Bible Commentaries

Introductory.

Part 1 of the commentary contained the first speech of Moses which proclaimed the recent history of Israel under the hand of Yahweh, demonstrating why they had reason to be grateful to Him, and finishing with a reminder of how gloriously and fearsomely the covenant had been given and an exhortation to keep the covenant requirements and remember Who had given them. From Deuteronomy 4:44 to Deuteronomy 29:1 this is followed by the central renewal of the covenant in Moses’ second speech, commencing with a renewed description of the giving of the covenant (Deuteronomy 5), followed by the basic principles lying behind the covenant (chapters 5-11), more detailed regulations (chapters 12-26), the requirement that the covenant be recorded in writing at Shechem (where Abraham first built an altar when entering the land and received his first theophany in the land) as confirmed by all the elders (Deuteronomy 27:1-8), the acknowledgement of it by the priesthood along with Moses as witnesses to it (Deuteronomy 27:9-10), and the applying to it of curses and blessings (chapters Deuteronomy 27:11 to Deuteronomy 29:1).

This section of the commentary will cover chapters 5-11, but these chapters must be seen as part of the greater whole to Deuteronomy 29:1, as incorporated in the whole book.

The Covenant Stipulations - the Basic Underlying Principles (chapters Deuteronomy 4:45 to Deuteronomy 11:32).

This introductory section begins the second section of the book which consists mainly of a proclamation of general basic principles related to the fulfilment of the covenant (chapters 5-11). This is then followed by a detailed review of the statutes and ordinances which have been spoken of previously, but with special reference to their applicability to the people and mainly ignoring priestly activity (chapters 12-26). It is ‘popular’ Law. In this second section Moses once again makes clear the demands that Yahweh is making on His people as a response to what He has done for them. But he will begin it by repeating, with minor alterations, the covenant made at Horeb, at Mount Sinai. Thus he declares that covenant in chapter 5 almost word for word, although slightly revised in order to bring out new emphases. This is then followed chapter by chapter by the requirements that Yahweh is laying on them as a response to His covenant love. In 6-11 he first deals with the basic principles involved, and then in chapters 12-26 moves on to the specific detailed requirements. This is a pattern typical of ancient treaty covenants.

Central to all the chapters are the ideas of how they must obey His commandment, His statutes and His ordinances that He might bless them in all they do (Deuteronomy 5:1; Deuteronomy 5:29; Deuteronomy 5:31-33; Deuteronomy 6:1-3; Deuteronomy 6:6-8; Deuteronomy 6:17-18; Deuteronomy 6:24-25; Deuteronomy 7:11-12; Deuteronomy 8:1; Deuteronomy 8:6; Deuteronomy 8:11; Deuteronomy 10:13; Deuteronomy 11:1; Deuteronomy 11:8; Deuteronomy 11:13; Deuteronomy 11:22; Deuteronomy 11:27; Deuteronomy 11:32); of how the reason that they are being blessed is not for their own sakes, but because of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deuteronomy 6:10; Deuteronomy 6:18; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 8:1; Deuteronomy 8:18; Deuteronomy 9:5; Deuteronomy 9:27; Deuteronomy 10:15; Deuteronomy 11:9); of how they must remember Yahweh their God Who has mightily delivered them from Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:6; Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 6:12; Deuteronomy 6:21-23; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:15; Deuteronomy 7:18; Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 9:26); of how He is bringing them into a good and prosperous land where they will enjoy great blessings (Deuteronomy 6:10-11; Deuteronomy 6:18; Deuteronomy 7:13-16; Deuteronomy 8:7-10; Deuteronomy 8:12-13; Deuteronomy 11:10-12; Deuteronomy 11:14-15), and of how they must then beware of turning to false gods and false religion once they enter the land, and must rather totally destroy them (Deuteronomy 5:8-9; Deuteronomy 6:14-15; Deuteronomy 7:4-5; Deuteronomy 7:25-26; Deuteronomy 8:19; Deuteronomy 9:12; Deuteronomy 9:16; Deuteronomy 11:16; Deuteronomy 11:28).

These are the general emphases, but each chapter also has a particular emphasis.

· Deuteronomy 6 stresses their need to love Yahweh, their covenant Overlord, with all their beings (Deuteronomy 6:5), to fear Him (Deuteronomy 6:2; Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 6:24), and to teach their children His instruction, and warns them that when they are prospering in the land they must not forget what He has done for them. Their Overlord is calling His subjects to love and obedience.

· Deuteronomy 7 confirms Yahweh’s elective covenant love for them (Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Deuteronomy 7:13) as His holy people, chosen and treasured (Deuteronomy 7:6), and promises them that because of that love He will bless them wonderfully, delivering the promised land into their hands. Here He reveals why they should love Him and respond to Him, because He has first loved them, and chosen them to be the recipients of His love with all its great benefits.

· Deuteronomy 8 reminds them of how they must remember and not forget the past (Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:5; Deuteronomy 8:11; Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 8:18), especially how He has looked after them in the wilderness, with the promise that He is bringing them to a good and prosperous land, and that once He has done so they must beware of self-glorification. Here the details of His watch over them are laid out demonstrating the practicality of His love.

· Deuteronomy 9 exhorts them on this basis to go forward and cross the Jordan knowing that Yahweh goes before them, while reminding them that their success will not be because of their own righteousness, a fact which he then demonstrates from their past history, reminding them how right from the very beginning they had broken God’s covenant that He had made with them. Here He emphasises how gracious He has been to them even though they had not been fully faithful to His covenant. While they do not deserve His goodness, He is pouring it on them anyway.

