1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Haze'roth, and Di'-zahab.
Moses represents the process of enlightenment. Israel represents the psyche, both of the individual, and the world. Moses speaking to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness symbolizes the process of enlightenment affecting the entire psyche and the effort applied to the process. This book concerns the process of enlightenment of all parts of the psyche through mental effort and evaluation of our thoughts.
2 It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Se'ir to Ka'desh-bar'nea.
The repeated use of the number eleven is a key element in this first chapter of Deuteronomy. It represents the first level of Mastery. It is the number of self-conquest and attainment. This spiritual journey from Horeb, which translates from the Aramaic as mountain of God, by way of Seir, which means rough, to Kadesh-barnea, which means place of holiness, represents our journey from our heavenly, pre-fall state, through the valley of materialism, and back to the realms of the spiritually enlightened immortals.
3 And in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that YHVH had given him in commandment to them,
4 after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Ed're-i.
The speaking of Moses to the Israelites represents the process of enlightenment of the individual psyche. This occurs only after the consciousness of Lust (Sihon) and Materialistic thoughts (Og) have been overcome.
5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying,
6 "YHVH, our god, said to us in Horeb, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain;
7 turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland, and in the Negeb, and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
This process of enlightenment occurs in the physical world amid the experiences of it, which is symbolized by Moab. It must occur throughout the entire psyche. This is what the journey mentioned by YHVH symbolizes.
8 Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which YHVH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them.'
Moses taking possession of this land of Canaan symbolizes the enlightenment of the entire psyche.
9 "At that time I said to you, 'I am not able alone to bear you;
10 YHVH, your god, has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the heavens for multitude.
This can only occur when the spiritual impulse is made strong within the psyche. That is what the multiplying numbers of the Israelites symbolize.
11 May YHVH, the god of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!
The blessing of the spiritual impulse is that it is to grow even stronger as time passes.
12 How can I bear alone the weight and burden of you and your strife?
Internal conflict can weaken the spiritual ability of the human mind to receive the spiritual impulse.
13 Choose wise, understanding, and experienced men, according to your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.'
The job of the faculties of spiritual consciousness is to keep the entire psyche of the individual in peaceful order.
14 And you answered me, 'The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.'
15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes.
The spiritual consciousness puts the faculties in place as a guide for the whole psyche.
16 And I charged your judges at that time, 'Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien that is with him.
17 You shall not be partial in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment of gods; and the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.'
18 And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
19 "And we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as YHVH, our god, commanded us; and we came to Ka'desh-bar'nea.
20 And I said to you, 'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which YHVH, our god, gives us.