34 “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, 35 ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’ 37 Even with me the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’
41 “Then you answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 And the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ 43 So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country. 44 Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah. 45 And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you. 46 So you remained at Kadesh many days, the days that you remained there.” – Deuteronomy 1:34-46 ESV
Moses is addressing the people of Israel as they stand on the eastern edge of the land of Canaan, attempting to bolster their confidence in God and refresh their memories concerning what happened to the previous generation who had refused to enter the Promised Land as God had commanded them. Moses is providing his younger audience with a much-needed history lesson, in which he exposes the true reason that more than 40-years had passed since the Israelites had been set free from their captivity in Egypt. This younger generation had to have questioned the cause of the delay and wondered why it had taken so long to reach the land of Canaan. And it is doubtful that their parents had been open and honest about the cause of the delay.
Moses wants this generation, which represented the future of Israel, to know the truth. He didn’t want them questioning the faithfulness of God or doubting the Almighty’s ability to keep His promises. The four-decade-long detour and delay had not been God’s plan. It had come about as the result of the peoples’ refusal to trust Him. And Moses recounts the doubt-filled response of the people when they had heard that there were giants in the land.
“The Lord must hate us. That’s why he has brought us here from Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered. Where can we go?” – Deuteronomy 1:27-28 ESV
The report of the spies, detailing the presence of formidable enemies in the land, had caused the Israelites to doubt God’s love and question His goodness. Suddenly, their view of God changed. The great I Am, who had graciously freed them from captivity, defeated the armies of Egypt, and had led them across the wilderness, had become a tyrant. He was a hateful, promise-breaking deity who was going to allow them to be slaughtered by the occupants of the land. And how did they arrive at this warped perspective? They had been told that there were enemies in the land.
And the news of enemies in the land carried more weight in their minds than God’s track record of love, care, grace, mercy, and faithfulness. His history as a covenant-keeping God went out the window at the first sign of trouble. The prospect of enemies in the land destroyed any confidence they had in the God in their midst.
God did not take their accusations against Him lightly. They were accusing Him of lying and of being untrustworthy. They were questioning His very character. Rather than recognizing God as holy, righteous, and just, they had accused Him of betrayal and abandonment. And God, who always protects the integrity of His name and defends His own character, would not allow them to drag His reputation through the mud. Their very existence as a nation had been His doing. He had taken Abraham and Sarah, an elderly man and his barren wife, and had given them more descendants than there are stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). And He had promised to give those descendants “all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8 ESV).
But when the time had come to take possession of that land, those very same people had decided that their enemies were greater than their God. In their minds, the potential for trouble overshadowed the proven power of God. When they discovered that their occupation of the land of promise wasn’t going to be easy, they lost all hope. The presence of trials did a number on their ability to trust. And God responded quickly and sternly.
“Not one of you from this wicked generation will live to see the good land I swore to give your ancestors.” – Deuteronomy 1:35 NLT
Their disbelief was going to lead to their discipline by God. That disobedient generation would never enjoy all the blessings the land of promise held in store for them, because they failed to trust the God who had promised it to them. Their unwillingness to do battle for the land robbed them of ever experiencing all that the land had to offer. But one of the other things they would miss out on would be the faith-stirring reality of watching God defeat the giants in their midst. He had told them He would go before them and fight on behalf of them. He had promised to give them victories over all their enemies – if they would simply obey His command and enter the land – giants and all.
Facing the prospect of God’s anger, the people had declared, “We have sinned against the Lord! We will go into the land and fight for it, as the Lord our God has commanded us” (Deuteronomy 1:41 NLT). But it was too little too late. God knew their hearts. He was fully aware that they had no confidence in Him. They were simply trying to escape His wrath.
As a sign of their change of heart, the men of Israel had strapped on their weapons and prepared to do battle for the hill country of the Amorites. They wanted to prove to God that they were ready to be obedient. But the text tells us that they believed this battle would prove to be a cake walk. “So your men strapped on their weapons, thinking it would be easy to attack the hill country” (Deuteronomy 1:41 NLT).
But God warned them not to follow through with their plans, because He would not be with them. They would be going into battle against His wishes and without His assistance. And the outcome would be devastating.
“If you go ahead on your own, you will be crushed by your enemies.” – Deuteronomy 1:42 NLT
Yet, they refused to believe God and went ahead with their plan. They were going to prove to God that they were faithful, even if it meant being disobedient to do so. Think about the absurdity of their reasoning. They were going to disobey God in a vain attempt to impress Him. And Moses, retelling the details of this past event to his young audience standing on the edge of the land of Canaan, explains what happened next:
“This is what I told you, but you would not listen. Instead, you again rebelled against the Lord’s command and arrogantly went into the hill country to fight. But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah. Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but he refused to listen. So you stayed there at Kadesh for a long time.” – Deuteronomy 1:43-46 NLT
They had refused to trust God. Instead, they had decided to disobey Him. Then, when He responded in anger to their disobedience, they determined to prove their faithfulness by disobeying Him yet again. But God warned them that any efforts done by them but without His approval or help would be doomed to failure. They had feared the giants in the land, but had fallen to the Amorites outside the land. They had failed to trust God, but then tried to win back His favor through further disobedience.
And yet, all of this could have been avoided if they had only done what God had asked them to do: Enter the land and trust Him with the results.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