· Deuteronomy 10 stresses that God then graciously renewed that covenant which they had broken so quickly, and goes on to describe the greatness and uniqueness of Yahweh their covenant God and Overlord. They must recognise how good He has been to His erring subjects and take note of the fullness of His glory, lest they again break His covenant with them.

· Deuteronomy 11 urges them to learn from the past and go forward on the basis of it, repeats the promises and warnings of the previous chapters, constrains them to remember His words, and bear them about with them and teach them to their children, and promises the good things to come, and the certainty of their possession of the land because Yahweh is with them. It finally concludes the section with the reminder of the blessings and cursings, which will be solemnly applied on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal, which are by the oaks of Moreh, that is, at Shechem, and says that which of these will come on them will depend on whether they faithfully respond to His covenant or not. This conclusion prepares the way for Deuteronomy 27, although meanwhile being first of all preceded by the detailed stipulations of chapters 12-26.

So throughout these chapters the covenant is constantly stressed, a covenant which is the result of His love for their fathers and for them and is their guarantee of the future as long as their response to it is full and complete.

Chapter 9 Let Them Not Become Self-righteous, for They Are A Very Stubborn People.

The thought of their forgetting Yahweh and taking the credit for themselves about their possession of the land and its wealth (Deuteronomy 8:17) and turning to graven images is now taken up. He fears lest when they have taken possession of the land they will convince themselves that it was because of their own righteousness that they had received the land, and become self-satisfied and heedless of God’s voice. Thus let them ‘Hear, O Israel’ and take note of what the real truth is.

“Hear O Israel” always signals something of special importance. Compare Deuteronomy 5:1 where they were to ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and keep, and do them,’ that is, they were to respond wholly to the covenant, and Deuteronomy 6:4 where they were to ‘Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one, and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.’ It introduces subjects of great importance to which he wants to draw attention.

Here it is because having brought to them again the details of Yahweh’s declaration of His covenant in Deuteronomy 5; and having stressed their need to love their covenant God with their whole being, and having warned them against forgetting how He delivered them from Egypt, and against submission to false gods, in Deuteronomy 6; and having confirmed His elective love and warned them again against forgetting His goodness and turning to false gods, reminding them also again of His deliverance from Egypt, in Deuteronomy 7; and having reminded them of how He had cared for them in the wilderness in chapter 8, again with a warning against turning to graven images; and having stressed all through that all that they are to receive has come to them because of His sworn promise to Abraham (Deuteronomy 6:10; Deuteronomy 6:18; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 8:1; Deuteronomy 8:18), he is now bringing them to the crunch moment when they are about to enter the land, and warns them not to take any credit for their coming victory to themselves. For he stresses that they are to remember how truly unworthy they are (Deuteronomy 9:5-6), as revealed in that same wilderness (Deuteronomy 9:7-24), and that it is Yahweh their covenant God Who alone can give them victory (Deuteronomy 9:3), and that this will not be for their sakes, but for their fathers’ sakes (Deuteronomy 9:5; Deuteronomy 9:27; Deuteronomy 10:15), and because of the need for judgment on the people of the land. Thus no credit belongs to them. This is the essence of this chapter, which centres on their stubbornness.

(‘Thou’ is used in the first seven verses being directed at the nation as a whole. From then on when speaking of Israel ‘ye’ is used to indicate combined action).

Chapter 9 Let Them Not Become Self-righteous, for They Are A Very Stubborn People.

The thought of their forgetting Yahweh and taking the credit for themselves about their possession of the land and its wealth (Deuteronomy 8:17) and turning to graven images is now taken up. He fears lest when they have taken possession of the land they will convince themselves that it was because of their own righteousness that they had received the land, and become self-satisfied and heedless of God’s voice. Thus let them ‘Hear, O Israel’ and take note of what the real truth is.

“Hear O Israel” always signals something of special importance. Compare Deuteronomy 5:1 where they were to ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and keep, and do them,’ that is, they were to respond wholly to the covenant, and Deuteronomy 6:4 where they were to ‘Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one, and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.’ It introduces subjects of great importance to which he wants to draw attention.

Here it is because having brought to them again the details of Yahweh’s declaration of His covenant in Deuteronomy 5; and having stressed their need to love their covenant God with their whole being, and having warned them against forgetting how He delivered them from Egypt, and against submission to false gods, in Deuteronomy 6; and having confirmed His elective love and warned them again against forgetting His goodness and turning to false gods, reminding them also again of His deliverance from Egypt, in Deuteronomy 7; and having reminded them of how He had cared for them in the wilderness in chapter 8, again with a warning against turning to graven images; and having stressed all through that all that they are to receive has come to them because of His sworn promise to Abraham (Deuteronomy 6:10; Deuteronomy 6:18; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 8:1; Deuteronomy 8:18), he is now bringing them to the crunch moment when they are about to enter the land, and warns them not to take any credit for their coming victory to themselves. For he stresses that they are to remember how truly unworthy they are (Deuteronomy 9:5-6), as revealed in that same wilderness (Deuteronomy 9:7-24), and that it is Yahweh their covenant God Who alone can give them victory (Deuteronomy 9:3), and that this will not be for their sakes, but for their fathers’ sakes (Deuteronomy 9:5; Deuteronomy 9:27; Deuteronomy 10:15), and because of the need for judgment on the people of the land. Thus no credit belongs to them. This is the essence of this chapter, which centres on their stubbornness.

