Deuteronomy 1
Today Search the Scriptures has us returning to the Old Testament to go through the book of Deuteronomy. Please take a minute or two to read the introductory section of our February 21, 2023 post. I’ll wait…
As is true for much of the rest of Deuteronomy, this first chapter recounts history that we’ve already been through in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers — Exodus 18:13-27 and Numbers 13-14 in particular here. So why does Moses retell this history? For his immediate audience of Israelites who are just about to enter into the Promised Land after 40 years in the wilderness, Moses wants to ensure that they do not make the same mistakes as the prior generation. Likewise, we, too, need the repetition so that we, too, might learn the same lessons. As Paul says in I Corinthians 10, Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction… (I Cor. 10:11) So let’s pay attention. Let’s learn from the Israelites, from both their failures and their successes. Let’s learn to put our full faith and confidence in the One Who calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light. (I Peter 2:9)