(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 1:1–8, “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. (There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.) 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; 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: On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: 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. 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.”
Moses was now preparing to complete the final task in the ministry that the Lord God had given forty years before. He was keeping his father in law’s sheep in the Midianite desert when the Lord called him to go down to Egypt and set Israel free from their slavery. He led Israel out of Egypt and took them to Sinai where the Lord gave them the Law. After that, the generation of slaves who had been miraculously freed from slavery refused to trust the Lord any more. They knew that the Lord would perform mighty miracles but they didn’t trust the Lord to conquer giants so they wandered in the desert for forty years while that unbelieving generation died off. Everyone in the first generation had a choice. They had to pack their bags and sacrifice the Passover Lamb so that they would be protected. Having made that choice they were committed to leaving Egypt with the rest of Israel. In spite of the fact that they made the choice they didn’t follow it through. At this stage, every one in Israel, apart from Moses, Joshua and Caleb, had been twenty years old and younger when they left. Legally, these people didn’t have the right to make that choice. However, Moses was preparing to put that choice before Israel again. Every adult who went into the Promised Land did so knowing what they were agreeing to.
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