain slope, Deu_1:19 sq.—And chased you.—The Amalekites as the first enemy of Israel formerly conquered (Gen_14:7; Exo_17:8 sq.) from revenge, and from their vicinity had joined the Amorites. They are not expressly named here, but are characteristically pointed out, in that violence of their excited revengeful feelings illustrated by the comparison of the “bees” (Psa_118:12; Isa_7:18). With the violence of their defence and pursuit corresponds the destructive character of the result.—In Seir unto Hormah, thus to the Edomitic region (1 Chron. 5:42, 43), as the Amalekites were then of Edomitic descent (Gen_36:12; Gen_36:16; 1Ch_1:36). A predatory, roving tribe of Bedouins, having their residence between the Egyptians, Philistines, Amorites, Edomites and Midianites. The “Ban-place” (Hormah) used here as also (Num_14:45) by anticipation, according to Num_21:1 sq., caused by the conduct of Amalek there recorded, intimates the thought that as those formerly overcome were now victors over Israel, so the later Ban-place for the Canaanites was first a Ban-place for Israel. Hormah, originally Zephath, Jdg_1:17, Rowland identifies with Sebata, while Robinson locates it at the pass Es Safah. They thus returned, Deu_1:45, to the place where the ark had remained, and there wept before Jehovah. Comp. Pro_1:24 sq.—After this occurs the nearly thirty-eight years of the divine penal period, for which the double expression: The Lord would not hearken—nor give ear, are moreover expressive, portraying all the eventually fruitless attempts and the still enduring, protracted period. A part of the people as Fries (Stud. und Krit., 1854, I.), Kurtz (II., p. 402 sq.) and Schultz think, may have remained in and around Kadesh, and many may have died there, and indeed in order to the re-assembling of Israel, there may have occurred after the lapse of the period fixed by the Lord a second march to Kadesh, where moreover all the paths of the desert meet. But this is not the abode intended in Deu_1:46; but just as in the narrative of Moses, Num_14:45, the thread is dropped, and first resumed again in chap. 20; so in the discourse of Moses here we have to regard øַúֵּùְׁáåּ áְ÷ָãֵùׁ as equal to åַéֵּùֶׁá çָòָí áְּ÷ָãֵùׁ , as of a residence of the second generation in Kadesh. Comp. Num_20:16; Jdg_11:17. Kadesh forms a concluding point, which is at the same time a point of union and a beginning point, to which belongs also the verification of the name (the self-sanctification of Jehovah in the judgment), through all which there occurred. Hence the time announcement: many days—according unto the days which, designedly commits any more precise determination of the remembrance to the conscience of those addressed.
8. Deu_2:1-3. If Moses then, (Deu_1:26 sq.) immediately after his encouragement to the people to hold fast the promise of God (Deu_2:20-21) against all fear and terror, distinguishes between himself and the people (comp. Num_14:44), he now (chap. 2, Deu_2:1) again includes himself with them as in Deu_1:6-19. The departure is that of the new Israel from Kadesh, after the fruitless message to Edom (Num_20:14 sq.). Although this departure is not defined in Num_20:22, as it is here, as by the way of the Red Sea, because there Hor is regarded as the termination, it is so defined in Num_21:4, and since the journey of Israel to Canaan is ever a journey through the wilderness (comp. Deu_1:1), even for the second generation, so in the literal resumption of the command, Deu_1:40, the death sentence upon the old, is significantly here seen again at the beginning of the new generation, but with the wilderness also, the Red Sea, the redemptive passage through it.—As Jehovah spake unto me, while the command Deu_1:40 is still addressed to the people, this direction in connection with Numbers 14, 25, 11, teaches that even now they still went under that judgment, because Israel would not go according to the promise Deu_1:7 sq. The direction to Canaan even now was into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. This thorough deuteronomic conception (Deu_1:1 sq.) alone suits the immediate addition as to the compassing of the Edomite mountains; which compassing, according to Deu_2:2-3 (comp. Deu_2:8), can only be regarded as at last the march once more through the Arabah to the Ailanitic gulf, upon the western side of the mountains.—The many days (Deu_5:1) prepare for the utteran