Deuteronomy 9

The calf which you had made, and burnt ittvith fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, &c. This he did before he went up the second time into the mount, (Ex6d. xxxii. 20.) And I cast the dust thereof into the brooJc that descended out of the mount.] From the rock which Moses smote with his rod, (Exod. xvii. 0.) which constantly supplied them with drink; which for the present they could not have but mixed with their sin, as we read Exod. xxxii. 20.

Deuteronomy 9:1

JljLEAR, O Israel. He begins a new exhortation to them, at some distance of time from the former, but still aiming at the same thing, to represent to them the danger of idolatry. Thou art to pass over Jordan this day.] That is, shortly, not long hence; for it cannot be meant precisely: all these tilings being spoken in the eleventh month of the last year of their travels, and they passed not over Jordan till the first month of the next year. Between which and this time Moses died, and they mourned a whole month for him. To go in to possess nations.] A country inhabited by nations; for the people themselves they were to destroy. Greater and mightier than thyself] Whom notwithstanding God would deliver up into their hands. Cities great, and fenced up to heaven.] As the spies had represented them, (i. 28.) And they were, indeed, very strong cities, whose walls could not easily be scaled.

Deuteronomy 9:2

A people great and tall. See Numb. xiv. 28. 32. TJie children of the Anakims, whom thou hiOwest.] Who seem to have been the chief of those Ncphilim or Rcphaim UPON DEUTERONOMY. (which we sometimes translate giants) in those parts,.(Numb. xiii. 22. 28. 33.) Of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before’ the children of Anak?] A common proverb in those days. The children of Anak being so famous, that the whole na-. tion (as Bochartus thinks) took its name from them. For Bene-Anak (i. e. children of Anak), or Pheneanak, is easily changed into Phoenicia. These Anakims Avere vanquished by Joshua, who drove them out of the* cities where they dwelt, and made them flee to the Philistines. Where a remnant of them seemed to have lived till the.days of David. For Goliath, and his brethren Lahmi, Sippai, and Tshbibanob, (1 Chron. xx. 4, &c.) were Anakims; and so was that man with six toes on each foot, and six finders on each hand, (2 Sam. xxi. 16.) for they were all bora at Gath; Avhich was one of the cities to which the Anakims fled, (Josh, xi.22.) Some think that from hence k’irigs, among the Greeks, were called “Avaicrfc, because commonly they chose those to rule over them who were persons of a great stature, and carried majesty in their faces. But it is not improbable (as I observed before) that some of the Anakims fled into Greece, and settled there, when they were driven out of Canaan.

Deuteronomy 9:3

Understand therefore this day. Settle this therefore in your minds, before you go over Jordan, as undoubted truth. Tliat the T^ord thy God is he that goeth before thee.] Over Jordan, (Josh. iii. 3, 4, &c.) Asa consu?ningfire.]Beioro whom none can stand, (ir. 24.) He shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face.] See Josh. iii. 10, 11. The Hebrews have a conceit, that the fire which burnt upon the altar appeared in the form of a lion; to shew what God would be to their enemies, if the Israelites obeyed him; otherwise, what he would be to them. So shall thou drive them out, and destroy them utterly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.] Not the whole seven nations entirely; whom he said God would drive out by little and little, (vii. 22.) but so many, as to make a settlement for themselves in Canaan without much difficulty. -

Deuteronomy 9:4

Speak not in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out. When this is done, do not so much as entertain a thought. For my righteousness hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land.] Nothing is more dangerous than pride and self-conceit; and therefore, as he taught them before (viii. 7.) to have an humble opinion of their own power, so now not to arrogate any thing to themselves, on the account of their own righteousness. But for the wickedness of these nations the lA>rd doth drive them out from before thee.] Lev. xviii. 24/25. 27, 28.

Deuteronomy 9:5

Not for thy righteousness, or the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations, &c. and that he may perforin the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, &c] It was of great moment (which makes him* repeat it again) that they should understand the true causes why God expelled these nations/and gave their land to the Israelites; which’ were these two: first, the abominable wickedness of the Canaanitcs;• for which they deserved to be rooted: secondly, God’s gracious promises to the pious ancestors of, tho Israelites, with whom he made a covenant, and conuigitizea by Microsoft ® [chap. IX. firmed it with an oath, to plant tlicm there, in the room of the former inhabitants.

Deuteronomy 9:6

Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God f/iveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness. He repeats it a third time, that, if it were possible, he might root out of the Israelites the opinion of their own deserts, before he rooted the Ganaanites out of their country. -For thou art a stiff-necked people.’] So far from being righteous, that they were very refractory. Of which God often complained, (Exod.xxxii.9.xxxiii.3. 5.) and Moses acknowledges it in his prayer to God for them, (xxxiv. 9.)

