1-29 Moses dissuades them from the opinion of their own righteousness, be rehearsing their several rebellions

to pass De 3:18 11:31 27:2 Jos 1:11 3:6,14,16 4:5,19

this day The Hebrew {hyyom} `this day,' frequently denotes, as here, {this time}. They had come, 38 years before this, nearly to the verge of the promised land, but were not permitted, because of their unbelief and rebellion, at {that day} or {time} to enter; but {this time} they shall certainly pass over. This was spoken in the eleventh month of the fortieth year of their journeying and it was on the first month of the following year they passed over: and during this interval Moses died.

nations De 4:38 7:1 11:23

cities De 1:28 Nu 13:22,28-33

2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!

great De 2:11,12,21

Who can stand De 7:24 Ex 9:11 Job 11:10 Da 8:4 11:16 Na 1:6

3 Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.

Understand De 9:6 Mt 15:10 Mr 7:14 Eph 5:17

goeth over De 1:30 20:4 31:3-6 Jos 3:11,14 Mic 2:13 Re 19:11-16

a consuming fire De 4:24 Isa 27:4 30:27,30,33 33:14 Na 1:5,6 2Th 1:8 Heb 12:29

he shall De 7:1,2,16,23,24 Ex 23:29-31 Isa 41:10-16 Ro 8:31

4 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.

Speak not De 9:5 7:7,8 8:17 Eze 36:22,32 Ro 11:6,20 1Co 4:4,7 Eph 2:4,5 2Ti 1:9 Tit 3:3-5

for the wickedness De 12:31 18:12 Ge 15:16 Le 18:24,25

5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Not for
Though the Canaanites were expelled for their wickedness, it does not follow, that the Israelites were established in their room on account of any distinguished virtue, or because they {deserved} it. On many occasions, it may be seen in the history of the world, that God punishes the wicked by the instrumentality of other men, who are as wicked as themselves. Not the Israelites' righteous, but the wickedness of the inhabitants, and the promise of God to their fathers, was the cause of their obtaining Canaan. Tit 3:5

that he may Ge 12:7 13:15 15:7 17:8 26:4 28:13 Ex 32:13 Eze 20:14 Lu 1:54,55 Ac 3:25 13:32 Ro 11:28 15:8

6 Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

Understand De 9:3,4 Eze 20:44

giveth thee Moses repeats this a third time, that, if it were possible, he might root out of the Israelites the opinion of their own deserts, before God rooted out the Canaanites from their country.

a stiff-necked De 9:13 10:16 31:27 Ex 32:9 33:3 34:9 2Ch 30:8 36:13 Ps 78:8 Isa 48:3,4 Eze 2:4 Zec 7:11,12 Ac 7:51 Ro 5:20,21

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.

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. De 8:2 Eze 16:61-63 20:43 36:31 1Co 15:9 Eph 2:11 1Ti 1:13-15

from the day De 31:27 32:5,6 Ex 14:11 16:2 17:2 Nu 11:4 14:1 16:1 20:2-5 21:5 25:2 Ne 9:16-18 Ps 78:8 95:8-11

8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.

Also in Horeb. Or rather, 'Even at Horeb,' for there is a peculiar emphasis here, even there where they had lately received the law, attended with the most astonishing appearance and circumstances. Ex 32:16 Ps 106:19-22

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:

I was Ex 24:12,15,18

the tables De 9:15 Ex 31:18 34:28 Jer 31:31,32 Ga 4:24

then I Ex 24:18 34:28 1Ki 19:8 Mt 4:2

I neither De 9:18 1Ki 13:8,9 2Ki 6:22

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.

the Lord Ex 31:18

written with De 10:4 Mt 12:28 Lu 11:20 2Co 3:3 Heb 8:10

all the words De 4:10-15 5:6-21 18:16 Ex 19:17-19 20:1-18

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.

the tables of the covenant De 9:9 Nu 10:33 Heb 8:6-10 9:4

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.

