1:3-4 - In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.

The narrator now elaborates on the circumstances when these words of Moses were first given. He has, as we have seen in v1, already specified the place where the speeches were given, and he would repeat it again in v5 as "east of the Jordan in the territory of Moab." At first glance the narrator seems long-winded, going into so much details (the location, e.g., is specified by no less than eight place names, almost all of which we cannot locate with certainty). Is there a point to this?

Now he specifies the time: "in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month" and, especially, "this was after he had defeated" the Amorite kings. The conquest of their lands represents GenB's first territorial gains. With it Israel's fortune has changed. As they were growing up, wandering in the wilderness, they could only look with mere anticipation to the Promised Land. Now, two and a half of their tribes have lands they could call their own. From where they were they could look across the Jordan valley and see the Promised Land stretched out before them. The tedium of a rootless existence that weighed upon them in the years of wandering in the wilderness was now coming to an end. The excitement of impending tenure, of a settled life, must have been palpable.

The exhilaration of impending success often gets into our heads, and we think, yes, we can make it on our own. Yet, the narrator seems to say, this is the moment when Israel needs most to listen to what God has to say.

Here perhaps we can appreciate all the repetitions of places and time we demurred about. Here the narrator may be casting an eye to future generations—like us—who might respond to the need to listen to Yahweh with a cynical "O really, Where? When did God say that?!" By pinning down the exact moment and place where Yahweh spoke, the narrator can say, "None of you can plead ignorance of what Yahweh expects of you." Biblical faith is not founded in myths and legends but in the historic acts of God in his gracious encounter with us humans.

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