A grand book is before us. “Deuteronomy” means “the second law” but that doesn’t mean that there are new commandments. The children of Israel are now at the borders of the promised land, but not into it. They are being reminded that they had been brought that far, not because they had kept the ten commandments given by Moses; but because of God’s promises to their father Abraham! (Read carefully 9:4-6). He lived about 500 years before Moses. The believer today is not preserved because there is any good in the way he acts, but entirely because of the grace of God. Remember, our blessings depend entirely on what Christ has done for us, but our happiness depends on how obedient we are to God’s Word. The believer today is also learning from this book that God wants to fill our thoughts with heaven and the future glory. The “land” is mentioned about 98 times, so they too were constantly reminded of the future. There are three main divisions in the book. The first 11 chapters give the reason why they should obey God! The second section is chapters 12-29 — telling us what they were to obey. And thirdly, 30 to end of book — things to come the blessings.
V.1-8 Moses reviews the past, from the time they started across the wilderness.
V.9-18 Moses reminds them of the time they sent the spies into the land to search what it was like; instead of trusting God. God had promised them the land! God had searched it out long before. Would He not be able to give them the land without the spies searching it out?
V.35-46 And because they would not believe, God had not taken them in. He had turned them back to wander in the wilderness for 38 years. These verses are very interesting. Now the 38 years are past, and they are about to enter the land.