Deuteronomy means "second law", or in this case it is the second giving of the Law. The original generation that had received it when Moses received the Law from the Lord had passed away. Now, as the Israelites stood poised on the edge of the land promised to them through their forefathers, it was necessary to again command them in the name of the Lord, teach them the Law, and make a covenant before the Lord that they themselves would be responsible for.
The second giving opens here with a reminder, a history of why they found themselves in this place. Frankly, if their parents had obeyed God and gone in when they were commanded, the present generation receiving the Law from Moses would have grown up in the land; they would have been among the early inhabitants. The generations would have gone immediately from those who grew up in Egypt to those who grew up in Israel. Instead, this generation had grown up wandering from place to place, their eyes on the Lord before them as He led them in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, listening to the voice of Moses, who was about to leave his place to Joshua. Consider the anticipation they might have felt as they listened to Moses: they who had had no permanent home would understand what it was to possess a piece of land, an inheritance other than slavery or wandering lost in desert lands. They had grown up hearing about the Promised Land, hearing and expecting what was to come, and now as they stood in the Arabah just across the Jordan River, they could see into the land that would be theirs. And here, Moses is giving them the terms and conditions upon which they would possess it. I would hope I'd be listening.
Tomorrow's Reading: Deuteronomy 2:1-37
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