"It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road." (Deut. 1:2)

It is true that that actual period of wandering in the desert as a punishment was 38 years and not 40, which in itself is something we should learn in our interpretation of the Bible.

On the one hand, the extended period of wandering in the desert was meant to be a punishment of the sin of rebellion of the Israelites and would be used as an example over and over again in the subsequent history of Israel to warn them not to repeat the same mistake ever again.

On the other hand, one can also argue that "one year for each of the forty years you explored the land — you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you" (Num. 14:34) could have included their 2 year journey from their departure from Egypt up to that point, as God in His foresight knew that they would have rebelled against Him and perhaps, in His mercy, counted as "time served".

However, the point is not so much whether they did wander in the desert for the exact time of forty years, but that they did incur the wrath of God and wasted their time (and for that matter, God's time as well) and did not get to see the fulfillment of the marvelous promise of God. This was the exact message Moses sought to convey to the people as they finally reached the eastern border of the Promised Land after forty years in the desert while, as Moses pointed out, it could have taken only 11 days from Mount Sinai where they received the Commandments of the Lord and became a holy nation belonging to the Lord (Exod. 19) to reach the southern border of the Promised Land.

As I was reflecting on this message, it brought me a sigh as well, not so much for the Israelites, but for myself in that I seem to have a hard time not repeating some of my mistakes, and have to learn from it over and over again — the hard way. I wonder if it is true of you as well!

"The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe." (Deut. 1:23)

In recounting the event of sending spies to take a look at the Promised land, there appears to be a discrepancy between the earlier account in Numbers and the present one retold by Moses.

The earlier account reads, "The Lord said to Moses, 'Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.'" (Num. 13:1-2)

And yet Moses seemed to be putting the blame on the people as he recounted in Deuteronomy with these words, "Then all of you came to me and said, "Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and towns we will come to" (Deut. 1:22). However, he was also quick to add that, "The idea seemed good to me" (1:23).

We have to understand that Deuteronomy was in some way a reflection by Moses of the past events leading up to the present — the eventual entry into the Promised Land, except that he would not be part of it. While the account in Numbers is more of a summary of the occasion, focusing on what the central event which was the rebellion of the people which led to the 40 years of wandering in the desert. Here Moses was using his recollection to help the people (and himself) to learn from the mistakes of the past. As a result, he felt the need to supplement the previous account with more details that were more relevant to his sermon.

Putting the two accounts together, we in fact have a much clearer picture of what has led to the sending of the spies. It was initiated by the people, whose intention was likely to make sure that unlike the dreadful wilderness that they had just passed through (v. 19), the Promised Land was really a land of "milk and honey". And Moses agreed to it, thinking that by bringing back the fruit of the land, it would only help the cause. But Moses understood that he was not the real leader of the people and so he must have consulted the Lord and got His consent. That was why in Numbers 13:1, he correctly stated that the Lord gave him the order to do so.

However, in his reflection, he also rightly blamed the people for asking to send spies ahead of them which, in the final analysis, was a sign of a lack of faith. At the same time, Moses also took full responsibility of his action, acknowledging that it was done so with his full agreement.

In spite of his bitterness about not being able to enter the Promised Land (1:37), Moses did not seek to shirk his responsibility, and that, to me, is a mark of godly person.

"You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north." (Deut. 2:3)

Although we have only gone through a bit more than one chapter in Deuteronomy, it is already obvious that Moses was not simply repeating their 40-year history of wandering in the wilderness. In chapter two, he skipped over many of the details of their encounters with the Edomites and Moabites, and yet at the same time, he gave us his spiritual perspective of not only what had happened, but the very heart of the Lord.

It is worth-noting that after the pivotal event in Kadesh-Barnea in which the rebellion of the people earned them the punishment of the 40-year of wandering, Moses related what the Lord said to him, "You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north" (2:3).

While we have no idea how long they had stayed in the region, wandering "around the hill country of Seir" (2:1), many Jewish Rabbis opine that it lasted "half of thirty-eight years" (K&D, 861). The length of stay in Kadesh-Barnea is not really that important, the importance lies in the fact that the Lord now gave an order to Moses to take the people northward, to formally resume their journey into the Promised Land.

As much as the death of the "entire generation of fighting men" (v. 14) signified the certainty of the word of God and the high cost of disobedience, this marching order did signify God's forgiveness, and with God's forgiveness, they can put their failures behind them and let "bygones be bygones".

