Day 14 · Deuteronomy 1–3; 31; 34
Old Testament · Phase 2 · Deliverance, Wilderness & Promised Land
Moses’ review, Joshua’s commissioning, and Moses’ death
Deuteronomy 1–3
Section titled “Deuteronomy 1–3”The Command to Leave Horeb
1These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan — in the Arabah opposite Suph — between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir. 3In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them. 4This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
5On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
6The LORD our God said to us at Horeb: “You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the foothills, in the Negev, and along the seacoast to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great River Euphrates.
8See, I have placed the land before you. Enter and possess the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.”
Moses Appoints Leaders
9At that time I said to you, “I cannot carry the burden for you alone. 10The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky. 11May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over and bless you as He has promised. 12But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes all by myself? 13Choose for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.”
14And you answered me and said, “What you propose to do is good.”
15So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them as leaders over you — as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and as officers for your tribes.
16At that time I charged your judges: “Hear the disputes between your brothers, and judge fairly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident. 17Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”
18And at that time I commanded you all the things you were to do.
Twelve Spies Sent Out
19And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, 20I said: “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. 21See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
22Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring us word of what route to follow and which cities to enter.”
23The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. 24They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied out the land. 25They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us word: “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
Israel’s Rebellion
26But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. 27You grumbled in your tents and said, “Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be annihilated. 28Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”
29So I said to you: “Do not be terrified or afraid of them! 30The LORD your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt 31and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”
32But in spite of all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, 33who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel.
Israel’s Penalty
34When the LORD heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath, saying, 35“Not one of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your fathers, 36except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”
37The LORD was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land. 38Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit the land. 39And the little ones you said would become captives — your children who on that day did not know good from evil — will enter the land that I will give them, and they will possess it. 40But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”
The Defeat at Hormah
41“We have sinned against the LORD,” you replied. “We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God has commanded us.” Then each of you put on his weapons of war, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
42But the LORD said to me, “Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from defeat by your enemies.”
43So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the LORD and presumptuously went up into the hill country.
44Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45And you returned and wept before the LORD, but He would not listen to your voice or give ear to you.
46For this reason you stayed in Kadesh for a long time — a very long time.
Wanderings in the Wilderness
1Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir.
2At this time the LORD said to me, 3“You have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north 4and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful. 5Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession. 6You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”
7Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
8So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab. 9Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
10(The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. 11Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites. 12The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.)
13“Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered.”
So we crossed over the Brook of Zered.
14The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them. 15Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.
16Now when all the fighting men among the people had died, 17the LORD said to me, 18“Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
20(That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place, 22just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. 23And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor and settled in their place.)
The Defeat of Sihon
24“Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. 25This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”
26So from the Wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon, saying, 27“Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left. 28You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot, 29just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.
31Then the LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”
32So Sihon and his whole army came out for battle against us at Jahaz. 33And the LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and his whole army.
34At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors. 35We carried off for ourselves only the livestock and the plunder from the cities we captured.
36From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them. 37But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
The Defeat of Og
1Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. 2But the LORD said to me, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, along with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”
3So the LORD our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.
4At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take — the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages. 6We devoted them to destruction, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.
7But all the livestock and plunder of the cities we carried off for ourselves.
8At that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon — 9which the Sidonians call Sirion but the Amorites call Senir — 10all the cities of the plateau, all of Gilead, and all of Bashan as far as the cities of Salecah and Edrei in the kingdom of Og.
11(For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
Land Division East of the Jordan
12So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities.
13To the half-tribe of Manasseh I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og. (The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.) 14Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair, by which it is called to this day.
15To Machir I gave Gilead, 16and to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites. 17The Jordan River in the Arabah bordered it from Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) with the slopes of Pisgah to the east.
18At that time I commanded you: “The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your men of valor are to cross over, armed for battle, ahead of your brothers, the Israelites. 19But your wives, your children, and your livestock— I know that you have much livestock— may remain in the cities I have given you, 20until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to the possession I have given you.”
21And at that time I commanded Joshua: “Your own eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter. 22Do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God Himself will fight for you.”
Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan
23At that time I also pleaded with the LORD: 24“O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can perform such works and mighty acts as Yours? 25Please let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan — that pleasant hill country as well as Lebanon!”
26But the LORD was angry with me on account of you, and He would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the LORD said to me. “Do not speak to Me again about this matter. 27Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan. 28But commission Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.”
29So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
Deuteronomy 31
Section titled “Deuteronomy 31”Joshua to Succeed Moses
1When Moses had finished speaking these words to all Israel, 2he said to them, “I am now a hundred and twenty years old; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’
3The LORD your God Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the LORD has said. 4And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, when He destroyed them along with their land.
5The LORD will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you. 6Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
7Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. 8The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
The Reading of the Law
9So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
10Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles, 11when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel.
12Assemble the people— men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates— so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law. 13Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
God Commissions Joshua
14Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.”
So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting. 15Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.
16And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
17On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them.
On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’
18And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.
19Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them. 20When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant. 21And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”
22So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.
23Then the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”
The Law Placed in the Ark
24When Moses had finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, 25he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD: 26“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you. 27For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!
28Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officers so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”
Moses Begins His Song
30Then Moses recited aloud to the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song from beginning to end:
Deuteronomy 34
Section titled “Deuteronomy 34”The Death of Moses
1Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And the LORD showed him the whole land — from Gilead as far as Dan, 2all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho (the City of Palms) all the way to Zoar.
4And the LORD said to him, “This is the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it.”
5So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, as the LORD had said. 6And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows the location of his grave.
7Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished. 8The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
9Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. 10Since that time, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face— 11no prophet who did all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent Moses to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his officials and all his land, 12and no prophet who performed all the mighty acts of power and awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.