Deuteronomy 9
BBCDeuteronomy 9:1
9:1-3 Chapter 9 opens with a description of the nations which Israel was soon to face in battle. Israel was not to be afraid, as they had been forty years earlier, because God would fight for them. “He will destroy them . . . so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly.” Notice the complementary working of divine sovereignty and human agency. Both were essential for securing the Promised Land. 9:4-7 After . . . God had defeated the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, the Israelites were not to boast. Three times the people are warned about attributing success to their own righteousness (vv. 4-6). God would give them the land . . . because of the wickedness of the present inhabitants (v. 4), because of His oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v. 5), and not because of any merit in them. The truth of the matter is that they were stiff-necked (stubborn) (v. 6) as well as provocative and rebellious (v. 7). 9:8-23 Moses cites as an example the people’s behavior at Mount Horeb (Sinai) (vv. 8-21). Verses 22 and 23 mention other places where the people sinned: Taberah (Num_11:3); Massah (Exo_17:7); Kibroth Hattaavah (Num_11:34); Kadesh Barnea (Num_13:31-33). Note how the golden calf was destroyed beyond recovery (v. 21). 9:24-29 At Mount Sinai the intercession of Moses was the only thing that saved the people from the wrath of Jehovah. He did not base his plea on the righteousness of the people (which further shows that they had none) but on possession: “Your people and Your inheritance” (v. 26); promise: “Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (v. 27); power (God’s power would be ridiculed by the Egyptians): “lest the land from which You brought us should say, ‘Because the LORD was not able’” (v. 28). In verse 1 of chapter 10, the narrative goes back to the events at Mount Sinai and therefore follows verse 29 of chapter 9. The Bible is not always chronological; often the order of events has a spiritual or moral order that is more important than the mere chronological order. A more appropriate place for the chapter division would seem to be after verse 11, because the first 11 verses deal with events at Mount Sinai (the theme taken up in Deu_10:8) while verses 12 and following are an exhortation to obedience based on God’s gracious mercy.