Chapter Nine
No, It's Not Because of Your Righteousness
9:1 “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3 Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.
This is the next, “Hear, O Israel,” after the Shema (see Deuteronomy 6:4-9), Moses tells this next generation that after forty years in the wilderness, it was time to enter the Promised Land. They were to take possession of the land from people who were greater in number and more powerful than they were. Even conquer large cities surrounded by tall, fortified walls (Hebrew ‘ḇeṣǔ·rōṯ’,[1] referring in context to something inaccessible). Moses describes the people as being great and tall, the descendants of Anak, which were known to them, as the name had struck fear in the hearts of their parents forty years earlier (see Numbers 13:22, 28, 33; Deuteronomy 1:28; 2:10-11, 21). Moses asks, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?” He then answers, possibly adding volume to his voice and pointing to the people, “Know therefore today… YHWH will destroy them and subdue them before you!” Moses refers to God as the one who goes over them as a consuming fire. They have been led in the wilderness by cloud in the daytime and a fire at night, and now that presence will drive the people, including the sons of the Anakim, out of the land and then promptly destroy them, just as YHWH had promised.
9:4 “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Moses warns that they should not consider themselves righteous or that they had done something special that made them worthy to enter the Promised Land. He notes that these nations that will be driven out are evil.[2] Moses informs them that the first explanation or reason for God to “clean house,” was because of them being truly wicked (Hebrew word ‘riš·’ǎṯ’,[3] this is the first appearance in the Bible, it refers to a wide range of evil, it also implies a crime worthy of punishment). Moses also reminded them that God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their descendants would inherit the land. This is important to all Christians, as God always keeps His promises. If He does not, then Christians believe in vain, but the incredibly good news is that He delights in keeping His promises and will always do as He says He will do, even provide salvation for believers.
9:6 “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. 7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. 8 Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
The third reason Moses gives this new generation, as to why they should not consider themselves special or think that God is giving them this land because of their righteousness, is the unpleasant reality that they are a stubborn people (Hebrew contains two primary words, ‘qā·šē(h)’[4] meaning hard, typically used to modify a subject, in this case, ‘ō’·rěp’[5] meaning neck, referring to an obstinate and stubborn attitude, often translated as being “stiff-necked”).
Moses reminds them and then pleads with them to never forget how they provoked YHWH to anger. How from the first day leaving Egypt, all the way to where they are now, they have been rebellious against YHWH. Even after experiencing the spectacular supernatural events at Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai), they continued to provoke God to the point He was ready to destroy them.
Considerations
It is interesting that Moses twice mentions how the people of Israel should not consider themselves as being righteous. Perhaps they thought that what they did, through following God’s rules and regulations, through their participation in what God was doing, or simply being God’s chosen made them think they were righteous. Nothing they did or could ever do would make them worthy. Moses quickly points out that God wanted to extinguish a great evil in the world and to fulfill a promise that was made to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Plus, they haven’t been doing a good job following God’s wishes as they have been a stubborn people.
The Promised Land is a model of the ultimate “promised land,” namely heaven. None of the people of Israel entered the land based on their own righteousness, no one was worthy, just as no one can enter heaven based on their righteousness. Entry to heaven can only be achieved through what Jesus did. It’s not clear as to why Moses mentioned this, perhaps some were boasting about who they were or what they may have done. The apostle Paul addressed this human tendency to boast by writing, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) All Christians will enter the promise land of heaven not by what they did but because of in whom they trusted.
The Golden Calf Mistake
9:12 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’
Then Moses reminded them about the golden calf, undoubtedly one of their darker moments in recent past. Moses offers his perspective, being on the mountain in the presence of YHWH for forty days and forty nights. He explains that while he fasted on the mountain, God gave him the two tablets of stone containing the words of the covenant, but then that time was interrupted by the fact that the people of Israel were worshiping a metal idol. God told him to, ”Get up! Go down immediately, for the people you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live!” (NLT). Moses also relays how God referred to them as being Moses’ people, not God’s people (see Exodus 32:7-8).
