Deuteronomy 9:1-29
1 Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!
3 Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.
4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.
5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6 Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
7 Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: 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.
8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.
9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:
10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
13 Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.
17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.
20 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.
22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.
23 Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.
24 Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
25 Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.
26 I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:
28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.
29 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.
Deuteronomy 9:1. This day; at this time, or in the course of a month. Day is often used in scripture for the whole of a man's life, for a season, and for a short time.
Deuteronomy 9:19. I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure. To this text St. Paul refers, Hebrews 12:21. The fire on mount Sinai terrified the people at the promulgation of the law; but we do not read that Moses was terrified till God testified his anger by some most vivid appearance of the fire because of the calf. So alarmed was Moses at the sight, that he ceased to pray for Israel, and hasted to destroy the idol.
Deuteronomy 9:20. I prayed for Aaron. Many a one would die for his sin, if he had not a brother or friend to stand in the gap, and pray for him. And if the Lord so often, as in Deuteronomy 9:27, yielded to the name of Abraham, and Isaac, because of his covenant; how much more will he yield to the name of his beloved Son?
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter opens by assuring the Israelites, that the Lord would pass over Jordan in the ark of his strength, as an armed man and captain general of the host. He promises anew that he would vanquish the nations, destroy the giants, and give his people possession of the fenced cities. How happy are they who have God for their defence. What has Zion to fear from the proud, the great, the wicked of the earth. If the Lord look at them through his fiery cloud, they are confounded, they perish and die, like the daring host of Egypt. If God be for us, it is not who can stand before the children of Anak, but who can stand before Omnipotence?
Israel, elated with these hopes, are cautioned not to glory in the privileges of grace, as though they were the rewards of their own righteousness. These privileges came because of God's good pleasure to make carnal Israel a type of spiritual Israel; because of the promise and oath made to Abraham, and because of the wickedness of the seven devoted nations. Learn then, oh my soul, to know that all thy righteousness is as filthy rags; and that all thy favours and salvation are conferred, because God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son. How apt is man to forget his sins, and to remember his supposed virtues. That the Israelites might never dream of national merit, they are faithfully reminded of their five leading revolts. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God in the wilderness. The revolt at Horeb when the calf was adored, and when the whole nation was on the verge of destruction, is placed in full view. The burning at Taberah, the pestilence at Massah, the graves at Kibroth, and the sentence at Kadesh to die in the desert, are adduced as national punishments for national sins. Ministers of the gospel have here a fine model of argument for humbling an audience by the recollection of their sins, and of beating down the rising sentiments of pharisaical pride. Why fear to trace the sinner's conscience for forty years! If the portrait is fairly presented, if the features are studied and recognized, surely he cannot be offended because the likeness is striking. And if he be offended, he must be more offended still with his own heart, which will continue to repeat the sermon, with all the emphasis of irresistible evidence.
In boldly charging home the old guilt of national sin, Moses carefully avoids every vestige of personal aspersion. Nothing but impartiality must exist at the bar of God, and nothing but love must act in the pulpit. Preachers must be prudent in the sanctuary, and never make the terrors of God subservient to private antipathies. A fault of this nature is a stain on the glory of the ministry.
In Moses, who was twice forty days and nights on the mount with God, and neither ate nor drank, we have a striking example of the purity and glory of the celestial society; and of what the Lord will do for the bodies and souls of all his saints. The happiness there is, not that of corruptible meats and drinks, but angelical and pure. The soul is filled with open visions of God, the countenance is irradiated with lustre, and the whole man qualified for divine converse, and the purest services of heaven.