Brothers and sisters, the wandering of the people of Israel is indeed a very vivid picture of our life in Christ in that we have been chosen to belong to Him by our faith. We are His children, we have eternal life. However, while in our flesh, we continue to struggle with sins, and at times we have to face the high cost of disobedience. However, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn. 1:9).

The God of Israel is also our God, and with God's forgiveness, we too can put our failures behind and let "bygones be bygones". God is always a God of "second chance" to those who belong to Him.

"The LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place." (Deut. 2:21)

It is interesting to note that as Moses recalled many of the battles in which the Lord empowered them to defeat those in their path as their moved towards the Promised Land, he gave this second-generation Israelites who left with their parents from Egypt some history lessons about the origin of the peoples they faced in the journey, and that included the peoples that Edomites and Moabites had driven out before them in order that they could live in the land they now occupied.

However, these were really not just history lessons, but spiritual lessons as Moses pointed out repeatedly:

"The LORD destroyed them (the Rephaites) from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place" (2:21)

"The LORD had done the same 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." (2:22)

"Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession." (2:9)

These verses reveal a marvelous spiritual truth, and that is, God is not only interested in the affairs of His Chosen People, but all peoples on earth. As a result, the history of each nation and each people group is not accidental, but under the sovereign control of the Lord whose purpose was affirmed by these words of the Apostle Paul:

"From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us." (Acts 17:26-27)

I believe even the peace offering made to King Sihon was an invitation to him to come to know the God of Israel. Unfortunately his heart was hardened by the Lord (2:30) as clay is hardened by the sun while wax is melted by the same sun.

"Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan — that fine hill country and Lebanon." (Deut. 3:25)

It was on the plains of Moab when the Israelites were finally ready to enter into the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering that Moses felt the hurt of being prohibited from entering into it, to taste the fruit of his labor.

The incident that led to this prohibition happened quite a bit earlier when the Israelites finally left Kadesh-Barnea and moved northward through the land of Edom and Moab. Before this last lag of their journey, the people quarreled with Moses over a lack of water in the Desert of Zin which led to the twice-striking of the rock, and the Lord took this presumptuous act of Moses as not trusting in Him and not honoring Him as holy (Num. 20:12).

This obviously bothered Moses greatly, and from his own account in Deuteronomy, he must have brought this up with the Lord from time to time, and as he was about to pass his baton to Joshua, he must have asked for the last time in greater earnestness than before, and that caused the Lord to reply with a sense of finality, "That is enough…Do not speak to me anymore about this matter." (3:2b) Ouch! It must have hurt and hurt deeply!

It appears that Moses was so hurt that he tried to pass the blame on the people by saying, "But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me" (3:26). However, it was true to a certain extent because had the people not been so rebellious and prone to sin so easily and quickly, Moses would not have acted so presumptuously out of anger.

On the other hand, Moses related this event so honestly with the people not with a view of blaming them, but with the intention of warning them so that they would not treat Joshua the same way. Calvin also points out that, Moses chose this time to share with the people that the Lord's refusal to change His mind was the reason that he had to pass his baton to Joshua, not because he was so discouraged by them that he decided to quit. It was not his choice, but God's. No, Moses was not a quitter; he persevered till the end!

"What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?" (Deut. 4:7)

For Moses to say these words in Deuteronomy 4:6-8 is so fitting and powerful, especially about God's greatness and nearness (v. 7) because he not only witnessed the mighty power of the Lord — the ten plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, not to mention the many miracles that the Lord had performed through him, he also experienced first-hand the "nearness" of the Lord. While many in the Old Testament had seen their prayers answered and answered miraculously, few could claim that "the Lord would speak to them as a man speaks with his friends" (Exod. 33:11). That was how near or close the Lord was with Moses.

