Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 1:26
Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
26 33. The Disaffection of the People
Israel defied the command to go up (Deu 1:26), murmuring that in hate God had brought them from Egypt, to be destroyed by the Amorite (Deu 1:27). quoting the spies that the people of the land were taller with fenced cities, and the ‘Anakim were there (Deu 1:28). Moses exhorted them not to fear, Jehovah would fight for them (Deu 1:29 ff.). But they persisted in unbelief (Deu 1:32), though God had never failed to guide them (Deu 1:33). In the parallel account which is compiled from JE and P the few J E fragments, Num 13:30 f., Num 13:33, Deu 14:1 b, Deu 14:3 f., Deu 14:8-9 b, imply the people’s disquietude at the spies’ report and state that Caleb quieted them, but the other spies contradicted, affirming that the giant ‘Anakim (J), the Nephlim (E), were in the land. The people wept, Why doth Jehovah bring us to this land to fall by the sword? were it not better to return to Egypt under another captain? Someone (Caleb?) exhorted them not to fear, Jehovah is with us. P, Num 13:32; Num 14:1 a, Num 14:2; Num 14:5; Num 14:9 a, Num 14:10 a, states that on the evil report of the spies, that the land was hungry and the men of great stature, the congregation murmured (a different term from that in the deuteronomic review) against Moses and Aaron. Would God we had died in the wilderness! Moses and Aaron fell prostrate, while Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes and affirmed the land to be exceeding good. But the congregation bade stone them.
Thus all three accounts agree on the main facts: (1) that the spies were divided in reporting (any variations as to this are merely of emphasis), (2) that the people refused to go up from fear of the taller peoples of the land; (3) that they murmured against God (so even P, Num 14:27), (4) that they were exhorted to faith, and still disbelieved. The differences are JE mentions only Caleb as urgent to go on, P Caleb and Joshua, the deuteronomic review neither, though the writer had those in mind as appears from the next section; JE reports the proposal to return to Egypt, P only a wish to die in the desert; P alone mentions the proposal of stoning. Each writer, as elsewhere, uses his own style, our passage being full of characteristic deuteronomic phrases. But its main distinction is its religious spirit. Summarising the JE narrative, with a few verbal coincidences, it finely indicates the moral character of the people’s disaffection opposing to their fears founded on a few men’s reports their own long and indubitable experience of their God’s unfailing providence.
Deu 1:26. ye would not ] A phrase found seven times in D against three in the rest of the Pent.
rebelled, etc.] Web. defied the month of: another deuteronomic phrase.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Notwithstanding, ye would not go up,…. And possess it, as the Lord had bid them, and Moses encouraged them to do, as well as Joshua and Caleb, who were two of the spies sent into it:
but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God; disregarded the word of the Lord, and disobeyed his command, and thereby bitterly provoked him, which rebellion against him, their King and God, might well do.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verses 26-31:
This text does not mention the efforts of Joshua and Caleb to encourage Israel to invade the Land, and to trust Jehovah for victory, Num 13:30; Num 14:6-10.
Moses’ efforts to raise the courage of Israel failed. They turned against him and the others who advocated immediate action. Israel saw this opportunity as an obstacle, and huddled in their tents in fear and discontent.
The promise of certain victory was based upon past experience, in which God miraculously intervened, Exo 14:15-31; Exo 15:23-26; Exo 16:4-15; Exo 17:8-16, et. al. This is a reminder that God today has promised victory to His child, a promise made sure by past experiences.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Deu 1:26-28
‘ Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you murmured in your tents, and said, “Because Yahweh hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we, the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.” ’
But in spite of their appreciation of the land, and their recognition that it was a good land, their fathers had refused to go forward. They had rebelled against Yahweh’s command, and had come together in their tents (note the stress on their clandestine muttering) muttering and murmuring in an attitude of total antagonism. ‘Returning to tents’ was a description of cessation from mobilisation (Jos 22:8) and of withdrawal from authority (1Ki 12:16). They were declaring themselves not ready for service.
This had resulted in their looking back and declaring that the deliverance from Egypt which had so delighted their hearts two years earlier, and over which they had been so jubilant, had only really occurred because Yahweh ‘hated’ them. The word for ‘hate’ can simply indicate lack of special consideration or an attitude of ‘not-loving’ (see Gen 29:31), rather than positive hatred, but here they were being childish and imputed to God unworthy sentiments as though He had acted petulantly like the gods of other nations as revealed in mythology. There is a deliberate contrast here on Moses’ part of their faithless attitude as compared with Yahweh’s constant love for them (Deu 4:37; Deu 7:7-9) and the love for Yahweh that the covenant demands (Deu 6:5). They were seeing Him as the exact opposite of what He actually was to them.
