1: 46-2:1 - And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.
2¹Then we turned back and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir. ♥

The construction and meaning of the concluding note about GA's stay in Kadesh in v46 is uncertain. The "many days" spent at Kadesh and the "long time" (same words in the Hebrew) spent around the hill country of Seir turned out to be thirty-eight years of aborted blessings. The note, "we turned back and set out for the desert along the route to the Red Sea, as Yahweh directed" (v1) brings the entire section to an ironic and heart-breaking close. This recollection of GenA's loss had begun with the recall of Yahweh's command at Horeb to "break came and advance (pana . . nasa')" towards the Promised Land (v7); now, in the first act of obedience since their arrival at Kadesh Barnea, they would "turn and set out (pana . . . nasa')" towards the very direction they had come. The reversal of their fate was total.

Kadesh should have been the place to which they could look back in later years and remember the excitement of promise fulfilment. In the end it would always be remembered as the place of wasted opportunities, hope still-born.

The opening two units of this section made clear that the call to be Yahweh's covenant people comes with great blessings: the gift of seeing, as God sees—the possibility of great things (vv6-8); the gift of being able to judge all things right, as God does (vv19-18)—things that would have made Israel a great people. These, however, turn quickly to ashes when not attended and nurtured by trust and obedience. This simple principle is the heart of Deuteronomy, yet it remains one of the most difficult lessons to learn. It was so for GenA, and would be so, as Moses would point out again and again, for GenB. It is so for us today still.

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