Deu 1:8 | KD | STEP | This land the Lord had placed at the disposal of the Israelites for them to take possession of, as He had sworn to the fathers (patriarchs) that He would give it to their posterity (cf. ; ; Gen 15:18., etc.). The “swearing” on the part of God points back to Gen 22:16. The expression “ to them and to their seed ” is the same as “to thee and to thy seed” in ; , and is not to be understood as signifying that the patriarchs themselves ought to have taken actual possession of Canaan; but “ to their seed ” is in apposition, and also a more precise definition (comp. with , where the simple statement “to thee” is explained by the fuller statement “to thy seed”). ראה has grown into an interjection = הנּה. לפני נתן: to give before a person, equivalent to give up to a person, or place at his free disposal (for the use of the word in this sense, see ; ). Jehovah (this is the idea of ), when He concluded the covenant with the Israelites at Horeb, had intended to fulfil at once the promise which He gave to the patriarchs, and to put them into possession of the promised land; and Moses had also done what was required on his part, as he explained in , to bring the people safety to Canaan (cf. ). As the nation had multiplied as the stars of heaven, in accordance with the promise of the Lord, and he felt unable to bear the burden alone and settle all disputes, he had placed over them at that time wise and intelligent men from the heads of the tribes to act as judges, and had instructed them to adjudicate upon the smaller matters of dispute righteously and without respect of person. For further particulars concerning the appointment of the judges, see at , where it is related how Moses adopted this plan at the advice of Jethro, even before the giving of the law at Sinai. The expression “ at that time ,” in , is not at variance with this. The imperfect ואמר with vav rel ., expresses the order of thought and not of time. For Moses did not intend to recall the different circumstances to the recollection of the people in their chronological order, but arranged them according to their relative importance in connection with the main object of his address. And this required that he should begin with what God had done for the fulfilment of His promise, and then proceed afterwards to notice what he, the servant of God, had done in his office, as an altogether subordinate matter. So far as this object was concerned, it was also perfectly indifferent who had advised him to adopt this plan, whilst it was very important to allude to the fact that it was the great increase in the number of the Israelites which had rendered it necessary, that he might remind the congregation how the Lord, even at that time, had fulfilled the promise which He gave to the patriarchs, and in that fulfilment had given a practical guarantee of the certain fulfilment of the other promises as well. Moses accomplished this by describing the increase of the nation in such a way that his hearers should be involuntarily reminded of the covenant promise in Gen 15:5. (cf. ; ; ; ).

‏ Deuteronomy 1:8

This land the Lord had placed at the disposal of the Israelites for them to take possession of, as He had sworn to the fathers (patriarchs) that He would give it to their posterity (cf. Gen 12:7; Gen 13:15; Gen 15:18., etc.). The “swearing” on the part of God points back to Gen 22:16. The expression “to them and to their seed” is the same as “to thee and to thy seed” in Gen 13:15; Gen 17:8, and is not to be understood as signifying that the patriarchs themselves ought to have taken actual possession of Canaan; but “to their seed” is in apposition, and also a more precise definition (comp. Gen 15:7 with Gen 15:18, where the simple statement “to thee” is explained by the fuller statement “to thy seed”). ראה has grown into an interjection = הנּה. לפני נתן: to give before a person, equivalent to give up to a person, or place at his free disposal (for the use of the word in this sense, see Gen 13:9; Gen 34:10). Jehovah (this is the idea of Deu 1:6-8), when He concluded the covenant with the Israelites at Horeb, had intended to fulfil at once the promise which He gave to the patriarchs, and to put them into possession of the promised land; and Moses had also done what was required on his part, as he explained in Deu 1:9-18, to bring the people safety to Canaan (cf. Exo 18:23). As the nation had multiplied as the stars of heaven, in accordance with the promise of the Lord, and he felt unable to bear the burden alone and settle all disputes, he had placed over them at that time wise and intelligent men from the heads of the tribes to act as judges, and had instructed them to adjudicate upon the smaller matters of dispute righteously and without respect of person. For further particulars concerning the appointment of the judges, see at Exo 18:13-26, where it is related how Moses adopted this plan at the advice of Jethro, even before the giving of the law at Sinai. The expression “at that time,” in Deu 1:9, is not at variance with this. The imperfect ואמר with vav rel., expresses the order of thought and not of time. For Moses did not intend to recall the different circumstances to the recollection of the people in their chronological order, but arranged them according to their relative importance in connection with the main object of his address. And this required that he should begin with what God had done for the fulfilment of His promise, and then proceed afterwards to notice what he, the servant of God, had done in his office, as an altogether subordinate matter. So far as this object was concerned, it was also perfectly indifferent who had advised him to adopt this plan, whilst it was very important to allude to the fact that it was the great increase in the number of the Israelites which had rendered it necessary, that he might remind the congregation how the Lord, even at that time, had fulfilled the promise which He gave to the patriarchs, and in that fulfilment had given a practical guarantee of the certain fulfilment of the other promises as well. Moses accomplished this by describing the increase of the nation in such a way that his hearers should be involuntarily reminded of the covenant promise in Gen 15:5. (cf. Gen 12:2; Gen 18:18; Gen 22:17; Gen 26:4).