One wonders briefly why Moshe feels the need to retell the entire history of the journey of Yisrael through the desert once again at the start of D’varim. But a bit of logic and memory can fix that discomfort up rather quickly.

At least once and perhaps twice, the children of Yisrael were so disobedient and rebellious to the will of Adonai that a large number of them were allowed to perish before the survivors were permitted to move forward toward the promised land.

The first incident happened in relation to the golden calf; Adonai considered wiping out the entire people and starting over again with Moshe. Yet Moshe intervened on Yisrael’s behalf, calling on Adonai to do nothing to defame the name of the L-RD before the nations. While Adonai never followed through on that, he did vow that no one of that generation who bowed down before the golden calf would be allowed to live to see the promised land.

A similar incident may have occurred later on, following the evil report of the spies, though it is sometimes difficult to trace the exact timeline of events in the books of Moshe. Suffice to say that by the time we reach D’varim, many of those standing before Moshe were younger folks who may not have even been old enough to remember the Exodus from Egypt for themselves. They were kids and young men and women wearing the vintage fabrics their parents had worn and yet never seen wear out during much of the Exodus.

That’s why I think Moshe goes into such long-winded repetition here. He’s attempting to merely do what all good leaders of nations do; remind folks “why we’re here and where we need to go next.”