Deu 9:7

Remember . . . how thou provokedst the Lord.

Profitable remembrance

I. The fact asserted is this: we have provoked the Lord our God. Shall we call to mind the sins of our youth and the transgressions of our riper years? They are a long catalogue, and they testify strongly against us. But as professors of religion, what is the conviction of our minds? Have not our provocations, since we commenced this profession, been numerous and great? Pride: unbelief: unchristian tempers.

II. The evil implied in the text is our proneness to forget this fact. Remember, and forget not. Why this injunction, if the evil were not real? But how is this proneness to forget to be accounted for?

1. Inattention.

2. Light thoughts of sin.

3. Love of self.

III. The duty enjoined is: that we remember our provocations. Remember, and forget not. There is emphasis in this repetition; it implies not only a proneness to forget, but the importance of not forgetting, and having impressed on the heart our provocations against God. What is this importance and its utility?

1. To make us penitent.

2. To keep us humble.

3. To preserve us thankful for mercies.

4. To help our resignation under Divine corrections.

5. To endear the Saviour to us.

6. To convince us that salvation is entirely of grace. (T. Kidd.)

God provoked at Horeb

(in conjunction with Psa 106:7):–To provoke is an expression setting forth a more than ordinary degree of misbehaviour, and seems to import an insolent resolution to offend. A resolution not contented with one single stroke of disobedience, but such as multiplies and repeats the action till the offence rises into an affront; and as it relates to God, so I conceive it aimed at Him in a three-fold respect.

1. It rises up against the power and prerogative of God. An assault upon God sitting upon the throne, snatching His sceptre, defiance of His royalty and supremacy. He that provokes God dares Him to strike to revenge the injury and invasion upon His honour–considers not the weight of His arm, but puffs at all, and looks the terrors of revenging justice in the face.

2. Provoking God imports an abuse of His goodness. God clothed with power is the object of fear; but as He displays goodness, of love. By one He commands, by the other He courts our obedience. An affront on His goodness and love as much exceeds an affront of His power as a wound at the heart transcends a blow on the hand. For when God works miracles of mercy to do good upon a people as He did upon the Israelites, was it not a provocation infinitely base, a degree of ingratitude higher than the heavens struck at, and deeper than the sea that they passed through?

3. Provoking God imports an affront upon His long-suffering and His patience. The musings of nature in the breast tell us how keenly every man resents the abuse of His love; how hardly any prince, but one, can put up an offence against His mercy; and how much more affrontive to despise majesty ruling by the golden sceptre of pardon, than by the iron rod of penal law. But patience is a further, a higher advance of mercy–mercy drawn out at length, wrestling with baseness, and striving, if possible even to weary and outdo ingratitude; therefore sin against this is the highest pitch of provocation. For when patience is tired let all the inventions of mankind find something further upon which to hope, or against which to sin. The Israelites sinned against Gods patience, one offence following upon another, the last rising highest, until the treasures of grace and pardon were so far drained and exhausted that they provoked God to swear; and what is more, to swear in His wrath, and with a full purpose of revenge, that they should never enter into His rest. (R. South, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

7. Remember, and forget not, howthou provokedst the LordTo dislodge from their minds anypresumptuous idea of their own righteousness, Moses rehearses theiracts of disobedience and rebellion committed so frequently, and incircumstances of the most awful and impressive solemnity, that theyhad forfeited all claims to the favor of God. The candor and boldnesswith which he gave, and the patient submission with which the peoplebore, his recital of charges so discreditable to their nationalcharacter, has often been appealed to as among the many evidences ofthe truth of this history.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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 soon as, they were in the wilderness, they provoked the Lord, as by their murmuring for water at Marah, when they had been but three days in the wilderness; and for bread in the wilderness of Sin, and for water again at Rephidim; all which were before they came to Horeb or Sinai, and which agrees with what follows:

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; though they had such a series of mercies, yet their life was a continued course of rebellion against the Lord: which is a sad character of them indeed, and given by one that thoroughly knew them, was an eyewitness of facts, and had a hearty respect for them too, and cannot be thought to exaggerate things; so that they were far from being righteous persons in themselves, nor was there any reason to conclude it was for their righteousness the land of Canaan was given them.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

He reminded the people how they had provoked the Lord in the desert, and had shown themselves rebellious against God, from the day of their departure from Egypt till their arrival in the steppes of Moab. , for , is the object to ( Ewald, 333, a.): “ how thou hast provoked.” , generally with (cf. Deu 1:26), to be rebellious against the commandment of the Lord: here with , construed with a person, to deal rebelliously with God, to act rebelliously in relation to Him (cf. Deu 31:27). The words “ from the day that thou camest out,” etc., are not to be pressed. It is to be observed, however, that the rebellion against the guidance of God commenced before they passed through the Red Sea (Exo 14:11). This general statement Moses then followed up with facts, first of all describing the worship of the calf at Horeb, according to its leading features (Deu 9:8-21), and then briefly pointing to the other rebellions of the people in the desert (Deu 9:22, Deu 9:23).

Deu 9:8

“ And indeed even in Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath.” By the vav explic. this sin is brought into prominence, as having been a specially grievous one. It was so because of the circumstances under which it was committed.