9:13 “Furthermore, the LORD said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. 14 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.’ 15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also. 20 And the LORD was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that 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 the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
Moses continues the story about being on top of Mount Sinai with God and how He wanted to annihilate everyone below and start over with just Moses, saying that through Moses He will make a greater and more powerful nation than the people of Israel. Even though much of what we know today to be Biblical prophecy would no longer be considered prophetic, using Moses as the progenitor God would still be in keeping with His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But that was not the nature of Moses, he understood his role as an intercessor. So instead of agreeing to God’s alternate plan, Moses came down to find out what was going on. But when he saw that the people had made a golden calf to worship and were sinning against YHWH, in anger he threw down the two stone tablets, which broke in the people’s sight.
Knowing that there would be serious repercussions for their sin, Moses fell prostrate before God and fasted for another forty days and forty nights (the text in neither the Exodus narrative nor here in Deuteronomy, mention when this forty-day prayer occurred, the content of this prayer is given later in verses 25-29, and God’s response is reported in Deuteronomy 10:10-11). Again, God listened to Moses (by this time Moses had successfully interceded for the people of Israel several times, see Numbers 11:2; 12:13-15; 14:13-20; 21:7-9), and God did not destroy them. Then he learned about what his brother Aaron did, and that God wanted to kill him for his role in this incident (see Exodus 32:2-5, 21-24), and Moses prayed for Aaron too, whose life was also spared.
Moses then took the golden calf and burned it, ground up what was left and threw the dust into a brook and the water carried away the particles off the mountain (Moses left out that he also made the people drink the water, see Exodus 32:20).
9:22 “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. 23 And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. 24 You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
Moses didn’t stop with just the golden calf incident, he also reminded his audience that they also provoked the anger of YHWH at Taberah (when they complained about a number of things, including missing the various flavors of Egyptian cooking, see Numbers 11:1-15), Massah (when they quarreled regarding not having any water, see Exodus 17:1-7), and at Kibrith-hattaavah (the location of the plague God sent when the people were complaining about manna, see Numbers 11:31-35), demonstrating that they were indeed rebellious and often disobedient. It would not be difficult to imagine Moses lowering his voice and exasperatingly say, “You have been rebellious against YHWH from the very first day!”
9:25 “So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you. 26 And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, 28 lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” 29 For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’
The prayer mentioned in verse 18 is revealed here. Moses’ posture was prostrate before YHWH (Hebrew ‘ěṯ·nǎp·pǎl’,[6] to fall, in this scenario Moses fell down and laid before God) for forty days and forty nights in an attempt to prevent God from destroying them. He first pleads with God to not destroy His people or His heritage (Hebrew word ‘nǎ·ḥǎlā(h)’,[7] possession, property, or inheritance), both terms referring to the people of Israel, who have been redeemed from bondage in Egypt with a mighty hand. Moses continues by asking God to remember His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then he asks God to disregard the people’s stubbornness, their wickedness, and their sin. Moses is asking for God to forgive these people that since they are known as YHWH’s people, destroying them would give the impression to those in the land that He was unable to give them the land as promised and that, due to His hatred of them, He destroyed them in the wilderness (which was likely Satan’s plan). While it appears that Moses sounded like he was more concerned over God’s reputation, and that what he said would have undoubtedly been true, Moses became, and continued to be, Israel’s intercessor.[8] Moses concluded with the same words with which he opened the prayer, that the Israelites are His people and that He has brought them out with great power and outstretched arm (see also Deuteronomy 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8).
Considerations
Redemption and Intercession Interlocked
The theme of redemption and intercession come together again here in these passages. We see that Moses was appointed by God to be the people of Israel’s guide to the Promised Land, and through God, Moses was successful in redeeming them from Egypt’s slavery. However, it was never easy, and Moses soon learned about the need to pray for others. Just as Christians are to actively guide non-believers to Jesus (see Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16), they also need to understand that this great ‘tool’ to make that happen is still available to them, namely intercessory prayer (see Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; 9:24). It is interesting to note that both redemption and intercession are key aspects of the Messiah, of whom Moses is a model or type (see Appendix 3).
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[1] Strong’s Hebrew 1219.
[2] See commentary under Genesis 15:13-16 regarding how much time Satan had to spiritually corrupt the land.
[3] Strong’s Hebrew 7564.
[4] Strong’s Hebrew 7186.
[5] Strong’s Hebrew 6203.
[6] Strong’s Hebrew 5307.
[7] Strong’s Hebrew 5159.
[8] See commentary under Exodus 32:14.