After their exodus from Egypt, the children of Israel journeyed from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea, the entry to the good land. This was an eleven-day journey (Deut. 1:2). At that time, Jehovah God set the promised good land before them, and Moses told them to be bold and go up and possess the land as God had spoken to them (vv. 19-21). Although the spies sent by the children of Israel brought back word that the land was an exceedingly good land, a land which flowed with milk and honey (v. 25; Num. 13:27), they also brought an evil report to the people that caused the whole assembly of the children of Israel to murmur against Moses and Aaron and even to want to appoint a captain and return to Egypt (14:4). Because of their unbelief at Kadesh-barnea, God caused them to turn and set out into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea (Deut. 1:40). They wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years until the entire generation of the unbelieving men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp (2:1-15).
After this long period of wandering, all the unbelieving ones among the children of Israel were consumed. In many ways God exercised His mercy and blessing to use these thirty-eight years to produce a new generation for the fulfilling of His purpose. This new generation, having been trained and prepared, were to enter into the good land, which God promised to give them as their inheritance. Because the new generation was not present when the Ten Commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances were given, God gave Moses the burden to rehearse the law (4:44—26:19). Moses was concerned that they would repeat the failure of their forefathers, and so he spoke many words to them, including a review of their past, a warning, exhortations, and charges (1:1—4:43; 27:1—28:68; 31:1-13, 24-29), so that the new generation of the children of Israel would be encouraged to remember God’s marvelous grace and mighty works and to obey His statutes and ordinances. By so doing, they would be able to gain the victory, riches, blessings, and inheritance in the promised good land.
As commanded by God, Moses also made a covenant with the children of Israel who were about to enter into the good land (chs. 29—30). This covenant included prophecies related to the children of Israel. God also commanded Moses to write a song to review the past and to prophesy concerning the future (31:14-23, 30; 32:1-47). Finally, just as Jacob did, Moses blessed the tribes of Israel one by one before his death (ch. 33). There are also many marvelous prophecies in his blessing. In this lesson we will consider the prophecies of importance that are in the covenant enacted by Moses with the children of Israel and that are in his song.
God commanded Moses to make a covenant with the new generation of the children of Israel, besides the one He made with the former generation of the children of Israel at Horeb, that is, at Mount Sinai (29:1).
Moses told the children of Israel that when their future generations and the foreigner coming from a distant land saw the plagues of the land and its diseases—that all the land was sulphur and salt, a burning waste, and that it was not sown, nor did it sprout, nor did any vegetation come up in it—they would ask, “Why has Jehovah done this to this land?” (vv. 22-24). The answer would be that because the children of Israel forsook the covenant of Jehovah and went and served other gods, the anger of Jehovah burned against this land, bringing upon it all the curses and that Jehovah plucked them off their land in anger, in burning wrath, and in great indignation and sent them to another land (vv. 25-28).
According to the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 28, if the children of Israel did not listen to the voice of Jehovah their God and were not certain to do all His commandments and His statutes, they would be struck down before their enemies and with diseases, and their possessions would be robbed (vv. 25-35). They would also be cursed by being brought to a nation that they had not heard of, and they would be a source of horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples. People would talk about the children of Israel in a despising and mocking way (vv. 36-37). They would be taken into captivity, and they would also be cursed in that their fields and vineyards would be left to locusts, worms, and sojourners (vv. 38-44). These curses would become a sign and a wonder forever to the children of Israel (v. 46). Finally, they would be cursed in being scattered among all the nations and in living a life of captivity, full of terrors (vv. 63-67). They would also be brought back to Egypt, where they would offer themselves for sale to their enemies, but no one would buy them (v. 68).