So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,
Deuteronomy is the fifth and last book of the Pentateuch, its title meaning second law or duplicate of the law. The verse stands in the first of three addresses given by Moses just before his death. In that arrangement chapters 1 to 4:40 rehearse God's goodness to Israel, chapters 5 to 26 review the law for the new generation, and chapters 27 to 30 renew the covenant.
The verse belongs to Moses' recounting of God's dealings with Israel and their wilderness experience after they left Horeb. That recounting is marked by God's goodness and by the people's unbelief and stumbling. The journey to the promised land could have taken eleven days but lasted thirty-eight years because of unbelief, making forty years from Egypt.
The verse marks the end of the period when the men of war who had come out of Egypt died in the wilderness, before Israel continued toward the promised land. Their death at that point completed the judgment on the generation that had rebelled in the wilderness. It belongs to Moses' record of the destruction of nations wholly given over to evil, where preserving such people alive would bring only corruption and further harm. The surrounding chapter shows that Israel's place as God's favored people depended on obedience, with blessing for heeding God's commands and punishment for disobedience.
Deuteronomy is the fifth and last book of the Pentateuch, its title meaning second law or duplicate of the law. The verse stands in the first of three addresses given by Moses just before his death. In that arrangement chapters 1 to 4:40 rehearse God's goodness to Israel, chapters 5 to 26 review the law for the new generation, and chapters 27 to 30 renew the covenant.
The verse belongs to Moses' recounting of God's dealings with Israel and their wilderness experience after they left Horeb. That recounting is marked by God's goodness and by the people's unbelief and stumbling. The journey to the promised land could have taken eleven days but lasted thirty-eight years because of unbelief, making forty years from Egypt.
The verse marks the end of the period when the men of war who had come out of Egypt died in the wilderness, before Israel continued toward the promised land. Their death at that point completed the judgment on the generation that had rebelled in the wilderness. It belongs to Moses' record of the destruction of nations wholly given over to evil, where preserving such people alive would bring only corruption and further harm. The surrounding chapter shows that Israel's place as God's favored people depended on obedience, with blessing for heeding God's commands and punishment for disobedience.