Deuteronomy 1:42
But the LORD said to me, "Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from defeat by your enemies."
Sermons
Irrecoverableness of Wasted OpportunityD. Davies Deuteronomy 1:19-46
The Heirs of PromiseR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 1:34-46
Tardy RepentanceJ. Orr Deuteronomy 1:40-46














In the conduct of these Israelites we have a typical exhibition of human nature. In its folly, its fickleness, its unreasonableness, and its obstinacy. Forbidden to enter Canaan, they change their mood, and nothing will serve them but to "go up" and do the thing they had formerly said they would not do. They are vociferous in their professions of repentance, and will not be reasoned out of their self-willed purpose, but persist in following it up to their own after discomfiture. We have here to notice -

I. HOW UNCHANGED CHARACTER MAY COEXIST WITH A CHANGED FORM OF MANIFESTATION. Underneath these loud professions of repentance, "We have sinned" (ver. 41), it is not difficult to detect:

1. The old unbelief. They disbelieve God's threatening, as before they refused to believe his promise.

2. The old self-will. It is not what God wills, but what they will themselves, that is to be done. They do not ask, "Will God permit us to do this?" but they take the law into their own hands, and ignore God's wishes altogether.

3. The old contumacy. Their wills are wholly unsubmissive. In revolt yesterday against their duty, and today against their punishment. They will not hear warning (ver. 43), but pursue their own way. All this stamps their repentance as not only tardy, but insincere. Analogous to much of the repentance caused by fear of punishment, fear of exposure, fear of death; and points to the defects in superficial repentance generally.

II. How INSINCERE REPENTANCE NATURALLY PASSES OVER INTO PRESUMPTUOUS SIN. It does this inasmuch as there was never in it the element of real submission. The undertaking of the Israelites was typical of many more. It was:

1. Presumptuously conceived.

2. Presumptuously prepared for.

3. Presumptuously persevered in.

It is, therefore, the type of all undertakings set on foot and carried out

(1) in defiance of God's will;

(2) without God's assistance;

(3) in face of God's expressed displeasure.

It is a case, in short, of flying in the face of God; of defying him, and entering into direct contest with him; as every one does whose schemes are in opposition even to natural and economical, and stilt more if they are in opposition to moral and spiritual, laws; or in any way contrary to what we know to be God's will. Presumption may show itself in refusal to be saved, except in ways or on terms of our own dictation.

III. How GODLESS ENDEAVOR RECOILS IN DISASTER ON THOSE WHO PERSIST IN IT. (Ver 44.) So must it be with all schemes that have God's frown upon them. Note -

1. Repentance may come too late (ver. 45; Matthew 25:11; Luke 13:25).

2. Disobedience may cloak itself in the guise of obedience (ver. 41).

3. The test of obedience is willingness to do what God requires at the time he requires it, and not at some time of our own. - J.O.

Because he hath wholly followed the Lord.
You want to be a Christian, meanwhile your heart is set upon getting riches. You would store your mind with the learning and wisdom of the world, you wish to gain repute as a good talker in company, and a convivial guest at the social hoard. Ambition prompts you to seek fame among your fellows. Well, I shall not denounce any of these things, but I would use every persuasion to induce you who are believers in Christ to renounce the world. If Christ has redeemed you He has henceforth a claim on you as His servant, and it is at your peril that you take up any pursuits that are inconsistent with a full surrender of yourself to Him. Why many Christians never attain to any eminence in the Divine life is because they let the floods of their life run away in a dozen little rivulets, whereas if they cooped them up in one channel and sent that one stream rolling on to the glory of God, there would be such a force and power about their character that they would live while they lived.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

It ought to be the great care of every one of us to follow the Lord fully. We must follow Him universally, without dividing; uprightly, without dissembling: cheerfully, without disputing; constantly, without declining; and this is following Him fully.

(Matthew Henry.)

No man makes progress in any branch of human thought or science without this first condition — the habit of pinning himself down wholly to the subject in band, and rigidly restraining all other thoughts. You must bring your instrument to a point before it will penetrate, to an edge that it may cut; and only firm concentration of oneself on the matter before us will do that. Alas! how little of this patient prolonged concentration of interested thought on our dear Lord do even the best and devoutest of us employ! And as for the ordinary Christian life of this day, what a sad contrast does it present to such an ideal.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

People
Amorites, Anakites, Caleb, Canaanites, Eshcol, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jephunneh, Joshua, Laban, Moses, Nun, Og, Seir, Sihon
Places
Arabah, Ashtaroth, Bashan, Dizahab, Edrei, Egypt, Euphrates River, Hazeroth, Heshbon, Horeb, Hormah, Jordan River, Kadesh-barnea, Laban, Lebanon, Moab, Mount Seir, Negeb, Paran, Seir, Suph, Tophel, Valley of Eshcol
Topics
Attack, Defeated, Enemies, Fight, Lest, Midst, Otherwise, Overcome, Smitten, Struck
Outline
1. Moses' speech in the end of the fortieth year
6. briefly rehearsing the history of God's sending them from Horeb
14. of giving them officers
19. of sending the spies to search the land
34. of his anger for their incredulity
41. and disobedience

