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Deuteronomy 9

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Israel Will Conquer, Not by Merit 1–6

1
Hear, O Israel: thou art to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, ​
2
a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak? ​
3
Know therefore this day, that Jehovah thy God is he who goeth over before thee as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will bring them down before thee: so shalt thou drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Jehovah hath spoken unto thee. ​
4
Speak not thou in thy heart, after that Jehovah thy God hath thrust them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah doth drive them out from before thee. ​
5
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may establish the word which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ​
6
Know therefore, that Jehovah thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people. ​

Remember Israel’s History of Rebellion 7–21

7
Remember, forget thou not, how thou provokedst Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou wentest forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah. ​
8
Also in Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath, and Jehovah was angry with you to destroy you. ​
9
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water. ​
10
And Jehovah delivered unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which Jehovah spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11
And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
12
And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image. ​
13
Furthermore Jehovah spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
14
let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. ​
15
So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
16
And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against Jehovah your God; ye had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which Jehovah had commanded you.
17
And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. ​
18
And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. ​
19
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith Jehovah was wroth against you to destroy you. But Jehovah hearkened unto me that time also.
20
And Jehovah was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ​
21
And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

Continued Rebellion in the Wilderness 22–24

22
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked Jehovah to wrath. ​
23
And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. ​
24
Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you.

Moses' Intercession for the Nation 25–29

25
So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Jehovah had said he would destroy you. ​
26
And I prayed unto Jehovah, and said, O Lord Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, that thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27
Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, ​
28
lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because Jehovah was not able to bring them into the land which he promised unto them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. ​
29
Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 9

Verse 1

fenced up to heaven — Batsar, to fortify. Israel's fear of the cities 'walled up to heaven' is the spies' report of 1:28; Moses gives the same account of the same land, 'nations greater and mightier than thyself', as in 4:38 and 7:1. The verse is addressed to the generation standing at Jordan, 'this day'.

Verse 2

the children of the Anakims — Anak's sons are the 'giants' the spies saw at Hebron (Num 13:22, 33). 'Tall' is rum, to be high, the verb of the 'lifted up' heart in 8:14. Caleb later 'drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai' (Josh 15:14).

Verse 3

as a consuming fire — He 'goeth over before thee', as 31:3 promises again: 'he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee'. The title is the LORD's own, 'a consuming fire, even a jealous God' (4:24; Heb 12:29). The verse gives both parts: the LORD destroys 'as a consuming fire', and Israel is told 'so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly'.

Verse 4

Speak not thou in thine heart — Beside the boast of strength in 8:17 stands a boast of merit, 'For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in'. The nations are driven out 'for the wickedness' of them (resha), as Gen 15:16 had said of the Amorites, 'the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full'. Paul: 'Not by works of righteousness' (Titus 3:5).

Verse 5

Not for thy righteousness — Two grounds are given for the land: the wickedness of the nations and the LORD's oath, 'that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers'. 'Uprightness' is yosher, straightness of heart. The land was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Gen 15:7, 17:8, 26:3–4 and 28:13.

Verse 6

a stiffnecked people — The phrase is the LORD's own, spoken first at the calf: 'I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people' (Ex 32:9; repeated in v.13). Literally it is 'hard of neck'. Stephen applies the word to his hearers, 'Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears' (Acts 7:51).

Verse 7

Remember, and forget not — The two verbs, zakar and shakach, are placed together, as at 8:18–19. 'Provokedst… to wrath' is qatsaph, which returns in vv.8, 19, 22; 'rebellious' is marah, found again in vv.23, 24. The charge runs 'from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt'.

Verse 8

Also in Horeb — The sin at the mountain itself is the molten calf; Ps 106:19, 'They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image'. 'Angry' is anaph; the LORD was 'angry with you to have destroyed you', and the same word is used of Aaron in v.20. The account is in Ex 32:7–10.

Verse 9

forty days and forty nights — Moses went up for 'the tables of the covenant' and fasted the whole time, 'neither did eat bread nor drink water' (cf. Ex 24:18; 34:28). The same span is Elijah's journey to Horeb (1 Kings 19:8) and Christ's fast in the wilderness: 'when he had fasted forty days and forty nights' (Matt 4:2).

Verse 12

have corrupted themselves — Shachat, to ruin, the verb Moses uses of the future in 31:29, 'ye will utterly corrupt yourselves'. 'Quickly' (mehera) stands twice, as in Ex 32:8, 'They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them'. The LORD says 'thy people which thou hast brought forth', and Moses returns the title in v.26.

Verse 14

Let me alone — The words are those of Ex 32:10. The offer to 'make of thee a nation mightier and greater' recalls Gen 12:2, 'I will make of thee a great nation', and is made again after Kadesh (Num 14:12). 'Blot out their name from under heaven' echoes the 'destroy their name from under heaven' of 7:24, said of the nations' kings; here it is turned on Israel itself.

Verse 17

brake them before your eyes — Moses 'cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount' as soon as he saw the calf and the dancing (Ex 32:19). The tables were 'the tables of the covenant' (v.9), and Jeremiah names the breach on the people's side: 'my covenant they brake' (Jer 31:32).

Verse 18

as at the first — The first forty days were those of v.9; this second period of fasting and prostration is told in Deut 10:10, 'I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights'. 'Fell down' is naphal. The fast was 'because of all your sins which ye sinned'.

Verse 20

I prayed for Aaron also — Aaron had fashioned the calf (Ex 32:4) and the LORD was 'very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him'. Palal, to pray, is the verb of intercession. Heb 7:27–28 sets the high priest of the law, 'which have infirmity', who must offer 'first for his own sins', beside the priest who offered himself once.

Verse 22

Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah — Taberah means 'burning': 'the fire of the LORD burnt among them' (Num 11:3). Massah is the place of the chiding at the rock (Ex 17:7), and Kibrothhattaavah is where the people who lusted were buried (Num 11:34). All three are told in the wilderness before Kadesh.

Verse 23

Kadeshbarnea — The sending is in Num 13–14, 'Go up and possess the land which I have given you'. The people 'believed him not' (aman, the verb of 'faithful' in 7:9). Ps 106:24 says 'they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word', and Heb 3:19 draws the end: 'they could not enter in because of unbelief'.

Verse 25

Thus I fell down — The forty days of v.18 are taken up again after the list of vv.19–24 and joined to the prayer that follows. The cause is stated: 'because the LORD had said he would destroy you'. The prayer itself is vv.26–29, and v.19 records that 'the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also'.

Verse 27

Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — Moses takes his plea from the oath, as at Ex 32:13. 'Stubbornness' (qeshi) is found only here in Scripture. He asks the LORD to 'look not' at the people's wickedness; the plea rests on the three names and on no merit of the people's.

Verse 28

the land whence thou broughtest us out — Moses fears the Egyptians' speech, as at Ex 32:12, and the nations' speech after Kadesh: 'Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them' (Num 14:16). 'Hated' is sane; the supposed charge is that the LORD brought them out 'to slay them in the wilderness'.

Verse 29

thy people and thine inheritance — Moses gives back the title the LORD had set aside in v.12: 'thy people which thou hast brought forth'. Nachalah, inheritance, is used by Solomon in the same terms, 'thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt' (1 Kings 8:51). The 'stretched out arm' is that of 4:34 and 5:15.