Deuteronomy 9, Idolatry, Grumbling, Wandering

Moses recounts his time on Mount Sinai.

Deuteronomy 9: 1-3, Tall, strong? No problem!

Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” 

But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

Those Anakites are tall and strong!  But the Isrealites are told, "Don't worry about that!  You will conquer them quickly!" YHWH is described as a devouring fire who will overwhelm and destroy their enemies.

Currid suggests a certain Hebrew in the choice of the word translated "submit" as it begins with the same three consonants as the word "Canaan."

Deuteronomy 9: 4-6, But don't get cocky

After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” 

No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

It is not the righteousness of the Israelites that makes them strong.  It is YHWH and the wickedness of their enemies.

Deuteronomy 9: 7-10, Remember your rebellion and learn!

Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 

At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you. When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. 

The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

The Israelites' miraculous success in the desert of Sinai had so quickly turned aside into idolatry.  Moses then fasted for 40 days and nights, even without water, apparently because of the rebellion going on down below the mountain.

This speech is probably being given "here" on the plains of Moab, near Beth-Peor.

Deuteronomy 9: 11-14, Two tablets written

At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 

Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

After the forty days and nights, the two stone tablets were written.  Moses recounts YHWH's anger and willingness to start over.

Deuteronomy 9: 15-17, Broken tablets

So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.
   

When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

Moses recounts his own anger at the idolatry. This chapter recounts the events of Exodus 32.

Deuteronomy 9: 18-21, The golden calf revisited

Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight and so provoking him to anger.

I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me.

And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too.
 

Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.

Moses returned to the mountain to plead for mercy and forgiveness. The ground dust is thrown into a stream.  (In Exodus 32: 20, it is said that Moses forced the people to drink the water.) Moses also intervenes for the high priest, his brother, Aaron. This intervention by Moses is recalled later in Psalm 106: 23.

Deuteronomy 9: 22-24, Taberah, Massah, Kibroth Hattaavah

You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah.

And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, "Go up and take possession of the land I have given you." But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not trust him or obey him.

You have been rebellious against the LORD ever since I have known you.

And yet the stubbornness and sinfulness of the people of Moses continues, at every turn. We have hear a litany of examples. Numbers 11 describes a series of "grumblings" by the Israelites against YHWH.  Those grumblings occur at Taberah and Kibroth Hattaavah (verses 3 and 34.)  The event at Massah is described in Numbers 20. The turnaround at Kadesh Barnea is described in Numbers 13.

Deuteronomy 9: 25-29, Overlook their stubbornness

I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

I prayed to the LORD and said, "O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin. Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, `Because the LORD was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the desert.'

 

But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm."

Moses continues to plead to YHWH, admitting the stubbornness of his people, but pleading for mercy. As described in Exodus 33, Moses remind YHWH that His reputation is attached to the success of the people He called out of Egypt.