Deuteronomy 1 – 3
We start the last book of the Torah, or the Law. As with all the books of the Law, there is history mixed in with the regulations so it reads much easier than say the 5931 pages of “Obamacare”. Moses wrote the legal parts in the Torah so they were understandable to most people unlike Obamacare. Verse 1:6 is preparing the people to enter the Promised Land by telling them the history of how they got where they were:
“The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain
Initially as you read on it’s hard to tell if they are starting to make the same mistake again or are they retelling the story of why they were wandering the wilderness. In verse 1:28 the story is clearly what happened before:
Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”
Starting in verse 34 you see God’s penalty to Israel is a repeat and shows that Moses is retelling the story of why they were in the wilderness. History is not repeating itself here; rather Moses is retelling the story of how they got there. Verses 3:25 & 26 have Moses pleading to enter the Promised Land:
25 Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ 26 But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.
I have always been bugged at this story since one event kept Moses from the Promised Land. Why did God not show grace and forgiveness when Moses asked for it? Fortunately we do not have a “direct connection” like Moses had with God, because I am sure if God told us to do something that was clear we would face similar penalties. Think about it, not only did Moses ignore a direct command from God by striking the rock, but he took credit for the resulting water.
In a way Moses made himself a god, which is a big no-no with God. Try not to make the same mistakes because really life is not always about us. I watch people work hard to their grave and get buried with nothing. I have also seen people live a life of privilege where everything came easy to them, only to be buried with the same things. I think we need to understand that some events in our lives may be because we are “helped” along by God and we need to give credit and not take it.