These are the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were camped in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab on the other.

Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the LORD had commanded him to say. This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth.

While the Israelites were in the land of Moab east of the Jordan River, Moses carefully explained the LORD’s instructions as follows.

“When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions—the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River. Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’”

Deuteronomy 1:1-8

“But even after all he did, you refused to trust the LORD your God, who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.
Deuteronomy 1:32-33

• Deuteronomy opens on the first day of the eleventh month in the fortieth year following the exodus from Egypt. 
• The Israelites are on the plains of Moab, on the East side of the Dead Sea. 
• The book is a series of sermons Moses made to the Israelites. 
• Everyone in the older generations that had heard God’s law at Mt.Sinai had died in the wilderness. 
• God wanted Moses to remind the new generation of His commands. 
• God wants His people to look back in order to move forward. 
• Moses remembers the history of Israel since leaving Mt. Sinai. 
• Moses remembers the faithless spies. 
• Moses remembers the rebellion of the people. 
• Moses remembers the wandering for forty years. 
• Moses remembers the faithfulness of God. 
• Moses reminds the new generation about the failings of their parents and grandparents, in order that they may not repeat the same. 
• We need to be honest about our past. 
• We need to call sin what it is…rebellion. 
• We need to walk by faith. 
• We need to look back to move forward. 

Look back to move forward.