I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 1-2.

As the children of Israel camped on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, preparing to cross into the Promised Land, Moses addressed them and summarized the events since leaving Mt. Sinai.  This summary was important and necessary because only Moses, Joshua, and Caleb were left of those who were adults at Mt. Sinai.  I will note the things which Moses chose to highlight from that journey.  First, Moses tells them how he appointed judges, selected by the people, over the people to share some of the burden of providing leadership and resolving disputes among the people.  He highlights this as his suggestion to the people, who accepted it.  Then he brought up the scouts.  Here he tells them that the scouts were the people’s idea, which he accepted.  In this account Moses places most of the blame for the people’s rebellion against going into the Promised Land at that time on the people.  In the account in Numbers, the scouts are given a larger share of the blame.

Moses skims past most of the time they spent in the wilderness until they approached the land of Edom.  At that point Moses explains how God instructed them not to attack the Edomites, the Moabites, or the Ammonites.  Moses completely passes over the incident with Balaam and the subsequent attack on the Midianites.  Of course, this also explains why in the account of that the Israelites attacked the Midianites, and not the Moabites.  I also find it interesting that the Israelites were instructed not to attack the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites, but were instructed to attack the Midianites.  They were not to attack the Edomites because they were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother.  They were not to attack the Moabites and Ammonites because they were the descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew.  However, they were to attack the Midianites, the descendants of Midian, one of Abraham’s sons.