However, what he said about the wisdom and understanding that the Law imparts is equally true. "History has confirmed this. Not only did the wisdom of a Solomon astonish the queen of Sheba (1 Ki. 10:4ff), but the divine truth which Israel possessed in the law of Moses attracted all the more earnest minds of the heathen world to seek the satisfaction of the inmost necessities of their hearts and the salvation of their souls in Israel's knowledge of God, when after a short period of bloom, the inward self-dissolution of the heathen religions had set in; and at last, in Christianity, it has brought one heathen nation after another to the knowledge of the true God, and to eternal salvation, notwithstanding the fact that the divine truth was and still regarded as folly by the proud philosophers and self-righteous Epicureans and Stoics of ancient and modern times" (K&D, 875)

"Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." (Deut. 4:9)

As Moses is about to remind the people of the salient decrees and laws (from chapters 5-26), he wants to impress upon the people not just the letters of the laws, but their genuine encounter with the Lord in Horeb. In particular, he points out that they have seen with their own eyes (4:9) and heard with their own ears (4:12). The implication is that even in the darkest hour of their lives, and even as God seems to be silent, this vivid memory of the awesome appearance of the Lord in fire, clouds and darkness, accompanied with His awesome voice, should remind them both of the power of God and His commandments that have been casted into stone.

However, it is interesting that Moses would foresee that even such an awesome memory would "fade" and the they would forget (4:9), as a result, he urges them to "teach them to your children and to their children after them" (4:9).

Those who have been involved in teaching ministry, whether it is on the pulpit, in a Sunday School classroom or a in small group Bible study leadership, would understand that our growth in the knowledge of the Bible is enhanced by teaching others. We are always the first ones to be spoken to by the Holy Spirit through our preparation.

It is true of myself as well. I have just written in my journal today that the preparation of this "5-Year Devotion Plan" has deepened my understanding of the Word far beyond my years of seminary training could. Of course, my seminary training has provided me with a good foundation especially in exegesis, and has given me the tools for doing meaningful research.

I wonder how you may apply this advice of Moses to your life.

"Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan&elipse;" (Deut. 4:41)

As much as Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land Proper, I could see the mercy of God in allowing Moses not only to see the Promised Land from a distance, but to have a taste of the fruit of his labor, albeit in a limited way.

It is revealed in the setting aside of three cities in the Transjordan region before his death in that:

– Although the land east of Jordan is not part of the land of Canaan, in the strictest sense it is still part of the promise God made to Abraham: "To your descendants I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — the land of the Kenites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites" (Gen. 15:18-20);

– The setting aside of three cities as refuge does signify the reality that Israel has become a sovereign nation with its own land; and

– It also signifies the permanency of the Law of Moses — it is now in full effect.

These have come to pass all because of the request of the two and half tribes to settle in the east of Jordan which was met with fierce objection by Moses initially (Num. 32:6). God does work in mysterious ways! (Ecclesiastes11:5)

"I am the LORD, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." (Deut. 5:6)

As the Lord was about to pronounce the Ten Commandments which Jesus, in essence, summarizes as the Commandments on which "all the Law and Prophets hang" (Matt. 22:40), He prefaced with these words, "I am the LORD, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." (Exod. 20:2)

Commentators, in general, see these opening words as of utmost importance with comments like, "indispensably prior to all that is to follow", "the center and focus of the whole Pentateuch (i.e. the Five Books of Moses)," and "the very heart of the whole Old Testament". (See Durham, WBC, Exodus, p.284)

The importance of this preface lies in at least two aspects:

1. Who is the one laying down these commandments: it is none other than God whose name is the LORD — the Great I AM. It is a reminder that He is the only True God whose existence, as indicated by His name, is above all created beings, in heaven above or on earth below. He defines everything that exists and whose existence is not defined by or in reference to any other names. Therefore He is answerable to no one, but everyone or everything is answerable to Him.
2. The LORD is now "your God": meaning there is now a covenantal relationship between the LORD and Israel and it is within that covenantal relationship that these commandments are given. They were formerly slaves with no status (Durham's translation), but now they are the people of the LORD — a treasured people, a holy nation, and a kingdom of priests (Exod. 19:5-6). This new status carries with it a tremendous privilege of being loved (treasured), a very special status quite apart from all the nations (a people separated for the Lord), and a sacred trust (as priests, middlemen between the LORD and the nations). These commandments are a must to keep in order that they can be fit their new status and fulfill their trust.

As important as these Ten Commandments are, (and they also fully reveal not only God's requirements for His people, but His attributes), the Apostle Paul would explain later that, ultimately they are meant to show them that they, by themselves, are not able to keep the Commandments, and also to draw them to repentance and faith in the atoning work of God through the shedding of blood in sacrifices, which eventually is brought to its completion in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross (Rom. 3:20-24).

Since this is the case, I really wonder why we would insist to display the Ten Commandments before the court. Shouldn't the symbol of forgiveness, the cross, be a more appropriate display, because it is not the Law, but the sacrifice of Christ that is the answer to all human sins?