The words ‘love’ and ‘hate’ are covenant words. When a suzerain had made his treaty with a conquered people he called on them to show their ‘love’ for him, and ‘hate’ towards his enemies (compare Psa 139:21-22), and described those who rejected the covenant as those who ‘hated’ him. They were thus here charging Yahweh with failure to keep His covenant. They were suggesting treachery. We too always see God as ‘hard’ when He does not let us have our own way.
So their fathers had begun to claim that He had simply delivered them from Egypt in order to put them in an even worse situation, indeed, in order to destroy them, because of His malice against them. Better to be in bondage in Egypt than to be dead at the hands of the Amorites!
We are all familiar with how such ideas can spread. For their minds had been gripped by the pictures outlined to them by the scouts, and they had continued to magnify them until they imagined large armies of larger than average people (Num 13:32), vast cities with great, insurmountable walls (Num 13:28), and even worse, the sons of the Anakim, of fearsome reputation and renowned for their huge build, and even more fearful when seen in the imagination (Num 13:33 where the fearful described them as ‘the Nephilim’, and saw them as semi-divine – compare Gen 6:4). They had panicked. In their disappointment their imaginations had run riot, and they had asked themselves, ‘what on earth are we being expected to face?’. It was the opposite of faith.
And unless we exercise faith we too are all very good at magnifying difficulties. Let us learn from this never to so build up difficulties in our minds that they become seemingly insurmountable.
“The sons of the Anakim.” These were famed for their great size (compare Deu 2:10; Deu 2:21) and were connected with Hebron (Num 13:22; Jos 15:13) from where they spread, and some went to Gaza (Jos 11:21). Because of their size they would be valuable as mercenaries. Joshua in fact destroyed them and drove the remnants from their territory (Jos 11:21). This destruction was probably connected with the description in Jos 14:12-15; Jos 15:13-14; Jdg 1:10. It may be these who are mentioned in the Egyptian execration texts under the reference to “the ruler of Iy-‘anaq”.
How easy it is for us as well to declare ourselves ready to obey God, and then to change our minds as soon as difficulties begin to arise. Better a cosy useless life, we decide, rather than to have to face up to problems and overcome them. But we must beware. It is then we risk losing ‘the land’. For it is as we do face up to these problems that the difficulties begin to melt away before us, even though it might take time.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 1:26-33
26Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; 27and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 28Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.’ 29Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them. 30The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ 32But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, 33who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.
Deu 1:26 rebelled The VERB (BDB 598, KB 632, Hiphil IMPERFECT) becomes a common word in Deuteronomy (e.g., Deu 1:26; Deu 1:43; Deu 9:7; Deu 9:23-24; Deu 21:18; Deu 21:20; Deu 31:27; and also in the Psalms). Its COGNATE in Aramaic means to dispute with and in Syriac, to contend with. It denotes willful, known disobedience!
the command of the LORD The command in Deu 1:8; Deu 1:21 were for them to go up and take the land.
Deu 1:27 you grumbled in your tents The people were in their tents grumbling (BDB 920, KB 1188, Niphal IMPERFECT); they were not doing it publicly, but God saw their hearts (cf. Psa 106:25) and knew that they were rebelling against Him (i.e., slanderous whispers, cf. Pro 16:28; Pro 18:8; Pro 26:20; Pro 26:22). God knows not only what we say (cf. Deu 1:25 c), but what is in our heart-our motives (cf. Num 14:1-6).
the LORD hates us In this verse the people are impugning the motives and nature of God (e.g., Deu 9:28). They had forgotten all of the wonderful promises and provisions of God during their trek from Sinai to Kadesh and had started focusing on their present situation, which they viewed as devastating.
Deu 1:28 Our brethren have made our hearts melt The people tried to blame the spies for their unbelief. The term melt (BDB 587, KB 606) is a metaphor for a person becoming fearful and losing the will to resist (cf. Deu 20:8; Jos 2:11; Jos 5:1; Jos 7:5; and possibly Deu 14:8).
NASB, REBbigger and taller
NKJV, Peshittagreater and taller
NRSV, TEV,
NJB, NIVstronger and taller
NETmore numerous and taller
It is obvious from the different translations that the question is about the first term. Is it synonymous or does it add new information?
The ADJECTIVE (BDB 152) basically means great. It is used of:
1. great in extent
2. great in number
3. great in intensity
4. great in importance
The term is common and has such a wide semantic field that only context can clarify its meaning. The Septuagint seems to understand these terms as more populous and mightier. Part of the problem of translation is the place of giants in the OT!
the cities are large and fortified to heaven From archeology we have found evidence about some of these cities. Lachish was a southern Amorite city which had a wall 29 feet thick. The walls of these cities had an occasional raised turret or tower. One can understand how the Israelites were overwhelmed when they saw these cities (fortified BDB 130, KB 148, Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE means inaccessible).
This hyperbole fortified to heaven is used in the same metaphorical sense as the names of the Ziggurats in Babylon (cf. Gen 11:4).
