The Fifth Book of Moses, called Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 9
Chapter IX · Vol. I, pp. 493–496
Moses dissuadeth them from the opinion of their own righteousness, 7 by rehearsing their several rebellions.
1 HEAR, O Israel; Thou art to pass over Jordan athis day,1 to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, bcities great, and fenced up to heaven;
a Shortly, ch. 11.23; 1.28.
1 Not actually to pass over Jordan 'this day,'—for Moses spoke these words on the first day of the eleventh month, ch. 1. 3, and they passed over Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, Jos. 4. 19; but, contrary to former orders of marching towards the Red Sea and around Mount Seir, they were 'this day' directed to begin preparations for passing over, and taking possession of the cities and lands of Canaan.—C.
b ch. 1.28; 3.5; 2.10. Jos. 14.1,15; 11.22; 15.14. Nu. 13.22,28,33.
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 cgoeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he dshall 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 Speake not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness2 the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land; but ffor the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.
e ch. 7.7,8; 8.17. Eze. 36.22,32. Tit. 3.5. Ro. 11.6,20. 1 Co. 4.7. Ps. 115.1.
A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451.
2 Let us mark with what specialty God dwells upon the fact, that the children of Israel were not installed in Canaan for their righteousness, but that the seven nations were driven out before them for their wickedness. Self-righteousness is the constitutional disease of human nature, a disease ever recurring, even under the regimen of grace. God therefore suits the remedy to the disease; and no less than three times (ver. 4, 5, 6) repeats the solemn denial of Israel's righteousness as the moving cause of his providential decisions.—Note. The abundance of grace is the sole ground of salvation; the wickedness of men the sole ground of judgment.—C.
f Ge. 15.16. Le. 18.25. ch. 18.9-14. 1 Ti. 1.9,10. Pr. 13.17. Is. 3.11. Je. 2.17,19. Ro. 2.8,9.
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 gthat he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6 Understand therefore, hthat the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.3
h Eze. 36.32. Ex. 32.9; 33.3; 34.9. Ro. 5.20,21. ver. 4,5,13. Tit. 3.5. Ps. 115.1.
3 That will neither bow, as a man, out of complaisance or respect, nor be guided, even as a trained beast, in obedience to the rein. See Ge. 23.7. Ps. 32.9.—C.
7 Remember,i 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.
i ch. 32.5,6. Ex. 14.11; 16.2; 17.2. Nu. 11.4; 14.1-4; xvi.; 20.2; 21.5; 25.3. Ne. 9.16-18. Ps. 95.8-11; 106.7-33; 78.8-58. Is. 63.10. Eze. 20.5-26. Ne. 9.16-18.
8 Alsok in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you, to have destroyed you.
9 When I was lgone 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 bread4 nor drink water:
l Ex. 24.12-18. ver. 17.
4 Unlike most of the miraculous recitals of Moses, for which we have the national attestation; for this we have no direct evidence beyond his own personal testimony; and wherefore should infidelity question, doubt, or deny that testimony? What end of self-interest had Moses to serve by it? what vainglory could he derive from it?—None! Independent of the evidence which his miraculous works and prophetic endowments bear to his divine commission, his character alone is sufficient pledge for the veracity of his statement. Should infidelity deny the truth of the statement on any alleged impossibility of Moses sustaining so long a fast; it must do so, not merely by denying the miraculous power of God, but by forgetting all the laws by which mind operates upon body; and by which certain organic functions may be indefinitely suspended, while the vital energy of the mass is still unimpaired.—Note. This miraculous fasting is intended to afford a practical illustration of the fact declared (ch. 8. 3), that 'man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.'—C.
10 Andm 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 ntables of the covenant.
12 And the LORD said unto me, oArise, 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.
o Ex. 32.7,8. Ge. 6.11,12. ch. 32.5.
13 Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, pI have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
p Ex. 32.9-12. ver. 6; ch. 10.16; 31.27. 2 Ki. 17.14.
14 Letq 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.
q Ex. 32.10. Nu. 14.11,12. Je. 14.11. ch. 29.20. Ps. 9.5; 119.118,119. Pr. 10.7.
15 So rI turned and came down from the mount, and the mount sburned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
16 And tI 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 Andu I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.5
u Ex. 32.19. Ps. 69.9; 119.139. Ep. 4.26. Zec. 11.10.
5 Not as an act of passion or effect of provocation, but an emblem of the total breach of God's covenant, which the idolatry of the people had produced, and of that terrible judgment to which they were righteously liable.—C.
18 And xI 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.
x ver. 9. Ex. 32.31. 2 Sa. 12.16. 2 Ch. 20.18. Ps. 106.23. Mat. 4.1.
19 (For yI was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you.) zBut the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.
20 And the LORD awas very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
21 And bI 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.
23 Likewise when the LORD sent you from dKadesh-barnea, saying, eGo 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.
d Nu. 13.3,26; 20.1; 32.18,37. ch. 1.19,46.
e Nu. 13.3; 14.2-4; ch. 1.32,33. Ps. 106.24,25; 78.22. Is. 63.10.
24 Ye have been frebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.6
f ver. 6,7. ch. 31.27. Is. 63.10,31. Ac. 7.51.
6 The whole object of Moses in recounting the various acts of sin and rebellion on the part of the Israelites is to show them that it never could have been on account of any righteousness on their part that God was pleased to give them Canaan. Instead of reward they richly deserved punishment. That punishment was only averted by the repeated and earnest intercession of Moses. The Canaanites were driven out of their country because of sin; and the Israelites were introduced into it in the richness of divine mercy.—P.
25 Thus gI fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights,7 as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.
g ver. 18.
7 From comparing ver. 9 with ver. 18, 25, some have concluded that Moses fasted at three several times, forty days and forty nights; but a more attentive examination of ver. 25 will show that it is not a third fast, but merely a reference to the second (ver. 16), for it does not say 'then,' but, 'thus I fell down.'—C.
26 I hprayed 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.
h Ex. 32.9,11-13; vii.-xiv.; ver. 29. Ps. 74.1,2,18-23. Nu. 14.13-19. Jos. 7.7-9.
27 Rememberi thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin;
28 Lestk 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.
k Ex. 32.12. Nu. 14.15,16. Jos. 7.7-9, i.e. lest the Egyptians should reproach thee on our account, ch. 32.27.
Notes
Reflections.—The greater our enemies and impediments in the way of our duty, the more shall the power of God be magnified in our overcoming them. God can easily find instruments to execute his justice upon a people devoted to destruction; and his promises and threatenings are most certainly performed in their due time. Though judgment may be delayed, yet sin will at last make the most fearful havoc in nations and families, however great and powerful; and yet it is hard to keep the very worst of men from trusting and glorying in their own fancied works of righteousness. But to keep us humble amidst many and great mercies, let us search the records which conscience keeps of our sins. Nothing but obstinate blindness can support us in a good opinion of ourselves. But thanks be to God that, where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound; thanks for that infinite mercy, that such a wicked generation have a most prevailing intercessor to stand in the gap to turn away the Lord's wrath and indignation from them.