Deuteronomy 9:28

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.

Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say,.... The land of Egypt, the inhabitants of it: because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them; the land of Canaan, the inhabitants of it being so mighty, and their cities so strongly fortified. Here Moses expresses his concern for the glory of God, and the honour of his perfections, and makes that a fourth argument why he should not destroy them: and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness; out of Egypt, a plentiful country, into a wilderness where nothing was to be had; but his choice of them for his inheritance, his redemption of them out of bondage and misery, the care he took of them, and the provision he had made for them in the wilderness, clearly showed that they were not the objects of his hatred, but of his love.

Verse 28. - The land , that is, the people of the land, as in Genesis 41:36 - the Egyptians; the verb, accordingly, is in the plural. Were the Israelites to perish in the wilder ness , the Egyptians might say that God had destroyed them, either because he was unable to obtain for them the land he had promised them, or because he had ceased to regard them with favor, and had become their enemy. Neither of these could be, for were they not the people of his inheritance, and had he not showed his power already in delivering them out of Egypt? As Moses in this chapter recalls to the remembrance of Israel this and that place , time , and occasion of their sinning, so should each one often seriously reflect on his past life. This conduces to humility, to watchfulness, and to effort at improvement (Herxheimer). Deuteronomy 9:28

See the marginal reference. Taberah was the name of a spot in or near the station of Kibroth-hattaavah, and accordingly is not named in the list of encampments given in Numbers 33:16 . The separate mention of the two is, however, appropriate here, for each place and each name was a memorial of an act of rebellion. The instances in this and the next verse are not given in order of occurrence. The speaker for his own purposes advances from the slighter to the more heinous proofs of guilt.

25. Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first—After the enumeration of various acts of rebellion, he had mentioned the outbreak at Kadesh-barnea, which, on a superficial reading of this verse, would seem to have led Moses to a third and protracted season of humiliation. But on a comparison of this passage with Nu 14:5, the subject and language of this prayer show that only the second act of intercession (De 9:18) is now described in fuller detail.

After vindicating in this way the thought expressed in Deuteronomy 9:7 , by enumerating the principal rebellions of the people against their God, Moses returns in Deuteronomy 9:25 . to the apostasy at Sinai, for the purpose of showing still further how Israel had no righteousness or ground for boasting before God, and owed its preservation, with all the saving blessings of the covenant, solely to the mercy of God and His covenant faithfulness. To this end he repeats in Deuteronomy 9:26-29 the essential points in his intercession for the people after their sin at Sinai, and then proceeds to explain still further, in Deuteronomy 10:1-11 , how the Lord had not only renewed the tables of the covenant in consequence of this intercession ( Deuteronomy 10:1-5 ), but had also established the gracious institution of the priesthood for the time to come by appointing Eleazar in Aaron's stead as soon as his father died, and setting apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant and attend to the holy service, and had commanded them to continue their march to Canaan, and take possession of the land promised to the fathers ( Deuteronomy 10:6-11 ). With the words "thus I fell down," in Deuteronomy 9:25 , Moses returns to the intercession already briefly mentioned in Deuteronomy 9:18 , and recalls to the recollection of the people the essential features of his plea at the time. For the words "the forty days and nights that I fell down," see at Deuteronomy 1:46 .

The substance of the intercession in Deuteronomy 9:26-29 is essentially the same as that in Exodus 32:11-13 ; but given with such freedom as any other than Moses would hardly have allowed himself (Schultz), and in such a manner as to bring it into the most obvious relation to the words of God in Deuteronomy 9:12 , Deuteronomy 9:13 . אל־תּשׁחת, "Destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance," says Moses, with reference to the words of the Lord to him: "thy people have corrupted themselves" ( Deuteronomy 9:12 ). Israel was not Moses' nation, but the nation and inheritance of Jehovah; it was not Moses, but Jehovah, who had brought it out of Egypt. True, the people were stiffnecked (cf. Deuteronomy 9:13 ); but let the Lord remember the fathers, the oath given to Abraham, which is expressly mentioned in Exodus 32:13 (see at Deuteronomy 7:8 ), and not turn to the stiffneckedness of the people (קשׁי equivalent to ערף קשׁה, Deuteronomy 9:13 and Deuteronomy 9:6 ), and to their wickedness and sin (i.e., not regard them and punish them). The honour of the Lord before the nations was concerned in this ( Deuteronomy 9:28 ). The land whence Israel came out ("the land" equals the people of the land, as in Genesis 10:25 , etc., viz., the Egyptians: the word is construed as a collective with a plural verb) must not have occasion to say, that Jehovah had not led His people into the promised land from incapacity or hatred. יכלת מבּלי recalls Numbers 14:16 .

61 . every sickness , etc.] Cp. Jeremiah 6:7 . the book of this law ] Heb. this Tôrah (see Deuteronomy 1:5 , Deuteronomy 31:9 ) Elsewhere ( Deuteronomy 29:21 (20), Deuteronomy 30:10 , Deuteronomy 31:26 , Joshua 1:8 ) this book of the law . until thou be destroyed ] Deuteronomy 28:20; Deuteronomy 28:24; Deuteronomy 28:45; Deuteronomy 28:51 . Deuteronomy 28:61

15–20 . For the terminology see notes on Deuteronomy 28:1-7 . 20a forms with 25 a clear antithesis to Deuteronomy 28:7 , but is more elaborate than the latter. For cursing cp. Malachi 2:2 ; Malachi 3:9 ; for discomfiture see on Deuteronomy 7:23 ; rebuke is found only here. On for to do (lit. which thou shalt do ) see Deuteronomy 14:29 ; until thou be destroyed , cp. Deuteronomy 28:24; Deuteronomy 28:45; Deuteronomy 28:51; Deuteronomy 28:61 , Deuteronomy 7:23 . 20b (from and until thou perish ) is taken by some as an expansion. On perish quickly see Deuteronomy 4:16 , Deuteronomy 11:17 ; for evil of thy doings cp. Hosea 9:15 , Isaiah 1:16 , Jeremiah 4:4 + Jeremiah 4:17 times. Forsaken me , yet Moses is the speaker, cp. Deuteronomy 7:4 . 15–46. The Curses The opening Deuteronomy 28:15-20 , correspond to the blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-7 , except that there are no antitheses to Deuteronomy 28:1 b and Deuteronomy 28:2 b , and that the curse on basket and kneading-bowl precedes that on fruit of thy body , etc. Then the Discourse leaves the limits it had observed in the remainder of the blessings, Deuteronomy 28:8-14 , and while here and there it gives the exact contrast of these blessings (cp.