Deuteronomy 1:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have, first, the date of the sermon Moses preached to the people of Israel. He had a large audience, no doubt, as many as could gather within hearing, especially all the elders and officers, the representatives of the people. It was likely spoken on the Sabbath day. They were camped on the plain in the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 1:1, 5), just ready to enter Canaan and fight the Canaanites. Yet Moses does not speak to them about military plans, war skills, or strategies. He speaks about their duty to God, because if they stayed in God’s fear and favor, he would give them the land. Their religion was their best policy.

The time was near the end of the fortieth year since they left Egypt. For that long, God had put up with their behavior, and they had carried their own sin’s burden (Numbers 14:34). Now that a better and brighter stage was about to begin, Moses repeats the law to them as a sign for good. In the same way, after God’s dispute with them over the golden calf, the clearest sign of his being reconciled to them was giving the tablets again. There is no better proof of God’s favor than his putting his law into our hearts (Psalm 147:19-20).

Second, we have the message itself. Moses spoke to them everything the Lord had commanded him (Deuteronomy 1:3). This means not only that what he now gave them was the same in substance as what had been given before, but also that God now commanded him to repeat it. He gave this review and warning only by divine direction. God appointed him to leave this legacy to the church.

He begins by telling about their departure from Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 1:6). There, God gave them the order to break camp and move on (Deuteronomy 1:6-7): “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.” This was the mountain that burned with fire (Hebrews 12:18), and that led to bondage (Galatians 4:24). God brought them there to humble them and to prepare them for the land of promise through the terrors of the law. He kept them there about a year, and then told them they had stayed long enough and must go forward. Even when God brings his people into trouble, even inward trouble and distress of mind, he knows when they have stayed in it long enough. He will surely find the right time to move them on from the terrors of the spirit to the comfort of adoption. See Romans 8:15.

He also gave them a happy and early prospect of settling in Canaan: “Go to the land of the Canaanites” (Deuteronomy 1:7). Enter and take possession, it is all yours. “See, I have given you this land” (Deuteronomy 1:8). When God calls us to go forward in our Christian life, he sets the heavenly Canaan before us to encourage us.