Deuteronomy 9

1 "Hear, Israel, you [are] about to cross the Jordan today to go to dispossess nations larger and more numerous than you, great cities fortified {with high walls},

2 a great and tall people, the sons of [the] Anakites, whom you know and [of whom you] have heard [it said], 'Who could stand before the sons of Anak?'

3 You should know {today} that Yahweh your God is the one crossing {ahead of you} [as] a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will subdue them before you; so you will dispossess them, and you will destroy them quickly, {just as} Yahweh {promised} you.

4 "You shall not say {to yourself} {when Yahweh your God is driving them out} {before you}, {saying}, 'Because of my righteousness Yahweh brought me to take possession of this land'; but because of the wickedness of these nations Yahweh [is] driving them out {before you}.

5 [It is] not because of your righteousness and because of the uprightness of your heart [that] you [are] coming to take possession of their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God [is] driving them {before you}, and in order to confirm the {promise} that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 "So you should understand that [it is] not because of your righteousness [that] Yahweh your God [is] giving you this good land to take possession of it, because {you are a stubborn people}.

7 Remember, {do not forget}, that you provoked Yahweh your God in the desert, [and] from the day that you went out from the land of Egypt until {you came to this place} you were rebelling against Yahweh.

8 "And [remember] at Horeb you provoked Yahweh, and Yahweh became angry [enough] to destroy you.

9 {When I went up the mountain} to receive {the stone tablets}, the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh {made} with you, and remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights, I did not eat food and I did not drink water.

10 And Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them [was writing] according to all the words that Yahweh spoke with you at the mountain, from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

11 {And then} at the end of forty days and forty nights, Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

12 And Yahweh said to me, 'Come [now], go down quickly from this mountain because your people behave corruptly whom you brought out from Egypt, [for] they turned quickly from the way that I commanded them [to follow]; they have made for themselves a cast image.'

13 And Yahweh spoke to me, {saying}, 'I have seen this people, and look! {They are a stubborn people}.

14 Leave me alone, and let me destroy them, and let me blot out their name from under heaven, and let me make you into a nation mightier and more numerous than they!'

15 "And I turned, and I went down the mountain, as the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant [were] in my two hands.

16 And I looked, and indeed you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you [had] made for yourselves an image of a calf [of] cast metal; you [had] turned quickly from the way that Yahweh had commanded [for] you.

17 And I took hold of the two tablets, and I threw them out {of} my two hands and smashed them before your eyes.

18 And [then] I lay prostrate {before} Yahweh, as earlier, forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food and I did not drink water because of all your sins that you committed, by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh [and so] provoking him.

19 For {I was in dread} from [being in] the presence of the anger and the wrath [with] which Yahweh was angry with you [so as] to destroy you, but Yahweh listened to me also {at that time}.

20 And with Aaron Yahweh was {angry enough} to destroy him, and I prayed also for Aaron at that time.

21 And your sinful thing that you had made, the molten calf, I took and I burned it with fire, and I crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was crushed to dust, and I threw its dust into {the stream that flowed down the mountain}.

22 "And [also] at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked Yahweh to anger.

23 And when Yahweh sent you [out] from Kadesh Barnea, {saying}, 'Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,' you rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God, and you did not believe him, and you did not listen to his voice.

24 You have been rebellious toward Yahweh {from the day I have known you}.

25 "And I lay prostrate before Yahweh through forty days, and through forty nights I prostrated myself, because Yahweh intended to kill you.

26 And I prayed to Yahweh, and I said, 'Lord Yahweh, you must not destroy your people and your inheritance whom you redeemed in your greatness, whom you brought out from Egypt with a strong hand.

27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; you must not {pay attention to} the stubbornness of this people, to their wickedness and to their sin,

28 lest [the people of] the land from which you brought us out from there say, "Because Yahweh was not able to bring them to the land that he {promised} to them and because of his hatred [toward] them, he has brought them out to kill them in the desert."

29 For they [are] your people and your inheritance whom you brought with your great power and with your outstretched arm.'