Arise Ex 32:7,8

corrupted De 4:16 31:29 32:5 Ge 6:11,12 Jude 1:10

are quickly De 9:16 Jud 2:17 Ps 78:57 Ho 6:4 Ga 1:6

13 Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

I have Ge 11:5 18:21 Ex 32:9,10 Ps 50:7 Jer 7:11 13:27 Ho 6:10 Mal 3:5

stiff-necked De 9:6 10:16 31:27 2Ki 17:14

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.

Let me Ex 32:10-13 Isa 62:6,7 Jer 14:11 15:1 Lu 11:7-10 18:1-8 Ac 7:51

blot De 29:20 Ex 32:32,33 Ps 9:5 109:13 Pr 10:7 Re 3:5

and I will Nu 14:11,12

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.

I turned Ex 32:14,15

the mount De 4:11 5:23 Ex 9:23 19:18

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.

I looked Ex 32:19 Ac 7:40,41

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

cast them Moses might have done this through distress and anguish of spirit, on beholding their abominable idolatry and dissolute conduct; or probably he did it {emblematically}, and perhaps by the direction of God; intimating thereby, that as by this act of his the tables were broken in pieces, on which the Law of God was written, so they, by their present conduct, had made a {breach} in the covenant, and broken the laws of their Maker and Sovereign.

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.

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. De 9:9 Ex 32:10-14 34:28 2Sa 12:16 Ps 106:23

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.

For I De 9:8 Ex 32:10,11 Ne 1:2-7 1:2-7 Lu 12:4,5

But the De 10:10 Ex 32:14 33:17 Ps 99:6 106:23 Am 7:2,3,5,6 Jas 5:16,17

20 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.

Ex 32:2-5,21,35 Heb 7:26-28

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.

I took Ex 32:20 Isa 2:18-21 30:22 31:7 Ho 8:11

the brook This was the stream which flowed from the rock that Moses smote with his rod (ex 17:6) and to which the Psalmist alludes in Ps. 78:16-20 and 105:41. Philo relates, that upon Moses' striking the rock, the water poured out like a torrent, affording not only a sufficient quantity for allaying their present thirst, but to fill their water vessels, to carry with them on their journey.

22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.

Taberah Nu 11:1-5

Massah Ex 17:7

Kibroth-hattaavah
nu 11:4,34

23 Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, 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.

Likewise De 1:19 Nu 13:1-33

ye rebelled Nu 14:1-4,10-41 Isa 63:10

ye believed De 1:32,33 Ps 78:22 106:24,25 Heb 3:18,19 4:2

24 Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

De 9:6,7 31:27 Ac 7:51

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.

De 9:16,18

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.

prayed Ex 32:11-13 34:9 Nu 14:13-19 Ps 99:6 106:23 Jer 14:21

thine inheritance 1Ki 8:51

which thou hast redeemed De 9:29 32:9 Ps 74:1,2 Isa 63:19

which thou hast brought forth De 7:8 13:5 15:15 21:8 26:7,8 Ex 15:13 2Sa 7:23 Ne 1:10 Ps 77:15 107:2 Isa 44:23 Mic 6:4 Tit 2:14 Heb 9:12 Re 5:9

27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:

Remember Ex 3:6,16 6:3-8 13:5 32:13 Jer 14:21

look not Ex 32:31,32 1Sa 25:25 Ps 78:8 Pr 21:12 Isa 43:24,25 Jer 50:20 Mic 7:18,19

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.

the land Ge 41:57 Ex 6:6-8 1Sa 14:25

Because De 32:26,27 Ex 32:12 Nu 14:15,16 Jos 7:7-9 Ps 115:1,2 Isa 43:25 48:9-11 Jer 14:7-9 Eze 20:8,9,14 Da 9:18,19

29 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.

Yet they De 9:26 4:20 1Ki 8:15 Ne 1:10 Ps 95:7 100:3 Isa 63:19

which thou De 9:26 4:34