Monday - Deuteronomy 1 - Review & Reminders

From Sinai to the border of Canaan should have only taken 11 days (Deuteronomy 1:2).  Instead, once they turned their faces away from Canaan, it took Israel 40 years to make their way back to it.  Toward the end of their journeying and at the end of Moses' tenure as their leader, he sat them down and rehearsed to them the story of what God had done with them.  The whole book of Deuteronomy fits into this context.

Moses' words were sometimes didactic, sometimes sermonic, sometimes reflective and always important. He covered a few major topics in this particular chapter.  Not much new information is given here. He challenged the nation to get into Canaan. He reminded them about the formation of the Sanhedrin.  He reviewed the failure of the spies at Kadeshbarnea.  And, he rehearsed again the selection of Joshua as his own replacement.

Since the day Moses walked back into Egypt, the people had turned on Him so many times that they really didn't deserve to inherit the Promised Land.  They didn't have the faith or the fortitude to do the job anyway, but it seems that justice had more to do with this turn of events than practicality did. Either way, by comparing Numbers 13:1-3 with Deuteronomy 1:22 we find one of many places in the Bible where there is more than one perspective to be considered. Life's stage is influenced by many different players.