Anakim The word (BDB 778 I) literally means longneckers. This refers to the giants (cf. Genesis 6).
SPECIAL TOPIC: TERMS USED FOR TALL/POWERFUL WARRIORS OR PEOPLE GROUPS (GIANTS)
Deu 1:29
NASBDo not be shocked, nor fear them
NKJV do not be terrified, or be afraid of them
NRSV Have no dread or fear of them
TEV Don’t be afraid of those people
NJB Do not take fright, do not be afraid of them
The first VERB (BDB 791, KB 888, Qal IMPERFECT) means cause to tremble. In Aramaic it means to quiver and in Syriac to come upon accidently or violently (cf. Deu 7:21; Deu 20:3; Deu 31:6).
The second VERB (BDB 431, KB 432, Qal IMPERFECT) means fear or awe. This is the common term for fear:
1. of enemies – Deu 1:21; Deu 1:29; Deu 2:4; Deu 3:2; Deu 3:22; Deu 7:18-19; Deu 20:1; Deu 20:3; Deu 31:6; Jos 11:6
2. peoples of the earth fear the people of God – Deu 28:10 (cf. Jos 4:24); Jos 9:24
3. Israel is to fear/awe/respect YHWH – Deu 4:10; Deu 5:5; Deu 6:2; Deu 6:13; Deu 6:24; Deu 10:12; Deu 10:20; Deu 13:11; Deu 14:23; Deu 17:13; Deu 17:19; Deu 19:20; Deu 21:21; Deu 25:18; Deu 28:58; Deu 31:12; Jos 4:24
Deu 1:30 The LORD your God who goes before you This is a powerful encouraging phrase expressing God’s best gift-His personal presence and provision. Notice in Deu 1:30 He goes ahead of them to battle (cf. Deu 9:3); in Deu 1:33 He goes ahead of them to lead them through the desert.
fight on your behalf This is an example of holy war or herem (BDB 355, e.g., Deu 2:24; Deu 3:6; Deu 7:2; Deu 20:16-18; Jos 6:17; Jos 6:21; Jos 8:26; Jos 10:1; Jos 10:28; Jos 10:37; Jos 11:12; Jos 11:20-21). This is God’s judgment on the Amorites/Canaanites for their sin, not just God favoring His people (cf. Gen 15:16). God had given the peoples of Canaan many chances to repent, but they would not, so His judgment was upon them. God will also judge His own people when they take up these same Canaanite practices (i.e., the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles)! Here, God is telling His people not to fear but to trust Him because He was on their side (e.g., Deu 3:22; Deu 20:4; Jos 10:14; Jos 10:42; Jos 11:5-6)!
Deu 1:31 your God carried you, just as a man carries his son Carry (BDB 669, KB 724, Qal PERFECT) can refer to physically bearing someone or something or sustaining someone. God as Father (i.e., Parent) is a wonderful biblical, personal family metaphor (cf. Deu 8:5; Deu 32:6; Exo 4:22; Psa 27:10; Psa 68:5; Psa 103:13; Pro 3:12; Isa 1:2; Isa 63:16; Jer 3:19; Hos 11:1-4; Mal 1:6; Act 13:18). In the OT son is a corporate metaphor for YHWH’s fatherhood for Israel, but it becomes individual to Davidic king and his special royal descendant (i.e., Messiah, Psa 2:2; Psa 2:7; Act 13:33).
Deu 1:32 But for all this This includes God’s special, personal presence and care from the call of Abraham (Genesis 13) through the Exodus (Exodus – Numbers).
you did not trust the LORD your God The VERB (BDB 52, KB 63, Hiphil PARTICIPLE) is a major theological term. It is the basis of the personal relationship central to the covenant.
SPECIAL TOPIC: BELIEVE, TRUST, FAITH, AND FAITHFULNESS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ()
Deu 1:33 who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go God went before the people in a fire by night and cloud by day, which is known as the Shekinah cloud of glory (e.g., Exo 13:21-22; Exo 14:19; Exo 14:24; Exo 19:16-18; Exo 20:21; Exo 24:15; Exo 24:18; Exo 33:9-10; Lev 16:2; Num 9:15-23; Num 14:14; Psa 78:14) This cloud symbolizes the presence or transportation of deity and is found throughout the Bible (e.g., 1Ki 8:10; 1Ki 8:12; Eze 1:4; Dan 7:13; Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Act 1:9-11; 1Th 4:17; Rev 1:7). He is coming on the clouds! See Special Topic: Coming On the Clouds
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
commandment. Hebrew mouth. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for the word spoken by it. So Deu 1:43. Exo 17:1. Gen 24:57, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Num 14:1-4, Psa 106:24, Psa 106:25, Isa 63:10, Act 7:51
Reciprocal: Heb 3:18 – but