Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Deuteronomy
Book: Deuteronomy
Chapter: 1
Overview:
The words
Moses spake to
Israel in the plains of
Moab, The
promise of
Canaan.
(1-8) Judges provided for the people.
(9-18)
Of the sending the
Spies-
God's
Anger for their unbelief and
disobedience.
(19-46)
1-8 Moses spake to the people all the
Lord had given him in
commandment.
Horeb was but eleven days distant from
Kadesh-barnea. This was to remind them that their own bad
conduct had occasioned their tedious wanderings; that they might
the more readily understand the advantages of obedience. They
must now go forward. Though
God brings his people into trouble
and affliction, he knows when they have been tried long enough.
When
God commands us to go forward in our
Christian course, he
sets the heavenly
Canaan before us for our encouragement.
9-18 Moses reminds the people of the happy constitution of
their government, which might make them all safe and easy, if it
was not their own fault. He owns the fulfilment of
God's promise
to
Abraham, and prays for the further accomplishment of it. We
are not straitened in the power and
Goodness of God; why should
we be straitened in our own
Faith and
Hope? Good laws were given
to the Israelites, and good men were to see to the execution of
them, which showed
God's
Goodness to them, and the care of
Moses.
19-46 Moses reminds the Israelites of their march from
Horeb to
Kadesh-barnea, through that great and terrible
Wilderness. He
shows how near they were to a happy settlement in
Canaan. It
will aggravate the eternal ruin of hypocrites, that they were
not far from the
Kingdom of God. As if it were not enough that
they were sure of their
God before them, they would send men
before them. Never any looked into the Holy Land, but they must
own it to be a good land. And was there any cause to distrust
this
God? An unbelieving
Heart was at the bottom of all this.
All disobedience to
God's laws, and distrust of his power and
Goodness, flow from disbelief of his
Word, as all true obedience
springs from
Faith. It is profitable for us to divide our past
lives into distinct periods; to give thanks to
God for the
mercies we have received in each, to confess and seek the
forgiveness of all the sins we can remember; and thus to renew
our acceptance of
God's
Salvation, and our surrender of
ourselves to his service. Our own plans seldom avail to good
purpose; while courage in the
Exercise of
Faith, and in the path
of duty, enables the believer to follow the
Lord fully, to
disregard all that opposes, to triumph over all opposition, and
to take firm
Hold upon the promised blessings.