Deuteronomy 9:21

9:7-29 That the Israelites might have no pretence to think that God brought them to Canaan for their righteousness, Moses shows what a miracle of mercy it was, that they had not been destroyed in the wilderness. It is good for us often to remember against ourselves, with sorrow and shame, our former sins; that we may see how much we are indebted to free grace, and may humbly own that we never merited any thing but wrath and the curse at God's hand. For so strong is our propensity to pride, that it will creep in under one pretence or another. We are ready to fancy that our righteousness has got for us the special favour of the Lord, though in reality our wickedness is more plain than our weakness. But when the secret history of every man's life shall be brought forth at the day of judgment, all the world will be proved guilty before God. At present, One pleads for us before the mercy-seat, who not only fasted, but died upon the cross for our sins; through whom we may approach, though self-condemned sinners, and beseech for undeserved mercy and for eternal life, as the gift of God in Him. Let us refer all the victory, all the glory, and all the praise, to Him who alone bringeth salvation.

And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made,.... Which was the object of their sin, which lay in making and worshipping it; see Isaiah 31:7 . and burnt it with fire, and stamped it; with his feet after it was burnt, to bring it into small pieces: and ground it very small; or, as the Targum of Jonathan,"ground it in a mortar well;''the burnt and broken pieces: even until it was as small as dust; being ground to powder, as in Exodus 32:20. and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount; and made the children of Israel to drink of it, as in the previously mentioned place; See Gill on Exodus 32:2; all this was done before the prayer for Aaron and the people.

(21) I took your sin . . . and I cast the dust thereof into the brook. —The stream from the rock in Horeb not only gave Israel drink, but bore away their “sin” upon its waters. “And that Rock was Christ.” This identification of the sin with the material object is in harmony with the Law in Leviticus, where “sin” and “sin-offering”—“trespass” and “trespass offering”—are respectively denoted by a single word.

Israel could not even boast that its heads and representatives continued, faithful. Aaron had been already designated for the high priestly functions; but he fell away with the rest of the people. It was due therefore solely to the grace of God and the intercession of Moses that Aaron himself and his promised priesthood with him were not cut off; just as at a later time, when Aaron had actually to die for a new sin Israel owed it still to the same causes that Eleazar was substituted and the High Priesthood perpetuated (compare Deuteronomy 10:6 ; Numbers 20:24-26 ).

21. I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount—that is, "the smitten rock" (El Leja) which was probably contiguous to, or a part of, Sinai. It is too seldom borne in mind that though the Israelites were supplied with water from this rock when they were stationed at Rephidim (Wady Feiran), there is nothing in the Scripture narrative which should lead us to suppose that the rock was in the immediate neighborhood of that place (see on [123]Ex 17:5). The water on this smitten rock was probably the brook that descended from the mount. The water may have flowed at the distance of many miles from the rock, as the winter torrents do now through the wadies of Arabia-Petræa (Ps 78:15, 16). And the rock may have been smitten at such a height, and at a spot bearing such a relation to the Sinaitic valleys, as to furnish in this way supplies of water to the Israelites during the journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir and Kadesh-barnea (De 1:1, 2). On this supposition new light is, perhaps, cast on the figurative language of the apostle, when he speaks of "the rock following" the Israelites (1Co 10:4) [Wilson, Land of the Bible].

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 Exodus 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. Isaiah 43:27 ), but also to bring out the fact, which is described still more fully in Deuteronomy 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 ( Exodus 24:14 ), and was already designated by God for the high-priesthood ( Exodus 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 Exodus 32:21 . - In Deuteronomy 9:21 , Moses mentions again how he destroyed that manifested sin of the nation, namely, the molten calf (see at Exodus 32:20 ).

Israel was to adhere firmly to the Lord its God (cf. Deuteronomy 4:4 ), and to put to death the prophet who preached apostasy from Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel out of the slave-house of Egypt. להדּיחך, "to force thee from the way in which Jehovah hath commanded thee to walk." The execution of seducers to idolatry is enjoined upon the people, i.e., the whole community, not upon single individuals, but upon the authorities who had to maintain and administer justice. "So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee." הרע is neuter, as we may see from Deuteronomy 17:7 , as comp. with Deuteronomy 13:2 . The formula, "so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee," which occurs again in Deuteronomy 17:7 , Deuteronomy 17:12 ; Deuteronomy 19:19 ; Deuteronomy 21:21 ; Deuteronomy 22:21-22 , Deuteronomy 22:24 , and Deuteronomy 24:7 (cf. Deuteronomy 19:13 , and Deuteronomy 21:9 ), belongs to the hortatory character of Deuteronomy, in accordance with which a reason is given for all the commandments, and the observance of them is urged upon the congregation as a holy affair of the heart, which could not be expected in the objective legislation of the earlier books.