Deuteronomy 9

1 Hear, O Israel: Thou goest this day across Jordan to inherit nations greater and stronger than yourselves, cities great and walled up to heaven;

2 a people great and many and tall, the sons of Enac, whom thou knowest, and concerning whom thou hast heard , Who can stand before the children of Enac?

3 And thou shalt know to-day, that the Lord thy God he shall go before thy face: he is a consuming fire; he shall destroy them, and he shall turn them back before thee, and shall destroy them quickly, as the Lord said to thee.

4 Speak not in thine heart, when the Lord thy God has destroyed these nations before thy face, saying, For my righteousness the Lord brought me in to inherit this good land.

5 Not for thy righteousness, nor for the holiness of thy heart, dost thou go in to inherit their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord will destroy them from before thee, and that he may establish the covenant, which the Lord sware to our fathers, to Abraam, and to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 And thou shalt know to-day, that not for thy righteousnesses the Lord thy God gives thee this good land to inherit, for thou art a stiff-necked people.

7 Remember, forget not, how much thou provokedst the Lord thy God in the wilderness: from the day that ye came forth out of Egypt, even till ye came into this place, ye continued to be disobedient toward the Lord.

8 Also in Choreb ye provoked the Lord, and the Lord was angry with you to destroy you;

9 when I went up into the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant, which the Lord made with you, and I was in the mountain forty days and forty nights, I ate no bread and drank no water.

10 And the Lord gave me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them there had been written all the words which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain in the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass after forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant.

12 And the Lord said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence, for thy people whom thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have transgressed; they have gone aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them, and have made themselves a molten image.

13 And the Lord spoke to me, saying, I have spoken to thee once and again, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

14 And now suffer me utterly to destroy them, and I will blot out their name from under heaven, and will make of thee a nation great and strong, and more numerous than this.

15 And I turned and went down from the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to heaven; and the two tables of the testimonies in my two hands.

16 And when I saw that ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made to yourselves a molten image, and had gone astray out of the way, which the Lord commanded you to keep;

17 then I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before you.

18 And I made my petition before the Lord as also at the first forty days and forty nights: I ate no bread and drank no water, on account of all your sins which ye sinned in doing evil before the Lord God to provoke him.

19 And I was greatly terrified because of the wrath and anger, because the Lord was provoked with you utterly to destroy you; yet the Lord hearkened to me at this time also.

20 And he was angry with Aaron to destroy him utterly, and I prayed for Aaron also at that time.

21 And your sin which ye had made, the calf, I took, and burnt it with fire, and pounded it and ground it down till it became fine; and it became like dust, and I cast the dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.

22 Also in the burning, and in the temptation, and at the graves of lust, ye provoked the Lord.

23 And when the Lord sent you forth from Cades Barne, saying, Go up and inherit the land which I give to you, then ye disobeyed the word of the Lord your God, and believed him not, and hearkened not to his voice.

24 Ye were disobedient in the things relating to the Lord from the day in which he became known to you.

25 And I prayed before the Lord forty days and forty nights, the number that I prayed , for the Lord said that he would utterly destroy you.

26 And I prayed to God, and said, O Lord, King of gods, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, whom thou didst redeem, whom thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt with thy great power, and with thy strong hand, and with thy high arm.

27 Remember Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thyself: look not upon the hardness of heart of this people, and their impieties, and their sins.

28 Lest the inhabitants of the land whence thou broughtest us out speak, saying, Because the Lord could not bring them into the land of which he spoke to them, and because he hated them, has he brought them forth to slay them in the wilderness.

29 And these thy people and thy portion, whom thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt with thy great strength, and with thy mighty hand, and with thy high 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]. on.
• [b]. to do.
• [c]. am.
• [d]. 9.22
• [e]. 8.22
• [f]. 8.22
• [g]. towards the Lord.
• [h]. portion or part.

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.