Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 1:1-8
We have here, I. The date of this sermon which Moses preached to the people of Israel. A great auditory, no question, he had, as many as could crowd within hearing, and particularly all the elders and officers, the representatives of the people; and, probably, it was on the sabbath day that he delivered this to them. 1. The place were they were now encamped was in the plain, in the land of Moab (Deu 1:1, Deu 1:5), where they were just ready to enter Canaan, and engage in a war with the Canaanites. Yet he discourses not to them concerning military affairs, the arts and stratagems of war, but concerning their duty to God; for, if they kept themselves in his fear and favour, he would secure to…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 1:8
I have set the land before you--literally, "before your faces"--it is accessible; there is no impediment to your occupation. The order of the journey as indicated by the places mentioned would have led to a course of invasion, the opposite of what was eventually followed; namely, from the seacoast eastward--instead of from the Jordan westward (see on Num 20:1).
John Gill on Deuteronomy 1:8
Behold, I have set the land before you,.... Described it to them, and set its bounds, as well as had given them a grant of it:
go in and possess the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and their seed after them: and which being thus made sure unto them, they had nothing more to do than to go and take possession of it.
John Calvin on Deuteronomy 1:6-8
Deuteronomy 1:6-8
6. The Lord our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
6. Jehova Deus noster loquutus est nobis in Horeb, dicendo: Sat vobis est habitasse in monte isto.
7. Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Arnorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea-side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
7. Vertite vos, et proficiscimini, et ite ad montem Amorrhmorum, et ad omnes vicinos ejus, in solitudine, in monte, et planitie, et rueridle, et in littore marls, terrain Chenanaei a Lebanon usqu…
