2:2-3 - Then the Lord said to me, "You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.
These two verses span the entire period of Israel's years of wandering from the departure from Kadesh Barnea to their arrival in the mountain plains of Seir. Much had happened in those thirty-eight years but Moses passes over them without bogging down his exhortation to GenB with the details. Preachers do well to model this in their sermons.
The opening comment by Yahweh, "you have been going around this hill-country long enough," echoes the comment that had opened Moses' address in 1:6, and like it serves to mark off a new chapter in Moses' recollection on Israel's journey of faith. Yahweh's new command, "Now, turn north," signals that a new phase in Yahweh's will for Israel has begun. Most of us live our life lumbering from one dissatisfied day to another, almost never aware that there is a Father waiting to be heard, "Now, turn north." He is still waiting.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, rev., 2021