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DEUTERONOMY
CHAPTER 1

Deut 1:9-18 9 And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: 10 The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. 11 (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!) 12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? 13 Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 14 And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. 15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. 16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.

The word Deuteronomy actually means second law. The book itself is a second presentation of the law to God's people.
When Israel lleft Sinai, Jethro (Moses' father-in-law) left them to return home. But he had given Moses some good advice before he left. His advice was to appoint tribal leaders as judges so that the work Moses had to do would be reduced. Moses followed this advice as it were godly counsel (verses 13-14).
Moses further broke down the tribes to thousands, hundreds, fifties, and even tens; and he appointed leaders for each segment. Also, Moses instructed aall those leader as to HOW they should handle disputes (verse 16).
One thing he taught them was to be fair and not to show partiality (verse 17). And of course, if they couldn't answer the disagreement, they were to come to Moses with it.

19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us. 21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. 22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. 23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: 24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. 25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us. 26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God: 27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. 29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. 32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, 33 Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.

Now this is a recounting of a terrible incident. As I stated before, Moses uses this incident as a springboard to show the NEED of God's Word. It was the people who initiated the idea for spies to be sent to the promised land (verse 22).
They brought back word of a good land just as God had promised (verse 25). BUT - they murmured, and Moses called it rebellion(verse 27).
At that point Israel was hard to please. They were kinda like the husband I heard about once. On his birthday, his wife wanted to really try to please him. At breakfast, she asked how he wanted his eggs. He said flippantly, "One fried, one scrambled." She prepared them and put them on the table. Then he said, "Well now, look at that! You went and scrambled the wrong egg!"
Moses explained that God would providentially care for them (verses 29-31). But they refused to listen to God, preferring to hear the "evil report" (verse 32).
Notice in verse 33 that God goes before His people to prepare for them! He still does that today!

34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, 36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD. 37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

God's statement to Israel was one of punishment because of their rebellion. He says they will not inherity the place He prepared for them, but their children would.
An exemption is given to Caleb and Joshua because they believed the Lord, and spoke positively about conquering the land of Canaan.

41 Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. 42 And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. 43 So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill. 44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. 45 And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. 46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

then the people decided they would go. But now it was not in God's will for them to go. We must do all things in HIS time!
When they tried to go on their own, they were defeated. Without God we can do NOTHING! ((See John 15:5))

Take time to reflect here a moment. WHO is Moses speaking to? ((or for you grammarians "To WHOM..."))
The children of those who rebelled. All the parents are now DEAD!
Again, let me emphasize that Moses uses this incident to show the necessity of knowing and following God's Word.

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