And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
The verse describes the survivors of Israel's presumptuous attempt to conquer Canaan after they had been forbidden to go up, going without a leader, without prayer for victory, and without God's promised presence, hoping by a sudden fierce assault to reverse their fate or to die in battle. The attack was made against prepared Canaanites and Amorites positioned on a rocky height reached only by difficult passes, steep ascent, and rocky mountain paths. Their vast numbers only made the defeat more terrible, for on the mountain paths they were exposed to missiles and falling rocks, and those who reached the summit exhausted were repulsed with great loss until the field was strewn with the dead and they were chased as bees are chased, destroyed from Seir to Hormah.
The weeping before the Lord came only afterward, when forced into submission after defeat, following wicked insubordination and disregard of God's voice. It was driven by hatred of the Lord and His judgments and by determination to take the land by their own might, as a last defiant act, and God refused to listen to their voice or give ear to them. That refusal shows that the adult army that left Egypt was barred from the promised land because they disobeyed God and did not wholly follow Him. His promises are upon condition of obedience, so rebellion brought judgment despite later grief and appeal, proving His purpose toward disobedient Israel was altered.
The defeat and unanswered weeping sealed their fate and emboldened the enemies of Israel, who had trembled at the wonders God had wrought for His people but now dismissed them as false and took confidence to resist, greatly increasing the difficulties of the conquest. There was nothing left for Israel but to fall back before victorious foes into the wilderness, where a whole generation would die. The verse thus teaches the danger of presuming upon God's mercy until mercy turns to retributive justice, showing there is a limit to His mercy and long forbearance.
The verse belongs to the words of the Lord in Deuteronomy 1, to be read with Deuteronomy 7 and Deuteronomy 8, written for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come. For the last days it warns that the Lord will rise to do His work, His strange and unusual work of judgment, and that a consumption or destruction is determined upon the whole earth. If the professed people of God in this age refuse His express commands and warnings, they will be in no more favored position than ancient Israel when God, their salvation and defense, departed from them.
For those under that admonition it teaches not to follow the Lord's guidance only up to the point that agrees with human judgment and then cling to human ideas. Instead they are to ask whether a course is the Lord's will, to view everything in light of the example of Christ who is the truth, to copy His self-denial and self-sacrifice, and to seek perfection of character through His merits rather than living to please self by feeble human standards.
The verse describes the survivors of Israel's presumptuous attempt to conquer Canaan after they had been forbidden to go up, going without a leader, without prayer for victory, and without God's promised presence, hoping by a sudden fierce assault to reverse their fate or to die in battle. The attack was made against prepared Canaanites and Amorites positioned on a rocky height reached only by difficult passes, steep ascent, and rocky mountain paths. Their vast numbers only made the defeat more terrible, for on the mountain paths they were exposed to missiles and falling rocks, and those who reached the summit exhausted were repulsed with great loss until the field was strewn with the dead and they were chased as bees are chased, destroyed from Seir to Hormah.
The weeping before the Lord came only afterward, when forced into submission after defeat, following wicked insubordination and disregard of God's voice. It was driven by hatred of the Lord and His judgments and by determination to take the land by their own might, as a last defiant act, and God refused to listen to their voice or give ear to them. That refusal shows that the adult army that left Egypt was barred from the promised land because they disobeyed God and did not wholly follow Him. His promises are upon condition of obedience, so rebellion brought judgment despite later grief and appeal, proving His purpose toward disobedient Israel was altered.
The defeat and unanswered weeping sealed their fate and emboldened the enemies of Israel, who had trembled at the wonders God had wrought for His people but now dismissed them as false and took confidence to resist, greatly increasing the difficulties of the conquest. There was nothing left for Israel but to fall back before victorious foes into the wilderness, where a whole generation would die. The verse thus teaches the danger of presuming upon God's mercy until mercy turns to retributive justice, showing there is a limit to His mercy and long forbearance.
The verse belongs to the words of the Lord in Deuteronomy 1, to be read with Deuteronomy 7 and Deuteronomy 8, written for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come. For the last days it warns that the Lord will rise to do His work, His strange and unusual work of judgment, and that a consumption or destruction is determined upon the whole earth. If the professed people of God in this age refuse His express commands and warnings, they will be in no more favored position than ancient Israel when God, their salvation and defense, departed from them.
For those under that admonition it teaches not to follow the Lord's guidance only up to the point that agrees with human judgment and then cling to human ideas. Instead they are to ask whether a course is the Lord's will, to view everything in light of the example of Christ who is the truth, to copy His self-denial and self-sacrifice, and to seek perfection of character through His merits rather than living to please self by feeble human standards.