Deu 1:40-45 | KD | STEP | “ Who standeth before thee ,” equivalent to “in thy service” ( ; : for this meaning, see ; ; 1Ki 1:28). “ Strengthen him: ” comp. ; and with regard to the installation of Joshua as the leader of Israel, see Num 27:18-19. The suffix in ינחילנּה points back to הארץ in Deu 1:35. Joshua would divide the land among the Israelites for an inheritance, viz., (v. 39) among the young Israelites, the children of the condemned generation, whom Moses, when making a further communication of the judicial sentence of God (Num 14:31), had described as having no share in the sins of their parents, by adding, “who know not to-day what is good and evil.” This expression is used to denote a condition of spiritual infancy and moral responsibility ( ). It is different in 2Sa 19:36. - In he proceeds to describe still further, according to Num 14:39-45, how the people, by resisting the command of God to go back into the desert ( , compared with Num 14:25), had simply brought still greater calamities upon themselves, and had had to atone for the presumptuous attempt to force a way into Canaan, in opposition to the express will of the Lord, by enduring a miserable defeat. Instead of “they acted presumptuously to go up” (Num 14:44), Moses says here, in , “ ye acted frivolously to go up; ” and in , “ ye acted rashly, and went up .” הזיד from זוּד, to boil, or boil over ( ), signifies to act thoughtlessly, haughtily, or rashly. On the particular fact mentioned in , see at Num 14:45.

‏ Deuteronomy 1:40-45

“Who standeth before thee,” equivalent to “in thy service” (Exo 24:13; Exo 33:11 : for this meaning, see Deu 10:8; Deu 18:7; 1Ki 1:28). “Strengthen him:” comp. Deu 31:7; and with regard to the installation of Joshua as the leader of Israel, see Num 27:18-19. The suffix in ינחילנּה points back to הארץ in Deu 1:35. Joshua would divide the land among the Israelites for an inheritance, viz., (v. 39) among the young Israelites, the children of the condemned generation, whom Moses, when making a further communication of the judicial sentence of God (Num 14:31), had described as having no share in the sins of their parents, by adding, “who know not to-day what is good and evil.” This expression is used to denote a condition of spiritual infancy and moral responsibility (Isa 7:15-16). It is different in 2Sa 19:36. - In Deu 1:40-45 he proceeds to describe still further, according to Num 14:39-45, how the people, by resisting the command of God to go back into the desert (Deu 1:41, compared with Num 14:25), had simply brought still greater calamities upon themselves, and had had to atone for the presumptuous attempt to force a way into Canaan, in opposition to the express will of the Lord, by enduring a miserable defeat. Instead of “they acted presumptuously to go up” (Num 14:44), Moses says here, in Deu 1:41, “ye acted frivolously to go up;” and in Deu 1:43, “ye acted rashly, and went up.” הזיד from זוּד, to boil, or boil over (Gen 25:29), signifies to act thoughtlessly, haughtily, or rashly. On the particular fact mentioned in Deu 1:44, see at Num 14:45. Deu 1:45-46

“Then ye returned and wept before Jehovah,” i.e., before the sanctuary; “but Jehovah did not hearken to your voice.” שׁוּב does not refer to the return to Kadesh, but to an inward turning, not indeed true conversion to repentance, but simply the giving up of their rash enterprise, which they had undertaken in opposition to the commandment of God-the return from a defiant attitude to unbelieving complaining on account of the misfortune that had come upon them. Such complaining God never hears. “And ye sat (remained) in Kadesh many days, that ye remained,” i.e., not “as many days as ye had been there already before the return of the spies,” or “as long as ye remained in all the other stations together, viz., the half of thirty-eight years” (as Seder Olam and many of the Rabbins interpret); but “just as long as ye did remain there,” as we may see from a comparison of Deu 9:25. It seemed superfluous to mention more precisely the time they spent in Kadesh, because that was well known to the people, whom Moses was addressing. He therefore contented himself with fixing it by simply referring to its duration, which was known to them all. It is no doubt impossible for us to determine the time they remained in Kadesh, because the expression “many days” is imply a relative one, and may signify many years, just as well as many months or weeks. But it by no means warrants the assumption of Fires and others, that no absolute departure of the whole of the people from Kadesh ever took place. Such an assumption is at variance with Deu 2:1. The change of subjects, “ye sat,” etc. (Deu 1:46), and “we turned and removed” (Deu 2:1), by no means proves that Moses only went away with that part of the congregation which attached itself to him, whilst the other portion, which was most thoroughly estranged from him, or rather from the Lord, remained there still. The change of subject is rather to be explained from the fact that Moses was passing from the consideration of the events in Kadesh, which he held up before the people as a warning, to a description of the further guidance of Israel. The reference to those events had led him involuntarily, from Deu 1:22 onwards, to distinguish between himself and the people, and to address his words to them for the purpose of bringing out their rebellion against God. And now that he had finished with this, he returned to the communicative mode of address with which he set out in Deu 1:6, but which he had suspended again until Deu 1:19.