Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy
God
to wrath in the wilderness
Aben Ezra remarks that this was after they journeyed from Horeb;
but before they came thither, even as soon as, they were in the
wilderness, they provoked the Lord, as by their murmuring for
water at Marah, when they had been but three days in the
wilderness; and for bread in the wilderness of Sin, and for water
again at Rephidim; all which were before they came to Horeb or
Sinai, and which agrees with what follows:
from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of
Egypt until ye
came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the
Lord;
though they had such a series of mercies, yet their life was a
continued course of rebellion against the Lord: which is a sad
character of them indeed, and given by one that thoroughly knew
them, was an eyewitness of facts, and had a hearty respect for
them too, and cannot be thought to exaggerate things; so that
they were far from being righteous persons in themselves, nor was
there any reason to conclude it was for their righteousness the
land of Canaan was given them.