Deu 9:9-19

When Moses went up the mountain, and stayed there forty days, entirely occupied with the holiest things, so that he neither ate nor drank, having gone up to receive the tables of the law, upon which the words were written with the finger of God, just as the Lord had spoken them directly to the people out of the midst of the fire, – at a time, therefore, when the Israelites should also have been meditating deeply upon the words of the Lord which they had but just heard, – they acted so corruptly, as to depart at once from the way that had been pointed out, and make themselves a molten image (comp. Ex 31:18-32:6, with chs. Deut 24:12-31:17). “ The day of the assembly,” i.e., the day on which Moses gathered the people together before God (Deu 4:10), calling them out of the camp, and bringing them to the Lord to the foot of Sinai (Exo 19:17). The construction of the sentence is this: the apodosis to “ when I was gone up ” commences with “ the Lord delivered unto me,” in Deu 9:10; and the clause, “ then I abode,” etc., in Deu 9:9, is a parenthesis. – The words of God in Deu 9:12-14 are taken almost word for word from Exo 32:7-10. (Deu 9:14), the imperative Hiphil of , desist from me, that I may destroy them, for , in Exo 32:10. But notwithstanding the apostasy of the people, the Lord gave Moses the tables of the covenant, not only that they might be a testimony of His holiness before the faithless nation, but still more as a testimony that, in spite of His resolution to destroy the rebellious nation, without leaving a trace behind, He would still uphold His covenant, and make of Moses a greater people. There is nothing at all to favour the opinion, that handing over the tables (Deu 9:11) was the first beginning of the manifestations of divine wrath ( Schultz); and this is also at variance with the preterite, , in Deu 9:11, from which it is very evident that the Lord had already given the tables to Moses, when He commanded him to go down quickly, not only to declare to the people the holiness of God, but to stop the apostasy, and by his mediatorial intervention to avert from the people the execution of the divine purpose. It is true, that when Moses came down and saw the idolatrous conduct of the people, he threw the two tables from his hands, and broke them in pieces before the eyes of the people (Deu 9:15-17; comp. with Exo 32:15-19), as a practical declaration that the covenant of the Lord was broken by their apostasy. But this act of Moses furnishes no proof that the Lord had given him the tables to declare His holy wrath in the sight of the people. And even if the tables of the covenant were “in a certain sense the indictments in Moses’ hands, accusing them of a capital crime” ( Schultz), this was not the purpose for which God had given them to him. For if it had been, Moses would not have broken them in pieces, destroying, as it were, the indictments themselves, before the people had been tried. Moses passed over the fact, that even before coming down from the mountain he endeavoured to mitigate the wrath of the Lord by his intercession ( Exo 32:11-14), and simply mentioned (in Deu 9:15-17) how, as soon as he came down, he charged the people with their great sin; and then, in Deu 9:18, Deu 9:19, how he spent another forty days upon the mountain fasting before God, on account of this sin, until he had averted the destructive wrath of the Lord from Israel, through his earnest intercession. The forty days that Moses spent upon the mountain, “ as at the first,” in prayer before the Lord, are the days mentioned in Exo 34:28 as having been passed upon Sinai for the perfect restoration of the covenant, and for the purpose of procuring the second tables (cf. Deu 10:1.).

Deu 9:20-21

It was not from the people only, but from Aaron also, that Moses averted the wrath of God through his intercession, when it was about to destroy him. In the historical account in Ex 32, there is no special reference to this intercession, as it is included in the intercession for the whole nation. On the present occasion, however, Moses gave especial prominence to this particular feature, not only that he might make the people thoroughly aware that at that time Israel could not even boast of the righteousness of its eminent men (cf. Isa 43:27), but also to bring out the fact, which is described still more fully in Deu 10:6., that Aaron’s investiture with the priesthood, and the maintenance of this institution, was purely a work of divine grace. It is true that at that time Aaron was not yet high priest; but he had been placed at the head of the nation in connection with Hur, as the representative of Moses (Exo 24:14), and was already designated by God for the high-priesthood (Exo 28:1). The fact, however, that Aaron had drawn upon himself the wrath of God in a very high degree, was intimated plainly enough in what Moses told him in Exo 32:21. – In Deu 9:21, Moses mentions again how he destroyed that manifested sin of the nation, namely, the molten calf (see at Exo 32:20).

Deu 9:22-24

And it was not on this occasion only, viz., at Horeb, that Israel aroused the anger of the Lord its God by its sin, but it did so again and again at other places: at Tabeerah, by discontent at the guidance of God (Num 11:1-3); at Massah, by murmuring on account of the want of water (Exo 17:1.); at the graves of lust, by longing for flesh (Num 11:4.); and at Kadesh-barnea by unbelief, of which they had already been reminded at Deu 1:26. The list is not arranged chronologically, but advances gradually from the smaller to the more serious forms of guilt. For Moses was seeking to sharpen the consciences of the people, and to impress upon them the fact that they had been rebellious against the Lord (see at Deu 9:7) from the very beginning, “from the day that I knew you.”

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

      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.   8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.   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, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:   10 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 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 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 Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:   14 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 came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.   16 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 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.   18 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 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 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.   21 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.   22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.   23 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 Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.   25 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 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 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:   28 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 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.

      That they might have no pretence to think that God brought them to Canaan for their righteousness, Moses here shows them what a miracle of mercy it was that they had not long ere this been destroyed in the wilderness: “Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God (v. 7); so far from purchasing his favour, thou hast many a time laid thyself open to his displeasure.” Their fathers’ provocations are here charged upon them; for, if God had dealt with their fathers according to their deserts, this generation would never have been, much less would they have entered Canaan. We are apt to forget our provocations, especially when the smart of the rod is over, and have need to be often put in mind of them, that we may never entertain any conceit of our own righteousness. Paul argues from the guilt which all mankind is under to prove that we cannot be justified before God by our own works, Rom 3:19; Rom 3:20. If our works condemn us, they will not justify us. Observe, 1. They had been a provoking people ever since they came out of Egypt, v. 7. Forty years long, from first to last, were God and Moses grieved with them. It is a very sad character Moses now at parting leaves of them: You have been rebellious since the day I knew you, v. 24. No sooner were they formed into a people than there was a faction formed among them, which upon all occasions made head against God and his government. Though the Mosaic history records little more than the occurrences of the first and last year of the forty, yet it seems by this general account that the rest of the years were not much better, but one continued provocation. 2. Even in Horeb they made a calf and worshipped it, v. 8, c. That was a sin so heinous, and by several aggravations made so exceedingly sinful, that they deserved upon all occasions to be upbraided with it. It was done in the very place where the law was given by which they were expressly forbidden to worship God by images, and while the mountain was yet burning before their eyes, and Moses had gone up to fetch them the law in writing. They turned aside quickly, &lti>v. 16. 3. God was very angry with them for their sin. Let them not think that God overlooked what they did amiss, and gave them Canaan for what was good among them. No, God had determined to destroy them (v. 8), could easily have done it, and would have been no loser by it; he even desired Moses to let him alone that he might do it, Deu 9:13; Deu 9:14. By this it appeared how heinous their sin was, for God is never angry with any above what there is cause for, as men often are. Moses himself, though a friend and favourite, trembled at the revelation of God’s wrath from heaven against their ungodliness and unrighteousness (v. 19): I was afraid of the anger of the Lord, afraid perhaps not for them only, but for himself, Ps. cxix. 120. 4. They had by their sin broken covenant with God, and forfeited all the privileges of the covenant, which Moses signified to them by breaking the tables, v. 17. A bill of divorce was given them, and thenceforward they might justly have been abandoned for ever, so that their mouth was certainly stopped from pleading any righteousness of their own. God had, in effect, disowned them, when he said to Moses (v. 12), “They are thy people, they are none of mine, nor shall they be dealt with as mine.” 5. Aaron himself fell under God’s displeasure for it, though he was the saint of the Lord, and was only brought by surprise or terror to be confederate with them in the sin: The Lord was very angry with Aaron, v. 20. No man’s place or character can shelter him from the wrath of God if he have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Aaron, that should have made atonement for them if the iniquity could have been purged away by sacrifice and offering, did himself fall under the wrath of God: so little did they consider what they did when they drew him in. 6. It was with great difficulty and very long attendance that Moses himself prevailed to turn away the wrath of God, and prevent their utter ruin. He fasted and prayed full forty days and forty nights before he could obtain their pardon, v. 18. And some think twice forty days (v. 25), because it is said, as I fell down before, whereas his errand in the first forty was not of that nature. Others think it was but one forty, though twice mentioned (as also in ch. x. 10); but this was enough to make them sensible how great God’s displeasure was against them, and what a narrow escape they had for their lives. And in this appears the greatness of God’s anger against all mankind that no less a person than his Son, and no less a price than his own blood, would serve to turn it away. Moses here tells them the substance of his intercession for them. He was obliged to own their stubbornness, and their wickedness, and their sin, v. 27. Their character was bad indeed when he that appeared an advocate for them could not give them a good word, and had nothing else to say in their behalf but that God had done great things for them, which really did but aggravate their crime (v. 26),–that they were the posterity of good ancestors (v. 27), which might also have been turned upon him, as making the matter worse and not better,–and that the Egyptians would reproach God, if he should destroy them, as unable to perfect what he had wrought for them (v. 28), a plea which might easily enough have been answered: no matter what the Egyptians say, while the heavens declare God’s righteousness; so that the saving of them from ruin at that time was owing purely to the mercy of God, and the importunity of Moses, and not to any merit of theirs, that could be offered so much as in mitigation of their offence. 7. To affect them the more with the destruction they were then at the brink of, he describes very particularly the destruction of the calf they had made, v. 21. He calls it their sin: perhaps not only because it had been the matter of their sin, but because the destroying of it was intended for a testimony against their sin, and an indication to them what the sinners themselves did deserve. Those that made it were like unto it, and would have had no wrong done them if they had been thus stamped to dust, and consumed, and scattered, and no remains of them left. It was infinite mercy that accepted the destruction of the idol instead of the destruction of the idolaters. 8. Even after this fair escape that they had, in many other instances they provoked the Lord again and again. He needed only to name the places, for they carried the memorials either of the sin or of the punishment in their names (v. 22): at Taberah, burning, where God set fire to them for their murmuring,–at Massah, the temptation, where they challenged almighty power to help them,–and at Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of lusters, where the dainties they coveted were their poison; and, after these, their unbelief and distrust at Kadesh-barnea, of which he had already told them (ch. i.), and which he here mentions again (v. 23), would certainly have completed their ruin if they had been dealt with according to their own merits.

      Now let them lay all this together, and it will appear that whatever favour God should hereafter show them, in subduing their enemies and putting them in possession of the land of Canaan, it was not for their righteousness. It is good for us often to remember against ourselves, with sorrow and shame, our former sins, and to review the records conscience keeps of them, that we may see how much we are indebted to free grace, and may humbly own that we never merited at God’s hand any thing but wrath and the curse.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 7-14:

Israel’s rebellious nature began to be evident even before they were completely out of Egypt, Exo 14:11. It continued throughout their wilderness journey until the very moment Moses spoke these words. Some instances are: (1) The waters of Marah, Exo 15:23-26. (2) Between Elim and Sinai, the giving of the manna, Exodus 16. (3) Rephidim, Exo 17:1-7, also known as Massah. (4) The golden calf, at Sinai, Exodus 32. (5) Taberah, Num 11:1-3. (6) Kibroth-hattavah, Num 11:16-35. (7) Kadesh-barnea, Numbers 13, 14. (8) The rebellion of Korah, Numbers 16. (9) The waters of Meribah, Num 20:1-11. (10) The fiery serpents, Num 21:4-9.

The text deals with the most serious of all these offenses: the golden calf, Exodus 32, see comments on this chapter.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

7. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst In order to reprove the ingratitude of the people, Moses here briefly refers to some of their offenses; but he principally insists on the history of their revolt, in which their extreme and most detestable impiety betrayed itself. He therefore narrates this crime in almost the identical words which he had previously used in Exodus. He begins by urging them often to reflect upon their sins, lest they should ever be forgotten; and this constant recollection of them not only tended to humiliate them, but also to teach them at length to lay aside their depraved nature, and to accustom themselves to become obedient to God. Afterwards he proceeds to the history itself, shewing that God had been provoked by their idolatry to destroy them. If a question be here put, how it was that God was prevailed upon by Moses to change His intention, our curiosity must be repressed, lest we should dispute more deeply than is fitting respecting the secret and incomprehensible decree of God. Sure it is that God did not act otherwise than He had determined; but Moses goes no deeper than the sentence that was revealed to him; just as we must assuredly conclude that destruction is prepared for us when we transgress; and that God’s anger is appeased when we fly to His mercy in true faith, and with sincere affections. The rest has been already expounded.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(7) Remember, and forget not.More abruptly in the original, Rememberdo not forgethow thou hast stirred the indignation of Jehovah.

Rebellious.Not simply rebels, as Moses called them (in Num. 20:10) at Meribah, but provoking rebelsrebels who rouse the opposition of Him against whom they rebel.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

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

Taking up from Deu 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 (Exo 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13).

There are many parallels between the following words, Exo 24:12-18; Exo 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 ( Deu 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 (Deu 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 (Deu 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 (Deu 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” (Deu 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.

Deu 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 (Deu 6:12; Deu 7:12; Deu 8:2; Deu 8:5; Deu 8:11; Deu 8:14; Deu 8:19). But the bad side had to be remembered too (Deu 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.

Deu 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.

Deu 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’ (Exo 24:18) neither eating bread nor drinking water. (We can compare here Exo 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.

Deu 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 (Dan 5:5; Dan 5:24). Compare Exo 24:12; Exo 31:18; Exo 32:16 and also Exo 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 Exo 31:18).

Deu 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.

Deu 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 Exo 32:7). With almost unbelievable speed they had turned aside (Exo 32:8) from the way that God had commanded them to walk in. They had made themselves a molten image (in Exo 32:8 a molten calf, but Moses is here concerned to connect it with the previous forbidding of images – Deu 5:8; Deu 7:5; Deu 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 Deu 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 (1Ki 12:26-30).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Instances of Rebellious Behavior.

In support of the term “stiff-necked people,” which he had just applied to the children of Israel, Moses now adduces a few incidents from the wilderness journey.

v. 7. Remember and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord, thy God, to wrath in the wilderness, their rebelliousness had been a constant challenge to the wrath of God; 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. It was an unsparing censure, a sharp reproof, for it was necessary that the people feel the heinousness of their sin, in order to remain in the fellowship of the Lord in proper humility.

v. 8. Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, in the matter of the golden calf, so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you, Exo 32:4-10.

v. 9. When I was gone up in to the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, of which the Decalogue was the nucleus, when the people should have awaited his return with the most reverential suspense and attention, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water, Exo 24:18;

v. 10. and the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, engraved by the Lord Himself in some miraculous manner; 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, when the children of Israel, by God’s command, had been gathered at the foot of the mountain, Exo 19:17.

v. 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, even the tables of the covenant, which contained the Ten Commandments. as the basis of the covenant between Jehovah and His people, Exo 19:5.

v. 12. 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. They had left the way of the Lord and entered upon one of their own choosing, of idolatry and enmity toward God.

v. 13. Furthermore, the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people;

v. 14. let Me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, by a judgment of utter extermination; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they, Exo 32:9-10.

v. 15. So I turned, after entering his first intercessory plea, Exo 32:11-14, and came down, from the mount, and the mount burned with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

v. 16. 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, for He had laid great emphasis upon the exclusion of every form of idolatry in their midst.

v. 17. And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes, Exo 32:19.

v. 18. And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights, Exo 32:31; 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. It was an act of intense and continued intercession without parallel in the annals of mere human beings by which Moses succeeded in gaining the Lord’s consent to forgive the people and to accept them as His children once more.

v. 19. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you, for such was the intention of Jehovah at that time. But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also, Exo 32:14; Exo 33:17.

v. 20. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him, this fact being related here to supplement the story in Exodus; and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. Moses includes this fact in his address in order to indicate that the selection of Aaron for the office of high priest was also a manifestation of pure divine grace.

v. 21. And I took your sin, the visible expression of their idolatry, the calf which ye had made, and burned 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 in to the brook that descended out of the mount, Exo 32:20. Moses now refers to other instances which proved that the Israelites were a rebellious and stiff-necked people.

v. 22. And at Taberah, Num 11:1-3, and at Massah, Exo 17:7, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, Exo 11:4, ye provoked the Lord to wrath, for theirs was a chronic rebellious dissatisfaction.

v. 23. Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, upon their first arrival at the border of Canaan, when the spies were to report on the best roads to take, Num 13:3; Num 14:1; Deu 1:20-21, 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, Psa 106:24-25.

v. 24. Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. All these facts emphasized his admonition against self-righteousness. After this digression, Moses returns to the relation of events at Horeb.

v. 25. 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, and it was the intention of Moses to avert this catastrophe by his prayer.

v. 26. I prayed, therefore, unto the Lord and said, O Lord God, destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance, this statement including a correction of the Lord’s charge, in which He had called them the people of Moses, v. 12, which thou hast redeemed through Thy greatness, which Thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Moses thus reminded the Lord of both His almighty power and of His mercy, as He had manifested them in setting Israel free from the bondage of Egypt.

v. 27. Remember Thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, their godless tendencies, nor to their sin; Moses pleaded that the Lord would show the same love and forbearance to the children that He had shown to the fathers; and there is always a delicate reference to the promise of the Lord, as given to the patriarchs;

v. 28. 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. Moses wants the honor of Jehovah, His reputation for love toward His people, unstained before the heathen nations, even if Israel thought so little of that honor.

v. 29. Yet they are Thy people and Thine inheritance, which Thou broughtest out by Thy mighty power and by Thy stretched out arm. This prayer, if compared with that given Exo 32:11-13, shows that Moses here noted down the gist of his intercessory pleading during those memorable forty days, when he varied his petition from time to time, as he struggled with the Lord for the people whom he loved. The true prayer of intercession is importunate, but not willful, and bases its arguments upon the promises of the Lord, appealing to His honor and love.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Ver. 7. Rememberhow thou provokedst the Lord thy God The following expressions are very energetic: we evidently see in them the design of Moses to mortify the pride of the Israelites, by giving them an humbling view of their various rebellions and murmurings. Also, in the next verse, should undoubtedly be read even: even in Horeb; for the expression is emphatical, painting in the strongest colours their obstinacy, who, even amidst the display of the mightiest miracles, could provoke the Lord to wrath.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 199
A PENITENTIAL RETROSPECT ENJOINED

Deu 9:7. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness.

THERE is no sin more deeply rooted in the heart of man than pride: nor is there any thing which will not serve as a foundation for it to prefer its claims. Even an excess of impiety will afford to some an occasion of glorying; and a precedence in rebellion against God, give them a title to praise amongst those whom they have out-stripped in the career of wickedness. It may well be expected, then, that success in any lawful enterprise should very generally be thought to give a man a legitimate ground for self-applause. Yet, doubtless, if ever there were a people less entitled to self-admiration than others, it was the people of Israel, who were a stiff-necked people from the very first moment that God took them under his peculiar care. And, if ever there were a matter that entirely precluded all ground of glorying, surely it was the establishing of that people in the land of Canaan. Their fathers had all provoked God to destroy them in the wilderness: and they themselves were also a rebellious generation: so that they at least might be expected to acknowledge themselves indebted to the sovereign grace of God for all the blessings of the promised land. But behold, God, who knew what was in man, was constrained to caution them against the enormous evil of ascribing to their own superior goodness all the interpositions of God in their behalf: 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. Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people. Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. This was the state of mind which became them; and this is the habit that becomes us also.
To fix this admonition the more deeply on your minds, I will endeavour to shew,

I.

What impression sin makes upon the mind of God

It is not so light an evil as we are ready to imagine. It is most offensive to God: it is that abominable thing which his soul hateth [Note: Jer 44:4.]. In what abhorrence he holds it, we may see,

1.

By his own positive declarations

[ In the day that thou eatest of the forbidden tree, thou shalt die [Note: Gen 2:17.], was the declaration of God in Paradise: and The soul that sinneth, it shall die [Note: Eze 18:4.], has been his solemn warning to all mankind, even to the present hour. Yes; the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men [Note: Rom 1:18.]. The wicked, saith David, shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God [Note: Psa 9:17.]. And again: Upon the ungodly shall God rain snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest: this shall be their portion to drink [Note: Psa 11:6.]: they shall go into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels [Note: Mat 25:41.]: they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and the smoke of their torment shall ascend up for ever and ever: and they shall have no rest, day nor night [Note: Rev 14:10-11.]: they shall be where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched [Note: Mar 9:44; Mar 9:46; Mar 9:48.]; and shall spend eternity itself in weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth [Note: Mat 25:30.].

Now I would ask, What can such declarations mean? or rather, What can they mean who set them all at nought, and say, I shall have peace, though I walk after the imaginations of my own evil heart [Note: Deu 29:19.]?]

2.

By the actual exhibitions of his wrath

[It is easy to say, The Lord doth not see, neither will the Almighty regard it. But how do his dispensations accord with these conceits? Was the sin of Adam visited with no expression of his wrath? Was there no manifestation of his anger at the deluge? None on the cities of the plain, the punishment of which was a figure of hell itself? Look at his dealings with Israel in the wilderness: Was sin unpunished there? Do we see there no marks of his displeasure, no proofs of the connexion which he has established between sin and misery? Does the destruction of that whole people in the wilderness give us no insight into this matter? When we see what was inflicted on a man for gathering sticks upon the Sabbath [Note: Num 15:33-35.], on Uzzah for a mistake [Note: 2Sa 6:6-7.], on the men of Bethshemesh for unhallowed curiosity [Note: 1Sa 6:19.], on Herod for pride [Note: Act 12:23.], on Ananias for a lie [Note: Act 5:3-10.], shall we listen to the voice that tells us, that the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil [Note: Zep 1:12.]? Know ye of a truth, beloved Brethren, that God is angry with the wicked every day [Note: Psa 7:11.]; and that though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished [Note: Pro 11:21.].]

From hence, then, we may see,

II.

The impression which it should make on our minds

Verily, as it makes a deep impression upon Gods mind, so should it also upon ours. We should remember it; and never forget so much as one sin, if it were possible; but should have the iniquity of our whole lives ever treasured up in our minds, and standing in one accumulated mass before our eyes.
This is necessary for the unpardoned sinner
[We are not to imagine, that it is sufficient for us to acknowledge in a general way that we are sinners, or to have our minds fixed on one or two enormous transgressions, and to confess them to God. We ought to trace sin to the fountain-head, and see how totally we are by nature alienated from God, and enemies to him in our minds by wicked works: and at the same time we should have such views of particular transgressions, as to be constrained to come to God, saying, Thus and thus have I done: and without such a view of our sins we can have no repentance, no forgiveness, nor even so much as any preparation of heart for the Gospel of Christ.

Without calling our ways to remembrance, we can have no repentance. For, what is repentance, but a confession of our sins, and mourning over them before God? We can have no forgiveness; for he that covereth his sins shall not prosper: it is he only who confesseth and forsaketh them that shall find mercy [Note: Pro 28:13.] Nor can a person be prepared to receive the Gospel: for the Gospel is a remedy; for which they who are unconscious of any malady can have no desire; as our Lord has said, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance [Note: Mat 9:12-13.]. What then shall an unpardoned sinner do? If he look not back on his transgressions, to mourn over them before God, he rivets them all upon his own soul, and ensures to himself the judgments of an offended God [Note: Luk 13:3.].]

Nor is it a whit less necessary for a pardoned saint
[In a great variety of views it is desirable for him: first, for the deepening of his humility. Superficial views of sin, though they may suffice to bring us to the Saviour, will never produce that self-lothing and self-abhorrence which are the foundation of all that is good and great in the Christian character [Note: Eze 16:63; Eze 36:31.] Next, for the inflaming of his gratitude. Our gratitude will always bear proportion to our sense of sin. The man that has been forgiven little, will love little [Note: Luk 7:47.]: but the man who is sensible, fully sensible, what his deserts have been, will be filled with such wonder and admiration at the goodness of God towards him, as no words can adequately express [Note: 1Ti 1:13-15. Grace exceeding abundant.] Further, these views of sin are desirable for the confirming of his principles. Let him feel the extent of his guilt, and he will not need to be told that salvation must be altogether of grace, or through faith, in Christ. He will see that a soul taken out of hell itself would not be a greater monument of grace than he: he knows himself to be a brand plucked out of the burning [Note: Zec 3:2.]; and that if there were not an atonement provided for him, and a free salvation offered to him, Satan himself would have as good a hope of mercy as he These views are yet further desirable for the augmenting of his care and watchfulness. Let a man see how he has fallen, and how, even though he may not actually have fallen, he has been tempted by sinful inclinations: he will then see what must have been his state to all eternity, if God had left him to himself; and what must yet be his state, if God should not continually uphold him Lastly, they are necessary for the meetening of his soul for glory. Go up to heaven, and see the state of the saints there: see how they fall on their faces before the throne: hear with what incessant praises they ascribe salvation to God and to the Lamb [Note: Rev 5:14.]. If you were to go from one end of heaven to the other, you would not hear one self-applauding word, or witness one self-admiring thought. There is but one song throughout all the realms of bliss: and the deeper our sense of obligation to God is for the wonders of redeeming love, the better we shall be prepared to make it the one subject of our thanksgivings to all eternity.]

Before I conclude, let me Add a few words to those who are either looking to God for acceptance through their own righteousness, or imagining that they have already found mercy on such ground as that

[Take a retrospect of your past lives, and call to remembrance the whole of your conduct in this wilderness world. Compare your lives with the requirements of Gods law; and see whether even so much as a day or an hour has ever passed, that has not given you ground for the deepest humiliation. But if you will not remember your sins, know assuredly, that God will. He says, by the Prophet Amos; The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works [Note: Amo 8:7.]. In the day of judgment, too, will he remember them; yes, and bring them to your remembrance also: for they are all recorded in his book; and when set before you with all their aggravations, they will then appear to you, not light and venial, as they now do, but worthy of the deepest and heaviest condemnation. Stay not, then, till that day, but call them to remembrance now, and beg of God to set them all in order before your eyes. As for the pain which a sight of them will occasion, would you not wish to be pained with that which has so grieved your God? And is it not better to feel a penitential sorrow now, than to die in impenitence, and lie down under the wrath of God for ever? In recommending penitence, I am your best friend; and those who would encourage you to forget your sins are, in truth, your greatest enemies. Begin, then, to sorrow after a godly sort [Note: 2Co 7:11.], and go to the Lord with all your sins upon you: so shall you have them all blotted out as a morning cloud, and cast by God himself into the depths of the sea. Here is a great mystery: if you forget your sins, God will remember them: but if you remember them, God will forget them utterly, and remember them against you no more for ever [Note: Heb 8:12.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

This is one of the most precious offices of the HOLY GHOST, when he graciously brings to our remembrance the things of JESUS, in reminding us of our need of him, by reason of our sin. And I would very earnestly desire the Reader to remark with me, how Israel of old carried with him the same feature of character as Israel now. Israel was rebellious from the hour of his deliverance from Egypt. Reader! it is not merely from a state of nature, that your rebellion and my rebellion hath been shown; but, after the LORD has brought us out of spiritual Egypt. It is an humbling, but truly profitable thought, because it tends to endear JESUS to the heart, that after the work of regeneration is wrought sin still works, and frequently manifests how much it reigns in the affections. “I knew (saith GOD) that thou wouldst be a transgressor from the womb.” Isa 48:8 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Deu 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.” Eze 20:43-44 ; Eze 36:31-32

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 9:7-21

7 Remember, do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. 8Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. 9When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD had made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10And the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11And it came about at the end of forty days and nights that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.’ 13The LORD spoke further to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people. 14Let 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.’ 15So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you. 17And I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands, and smashed them before your eyes. 18And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger. 19For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was wrathful against you in order to destroy you, but the LORD listened to me that time also. 20And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21And I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain.

Deu 9:7 Remember, do not forget These two initial VERBS (BDB 269, KB 269, Qal IMPERATIVES, cf. Deu 5:15; Deu 7:18[twice]; Deu 8:2; Deu 9:7; Deu 9:27; Deu 15:15; Deu 16:3; Deu 16:12; Deu 24:9; Deu 24:18; Deu 24:22; Deu 25:17; Deu 32:7 and BDB 1013, KB 1489, Qal IMPERFECT, functioning as a JUSSIVE, cf. Deu 4:9; Deu 4:23; Deu 6:12; Deu 8:11; Deu 8:14; Deu 8:19[twice]; Deu 9:7) are to help Israel remember (see note at Deu 7:18) and not repeat her lack of faith in YHWH, His promises and His power as they did on several occasions during the exodus and wilderness wandering period.

Moses mentions their act of idolatry and rebellion at the foot of Mt. Horeb in Deu 9:8, where Aaron fashioned a golden calf at the insistence of the people!

Deu 9:7-8 how you provoked the LORD See Exodus 16; Exodus 32; and Numbers 13-14; Num 16:21; Num 16:25 as some examples.

Deu 9:7-22 These verses refer to the actions of Israel while Moses was on Mt. Horeb/Sinai receiving the Law (cf. Exodus 32).

Deu 9:9 the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD had made with you Obviously the phrase tablets of stone, and the tablets of the covenant are parallel. See Special Topic: COVENANT at Deu 4:13. These were YHWH’s words, not Moses’. This is revelation, not human opinion or discovery.

Deu 9:9; Deu 9:11; Deu 9:18 forty days This number is often symbolic of a long, indefinite period of time, longer than a lunar cycle (i.e., 28 days) but less than a seasonal change. The time from leaving Mt. Horeb/Sinai to entering Canaan was thirty eight years.

Deu 9:9; Deu 9:18 I neither ate bread nor drank water This refers to two separate 40 day fasts meaning either (1) a miraculous preservation (cf. Exo 24:18; Exo 34:28) or (2) a hyperbolic idiom for a limited fast (no food, but water).

Deu 9:10 the two tablets of stone Because of Hittite Suzerain Treaties as a possible historical background, this may refer to two complete copies of the Law. See introduction to the book, VII.

written by the finger of God This is an idiom for the divine origin of the Ten Words and their explanations (cf. Exo 31:18; Exo 32:15-16; Deu 4:13). See Special Topic: God Described as a Human (Anthropomorphic Language) .

the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire This is a recurrent theme (cf. Deu 4:12; Deu 4:15; Deu 4:33; Deu 4:36; Deu 5:5; Deu 5:22; Deu 5:24; Deu 5:26; Deu 9:10; Deu 10:4). The phrase emphasizes God’s acts and the content of personal covenant revelation at Mt. Horeb/Sinai.

Deu 9:12-14 As Moses records his dialogue with God on Mt. Horeb/Sinai YHWH uses several commands:

1. arise, Deu 9:12 – BDB 877, KB 1086, Qal IMPERATIVE

2. go down, Deu 9:12 – BDB 432, KB 434, Qal IMPERATIVE

3. let Me alone, Deu 9:14 – BDB 951, KB 1276, Hiphil IMPERATIVE

4. I may destroy them, Deu 9:14 – BDB 1029, KB 1552, Hiphil IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense

5. blot out their name, Deu 9:14 – BDB 562, KB 567, Qal IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense

for your people whom you brought out of Egypt This VERB (BDB 422, KB 425, Hiphil PERFECT) is used many times of YHWH, but only here of Moses.

molten image This was not idolatry, but a physical representation of YHWH. This was a violation of the second commandment. They wanted a god they could see and touch like the peoples of Egypt and Canaan had.

Deu 9:14 Is this an example of the wrath of God or is it a test of Moses’ leadership (cf. Deu 9:25 ff, Exo 32:30-35)?

blot out their name from under heaven This is a Hebrew idiom (cf. Deu 25:5; Psa 41:5) for the complete extermination of Israel!

Deu 9:15 mountain was burning with fire Burning fire or bright light was a symbol of God’s presence (cf. Deu 1:32-33; Isa 66:15). See Special Topic: FIRE .

Deu 9:16 You had made for yourselves a molten calf This same VERB (BDB 793 I, KB 899, Qal PERFECT) is used in Deu 9:12; Deu 9:21. Here this image is called a (1)molten calf (BDB 722, cf. Exo 32:4; Exo 32:8) (2) in Deu 9:21, the calf, but (3) in Deu 9:12 a molten image (cf. Exo 34:17; Lev 19:4).

Deu 9:17 smashed them before your eyes The very day the covenant was written by God it was broken (both literally and figuratively).

Deu 9:19 the LORD listened to me See Exodus 34. Notice the source of Moses’ fear (BDB 388, KB 386, Qal PERFECT, cf. Deu 28:60):

1. YHWH’s anger – BDB 60, cf. Exo 32:12

2. YHWH’s hot displeasure – BDB 404, cf. Deu 29:23

3. YHWH’s wrath – BDB 893, KB 1124, Qal PERFECT, cf. Deu 1:34; Lev 10:6; Num 16:22

4. in order to destroy you – BDB 1029, KB 1552, Hiphil INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT, cf. Deu 6:15; Deu 9:20

Numbers 1, 2 may function as a hendiadys (cf. TEV, NET Bible).

Deu 9:20 for Aaron Moses praying for Aaron is not recorded in Exodus 32.

Deu 9:21 See Exo 32:20. Notice how many VERBS are used to describe what Moses did to the golden calf, the sinful thing:

1. burned it, BDB 926, KB 1358, Qal IMPERFECT

2. crushed it, BDB 510, KB 507, Qal IMPERFECT, cf. 2Ki 18:4; Mic 1:7

3. grinding it very small, BDB 377, KB 374, Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE

4. it was as fine as dust, BDB 200, KB 229, Qal PERFECT

5. threw its dust into the brook, BDB 1020, KB 1527, Hiphil IMPERFECT

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 9:22-24

22 Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. 23And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice. 24You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day I knew you.

Deu 9:22 Taberah This place name comes from a word play on the VERB to burn (BDB 129). This was the geographical location where YHWH answered their constant complaining with a judgment of fire (cf. Num 11:1-3; Num 11:34-35). It was about a three day journey north of Mt. Horeb/Sinai.

Massah This was another location of conflict between YHWH and Israel during the exodus (cf. Exo 17:7). It is usually linked to Meribah (cf. Deu 33:8), but not always (cf. Deu 6:16; Deu 9:2). Together they mean testing (BDB 650 III, cf. Deu 6:16; Deu 9:22; Deu 33:8; Exo 17:7; Psa 95:8) and strife.

Kibroth – Hattaavah The name means graves of lust (BDB 869, cf. Num 11:31-35). In Numbers 11 there is no movement recorded between Taberah and Kibroth-Hattaavah, but here in Deuteronomy the two sites are separate.

Deu 9:23 Go up and possess this land These are both Qal IMPERATIVES and reflect YHWH’s direct speech through Moses to Israel:

1. go up – BDB 748, KB 828

2. possess – BDB 439, KB 441

Notice again YHWH’s command for Israel to act on her belief in His sovereignty and promises. But instead of faith Israel demonstrated unbelief:

1. you rebelled against the command – BDB 598, KB 632 , Hiphil IMPERFECT, cf. Num 20:24; Num 27:14; Deu 1:26; Deu 1:43; Deu 9:23; Psa 107:11

2. you neither believed Him – BDB 52, KB 63, Hiphil PERFECT (See Special Topic: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the OT )

3. nor listened to His voice – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal PERFECT (these Qal PERFECTS reflect a settled condition). This is exactly opposite of covenant obedience and responsibility.

you rebelled See note at Deu 1:26.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

ye came. So some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Syriac; but Hebrew text reads “thou camest”.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Remember: In order to destroy the opinion which the Israelites had of their own righteousness, it was necessary to call to mind some of their most notorious provocations and rebellions, which Moses exhorts them to preserve in their mind, as a means to keep them humble. Deu 8:2, Eze 16:61-63, Eze 20:43, Eze 36:31, 1Co 15:9, Eph 2:11, 1Ti 1:13-15

from the day: Deu 31:27, Deu 32:5, Deu 32:6, Exo 14:11, Exo 16:2, Exo 17:2, Num 11:4, Num 14:1-10, Num 16:1-35, Num 20:2-5, Num 21:5, Num 25:2, Neh 9:16-18, Psa 78:8-72, Psa 95:8-11

Reciprocal: Exo 32:22 – knowest Num 14:9 – Only rebel Num 14:11 – provoke Deu 9:24 – General 1Sa 15:23 – rebellion Isa 30:1 – the rebellious Isa 48:8 – a transgressor Isa 63:10 – they rebelled Isa 65:2 – a rebellious Jer 7:25 – the day Jer 22:21 – This Jer 32:30 – children Eze 12:2 – thou Eze 20:8 – they rebelled Mic 6:5 – remember Mal 3:7 – from the Act 13:18 – about

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Deu 9:7. Stiff-necked Rebellious and perverse, and so destitute of all pretence to righteousness. And thus our gaining possession of the heavenly Canaan must be ascribed to Gods power and grace, and not to our own might or merit. In him we must glory, and not in ourselves.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Deu 9:7 bDeu 10:11 (or Deu 10:9). Narrative of the legislation on Mount Horeb; for the purpose apparently of illustrating Deu 9:7 a. This historical survey suddenly thrust into a hortatory context closely resembles Deuteronomy 1-3, and is thought by Horst and Bertholet to be by the same author. They agree with Steuernagel (who, however, says its closest affinities are with Deuteronomy 5) in holding it to be an interpolation here. But surely the history in this section is didactic and therefore hortatory. Deu 10:6 f. is, however, evidently an editorial addition. The narrative in Deu 9:7 b, ff. follows JE (Exo 24:12 f; Exo 32:10; Exo 32:15; Exo 32:19; Exo 34:1).

Deu 9:9. tables of stone: Exo 24:12*.covenant: Deu 4:13*.

Deu 9:9-11. forty days: Exo 24:18* (E).I did . . . water: so Exo 34:28, but the latter refers to Moses third ascent of the mountain, not the first.

Deu 9:10 is perhaps a marginal gloss. Deu 9:10 a essentially = Deu 9:11 b.finger of God: not of Yahweh; so the Divine finger (Exo 31:18*).

Deu 9:12. molten image: Exo 32:4 (cf. graven image, Deu 4:16, etc.).

Deu 9:13 repeats substance of Deu 9:12; Bertholet, therefore, rejects it.

Deu 9:14 f. See Exo 32:10; Exo 32:15; Exo 32:19.

Deu 9:18. I fell down: better, I lay me down.as at the first: as regards time (forty days) and accompanying action (fasting, Deu 9:9). Moses spent forty days on the mountain waiting to receive the tables (J) and another forty days making intercession.

Deu 9:19. that time also: when besides did Yahweh listen to Moses intercession? All the incidents of Moses life are not recorded.

Deu 9:20. Not mentioned in Ex.

Deu 9:21. sin: that by which they sinned (see Amo 8:14, Mic 1:5). Exo 32:20 adds that Moses made the people drink the water of the wady.

Deu 9:25. A continuation and in part a repetition of Deu 9:18. Though in vocabulary and matter Deu 9:26-29 resembles Exo 32:11-13 (the first intercession) the occasion is different, the latter belonging to the time before the first descent (Deu 9:15=Exo 32:15).

Deu 9:28. Cf. Exo 32:12, Num 14:16.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

9:7 Remember, [and] forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: {f} 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.

(f) He proves by the length of time, that their rebellion was great and intolerable.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Moses provided ample evidence of Israel’s stubbornness. Again he called the Israelites to remember their past (Deu 9:7). He gave their rebellion at Horeb extended attention in this address because it was a very serious offense. They followed reception of God’s greatest blessing, the revelation of Himself and His will, with immediate apostasy.

"The very finger of God [Deu 9:10]. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself-not Moses in any way-was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exo 31:18; Exo 32:16; Exo 34:1)." [Note: The NET Bible note on 9:10.]

"To ’blot out the name’ [Deu 9:14] is, in the context of covenant disloyalty, tantamount to the Lord’s termination of his relationship with his people." [Note: Merrill, Deuteronomy, p. 193. Cf. Thompson, p. 140.]

Moses fasted for 40 days and nights following the Golden Calf incident, neither eating bread nor drinking water (Deu 9:18), which reflects his total dependence on God. Then Moses alluded to the failures at Taberah, Massah, Kibbroth-hattaavah, and Kadesh (Deu 9:22-29). He did not name these in chronological order but in the order of their importance, proceeding from the lesser to the greater offenses. This presentation should have had great rhetorical and persuasive impact on Moses’ original audience, and it should have the same effect on us. Moses also referred to God’s faithfulness to His people in their failures that further demonstrated how wicked these sins really were.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)