Deu 1:20 Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.
Giving us. The hills of central Palestine were part of the promised inheritance.
Deu 1:21 See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Compare Christ’s use of a similar expression in John 14:27.
Deu 1:22 Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”
See Num. 13:17–20.
Deu 1:23 The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.
See Num. 13:1–16.
Deu 1:24 They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol and explored it.
They left Kadesh-barnea behind them and went on their way.
Valley of Eshcol. See Num. 13:24. The word translated “Eshcol” means “cluster,” particularly a cluster of grapes.
The valley of Eshcol is thought to have been to the north of Hebron, a region noted for its large clusters of luscious grapes.
Deu 1:25 Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
Fruit. See Num. 13:23. A good land. See Num. 13:27; 14:7.
Deu 1:26 But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.
Rebelled. Literally, “were stubbornly rebellious.”
Deu 1:27 You grumbled in your tents and said, “The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.
Grumbled. See Num. 14:1.
Hates us. The children of Israel had become obnoxious to God because of their idolatry and constant grumbling. 0
28. Deu 1:28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.'”
The Anakims. See Num. 13:28, 33.
Go. That is, in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night (see Ex. 13:21; 32:34; Deut. 31:6, 8).
Deu 1:30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,
Fight for you. See Ex. 14:14; 17:8; Joshua 10:14, 42; 23:3, 10.
Deu 1:31 and in the wilderness. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”
Wilderness. The wilderness of the Red Sea (Ex. 13:18), of Sin (Ex. 16:1), of Sinai (Ex. 19:1, 2), and of Paran (Num. 10:12).
Carried you. Compare Ex. 19:4; Isa. 46:4; 63:9; Hosea 11:4.
Deu 1:32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God,
Deu 1:33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
Ahead of you. That is, in the cloud (Ex. 13:21, 22; Num. 14:14).
Places for you. See Num. 10:33.
The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion
Deu 1:34 When the LORD heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore:
Angry. Upon various occasions (Deut. 9:7, 8, 19, 22; Isa. 47:6; 57:16, 17).
Deu 1:35 “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors,
That good land. So described again and again (Ex. 3:8; Num. 14:7; Deut. 3:25; 4:21; etc.).
Deu 1:36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”
Caleb. Together with Joshua, the successor of Moses, Caleb was an exception to the curse incurred by the people at Kadesh (Num. 14:24, 30).
Eleazar, son and successor of Aaron, also entered Canaan (Joshua 17:4; 24:33).
Deu 1:37 Because of you the LORD became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either.
Angry with me. Because of insubordination near Kadesh (Num. 20:2–5).
Deu 1:38 But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.
He was given the promise of entrance to Canaan, along with Caleb (Num. 14:6, 7, 30).
lead Israel to inherit it.
Deu 1:39 And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.
Little ones. See Num. 14:31. Their tender age and innocence kept them from being partakers of their parents’ sin.
Deu 1:40 But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”
Deu 1:41 Then you replied, “We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
We have sinned. They pretended to repent and do the Lord’s will—after it was too late, and in fear of the penalty visited upon them (Num. 14:40).
Thinking it easy. The attitude of the people was therefore somewhat different from the impression given by “were ready.”
Deu 1:42 But the LORD said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.'”
Do not go up. Compare Num. 14:41, 42. The whole attitude of the people reflected shallow thought and superficial repentance. The ark of God’s presence could not accompany them (Num. 14:44).
Deu 1:43 So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the LORD’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country.
Your arrogance. See Num. 14:42–44. The Hebrew verb means “to boil up,” “to seethe,” “to act insolently.” They arrogantly defied the counsel of God.
Deu 1:44 The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah.
They chased like a swarm of bees.
An apt figure of speech denoting directness, swiftness, and ferocity of attack. There are calculated risks men may take in dealing with the physical world, and yet win, but it is never safe to defy God.
Deu 1:45 You came back and wept before the LORD, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you.
Their weeping was with tears of mortification and resentment, not of true repentance.
“Before the Lord” means at the door of the tabernacle, where they gathered to voice aloud their feelings. Compare the experience noted in Judges 20:23, 26.
Deu 1:46 And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.
In Kadesh. From the time of their leaving Kadesh-barnea to their arrival at Mt. Hor, about 38 years elapsed. God designed that they should enter immediately. But weeping in perverse impenitence cannot take the place of obedience, nor of genuine repentance.