Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Deuteronomy
Chapter 1: Moses Remembers
Israel stands at last on the edge of the Promised Land, forty years late. Before they cross, Moses preaches. He looks back over the journey and begins with a hard, healing memory: God told them to go up and take the land, and they would not believe Him. Chapter 1 is a sermon on why a generation missed the promise, and a warning to every generation since.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Deuteronomy chapter 1. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Deuteronomy is Moses' final preaching to Israel, a call to remember and to love and obey God. Chapter 1 reviews the journey and the costly unbelief at Kadesh. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
"Deuteronomy" and "Words"
"Deuteronomy" comes from a Greek phrase meaning "second law," because the book restates the law to a new generation. The Hebrew title is "Devarim," meaning "Words," from the opening line, "these are the words."
Moses
By the testimony of Scripture, these are Moses' own farewell sermons, delivered to Israel in the last weeks of his life on the plains of Moab.
The Edge of the Land
Forty years after Sinai, a new generation stands east of the Jordan, about to enter Canaan. Moses, who will not cross with them, prepares them to go.
Remember and Obey
Deuteronomy is a call to remember what God has done and to love and obey Him from the heart. Chapter 1's lesson is written in the negative: see what unbelief cost.
Moses Begins to Speak (Deuteronomy 1:1-3)
The book opens not with new events but with a voice: Moses, at the end of his life, speaking God's words to the people one last time.
These Are the Words
"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,"
Hebrew Study
"words," devarim (דְּבָרִים). The book's Hebrew name. These are not Moses' own opinions but "all that the LORD had given him." A true messenger delivers God's word, not his own.
Explanation
The name "Deuteronomy" means "second law," and that is exactly what this book is: Moses' farewell sermons "on this side Jordan," restating God's covenant to a new generation about to enter Canaan. The men who trembled at Sinai are mostly dead; their children were toddlers or unborn when the law was given. So on the plains of Moab, forty years out of Egypt, Moses "began to declare this law," rehearsing God's dealings and commands so the young nation would cross the river knowing whose they are and how they must live.
Gospel Focus
Deuteronomy is a preacher's book, built on one great command: "Remember." Again and again Moses tells Israel not to forget what God has done. Forgetfulness is the seedbed of unbelief and sin, and remembrance is the soil of faith and obedience. This is why the Lord's Supper is given "in remembrance of Me" (1 Corinthians 11:24). We do not drift into faithfulness; we remember our way into it.
Go In and Possess the Land (Deuteronomy 1:6-8)
Moses recalls the moment at Horeb when God said the waiting was over: rise, go, and take what I have promised.
The Land Set Before Them
"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. And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!) How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea. And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us. Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us."
Hebrew Study
God's word at Horeb is brisk: "Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount" — rav lakem, "enough for you." Sinai was a place to receive the covenant, not to settle. "Turn you, and take your journey," God says, and go possess the land "which the LORD sware unto your fathers." There is a time to stay and learn, and a time to march; the God who meets His people at the mountain also sends them forward to claim His promises.
Explanation
Moses reminds them how the whole venture began — not with human ambition but with a divine command and a divine gift: "Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess." The land was already theirs by God's oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; they had only to go up and take what was given. The tragedy Moses is about to recount is that a people handed a promise on a plate refused to eat. Grace set the inheritance before them; unbelief left it untouched.
Gospel Focus
The land was a gift God had already sworn to give, yet Israel still had to "go in and possess" it. Grace and obedience are not enemies. What God promises by grace, He calls us to lay hold of by faith. The same pattern runs through the gospel: salvation is God's free gift, and we are told to receive it, to "lay hold on eternal life" (1 Timothy 6:12). God had set the land before them; the only question was whether they would believe Him and go up.
They Would Not Believe (Deuteronomy 1:26-36)
At the border of the promise, Israel refused. Moses names the reason plainly, and it is not the giants: it is unbelief.
The Cost of Unbelief
"Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God: And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD. Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill. And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there."
Hebrew Study
Moses names the root of the disaster at Kadesh: "ye would not go up, but rebelled... and ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth." There is the poison of unbelief — it recast the God who redeemed them as an enemy who meant them harm. The love that carried them "as a man doth bear his son" (v. 31) was twisted by fear into hatred. Unbelief always slanders the heart of God.
Explanation
Preaching to the children of the wilderness generation, Moses makes their parents' failure a living warning. God had promised, gone before them in fire and cloud, and shown His care the whole way — yet at the border they believed the ten fearful spies over the LORD, and a whole generation forfeited the land. Only Caleb, who "wholly followed the LORD," was promised entry. The sermon's point is pointed: do not repeat your fathers' unbelief now that the same land lies again before you.
Gospel Focus
Here is one of the most important warnings in the Bible. A whole generation, redeemed from Egypt, fed with manna, led by the cloud, missed the Promised Land, and the reason was not their enemies but their hearts: "ye did not believe the LORD your God." The New Testament seizes on this exact failure and turns it on us: "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19), and, "the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith" (Hebrews 4:2). It is a sobering truth: you can be delivered and still, through unbelief, fall short of what God has for you. Only Caleb, and Joshua with him, believed God and would enter. The lesson stands over every generation: take God at His word, and go up.
A Note on History
Deuteronomy is shaped like an ancient treaty. Scholars have long observed that the book follows the pattern of the suzerain-vassal treaties of the second millennium BC, especially the Hittite ones: a preamble, a historical prologue recounting the great king's past dealings (chapters 1-3), the terms or stipulations (chapters 4-26), provision for public reading and safekeeping (31:9-13), witnesses, and the blessings and curses that seal the covenant (chapters 27-28). This shape fits the second-millennium Hittite form far more closely than the later first-millennium treaties, quietly supporting the book's own setting in the days of Moses.
Chapter 1 in Review
Deuteronomy 1 is Moses' opening sermon: a call to remember. He retells how God brought them to the border of the Promised Land and told them to go up and take it, and how they refused because they would not believe Him. That unbelief, not any enemy, cost an entire generation the promise. Only Caleb, who wholly followed the LORD, would see the good land.
For the Apostolic reader, this chapter is a mirror held up to the church. We too have been redeemed, and we too are called to take God at His word. Hebrews turns Kadesh into a warning for us: do not harden your heart in unbelief and fall short of God's rest. Faith is the difference between a wilderness grave and the Promised Land. Remember what God has done, believe what He has said, and go up.
- Deuteronomy is a call to remember God's works, because forgetting leads to unbelief.
- What God gives by grace, He calls us to lay hold of by faith and obedience.
- A redeemed people can still miss God's promise through unbelief, not through their enemies.
- Caleb's wholehearted faith shows the way in; Hebrews holds up Kadesh as a warning to us.
Questions for Reflection
- Israel's problem was unbelief, not the giants. Where is fear of the "giants" keeping you from obeying God?
- Deuteronomy says "remember." What works of God do you most need to keep before your eyes?
- Caleb wholly followed the LORD. What would wholehearted faith look like in your life this week?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Deuteronomy's structure and the 2nd-millennium Hittite treaty form: G. Mendenhall (1955); M. Kline (1963); K. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (2003).
- Moses' opening address; the command at Horeb: Deuteronomy 1:1-8.
- The spies and Israel's refusal: Deuteronomy 1:19-33; Numbers 13-14.
- Unbelief kept them out; a warning to us: Deuteronomy 1:34-36; Hebrews 3:16-19; 4:1-2.
- Caleb wholly followed the LORD: Deuteronomy 1:36; Numbers 14:24; Joshua 14:6-9.
- Remember; lay hold of the promise: 1 Corinthians 11:24-25; 1 Timothy 6:12.