“Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.
The book of Deuteronomy means the second giving of the Law. The book repeats most of the laws and commands God gave the nation of Israel early in their formation of a nation to represent Him. But, those that received the early commands, as stated above rebelled against God’s commandments. They all would die in the wilderness and note take possession of the promised land. God laid it all out before them but because of their fear they were hindered from obtaining the blessings God had promised them when He redeemed them out of Egypt. As a result only their children would posses the land. But, that meant that the children had to hear, for the first time, the giving of the Law. That is why Deuteronomy is the second giving of the Law. It should be noted that in our world today there is a need to repeat some of the simple truths of God’s Word again to this new generation. We seem to be lacking in the deeper knowledge of truth. When we don’t teach truth to the next generation we will be destined to lose truth to all generations. King David knew that thought when he wrote the following psalm:
Psalms 71:17-18 (ESV)
O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
We are to teach God’s might and God’s message and God’s methods to the next generation, less they forget and become absorbed with the world’s philosophy. That is both the burden and the blessing of old age. Moses in this book will tell the new generation about the power of God and the character of God. This will prepare them as they enter the promise land.
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