(‘Thou’ is used in the first seven verses being directed at the nation as a whole. From then on when speaking of Israel ‘ye’ is used to indicate combined action).

The Real Reason Why Yahweh Is Taking Them In To Possess The Land (Deuteronomy 9:1-7).

The real reason why Yahweh is giving the land to Israel is not because of their righteousness, but because of the wickedness of the nations who are living there.

Analysis in the words of Moses:

a Hear, O Israel, you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?” (Deuteronomy 9:1-2)

b Know therefore this day, that Yahweh your God is He who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them, and He will bring them down before you. So shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh has spoken to you (Deuteronomy 9:3).

c Do not speak in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, “For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land,” whereas for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh drives them out from before you (Deuteronomy 9:4).

c Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land , but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God drives them out from before you (Deuteronomy 9:5 a).

b And that He may establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob (Deuteronomy 9:5 b).

a Know therefore, that Yahweh your God does not give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness, for you are a stiffnecked people (Deuteronomy 9:6).

Note that in ‘a’ they are going in to dispossess a mighty people, even the Anakim, while in the parallel they are to recognise that while Yahweh is giving them the good land it is not because of their righteousness, for they are stiffnecked (a theme now to be taken up). In ‘b’ it is Yahweh Who is going before them a a devouring fire to destroy those enemies, so that they will drive them out, and in the parallel it is so that He might establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. In ‘c’ they must not say that it is because of their righteousness that Yahweh has done this for it is because of the wickedness of the nations that He is driving out, and in the parallel the though is repeated.

Deuteronomy 9:1-2

‘Hear, O Israel, you (thou) are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?” ’

Israel must listen well. As they know, they are passing over Jordan in the near future (‘this yom’ - ‘this day, at this time’), and it is in order that they might dispossess nations greater and mightier than themselves, that they might face cities great and fortified up to heaven (with high walls), and that they might face the spooky Anakim, a people great and tall of whom they have heard the proverb, ‘who can stand against the Anakim?’

Note how Moses boasts about the difficulties. They bring no concern to his heart, for He knows the might of Yahweh. And he has already pointed out how both the Moabites and the Ammonites have already defeated the equivalent of the Anakim because their land was given to them by Yahweh because they were the sons of Lot (Deuteronomy 2:10; Deuteronomy 2:21). Why then should Israel fear who have the promises made to their fathers to rely on?

Deuteronomy 9:3

‘Know therefore this day, that Yahweh your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you. So shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh has spoken to you.’

Therefore this day they were to know and recognise that it was Yahweh their God Who would go before them as a devouring fire. All will be burned up before Him. He Who had put His pillar of fire between them and the mighty Egyptian army, will send the same fire before them (compare Numbers 10:35). He had spoken to them from the midst of fire (Deuteronomy 4:12 and often). And this time it will be a devouring fire (compare Deuteronomy 4:24). This vivid illustration would speak vividly to them. All had experienced the sudden fires that could arise in the wilderness and rapidly devastate an area.

Note the favourite literary device of repetition, ‘He will destroy them and He will bring them down before you’ and ‘So shall you drive them out and make them to perish quickly’, both stressing the certainty of the actions described by repetitive phrases. He will destroy their enemy and drive them out. He will bring them down and make them perish quickly. Note also that on the one hand the action is Yahweh’s, on the other it is theirs. Their total success in ridding the land of their foes will be because Yahweh goes before them, but they would have to play their part in it. Yahweh rarely does His work without us.

Deuteronomy 9:4

‘Do not speak in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, “For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land,” whereas for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh drives them out from before you.’

And once this has happened they must not say within their hearts, ‘Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land because of my righteousness.’ The reason that He is intending to drive them out is not because of their righteousness, but because of the Canaanites’ extreme wickedness. Yahweh alone is deserving of the land. It is of His graciousness that they will be allowed possession so that they can prove whether they will be faithful or not. Indeed if they become self-righteous they will shortly be heading for expulsion. Both God and Moses were well aware of the dangers of self-satisfaction. All needed to constantly recognise that their dependence was on God.

Deuteronomy 9:5

‘Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God drives them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’

Indeed this fact is stressed in the repetition typical of many ancient narratives, intended to drive home the point. It is not because of their righteousness and their uprightness of heart that Yahweh is doing this, it Isaiah 1). because of the depraved lives and idolatry of the inhabitants, and 2). so that He might establish His word given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This revelation is important. In what He is doing He is acting as both moral Judge and faithful covenant God, punishing the evil and responding to the good. It was not an act of favouritism against an innocent people, but a revelation of both the righteousness of God in the face of evil and the faithfulness of God to those who had faithfully followed Him.

So let them be aware that all this is not because of their righteousness. They enter the land, not as those who have achieved righteousness, but as those who, having been delivered from bondage, must begin to reveal righteousness in their lives, by obeying His statutes and ordinances. They must seek righteousness. If they seek first the kingly rule of God and His righteousness all things will be added to them (Matthew 6:33). But if they become self-righteous they will be lost.