Deuteronomy 9:7

Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. In order to destroy the opinion of their own righteousness, it was necessary to call to mind some of their most notorious provocations; which he exhorts them carefully to preserve in their mind, as a means to keep them humble. From the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, ye have been rebellious against the I^ord.] This appears by the many murmurings we read of in the two first years after they came out of Egypt, and likewise in the last; of which only we have a particular account: but their behaviour, all the rest of the time they spent in the wilderness, was no better.

Deuteronomy 9:8

Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrathS. J0r rather, even in Horeb (for there is an emphasis in this, and ho speaks it with some indignation); when they had newly received the law, and had a visible appearance of God in great glory upon Mount Sinai, and had entered into covenant with him, they so shamefully revolted from him, that he thought to have destroyed them, (Exod. xxxii. 7, 8, &e.)

Deuteronomy 9:9

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. Sec Exod. xxiv. 11. Then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights; I neither did eat bread, nor drink water.] See Exod. xxiv. 18. xxxiv. 28. • - -

Deuteronomy 9:10

And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone, written with the finger of God. See!Exod, xxxi. 18.* According to all the words which the Lord spake with you in the mount.] See Exod. xxxiv. 28. Out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly.] When the whole body of the people w r ere assembled, and heard God speak these ten words out of the midst of the fire. (See Deut. iv. 10—13.)

Deuteronomy 9:11

And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, &c. That is, having given him the two tables, as was said before, ver. 10.

Deuteronomy 9:12

The Lord said unto me. Immediately after he had delivered to him the tables, (Exod. xxxi.18. xxxii. 7.) Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for the people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves, &c.j SeeExod. xxxii. 7, 8.

Deuteronomy 9:13

Furthermore the Lord spake. unto me> saying, I Jiave seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Who mil not bend to the yoke of my laws, (Exod. xxxii. 9.)

Deuteronomy 9:14

Let me alone. Do not mako any intercession to me for them. That I may desiroij them, and blot out their. name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.] See Exod. xxxii. 10.

Deuteronomy 9:15

So I turned, and came down from the mount. See Exod. xxxii. 15. And the mount burnt with fire.] Was all in a flame, in token of God’s high displeasure against then!; and as if he intended presently to consume them. And the two tables of the covenant were in my handJ] Exod. xxxii. 15.

Deuteronomy 9:16

And I looked, and behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, andhadmadeyou a molten calf. About which he found them dancing, (Exod. xxxii. 19.) Ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded yon.’] For a few weeks before he had commanded them, with his own mouth, not to make to. themselves any graven image, &c. (Exod. xx. 4.) And immediately after commanded Moses to repeat. this precept particularly to them, " Not to make with him gods of silver or gold/’ (ver. 22, 23.)

Deuteronomy 9:17

And thou shall say in thine heart, My power, and the might of my hand, hath gotten me this wealth. Such Yain conceits are apt to arise in men’s minds, if they preserve not a sense of God, and of all his mercies to them. * And I took the two tables, and cast them out t of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.]By Gpd’s order, no doubt, in token that they had broken his covenant, and were unworthy to be owned by him for his people, (Exod. xxxii. 19.) or that the. covenant was made Toid, and God no. longer engaged to them.

Deuteronomy 9:18

But thou shall remember the Lord thy God; for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth. Continually call to mind that they owed all they had, and the increase of it, to.his almighty providence; without whom they could never have gotten possession of this land, nor have prospered Ih it. That he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, &c] He would have them sensible of their own tinworthiness also (which would make them more grateful to him) of all the blessings God had bestowed on them, and acknowledge them to his mere goodness, and fidelity to his promises; for they had been a murmuring and rebellious people. *’ And I fell down.] To pray God for pardon; though not presently: but after he had broken the calf in pieces, reproved Aaron, and made a slaughter among the people, (Exod. xxxii. 20, 21, &c.) As at the first.] When he first heard of their sin, Exod,. xxxii. 11 — 13. and the next morning after he had broken the calf, and done execution upon the., offenders, (ver, Forty days and forty nights: J did nether eat bread nor drink water.] Exod. xxxiv. 2. 28. Because of all your sins which ye tinned, in doing zvickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.] He spent this time, very much, inearnest supplication to God, to forgive not only this, but all other sins, whereby they had deserved to be cast off by him. For they provoked him at Marah, (Exod. xy. -23-) and in the wilderness of Sin, (xvi. 2, 3.) and at Massah, (xvii. 2 — 4.).

