Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 1:6
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Moses commenced with the summons issued by the Lord to Israel at Horeb, to rise and go to Canaan. Deu 1:6 As the epithet applied to God, "Jehovah our God," presupposes the reception of Israel into covenant with Jehovah, which took place at Sinai, so the words, "ye have dwelt long enough at this mountain," imply that the purpose for which Israel was taken to Horeb had been answered, i.e., that they had been furnished with the laws and ordinances requisite for the fulfilment of the covenant, and could now remove to Canaan to take possession of the promised land. The word of Jehovah mentioned here is not found in this form in the previous history; but as a matter of fact it is contained in the divine instructions that were preparatory to their removal (Num 1-4 and 9:15-10:10), and the rising of the cloud from the tabernacle, which followed immediately afterwards ( Num 10:11). The fixed use of the name Horeb to designate the mountain group in general, instead of the special name Sinai, which is given to the particular mountain upon which the law was given, is in keeping with the rhetorical style of the book. Deu 1:7 "Go to the mount of the Amorites, and to all who dwell near." The mount of the Amorites is the mountainous country inhabited by this tribe, the leading feature in the land of Canaan, and is synonymous with the "land of the Canaanites" which follows; the Amorites being mentioned instar omnium as being the most powerful of all the tribes in Canaan, just as in Gen 15:16 (see at Gen 10:16). שׁכניו, "those who dwell by it," are the inhabitants of the whole of Canaan, as is shown by the enumeration of the different parts of the land, which follows immediately afterwards. Canaan was naturally divided, according to the character of the ground, into the Arabah, the modern Ghor (see at Deu 1:1); the mountain, the subsequent mountains of Judah and Ephraim (see at Num 13:17); the lowland (shephelah), i.e., the low flat country lying between the mountains of Judah and the Mediterranean Sea, and stretching from the promontory of Carmel down to Gaza, which is intersected by only small undulations and ranges of hills, and generally includes the hill country which formed the transition from the mountains to the plain, though the two are distinguished in Jos 10:40 and Jos 12:8 (see at Jos 15:33.); the south land (negeb: see at Num 13:17); and the sea-shore, i.e., the generally narrow strip of coast running along by the Mediterranean Sea from Joppa to the Tyrian ladders, or Rs el Abiad, just below Tyre (vid., v. Raumer, Pal. p. 49). - The special mention of Lebanon in connection with the land of the Canaanites, and the enumeration of the separate parts of the land, as well as the extension of the eastern frontier as far as the Euphrates (see at Gen 15:18), are to be attributed to the rhetorical fulness of the style. The reference, however, is not to Antilibanus, but to Lebanon proper, which was within the northern border of the land of Israel, as fixed in Num 34:7-9. Deu 1:8-10 This land the Lord had placed at the disposal of the Israelites for them to take possession of, as He had sworn to the fathers (patriarchs) that He would give it to their posterity (cf. Gen 12:7; Gen 13:15; Gen 15:18., etc.). The "swearing" on the part of God points back to Gen 22:16. The expression "to them and to their seed" is the same as "to thee and to thy seed" in Gen 13:15; Gen 17:8, and is not to be understood as signifying that the patriarchs themselves ought to…
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