Deuteronomy 1:19

"We traveled from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea."

Key Reflection

Deuteronomy 1:19 recounts Moses' recollection of the journey from Mount Horeb, where God had first revealed himself to Moses, through the wilderness that was both vast and perilous. This wilderness, steeped in danger and awe, led the Israelites toward the hill country inhabited by the Amorites. For the original audience, this passage evoked vivid memories of a treacherous journey filled with divine guidance and miracles, leading them to the threshold of the promised land where they faced new challenges and decisions.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

That great and terrible wilderness -CompareDeuteronomy 8:15. This language is such as people would employ after having passed with toil and suffering through the worst part of it, the southern half of the Arabah (seeNumbers 21:4note); and more especially when they had but recently rested from their marches in the plain of Shittim, the largest and richest oasis in the whole district on the Eastern bank near the mouth of the Jordan.

More from Deuteronomy 1

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