Deuteronomy 9:19

And it shall be, iftliou do at all forget the Lord tliy God. Luxury and pride (the usual effects of fulness) naturally made them unthankful and unmindful of God: and neglect of God’s service made them easily fall to idolatry. And walk after other gods, and worship and serve them.] The two last expressions are the explication of the first; for then they walked after the idols of the people (as Onkelos paraphrases it), when they worshipped and adored them. If is evident, by this, that the drift of Moses, in all this discourse, is (as I observed before) to press upon them the first and great commandment; I testify against you this dayytJiat ye shall utterly perish.] Sec iv. 26. v * v - For I.teas afraid of the anger and hot displeasure wherewith the Lord was xvroth agaimt you, to destroy you.] Which God had expressed both before he came down from tlio mount and after, (Exod. xxxii. xxxiii. 3. 5.) Insomuch, that the Lord removed out of the camp; and would not, for the present, dwell among them, (ver;. 7.) But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also.] Se§ Exod. xxxiv. 8 — 10. where the Lord.tells *him, he ex^ peetcd they should be more faithful hereafter, in observing their covenant with him, particularly this part, of worshipping no other God. (See there, ver. 10—14.)

Deuteronomy 9:20

As the nations which the Lord destroy ethbefore your face. He speaks in the present tense, because he was about to destroy them: and when he began, he destroyed them by little and little, (vii. 22.) and there were still more to be destroyed. So shallye’perish, because ye would not be obedient to the voice of the Ij)rd your God.] It -was but just that they should perish as those nations did, because they fell into their siri. x • And the Lord teas very angry with Aaron, to have destroyed him, gee.] This shews the heinousness of this sin, which had like to have cost Aaron his life; though he merely complied with the impetuous desire of the people, out of fear and want of courage to resist them.. •Ver. 21, And I took your sin.] So idols are termed in Isa. xxxi. 7. The object or occasion of sin, as well as the punishment of it, being called by the name of sin.,

Deuteronomy 9:22

And at Taberah. Besides this great sin committed at Horeb, he puts them in mind of several other, that they might be more humbled, and have no opinion of their own righteousness remaining in them. (See concerning this, Numb. xi. 1 — 3.) And at Massah.] As the foregoing’ sin was committed after the making the golden calf, so this was before it, (Exod. xvii. 7.) And at Kibroth-hattaavah ye provoked the Lord to wrath.] This provocation was immediately after that at Taberah, (Numb. xi. 33, 34.) All which three places had their names from the sin of the Israelites, or from their punishment.

Deuteronomy 9:23

Likewise. And yet this was not all. When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up, and possess the land whidh I have given you.] Numb. xiii. 1 — 3. Then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord ymir God; and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his word.] Numb. xiv. X — 3. of which unbelief God there complains, ver. 11.

Deuteronomy 9:24

Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from tlte day that I knew you. To comprise all in a few words, you have been a disobedient people ever since I was acquainted with you. So he suspected they would prove, (Exod. iv. 1.) and upon the first disappointment found it to be true, (Exod. v. 24, 2,5.)

Deuteronomy 9:25

Thus 1 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. Having interposed sorao other instances of their rebellious disposition, besides their making the golden calf, he returns to what he had begun to say concerning his intereessiqji with God for a, pardon; which he could not obtain without long importunity. For we cannot from these words gather, as some of the Jews do, that Moses was threo times in themount forty days and forty nights; it being plain, that he speaks hero of the same time which he mentioned ver. 18. And if we should think he intended any other, we might conclude he was four times in the mount so many days and nights, because he mentions it over again in Uio next chapter, x. 10. Because tlte Lord liad said he iconld destroy you.] Exod. xxxii. 10. xxxiii. 5. This made him so earnest to obtain an assurance from God, that he would continue to be as gracious to them as he had been: of which he had given him some hope before he went up into the mount. (See Exod. xxiii. 17. xxxiv. 9, 10.) Ver. 2G. I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thine inheritance, vjJuch thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, &cj He used the same argument in his petition for them, when he went into tho mount the second time, which he had vou x. urged before he came down the first time from it, (Exod. xxxii. 12.)

Deuteronomy 9:27

Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The very same he had said there, ver. 13.. And look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin.] 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. The word stubbornness seems to relate to their very evil disposition of mind; and their wickedness to all their undutiful murmurings; and their ski to their idolatry; which is often called in Scripture peculiarly’ by the name of sin: it being the highest provocation, from whence sprang all manner of wickedness. Thus Jeroboam is said to have made Israel to sin, by setting up the calves at Dan and Bethel to be worshipped. *

Deuteronomy 9:28

Lest the land whence thou broughtest them 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.’] The sense of this also he had before urged,(Exod. xxxii. 12.)

Deuteronomy 9:29

Yet they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power, &c. They were redeemed by him out of the land of Egypt, and, after a wonderful manner, separated from all other people, to be his peculiar, (Exod. xix. 4— 6.) And besides, having, repented of this sin in making the golden calf, God had again owned them to be his, and promised his presence should go with them, (Exod. xxxiii. 14.) Insomuch, that Moses there saith, before he went into the mount again, (ver. 13.) " Consider that this nation is thy people.” And see ver. 15, 16.