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 1:42

     5290   defeat
     6109   alienation

Deuteronomy 1:41-42

     5606   warfare, nature of

Deuteronomy 1:41-44

     5612   weapons

Deuteronomy 1:42-43

     6021   sin, nature of

Library
Foretastes of the Heavenly Life
Early in the year 1857. NOTE: This edition of this sermon is taken from an earlier published edition of Spurgeon's 1857 message. The sermon that appears in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 45, was edited and abbreviated somewhat. For edition we have restored the fuller text of the earlier published edition, while retaining a few of the editorial refinements of the Met Tab edition. "And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 45: 1899

Preventive against Backsliding.
It is most instructive to note how exceedingly anxious the early Christians were, that, as soon as a man was converted, he should be "filled with the Holy Ghost." They knew no reason why weary wastes of disappointing years should stretch between Bethel and Peniel, between the Cross and Pentecost. They knew it was not God's will that forty years of wilderness wanderings should lie between Egypt and the Promised Land (Deut. i. 2). When Peter and John came to the Samaritans, and found that they were
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

Afraid of Giants
'And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain; 18. And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 19. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 20. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Philo of Alexandria, the Rabbis, and the Gospels - the Final Development of Hellenism in Its Relation to Rabbinism and the Gospel According to St. John.
It is strange how little we know of the personal history of the greatest of uninspired Jewish writers of old, though he occupied so prominent a position in his time. [173] Philo was born in Alexandria, about the year 20 before Christ. He was a descendant of Aaron, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families among the Jewish merchant-princes of Egypt. His brother was the political head of that community in Alexandria, and he himself on one occasion represented his co-religionists,
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

A Plain Description of the Essence and Attributes of God, Out of the Holy Scripture, So Far as Every Christian must Competently Know, and Necessarily Believe, that Will be Saves.
Although no creature can define what God is, because he is incomprehensible (Psal. cxliii. 3) and dwelling in inaccessible light (1 Tim. vi. 16); yet it has pleased his majesty to reveal himself to us in his word, so far as our weak capacity can best conceive him. Thus: God is that one spiritual and infinitely perfect essence, whose being is of himself eternally (Deut. i. 4; iv. 35; xxxii. 39; vi. 4; Isa. xlv. 5-8; 1 Cor. viii. 4; Eph. iv. 5, 6; 1 Tim. ii. 5; John iv. 24; 2 Cor. iii. 17; 1 Kings
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Mountainous Country of Judea.
"What is the mountainous country of Judea? It is the king's mountain." However Judea, here and there, doth swell out much with mountains, yet its chief swelling appears in that broad back of mountains, that runs from the utmost southern cost as far as Hebron, and almost as Jerusalem itself. Which the Holy Scripture called "The hill-country of Judah," Joshua 21:11; Luke 1:39. Unless I am very much mistaken,--the maps of Adricomus, Tirinius, and others, ought to be corrected, which have feigned to
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Kadesh. Rekam, and that Double. Inquiry is Made, Whether the Doubling it in the Maps is Well Done.
The readers of the eastern interpreters will observe, that Kadesh is rendered by all Rekam, or in a sound very near it. In the Chaldee, it is 'Rekam': in the Syriac, 'Rekem': in the Arabic, 'Rakim'... There are two places noted by the name Rekam in the very bounds of the land,--to wit, the southern and eastern: that is, a double Kadesh. I. Of Kadesh, or Rekam, in the south part, there is no doubt. II. Of it, in the eastern part, there is this mention: "From Rekam to the east, and Rekam is as the
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Barren Fig-Tree. Temple Cleansed.
(Road from Bethany and Jerusalem. Monday, April 4, a.d. 30.) ^A Matt. XXI. 18, 19, 12, 13; ^B Mark XI. 12-18; ^C Luke XIX. 45-48. ^b 12 And ^a 18 Now ^b on the morrow [on the Monday following the triumphal entry], ^a in the morning ^b when they were come out from Bethany, ^a as he returned to the city [Jerusalem], he hungered. [Breakfast with the Jews came late in the forenoon, and these closing days of our Lord's ministry were full of activity that did not have time to tarry at Bethany for it. Our
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

In the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.
(October, a.d. 29.) ^D John VII. 11-52. ^d 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? [It was now eighteen months since Jesus had visited Jerusalem, at which time he had healed the impotent man at Bethesda. His fame and prolonged obscurity made his enemies anxious for him to again expose himself in their midst. John here used the word "Jews" as a designation for the Jerusalemites, who, as enemies of Christ, were to be distinguished from the multitudes who were in doubt
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Moses and his Writings
[Illustration: (drop cap W) Clay letter tablet of Moses' time.] We now begin to understand a little of the very beginning of God's Book--of the times in which it was written, the materials used by its first author, and the different kinds of writing from which he had to choose; but we must go a step farther. How much did Moses know about the history of his forefathers, Abraham and Jacob, and of all the old nations and kings mentioned in Genesis, before God called him to the great work of writing
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Blessing of Jacob Upon Judah. (Gen. Xlix. 8-10. )
Ver. 8. "Judah, thou, thy brethren shall praise thee; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; before thee shall bow down the sons of thy father. Ver. 9. A lion's whelp is Judah; from the prey, my son, thou goest up; he stoopeth down, he coucheth as a lion, and as a full-grown lion, who shall rouse him up? Ver. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto Him the people shall adhere." Thus does dying Jacob, in announcing
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf.
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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