CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Deuteronomy 9
Chapter 9 of 34
Chapter Overview
What happens in Deuteronomy 9
Moses reminds Israel that God is not giving them the land because they are righteous. In fact, they are a stubborn people. He recounts the golden calf incident at Horeb and other times they rebelled against God.
Scripture
Deuteronomy 9
God Goes Before You
Study note
Moses told Israel they were about to cross the Jordan and face nations stronger than themselves, including the feared Anakim. But God would go before them like a consuming fire. Moses made clear that God was not giving them the land because of their goodness -- it was because of the wickedness of those nations and God's promise to Abraham.
1 "Pay attention, Israel! You are about to cross the Jordan and go up against nations that are bigger and stronger than you. Their cities are enormous, with walls that seem to reach the sky. 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 The people living there are tall and powerful -- the Anakim! You have heard about them. Everyone says, 'Nobody can defeat the Anakim.' 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 But today you need to understand that the Lord your God is going ahead of you. He is like an unstoppable fire that will burn through them. He will knock them down before you, and you will push them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord promised. 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 "After the Lord your God has chased them away, do not start telling yourself, 'The Lord gave me this land because I am such a good person.' Wrong! The Lord is removing these nations because they are so wicked. 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 You are not getting this land because you are so good. The Lord your God is driving out these nations because of how evil they are. He also wants to keep the promise he made to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 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 Get this through your heads: the Lord your God is not giving you this excellent land as a reward for being good. You are a headstrong, stubborn people! 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.
The Golden Calf at Horeb
Study note
Moses reminded them of their worst rebellion. While he was on the mountain for forty days receiving the stone tablets, the people made a golden calf. God was so angry he wanted to destroy them. Moses came down, saw the calf, and smashed the tablets. He then spent another forty days fasting and praying for the people. He ground the calf to dust and threw it into the stream.
7 "Never forget how you kept making the Lord your God furious out in the wilderness. From the moment you walked out of Egypt until you appeared here, you have constantly pushed back against the Lord. 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 At Horeb you made the Lord so mad he was about to wipe you out. Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.
9 I had climbed the mountain to receive the stone tablets -- the tablets containing the covenant the Lord made with you. I stayed up there for forty days and forty nights without eating any food or drinking any water. 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 The Lord handed me two stone tablets that he himself had written on with his own finger. They contained every word the Lord had spoken to you from the fire on the day you all gathered together. 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 When the forty days and nights were over, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets of the covenant. 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 Then the Lord said to me, 'Get up! Hurry down the mountain! The people you led out of Egypt have already gone bad. They have quickly abandoned the way I told them to live and have made themselves an idol.' 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 The Lord also said, 'I have been watching these people. They are exceedingly stubborn! Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
14 Step aside and let me destroy them. I will wipe their name off the face of the earth, and then I will build a nation from you that is even bigger and stronger.' 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 hurried down the mountain while it was still burning with fire. The two covenant tablets were in my arms. 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 When I looked, I could see you had already sinned against the Lord your God. You had melted metal and shaped it into a calf. You had already veered away from everything the Lord had ordered. 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 So I lifted the two tablets above my head and hurled them to the ground, smashing them before you. And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
18 Then I threw myself face-down before the Lord for another forty days and forty nights. I refused to eat or drink. I did this because you had done something so terribly wrong in God's eyes and made him so angry. 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 I was scared to death because the Lord was furious enough to wipe you out. But once again, the Lord listened to my pleading. 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 The Lord was angry enough at Aaron to destroy him too. So I prayed for Aaron at the same time. And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
21 I grabbed that sinful calf you had made, threw it into the fire, and smashed it. I ground it up into powder as fine as dust and threw it into the stream running down the mountain. 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.
A Pattern of Rebellion
Study note
Moses listed other places where Israel had provoked God -- at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah. At Kadesh-barnea they refused to enter the land. Moses said they had been rebellious since the day he first knew them.
22 "You also provoked the Lord at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah. And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.
23 And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea with the command, 'Go and take the land I have given you,' you defied the Lord your God. You refused to trust him, and you refused to obey. Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, 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 You have been fighting against the Lord ever since I first met you. Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
Moses Prays for the People
Study note
Moses recalled how he fell on his face before God for forty days, begging him not to destroy the people. He appealed to God's reputation, asking what the Egyptians would say if God destroyed his own people in the wilderness.
25 "So I lay face-down before the Lord for those forty days and nights, because the Lord had threatened to destroy you. 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 pleaded with the Lord: 'O Lord God, please do not wipe out your own people. They belong to you! You bought their freedom with your mighty power and brought them out of Egypt with your strong hand. 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 Think about your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Look past the stubbornness and wickedness and sin of these people. Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:
28 If you destroy them, the Egyptians will say, "The Lord could not bring them into the land he promised. He hated his people, so he took them into the wilderness to kill them." 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 But they are your people, Lord -- your own special possession! You brought them out of Egypt with your incredible strength and your outstretched arm.'" Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.
Key Themes
Themes in Deuteronomy 9
Righteousness is a gift not an achievementRemembering our own failures prevents prideThe persistent stubbornness of the human heartIntercessory prayer that changes outcomes
Apply This Today
Living Deuteronomy 9
Moses bluntly tells Israel they are not receiving the land because of their righteousness. They are a stubborn people with a track record of rebellion. This demolishes any basis for spiritual pride. Yet Moses' forty days of fasting and intercession shows that persistent prayer can stand between a people and their deserved judgment.
Go Deeper
Study Deuteronomy in Covenant Path
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