Deuteronomy 9 Commentary

Chapter 9

The Israelites not to think their success came by their own worthiness. (1-6) Moses reminds the Israelites of their rebellions. (7-29)

Verses 1-6 Moses represents the strength of the enemies they were now to encounter. This was to drive them to God, and engage their hope in him. He assures them of victory, by the presence of God with them. He cautions them not to have the least thought of their own righteousness, as if that procured this favour at God's hand. In Christ we have both righteousness and strength; in Him we must glory, not in ourselves, nor in any sufficiency of our own. It is for the wickedness of these nations that God drives them out. All whom God rejects, are rejected for their own wickedness; but none whom he accepts are accepted for their own righteousness. Thus boasting is for ever done away: see Eph. 2:9, Eph. 2:11, Eph. 2:12 .

Verses 7-29 That the Israelites might have no pretence to think that God brought them to Canaan for their righteousness, Moses shows what a miracle of mercy it was, that they had not been destroyed in the wilderness. It is good for us often to remember against ourselves, with sorrow and shame, our former sins; that we may see how much we are indebted to free grace, and may humbly own that we never merited any thing but wrath and the curse at God's hand. For so strong is our propensity to pride, that it will creep in under one pretence or another. We are ready to fancy that our righteousness has got for us the special favour of the Lord, though in reality our wickedness is more plain than our weakness. But when the secret history of every man's life shall be brought forth at the day of judgment, all the world will be proved guilty before God. At present, One pleads for us before the mercy-seat, who not only fasted, but died upon the cross for our sins; through whom we may approach, though self-condemned sinners, and beseech for undeserved mercy and for eternal life, as the gift of God in Him. Let us refer all the victory, all the glory, and all the praise, to Him who alone bringeth salvation.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "in heaven/the sky"
• [b]. Literally "the day"
• [c]. Literally "to your faces"
• [d]. Literally "as that"
• [e]. Literally "spoke"
• [f]. Literally "in your heart"
• [g]. Literally "at the driving out of Yahweh, your God, them"
• [h]. Literally "from before your faces"
• [i]. Literally "to say"
• [j]. Literally "from your faces"
• [k]. Literally "from your faces"
• [l]. Literally "word"
• [m]. Or "fathers"
• [n]. Literally "a people stiff of neck you"
• [o]. Literally "not you shall forget"
• [p]. Literally "your coming up to this place the this" = until arrived at this location
• [q]. Literally "In/At my going up the mountain"
• [r]. Literally "the tablets of stones"
• [s]. Literally "cut"
• [t]. Hebrew "day"
• [u]. Hebrew "night"
• [v]. Literally "And it happened"
• [w]. Hebrew "day"
• [x]. Hebrew "night"
• [y]. Literally "to say"
• [z]. Literally "It is a people stiff of neck"
• [aa]. Or "saw"
• [ab]. Or "molten calf"
• [ac]. Literally "from"
• [ad]. Literally "to the face of"
• [ae]. Hebrew "day"
• [af]. Hebrew "night"
• [ag]. Literally "I dreaded"
• [ah]. Literally "the occurrence the that"
• [ai]. Literally "very angry"
• [aj]. Literally "the stream the [one] going down from the mountain"
• [ak]. Literally "to say"
• [al]. Literally "from the day of my knowing you"
• [am]. Hebrew "day"
• [an]. Hebrew "night"
• [ao]. Or "your great act"
• [ap]. Literally "turn toward"
• [aq]. Literally "spoken"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 9

In this chapter the Israelites are assured of the ejection of the Canaanites, though so great and mighty, to make room for them, De 9:1-3, and they are cautioned not to attribute this to their own righteousness, but to the wickedness of the nations which deserved to be so treated, and to the faithfulness of God in performing his promise made to their fathers, De 9:4-6, and that it might appear that it could not be owing to their righteousness, it is affirmed and proved that they had been a rebellious and provoking people from their coming out of Egypt to that time, as was evident from their idolatry at Horeb; a particular account of which is given, and of the displeasure of the Lord at it, De 9:7-21, and of their murmurings, with which they provoked the Lord at other places, De 9:22-24, and the chapter is closed with an account of the prayer of Moses for them at Horeb, to avert the wrath of God from them for their making and worshipping the golden calf, De 9:25-29.