Deuteronomy 9:7

Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness,.... Aben Ezra remarks that this was after they journeyed from Horeb; but before they came thither, even as

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.

Deuteronomy 9:7 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.Ver. 7. Ye have been rebellious against the Lord.] Nothing is so hard as to be humbled; for man is a proud, cross creature, that would be something at home, whatever he is abroad; and comes not down without a great deal of difficulty. Hence it is, that Moses so sets it on here, and with one knock after another drives this nail home to the head, that he might cripple their iron sinews, bring their stiff necks to the yoke of God’ s obedience, and make them know that he was Jehovah, when he had "wrought with them for his name’ s sake, not according to their wicked ways, nor according to their corrupt doings."

(7) Remember, and forget not.—More abruptly in the original, “Remember—do not forget—how thou hast stirred the indignation of Jehovah.” Rebellious.—Not simply rebels, as Moses called them (in Numbers 20:10) at Meribah, but provoking rebels—rebels who rouse the opposition of Him against whom they rebel.

7. Remember, forget thou not] More musical without the intervening and which Sam. inserts. thou provokedst … to wrath] See on Deuteronomy 1:34. 7b. It is in this clause that the Sg. form of address ceases and the Pl. begins, to continue up to Deuteronomy 10:9 or 11. Coincidently exhortation is replaced by a historical retrospect: a retrospect similar to the discourse in chs. 1–3, not merely by being couched in the Pl. as that also is, but by other features of its style and by its dependence (even more full and literal) on JE. With no reference to the P narrative with which the JE has been interlaced, Exodus 24:12-18 it is supplementary to 1–3 for it gives an account of the legislation at Ḥ ?oreb, which that discourse lacks. On these grounds the section has been assigned to the same author as 1–3 (Horst, Bertholet, etc.); while Steuern. takes it as the continuation of the Pl. discourse in ch. 5, and as having originally formed with that the introduction to the Law Code by the writer who used the PL address throughout (see Introd.). On this compare supplementary note at the end of the section; and for possible additions especially in Deuteronomy 9:10-14 see the separate notes. Driver, Deut. 112, gives a comparative table of the section and the corresponding passages in JE on which it is based. Notice how the divine title is given simply as Jehovah without the usual deuteronomic addition thy God (nowhere except in Deuteronomy 9:16; Deuteronomy 9:23). The style of the section is instructive both as to the way in which the original deuteronomic writer expanded JE and subsequent editors made further expansion by the addition of deuteronomic formulas. Sam. and LXX differ from Heb. as to where the Pl. begins, reading ye went forth for thou wentest forth: possibly original, the Heb. Sg. being due to the omission of a consonant before its double in the next word1[128]; and the transition being more likely just here. Whether Deuteronomy 9:7 b and even Deuteronomy 9:8 as Steuern. supposes are from the hand of the editor who joined the originally separate sections is uncertain. Notice in Deuteronomy 9:7 b, Deuteronomy 9:8 phrases which like the rest of this Pl. section recall chs. 1–3. [128] Does the Pasaḳ ? in the Massoretic text indicate a lost letter?until ye came unto this place] Deuteronomy 1:31. ye have been rebellious against Jehovah] been acting rebellion (part. with auxil. verb: a frequent constr. in Deut.) with (i.e. in your dealings with) Jehovah. The same constr. Deuteronomy 9:24, Deuteronomy 31:27. A different constr. of same verb Deuteronomy 1:26 q.v.