The idea behind this is not that they were being given permission to be unrighteous. They were expected to be righteous (Deuteronomy 6:25). But the point is that their required righteousness could only come from the Righteous One. They must not look to themselves for righteousness, for it was not there in them as their past makes clear, they could only look to Him. It was only by response to Him through the way provided through sacrifices and the shedding of blood, and through continual dependence on Him, that they could hope to fulfil the righteousness that was required of those who would dwell permanently in the land. Yes, He did require them to be righteous if they wished to remain in the land, but let them recognise that this would not come from what they were in themselves. It would come as they looked in faith and trust to Yahweh and as they obeyed Him fully.

To be righteous in these terms is to be ‘in the right’, to be seen as acceptable to God. Abraham had believed God and it had been counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). It was his trust in God that was important, a trust that resulted on obedience. If they are to be in the right that too will only be through their believing God and responding to His call. It is He Who puts men in the right, judicially through the sacrificial system, and practically through His working in their hearts. Repentance is therefore needed, a circumcision (total change) of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16). Then they may have hope. This moral lesson is then reinforced in no uncertain way.

Deuteronomy 9:6

‘Know therefore, that Yahweh your God does not give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness, for you are a stiffnecked people.’

Note the repetition of ‘know therefore’ (compare Deuteronomy 9:3). Two things they were to understand, firstly that it is Yahweh who will give success (Deuteronomy 9:3), and secondly that it is not because of their own righteousness (as here). Yahweh their God is not giving them this good land as a possession because they are so righteous and have deserved it. Indeed that is far from the truth, for they are a stiff-necked (obstinate and arrogant) people, a people who are stubborn in their refusal to obey Yahweh. They may seem willing now but God had no illusions about them.

What He is doing is offering them a new kind of deliverance, a deliverance from the slavery of sin and obstinacy. Moses thus brings out what God was planning for them. It was a transformation of His people within the land as they responded to the covenant to which they had bound themselves. God had provided the means, they must respond to it and cease being stiffnecked.

The implications of this statement are huge. It is saying that it is not anything in them that brings them within Yahweh’s purposes, it is all of His mercy. He has chosen them because of His love for their fathers (Deuteronomy 4:37; Deuteronomy 10:15), and because of His sovereign love (Deuteronomy 7:8) and that is why they are acceptable before Him, and that is why He is bringing them into the land. It is all of His grace, His positive and unmerited love in action towards the undeserving. They have been delivered from Egypt by His gracious act, and they are entering the land by His gracious act. All He requires of them is the faith to respond. Nevertheless the result must be that they become righteous in response to His love That is the purpose of His bringing them into the land, and if they do not they will be thrust out of the land.

We too must recognise that if we are to experience His saving work it will not be by our claiming to be righteous, but by admitting that we are aware of just how unrighteous we are. Then He can supply us with the righteousness of Christ and begin to work righteousness within us as a result of His grace, His undeserved love in action. But the result must then be obedience to Him, for that will be the evidence of the work that God has wrought in us (Philippians 2:13).

Calling them ‘stiffnecked’, which signified the unwillingness to turn the head, the unwillingness to deviate from their own chosen path, probably seemed to them a harsh way of speaking, so he spells it out in detail.

The Evidence Is Now Given That They Are A Stiffnecked People (Deuteronomy 9:7-29).

Taking up from Deuteronomy 9:6 he now establishes that they are a stiffnecked people. It may be argued that the sins which will now be described were mainly of their parents, and that is true, but some of them were certainly willingly involved as youngsters, and they would not have denied their collective responsibility for the sins of their fathers, which tended to be reproduced in themselves. Furthermore they knew that they were just as capable of grumbling themselves, and behaving in the same way as their fathers had, as the two incidents at places given the nickname ‘Meribah’ make clear, for one was at the beginning and resulted from the attitude of the first generation and one was at the end of the forty years when the first generation had nearly died out (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13).

There are many parallels between the following words, Exodus 24:12-18; Exodus 32:7 onwards and Exodus 34, and Moses expected Israel to be aware of them. He was speaking of things that they were well aware of. That was what gave extra force to his arguments. But he necessarily abbreviates the narrative. This is a speech not a history. He is calling to mind, not making a record of events.

Moses Reminds Them of The Incident of The Molten Calf And How They Had Broken the covenant Even Before They Had Received It (Deuteronomy 9:7-12).

Moses now reminds them of the incident of the molten calf, and of how Yahweh had determined to destroy them, at the time when he went up to collect the completed covenant from Yahweh. For even when they were on the very point of receiving the confirmation of the covenant in stone they had rebelled against Yahweh.

Analysis in the words of Moses:

a Remember, do not forget, how you (as a nation) provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you (as a number of people, the children of Israel) came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh, and in Horeb you (all) provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you (Deuteronomy 9:7-8).

b When I had gone up into the mount to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water (Deuteronomy 9:9).

b And Yahweh delivered to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words, which Yahweh spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly, and it came about at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant (Deuteronomy 9:10-11).

a And Yahweh said to me, “Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They are speedily turned aside out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten image” (Deuteronomy 9:12).

In ‘a’ He reminds them how they continually provoked Yahweh to wrath from the day that He brought them out of the land of Egypt and especially at Horeb where Yahweh determined to destroy them, and in the parallel the words of Yahweh resulting from that incident at Horeb are supplied, indicating that they have provoked Him to wrath, and reference is made to the fact that Yahweh had brought them out of Egypt. In ‘b’ Moses describes how he went into the Mount to receive the tablets and was there for forty days and nights, and then how Yahweh delivered the tablets to him at the end of the forty days and forty nights.

