Deuteronomy 9:19

19 For I was afraid ^[a] of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.

Deuteronomy 9:19 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:19

For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure wherewith
the Lord was wroth against you
Which was exceeding vehement, as appeared by his words to Moses, forbidding to intercede for them, that he might consume them, and make of him a greater nation; wherefore he dreaded the issue of it, lest it should be

to destroy you;
that that should be his full resolution and determination; however, he made use of means, and betook himself to fasting and prayer; so heartily affected was he to this people when his temptations lay another way:

but the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also;
as he had at other times, when this people had sinned, and he entreated for them; in which he was a type of Christ, the Mediator and Advocate, whom the Father always hears.

Deuteronomy 9:19 In-Context

17 So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

18 Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.

20 The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I also prayed for Aaron.

21 And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX And I am greatly terrified; cited in Hebrews 12:21