Moses Addresses His People

(Deuteronomy 1:1 - 1:18)
These are the words Moses said to the people of Israel while they were encamped in the desert wastelands beyond the River Jordan in Arabah opposite Suph, between the towns of Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.  It is an 11 day journey from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by way of Mount Seir.  But it had been 40 years since the Israelites had left Egypt, and it was on the 1st day of the 11th month [Shevat] that Moses addressed the people of Israel to tell them all that Jehovah had commanded him to say.  (This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth near Edrei.) While the Israelites were still in Moab, east of the River Jordan, Moses began to explain the commandments.  He began thusly:

"Our god Jehovah told us when we were in Horeb, 'You have tarried long enough at this mountain!  Break camp and resume your journey.  Advance into the hill country inhabited by the Amorites and the neighboring peoples, into Arabah, the uplands and the lowlands, into the Negev, the coastlands, the lands of the Canaanites, and Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River.  See, I am offering this land to you.  Invade it and take possession of the land I, Jehovah, promised to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.'

"At that time I told you, ‘I’m not able to bear the burden of leading you alone.  Your god Jehovah has so increased your population that you are now as numerous as the stars in the sky.  --- And may Jehovah, the god of your fathers, multiply you a thousand times more and bless you, as he has promised to do.  --- But how can I assume the responsibilities you place upon me and deal with all your problems and disputes by myself?  So choose from each tribe men who are respected for their wisdom and judgment; I will make them your leaders.'  And you responded, 'What you propose is good for us.’  And so I took the wise and respected men selected by each of your tribes and appointed them to positions of authority over you, some responsible for a 1000 men, some 100, some 50, and others 10.  I charged the judges at that time, 'Hear cases of your fellow Israelites and resident aliens with equal fairness and render your decisions justly.  Show no impartiality between the great and the lowly.  Do not be intimidated by men, for the justice you administer is from God.  But any cases that are too difficult for you to decide, you may bring to me and I will handle them.'  At that time I instructed you in all that you were required to do."

Notes
1. In an address to his people, Moses recaps the history of the Israelites since they left Egypt.  This is rather like an old movie serial when, about two-thirds of the way through, a chapter is devoted to retelling the story so far, for the sake of viewers who missed earlier chapters or had lost the thread of the story.  One wonders how Moses could have addressed the entirety of his people, but perhaps he only spoke to the elders.  This is one of the few times when Moses expresses his own thoughts, tells his own story, and is not merely a mouthpiece of Jehovah.  Recounting what is now history, he speaks to those who, if they experienced the Exodus and subsequent events at all, were children at the time.

2. Moses spoke to his people on the 30th day of Shevat, about late January or February.

2. The Amorites in the Bible were Canaanites who occupied the uplands east of the River Jordan.  They are often described as giants.  They are probably not synonymous with the Amorites that figure in the history of Mesopotamia and Syria.  Bashan is now referred to as the Golan Heights, an area formerly in Syria, but most of which has been occupied since 1967 by Israel.  Heshbon, in modern Jordan, is northeast of the Dead Sea.  Horeb is another name of the Sinai.  Arabah refers to the Jordan Valley.

3. The decision that Moses made to delegate authority was suggested by his father-in-law Jethro, the Midianite.  Perhaps  because the Israelites have already totally exterminated the Midianites, a virtual genocide, Moses prefers to forget this fact.

4. Moses chooses to mention at the beginning of his remarks the appointment of judges.  Although their concepts of law would have been inherited from the Babylonians or acquired from the Egyptians, it is nevertheless admirable that the early Israelites, whose society and lifestyle was far more primitive, retained and fully embraced a fairly sophisticated and civilized legal system.