Deuteronomy 9

—and that he may perform the word &c.] Four hundred years before the event, the fate of these nations was revealed to Abraham. The longsuffering of God waited so long, till their iniquities should come to the full, Gen. xv. 16. It was for the wickedness of these nations they were expelled, and the Israelites were put

in possession of their land, not for their own righteousness, or merits, for they were a stiffnecked people, but

to perform the covenant which God made with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These nations had repeated warnings from God, to repent and reform their evil ways, in an awful succession of judgments,

signs, and wonders, inflicted on the neighbouring nations for their wickedness. 1st, In the signal destruction of the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah,

Zeboim, by the immediate vengeance of Heaven, destroyed by fire and brimstone, or lightning, and overwhelmed by the Salt sea. 2dly, In the plagues of

Egypt, and destruction of the Egyptians in the Red sea, forty years before, for abominations resembling their own, Lev. xviii. 3. 3dly, In the recent destruction of their neighbours, the Eastern Amorites, and the mira- Before CHRIST 1451. Moses rehearseth the several Before CHRIST 1451.

Chap. X. ver. 6. — there Aaron died.] That is, at Mosera. In Numbers xx. 25 it is said, that he died at mount Hor. But it is no unusual thing for one place to have different names, especially with respect to its several parts. Thus Horeb and Sinai were two names of the same mountain: and Mosera might be another name for Hor, or the name of a place adjoining to it. Bp. Kidder. See the map of the stations of the Israelites.

— and Eleazar his son ministered &c.] The connexion which this and the following verse have with what went before, appears to be this: Moses having told them, that he put the tables of the testimony or covenant into the ark, as a token of God’s being reconciled to them, and that there they still were as the Lord commanded; he puts them out of all doubt by telling them, that though Aaron, who had the special care of the Holy place, was dead, yet Eleazar his son was still alive, who could testify those holy things remained, as when Moses first placed them there: he having been consecrated to the priest’s office instead of Aaron, and in this very mount, which is the occasion of mentioning this station here, when most of the rest are omitted. Bp. Patrick.

Deuteronomy 9:3

3.—destroy them quickly.] That is, certainly and effectually, in your successive expeditions against the several parts of the country. Pyle.

Deuteronomy 9:4

4.—For my righteousness &c.] Nothing is more dangerous than pride and self-conceit. Therefore as he

taught them before, chap. viii. 17, to have an humble opinion of their own power; so now he teaches them not to arrogate any thing to themselves, on account of their own righteousness. Bp. Patrick.

Deuteronomy 9:5

5. Not for thy righteousness, &c.] It was of great moment, and therefore Moses repeats it, that they should

understand the true causes, why God expelled these nations, and gave their land to the Israelites, namely, 1st.

The abominable wickedness of the Canaanites, for which they deserved to be rooted out. 2dly, God’s gracious promises to the pious ancestors of the Israelites, with whom He had made a covenant, and confirmed it with an oath, to plant them there, in the room of the former inhabitants. Bp. Patrick. It may be thought, that the Jews, being God’s chosen people, ought to be found superior in benevolence, as well as every other virtue, to the rest of mankind. But

it must ever be remembered what God Himself frequently declares, that it was not for their “own sakes,”

for their “own righteousness,” that they were chosen, but for other reasons; for preserving the knowledge, and promoting the worship, of the one true God; for

manifesting His Divine power in the working of miracles, and for executing His judgments on those impenitent nations, whose enormous wickedness was then

ripe for vengeance. The moral goodness therefore of the Jews being no peculiar object of God’s choice, we are not on that account merely to expect from them any uncommon degrees of virtue, or any exemption from the reigning vices of their age. Bp. Porteus. —for the wickedness of these nations] It is a thing especially to be observed, that the nations of Canaan were destroyed for their wickedness. In proof of this, let the reader refer to the 18th chap. of Leviticus, the 24th and the following verses, where Moses, after laying down prohibitions against brutal and abominable vices, thus proceeds: “Defile not ye yourselves, &c.” 1st, This passage testifies the principal point: namely, that the Canaanites were the wicked people we represent

them to be; and that this point does not rest upon supposition, but upon proof: in particular, the following

words contain an express assertion of the guilt of that people; “In all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: for all these abominations have the men of the land done.” 2dly, The form and turn of expression seems to show, that these detestable practices 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.

Deuteronomy 9:7

7.—from the day that thou didst depart &c.] No historian ever placed his nation in so unfavourable a light as Moses. We meet with a continual detail of discontent and murmuring, of disobedience and rebellion towards God, and of punishments in consequence of this behaviour. At one time there fell three thousand men for their idolatry, Exod. xxxii. 28. At another time, upon the rebellion of Korah, a large family by the earth’s opening was swallowed up quick; and two

Deuteronomy 9:14

14. Let me alone, that I may destroy them, &c.] The awful menace of God to destroy the Jews, and raise from Moses a nation mightier than they, is here introduced with great propriety. For nothing could conduce more to inculcate deeply the humiliating but necessary truth of their own unworthiness, than to state to them, that the greatness of their rebellion had almost induced that God, in whom they trusted, totally to disinherit and destroy them, and raise up another nation in their place. Dr. Graves.

Before CHRIST 1451. c Exod. 32. 7. rebellious of Israel. God’s great mercy. Before CHRIST 1481. 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.

Deuteronomy 9:27

27. — look not unto the stubbornness of this people, &c.] He prays that the gracious promise of God to their pious forefathers would move Him to overlook the high provocations of their posterity: which he aggravates in several words the more to humble them, and to magnify God’s mercy in granting them a pardon. Bp. Patrick. Of all the attributes of God, forbearance perhaps is that which we have most to acknowledge. We cannot want occasions to bring the remembrance of it to our thoughts. Have there not been occasions, in which, ensnared by vice, we might have been detected and exposed; have been crushed by punishment or shame; have been irrecoverably ruined? occasions, in which we might have been suddenly stricken with death, in a state of soul the most unfit for it that was possible? That we were none of these, that we have been preservham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin: