Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 9:18
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.
18. as at the first ] Refers to what follows it the length of time and the fasting not to what precedes the falling down before God. This intercession seems to be the same as that described in Deu 10:10 and ‘anticipated here on account of its importance in the argument’ (Driver). Cp. Exo 32:30 which says that on the morrow of his meeting with the people Moses returned to the Mount to intercede for them with God; and Exo 34:9 which says that he again interceded in the second forty days which he spent on the Mount. Which of these is intended here?
all your sin ] Sam., LXX: sins.
in doing that which was evil, etc.] Deu 4:25.
to provoke him ] A different verb from that in Deu 9:7-8, and the same as in Deu 4:25 ( q.v.), Deu 31:29; and not so characteristic of D as the other.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I fell down before the Lord, as at the first – Moses interceded for the people before he came down from the mountain the first time Exo 32:11-13. This intercession is only briefly alluded to in this verse. Afterward he spent another 40 days on the mountain in fasting and prayer to obtain a complete restitution of the covenant Exo 34:28. It is this second forty days, and the intercession of Moses made therein (compare Exo 34:9), that is more particularly brought forward here and in Deu 9:25-29.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
I fell down, in way of humiliation and supplication, on your behalf.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. I fell down before the LordThesudden and painful reaction which this scene of pagan revelryproduced on the mind of the pious and patriotic leader can be moreeasily imagined than described. Great and public sins call forseasons of extraordinary humiliation, and in his deep affliction forthe awful apostasy, he seems to have held a miraculous fast as longas before.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I fell down before the Lord,…. In prayer for Israel who had sinned; but this he did not immediately after he had broken the tables, but when he had first ground the calf to powder, strewed it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it; and when he had chided Aaron, and ordered the sons of Levi to slay every man his brother:
as at the first forty days and forty mights; which is to be connected, I think, not with what goes before; for we read not that he fell down before the Lord, at the first time he was with him so long in the mount; but with what follows: “I did neither eat bread nor drink water”; as he neither ate nor drank the first forty days, so neither did he these second forty; see De 9:9
because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger; for they were guilty of more sins than one; besides idolatry, they were guilty of unbelief, ingratitude, c. which were notorious and flagrant, were done openly and publicly, in sight of his glory and majesty on the mount all which must be very provoking to him, and on account of these Moses prayed and fasted.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18. And I fell down before the Lord The order of the narrative is confused; for this fact of which he speaks did not precede his second ascent into the mount, when he was commanded to prepare the second tables. If so, he would have fasted three times, which we gather from other passages not to have been the case; but we must not be surprised that the same thing should be often repeated, as we shall see at the beginning of chapter 10, as well as shortly afterwards. The mention of it here, however, is seasonable, because the Covenant was to be renewed, and therefore, as if nothing had been done, he again abstained from meat and drink for forty days. Yet we have elsewhere seen that there were other prayers which had intervened before He ascended the mount a second time; but He does not here distinctly record the details, nay, he mixes up the prayers, whereby he interceded with God, with the second fast, because this was the point most worthy of observation, that the first promulgation of the Law had failed of its effect, and the Covenant which they had violated was to be repeated, as it were, from its very commencement.
Although he says that “because of their sins” he had not eaten bread nor drunk water, he does not signify that this fast was a sign of grief and mourning, like as Joel invites the people to sackcloth and ashes, and urges them to weeping and fasting for the purpose of testifying their repentance. (Joe 2:12.) For abstinence, as I have already shewn, was no more difficult or grievous to Moses than to the angels. But he simply reminds them that so great a sin could not be expiated, unless he had again renounced the life of men and had been taken up to God. Meanwhile, it must be borne in mind that previously to this, he had already made entreaty for the people, and had also been accepted; inasmuch as it was a token that God was reconciled and appeased, when He called up Moses to receive the Law, and to bring it down to them a second time. To this refers what he adds in the next verse, “For I was afraid of the anger,” etc., for he was still in anxiety as to the welfare of the people, since God did not cease to menace them. We see, therefore, that this fear and anxious earnestness in prayer are separated from the fast, as different things; and assuredly he had already propitiated God, when, by His command he hewed out the new tables whereon the Covenant was to be renewed. Still, I do not deny that he labored also in the mount in the cause of obtaining pardon, just as believers, by continuing the requests which have already been granted, confirm their faith more and more. I only warn my readers to observe the distinction of time which I have noticed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights.Moses had already interceded for them in Sinai before he came down on the fortieth day (Exo. 32:11-14). He now spent forty days and nights in the work of intercession. We are not to understand that the first forty were so spent. At that time he received the pattern of the tabernacle and the directions for the priesthood, which he did not deliver to Israel until after he descended from Sinai the second time. (See Exo. 24:18-18, and Exo. 35:1. &c.) During the first forty days, Joshua was with Moses in the mount (probably to help in taking the pattern for the tabernacle); during the second forty Moses was alone.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. As at the first, forty days Moses spends a second period in fasting. Comp. Exo 34:28.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
It is not so clearly proved as to leave the point unquestionable, whether Moses means a second continuance and abstinence of forty days and nights in the mount as before. The particular manner of wording the expression, that he fell down before the LORD, in the same way as he did when he was forty days and forty nights in the mount with the LORD; this seems as if he meant to say, that his intercession was similar in manner not in time. Moreover, if Moses really was a second time forty days and forty nights in the mount, there is no mention made of his employment the second time like the first. See Exo 24:18 . And as Moses was eminently a type of the ever-blessed JESUS, we see a manifest propriety in the first forty days; but, considered as a type of JESUS in his fasting, the second would lessen its effect on this account. I do not, however, venture to speak decidedly upon the subject; but leave the Reader to his own judgment under the SPIRIT’s teaching. See Mat 4:2 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 9:18 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.
Ver. 18. Forty days and forty nights. ] This some understand of a second fasting so long together, after the people had set up the golden calf. See Deu 9:25 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wickedly. Hebrew. ra’a, the wicked thing: i.e. idolatry. See App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I fell down: The transgressions of the people rendered this second forty days’ fasting necessary to Moses. Their pardon was indeed in some sense obtained before he ascended the mount; yet probably much of the time which he spent there was employed in supplication, and when he descended the second time, with the tables of the law in his hands, the pardon was, as it were, ratified and sealed. Deu 9:9, Exo 32:10-14, Exo 34:28, 2Sa 12:16, Psa 106:23
Reciprocal: Gen 7:12 – forty Gen 17:17 – fell Exo 24:18 – forty days Exo 32:11 – besought Exo 32:31 – returned Deu 9:25 – General Deu 10:10 – I stayed 1Ki 19:8 – forty days 2Ki 14:24 – in the sight Ezr 10:6 – he did eat Job 1:20 – fell Pro 29:8 – wise Eze 9:8 – that I Eze 11:13 – Then Mat 4:2 – fasted Mar 1:13 – forty Mar 14:35 – and fell Luk 4:2 – forty Act 1:3 – forty 1Co 14:25 – falling Jam 5:16 – The effectual 1Jo 5:16 – he shall ask