Deuteronomy 9:7

‘Remember, do not forget, how you (thou - you as a nation) provoked Yahweh your (thy) God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you thou) went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you (ye - you as a number of people, the children of Israel) came to this place, you (ye - most of you) have been rebellious against Yahweh.’

(Note the change to ‘ye’. When speaking of Israel it is now ‘ye’ from here to the end of the chapter. The change in pronouns here may be intended to bring out how they set out from Egypt as one people, bound together by their shared experience, and then subsequently how most of them (but not the whole people) proved themselves to be rebellious against Yahweh).

Let them then remember, let them not forget, (a double warning), how from day one they had provoked Yahweh their God to anger in the wilderness. Why, from the day when they left Egypt to this very day they had continually been rebellious against Him. For the sad story of this see Exodus 20 onwards and Numbers.

The need to remember and not forget in the light of the great experience described in Deuteronomy 5 and what it spoke of (deliverance, mercy and a new opportunity) has been the emphasis from Deuteronomy 6 onwards (Deuteronomy 6:12; Deuteronomy 7:12; Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:5; Deuteronomy 8:11; Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 8:19). But the bad side had to be remembered too (Deuteronomy 9:7). Learning the lessons of the past would be essential for the future. That is why we too must constantly study His word, for it keeps us in remembrance of what we are and what He is.

Deuteronomy 9:8

‘Also in Horeb you (ye all) provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you.’

Yes, they had even provoked Yahweh to wrath in Horeb, before the very mountain where they had trembled before His revelation of Himself and had pleaded to be hidden from it. Even there they had deliberately and almost unbelievably quickly (except to those who know peoples’ hearts) disobeyed the covenant, so quickly had they forgotten what they had seen. They had worshipped a graven image. Those who cling to experiences forget that the effect of them soon passes away. It is the heart set on God that perseveres.

Deuteronomy 9:9

‘When I had gone up into the mount to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.’

He reminds them that this was when he had gone up into the mountain to meet with God (as they had requested) in order to receive the tablets of stone containing the covenant, the very covenant that Yahweh had so recently made with them, and to which they had promised obedience. And he had remained there for ‘forty days and forty nights’ (Exodus 24:18) neither eating bread nor drinking water. (We can compare here Exodus 34:28 where it was, however, another visit to the Mount. But Yahweh’s presence was clearly such that Moses was in this state each time he went up, and no one knew better than him). He had endured the hardship of that period but it was they who had been worn down by it, for they had had little to occupy themselves with and their faith was small.

As often ‘forty days and forty nights’ is probably an approximation for ‘just over a moon period’. But he had been quite remarkably sustained during that period, for he had not even had anything to drink. Going without food was one thing, but going so long without drink was another. It is clear that he saw himself each time as having been sustained in the presence of Yahweh. His body may well have been in a suspended state because of the experience he was going through. Experiencing what he had experienced is something beyond our understanding and beyond man’s present experience.

Deuteronomy 9:10

‘And Yahweh delivered to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words, which Yahweh spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.’

And during that time Yahweh had given him the two tablets of stone on which had been written by ‘the finger of God’ the very words which Yahweh had spoken to them on the mount out of the midst of the burning fire in the day when they had assembled before the mountain. Note how he tries to emphasise the whole of the experience. He wants the whole scene to come back to them.

“Written with the finger of God” (not ‘of Yahweh’) may suggest mysterious writing as in Daniel (Daniel 5:5; Daniel 5:24). Compare Exodus 24:12; Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:16 and also Exodus 8:19 where the Egyptians described evidence of God’s activity in this way. Or it may mean that Moses had inscribed them while under inspiration but that they had come from God Himself, because Moses was under divine constraint being the finger of God in action. (Compare Exodus 31:18).

Deuteronomy 9:11

‘And it came about at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant.’

At the end of this period of waiting on Yahweh, God had given him the tablets to take with him. Here was a precious gift from God indeed. Here were two permanent ‘witnesses’ guaranteeing the fact and certainty of the covenant, and that it was now ratified and witnessed. How grateful the people would be, he must have thought.

Deuteronomy 9:12

‘And Yahweh said to me, “Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They are speedily turned aside out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten image.” ’

But the news that was given to him at the same time was not good. It was that the people that he had brought forth from Egypt had corrupted themselves already (compare Exodus 32:7). With almost unbelievable speed they had turned aside (Exodus 32:8) from the way that God had commanded them to walk in. They had made themselves a molten image (in Exodus 32:8 a molten calf, but Moses is here concerned to connect it with the previous forbidding of images - Deuteronomy 5:8; Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 7:25. See, however, verse 16 where the golden calf is mentioned). All that Yahweh had done for them was forgotten. They had so quickly turned from obedience to His words.

“Your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt.” This either indicated that Yahweh had disowned them, or was intending to move his heart by linking them closely with him. The former seems more probable in the light of what followed (see Deuteronomy 9:13), although both implications may be included.

Note that while Moses was there in all innocence Yahweh was perfectly aware of what was going on. While the people thought that He had forgotten them He was remembering them, only too well for their own good. God does not forget us. Whatever our feelings He is very well aware of us. It is we who forget Him.

Perhaps a word should be said here about the molten calf. It is doubtful if Aaron would have made it if he had seen it as an image of another god. Indeed the people at this stage probably did not want another god. What they wanted was the Yahweh Who had delivered them from Egypt brought down to earth, and not in that dreadful Mount. We know from elsewhere that bulls and other animals were often seen as the pedestal that supported the god. Hadad, Canaanite god of storm, is depicted as standing on a bull. Thus the idea may have been that here was the place where they could visualise the presence of their invisible God. But many, if not all, probably did see the calf as representing Yahweh, and that was always the danger.

However, Yahweh had forbidden the making of a molten image before which men bowed, for such an image regularly did indicate a god. Baal was regularly depicted as a bull. Thus what possibly began as a pedestal containing an invisible god would soon become a representation of God Himself. And that was unthinkable. Such blurring of the truth is always dangerous. It is very possible that much later worship of Baal by the Israelites began with their calling Yahweh ‘baali’, ‘my Lord’. Then they may have persuaded themselves, or each other, that they could see Baal images as Yahweh’s throne. It was not then long before many went the whole way and worshipped Baal.

This is probably also the explanation for the golden calves that Jeroboam would later make and set up in Bethel and Dan when he was desperate to prevent the people from seeking to Yahweh in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:26-30).

Moses Now Reminds Them Of How Serious The Situation Had Been And How His Intercession Had Saved Them (Deuteronomy 9:13-19).

Yahweh had been so affected by their sin that He had wanted to destroy them, and he offered instead to fulfil His promise to Abraham to give the land to his seed by raising up descendants to Moses. But Moses interceded for the people and Yahweh spared them for his sake.

Analysis in the words of Moses:

a Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people, let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they (Deuteronomy 9:13-14).

b So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands (Deuteronomy 9:15).

c And I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a molten calf (Deuteronomy 9:16 a).

c You had turned aside speedily out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you (Deuteronomy 9:16 b).

b And I took hold of the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes (Deuteronomy 9:17).

a And I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger, for I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also (Deuteronomy 9:18-19).

Note that in ‘a’ Yahweh was angry and wanted to destroy the people and blot out their name from under heaven, and replace them with Moses’ descendants, and in the parallel Yahweh was angry and wanted to destroy them, and it was Moses’ intercession that saved the day. In ‘b’ he came down from the Mount with the two stone covenant tablets in his hand, and in the parallel he threw down the tablets and broke them. In ‘c’ they had sinned against Yahweh their God and had made themselves a molten calf, and in the parallel they had turned aside speedily out of the way which Yahweh had commanded them (by worshipping the molten calf).

Deuteronomy 9:13-14

‘Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people, let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.” ’

Indeed Yahweh had been so angry that He had spoken of them as a stiffnecked people (Exodus 32:9) and had suggested that He destroy them and blot their name from under heaven (compare Exodus 32:33), that is blot them from the record of the living who were in the camp. Then He would make from Moses a nation ‘mightier and greater than they’, a deliberate contrast with the ‘greater and mightier’ in Deuteronomy 9:1 (compare Exodus 32:10), thus producing children through whom He could fulfil His promise to Abraham. In the parallel this stands against the fact that Moses intercession saved the. Moses was not self-seeking, but had a heart that was determined to help the people for whom he had been given responsibility.

Note how Moses part in pleading for them at this time is here played down. That the effort was great comes out in Deuteronomy 9:18, but his actual intercession is only obliquely mentioned in Deuteronomy 9:19 (contrast Exodus 32:11-14). A later writer would have made the most of it. The only indication that we have here of his intercessory intervention is Yahweh’s ‘Let me alone that I may destroy them’ (Deuteronomy 9:14, compare Exodus 32:10), and the ‘Yahweh listened to me’ (Deuteronomy 9:19). Only Moses himself was likely to have omitted the detail of what followed. Contrast Deuteronomy 9:26-29 which contain his intercession when he returned to the Mount for the new tablets.

(The idea that in the light of God’s words Moses could have said nothing, and instead have gone down to see for himself, can be rejected immediately. That would be to see Moses as having failed in his obvious duty and as insulting God’s awareness. He knew how quickly God could act in such circumstances and he would hardly doubt the word of Yahweh. Thus the intercession can be assumed, even though not stated. That after all was why God said, ‘let Me alone’. Moses did not need to mention it here. His listeners were already aware of it. He is not reciting history but building up his argument).

It will be noted that if interpreted strictly according to Exodus some events seem out of order, namely the mention of blotting out and of not eating and drinking, both of which occurred later. But this is more apparent than real. There is no reason to doubt that both times that he was in the Mount Moses had gone without food and water during his forty day stint, compare Deuteronomy 9:18, and blotting out was a regular description of the destruction of people (compare Deuteronomy 29:20). When men died their names were blotted out of the camp roll (compare Isaiah 4:3). Nor do we have full details in Exodus of all that Yahweh did say at this point. Moses was not citing Exodus here, he was describing what he remembered as actually happening (this pouring out of things in a disordered state is an indication of someone bringing it quickly back in his memory. An inventor would have been more careful to ensure that he had things in ‘the right order’).

Deuteronomy 9:15-16

‘So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire, and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside speedily out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you.’

The description is very much abbreviated and he passes over the danger to his own life as though it had not existed. Rather he contrasts the two scenes, on the one hand the mountain still burning with holy fire (a personal reminiscence not previously mentioned) and the two tables of the covenant in his hands, and on the other the molten calf and their turning aside to their own way. The mountain was afire continually with the living presence of Yahweh, a fire that they dared not approach, while in contrast the molten calf having been shaped in fire, was now void of fire, and was nothing to be afraid of. It was a hollow pretence. Yahweh was where He chose, on the Mount, not on the calf which was where the people chose (compare Deuteronomy 12:5). And while the tablets had been in process of preparation in the Mount in order to finally seal the covenant, the people had been in the process of rebelling against it. Note his emphasis on how quickly they had turned away from the way demanded in the covenant.

Deuteronomy 9:17

‘And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.’

All this had been too much for Moses and he had hurled the tablets to the ground and smashed them in front of their very eyes. No better way could have been found of indicating that their actions had made void the covenant. The destruction of a treaty document regularly followed severe breaches of a treaty. Thus this act now invalidated the treaty. Let them see what they had done. They had invalidated the covenant that they had so recently confirmed. It would humanly speaking take the intercession of Moses to bring about the establishment of a new treaty.

He makes no mention of the trials he went through as the people faced up to him. He is prepared not to bring that against them, even though it would have strengthened his argument. (These small touches are the proper evidence that these really are the words of Moses). Rather he moves straight on to what a dangerous position the people had been in.

Deuteronomy 9:18

‘And I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.’

For in order to spare them from the destruction that they had deserved and to avert the Overlord’s anger, he had gone back into the Mount to plead with God. Indeed he had done what he had previously done on the earlier time of forty days and forty nights in the Mount. He had not eaten bread or drunk water. And he had fallen down before Yahweh and pleaded for them, because of all their sin which they had sinned in doing what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger.

Note the strong threefold phrase, ‘the sin that they had sinned in doing evil’. He wanted them to realise the grossness of their sin. (And many of his listeners as children and young ‘adults’ (over thirteen) had actually been involved, including the elders who would be gathered at the front of the crowd). They had broken the terms of the covenant, and the Covenanter was angry. (As a treaty king would be ‘angry’ when his people broke the treaty). Exodus 32:30 also stressed that ‘they had sinned a great sin’.

Deuteronomy 9:19

‘For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also.’

Indeed Moses had recognised the depths of Yahweh’s anger, and so was filled with a great fear. He had been afraid of what Yahweh would do. He had been sure that Yahweh had intended to destroy them. And so, he says, he had pleaded, and Yahweh had listened to him that time as well, and had spared the people as a whole, although some had been smitten (Exodus 32:28; Exodus 32:35). For Moses had gathered that originally Yahweh had been determined to destroy every man of them apart possibly from the few who had come to Moses’ aid. ‘That time also’ stresses to the people how often he has had to intercede for them.

So the people should realise that far from entering the land as a deserving people, they were only there because God had spared them at Moses’ request.

The Consequences of the Molten Calf Incident (Deuteronomy 9:20-29).

The molten calf incident had nearly been catastrophic both for the people and for Aaron. But Moses had acted swiftly to deal suitably with the molten calf and the people in the camp, and then he had gone up the Mount and pleaded for them and for Aaron with Yahweh. And he had prevailed.

We may analyse this in the words of Moses as follows:

a Yahweh was very angry with Aaron to destroy him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time (Deuteronomy 9:20).

b And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust, and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the mount (Deuteronomy 9:21).

c And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you provoked Yahweh to wrath (Deuteronomy 9:22).

d And when Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you” (Deuteronomy 9:23 a).

d Then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you did not believe him, nor did you listen to his voice (Deuteronomy 9:23 b).

c You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you (Deuteronomy 9:24).

b So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you (Deuteronomy 9:25).

a And I prayed to Yahweh, and said, “O Lord Yahweh, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, which you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, lest the land from where you brought us out say, “Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 9:26-29).

Note that in ‘a’ Yahweh was very angry with Aaron to destroy him, and Moses prayed for Aaron also at the same time, while in the parallel we have the prayer that prevailed for both the people and Aaron. In ‘b’ we have the action that he took among the people to avert Yahweh’s anger, and in the parallel we have the strenuous action that he took in the Mount before Yahweh. In ‘c’ we are reminded that they provoked Yahweh to wrath at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, and in the parallel he simply declares that they have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that he knew them. In ‘d’ he describes how Yahweh sent them from Kadesh-barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you” and in the parallel we learn that once again they rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh their God, and did not believe Him, nor listen to His voice.

Deuteronomy 9:20

‘And Yahweh was very angry with Aaron to destroy him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.’

And Yahweh had also been very angry at Aaron as well, and had intended to destroy him. But by his intercession (Deuteronomy 9:26-29) Moses had averted both the sentence on the people and that sentence as well. This occurrence is not mentioned in Exodus, but a little thought will reveal that it was inevitable. What Aaron had done was ‘unforgivable’. The wonder is not that we find it here, but that we do not find it in Exodus. It suggests that that section of Exodus was written when Aaron was still alive so that Moses had wanted to spare his brother the agony of knowing that he was going down in history as a renegade. But it does serve to explain the severity of Aaron’s punishment later when Moses was spared over the incident at Meribah. For Aaron it had been one grave sin too many, and he had to die.

Deuteronomy 9:21

‘And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust, and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the mount.’

And Moses had taken ‘their sin’, the calf, and burned it with fire, and had then taken the resulting gold, and had stamped on it and ground it very small ‘until it was as fine as dust’. Then he had cast the gold dust into the mountain beck that came down from the Mount. See for this Exodus 32:20 where the description is very similar, but there he also made them drink of the water. They were drinking their god! The point, however, here is that sin had soured the blessing that came from God’s mountain.

Perhaps the tossing of it in the water from the Mount was a kind of ‘devoting’ of it to Yahweh Who was still seen as on the Mount. It would hardly be welcome in the actual Mount itself except as something ‘devoted’. The stamping on it may have been in order to assist in the process of turning it to dust, but it may equally have been a deliberate slight on the remains of the calf and what it represented. It was of earth and it was forcefully returned to the earth.

The fact that in the analysis this item is parallel with his intercession for them in the Mount confirms that by this action he was seeking to avert the anger of Yahweh (His aversion to their sin).

This destruction of the calf was exactly what Moses had also told the people they must do to the gods of Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 7:25; Deuteronomy 12:3). Thus they had in this a practical example arising out of their own folly.

Deuteronomy 9:22

‘And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you provoked Yahweh to wrath.’

Then Moses briefly reminds them of other incidents where they had been stiffnecked, at Taberah when the fire of Yahweh burnt among them because of their complaining (Numbers 11:1-3), at Massah when they became belligerent at the lack of water (Deuteronomy 6:16; Exodus 17:1-7; compare Numbers 20:10-13), at Kibroth-hattavah where the people failed to restrain themselves and revealed their greed in gathering too many quails which had died, thus eating some when they had gone bad (Number Deuteronomy 11:31-32). In all these places they had ‘provoked Yahweh to anger/wrath’ by their behaviour (compare Deuteronomy 4:25; Deuteronomy 9:7-8; Deuteronomy 9:18; Deuteronomy 31:29; Deuteronomy 32:16; Deuteronomy 32:21).

Deuteronomy 9:23

‘And when Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you.” Then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you did not believe him, nor did you listen to his voice.’

And the same had been fatally true at Kadesh-barnea when they had refused to obey Yahweh’s command to go up and possess the land because they were afraid at the report of the scouts. They had rebelled against His command, an unforgivable crime for soldiers. It was mutiny. And they had refused to believe Him and would not listen to His promises. That was sacrilege.

Deuteronomy 9:24

‘You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.’

Indeed Moses sums it all up in one sentence. There had never been a time when they had not been rebellious, from the first moment when he had arrived in Egypt. Ever since he had known them they had been continually open to being rebellious.

Deuteronomy 9:25-28

‘So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to Yahweh, and said, O Lord Yahweh, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, which you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, lest the land from where you brought us out say, “Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.” ’

Note how the analysis reveals that he saw this prayer as one whole. It was so serious that it could not be used in order to follow a literary method. Every phrase was telling in his battle for their lives.

So he reminded them again how it was only through his intercession that God had not destroyed every last man of them, Aaron included, man, woman and child. He had had to deeply humiliate himself. Note the repetition of the verb. ‘I fell down - the forty days and nights that I fell down’. It had been a long and persistent and costly intercession. And what had been the basis of his prayer? Not the deserving of the people, that was certain. He was praying that they would not get what they deserved. No, the basis had been twofold, the maintenance of Yahweh’s reputation among the Egyptians and all who knew of these events, and for the sake of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He had reminded Yahweh that they were His people and His inheritance because they were descended from the patriarchs, that He had used His own greatness in order to redeem them from Egypt, and that He had exerted His mighty hand to that end. So He must remember that they were the people whom He had delivered. Furthermore he had pictured Egypt who had suffered under His activities as interested in their progress and waiting to gloat, and he had pointed out that if news came back that Israel had perished in the wilderness it would redound on Him. They would have impugned both His ability and might (‘Yahweh was not able’), and His covenant loyalty (‘it was because He hated them’). They would have deemed all His actions a mean-spirited trick, and a sign of Someone who had promised more than He could perform.

He has no false conceptions about Israel, and does not hold his punches. He prays, ‘Do not look at their stubbornness, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin’. He does not question that they deserved to be destroyed. Indeed he painted them as black as could be. He was concerned only for God’s holiness. Nothing could have more brought out to them that they were far from righteous (Deuteronomy 9:4-5).

(When compared with Exodus 32:11-13 it will be seen that this is a paraphrase of the prayer there with the points in inverted order. This is a speech and here he wishes the emphasis to be on God’s faithfulness to His promises to the patriarchs as the main reason why they should not be destroyed so as to demonstrate that their entry has nothing to do with their own righteousness).

Deuteronomy 9:29

‘Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

And his final plea was again that they were His people and His inheritance, and that He had demonstrated this when He had exerted His great power and His outstretched arm (Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 11:2; Deuteronomy 26:8; Exodus 6:6) in order to bring them out. Whatever they had done, he had pleaded, surely He must be faithful to what He had promised to Abraham, for it was because they were Abraham’s descendants, at least in principle (members of his ‘household’ by birth or choice), that they were His people and His inheritance.

What no doubt pleased God was the heart of Moses. Here was one whose sole concern was Yahweh’s honour and glory. It was doubtful if He Himself was too bothered about His reputation for doing what was absolutely just as far as the Egyptians were concerned. But He was delighted that Moses cared so much. We are left to recognise that Moses’ prayer was successful. But the point of bringing all this out here was to disillusion the people about their own righteousness. Through God’s grace He had accepted them as His people. But it was not because they deserved it. If it had been left to their righteousness they would not be there. Let them then take to heart that they deserved nothing. They were not worthy. It was all of grace.