Deuteronomy 9:3

3 Know therefore today that he who ¹goes over before you ²as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. ³So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

Deuteronomy 9:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:3

Understand therefore this day
Or be it known to you for your encouragement, and believe it:

that the Lord thy God [is] he which goeth over before thee as a
consuming fire:
did not only go before them over the river Jordan, in a pillar of cloud and fire, to guide and direct them, and was a wall of fire around them to protect and defend them, but as a consuming fire, before which there is no standing, to destroy their enemies; see ( Deuteronomy 4:24 ) ( Hebrews 12:29 ) ,

he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face;
be they as great and as mighty, as large and as tall as they may, they will not be able to stand before the Lord, but will soon be made low, and be easily brought down to the earth by him, and to utter destruction; which would be done in a public and visible manner, so as that the hand of the Lord would be seen in it by the Israelites:

so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord
hath said unto thee;
that is, the far greater part of them, and so many as to make room for the Israelites, and which was quickly done. The Jews commonly say ^F1, that they were seven years in subduing the land; otherwise they were not to be driven out and destroyed at once, but by little and little: see ( Deuteronomy 7:22 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31, 32.

Deuteronomy 9:3 In-Context

1 "Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven,

2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'

3 Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

4 "Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.

5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 31:3; [Joshua 3:11]
• 2. See Deuteronomy 4:24
• 3. Deuteronomy 7:24; Exodus 23:29-31