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Deuteronomy 9:1-3

A new address begins here and runs to 10:22.  The message summarizes that the ensuing victory will be God’s victory.  They can’t let pride sneak in and begin to think they’ve done this by their power.  They must maintain a reliance on the Lord.

“Hear, O Israel” is a call to attention.  They were preparing to enter the land and dispossess:

• Nations greater than them.
• Great and fortified cities
• People great and small

There is no mention of the Anakites in other sources, but the Egyptian letter on Papyrus Anastasi I (thirteenth century b.c.) describes fierce warriors in Canaan that are seven to nine feet tall. Two female skeletons about seven feet tall from the twelfth century have been found at Tell es-Sa’ideyeh in Transjordan.

Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000)

. The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament

(electronic ed., Dt 1:28). InterVarsity Press.

The Anikim are mentioned in Numbers 13:22 and 28 and are described as giants.  The people were being prepared so they would not be surprised by these giant warriors.  They had heard ware with the Anikim summarized as, “Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?  Moses gives them the answer.  The Lord would stand before them.  He would go before them as a consuming fire to destroy them and bring them down before Israel.  Israel would then drive them out of the land and destroy them.

The Lord’s work would be so mingled with the work of Israel it would be hard to distinguish them apart.

In Deuteronomy 7:22 we see that the conquest would happen at a slower pace so as not to overwhelm Israel.  Once Israel began a conquest of a region, it would happen quickly.

Deuteronomy 9:4-6

Because God would go before them and work through them, they would be tempted to think the victories came to them because of their righteousness or because they deserved them.  Israel was being used to bring judgment against the wicked nations.  It is by grace that Israel would inherit the land.  It is because of the Lord’s faithfulness to the covenant He made to Abraham, not because of Israel’s faith.

The mingling of the Lord’s work with their work would tempt them to see this all wrong.  They were not righteous.  They did not have an upright heart.  They were stiff-necked.  An animal that didn’t work well under the yoke, that fought against it, that couldn’t be guided by the master, who was stubborn and rebellious was considered stiff-necked.

Deuteronomy 9:7-14

The entire journey, from the bondage of Egypt, through the wilderness, across the years, to the plains of Moab near Beth-peor, had been marked with acts of rebellion.  They complained and rebelled, but their greatest provocation of wrath was at the mountain of God. 

Moses reminds them of their actions while he was on the mountain receiving the law from God.  They “quickly turned aside” and made themselves a golden calf to worship.  The Lord said they were, indeed, a stiff-necked people.  Their rebellion and stubbornness provoked the wrath of God to the point He was going to destroy them. 

Moses intervened with God’s wrath.  Instead of destroying all of Israel, Moses asked the Lord to blot him out.  Moses acted as a high priest interceding for the people.  He acted very Christ-like in offering himself for the people. 

Deuteronomy 9:15-21

Moses makes the point, that while he was before the Lord receiving instruction, the people had gone wild, forgetting all the instructions, forgetting all that the Lord had done.  This was their inclination.  They were constantly drawn away and falling to temptation.  They needed to remember this, to not forget (7). 

Moses broke the tablets (Ex 32:19).  He wasn’t just angry, throwing a fit and breaking them in frustration, but this was very symbolic.  It was the breaking of a covenant.  Moses was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure of the Lord’s anger.  The Lord listened to Moses and heard his prayer for Aaron. 

Grinding the golden calf to powder and dumping it in the brook dispensed of the impure object.  You can be sure someone wanted to keep the gold, mold it into something else or make jewelry again.  But they had created an abomination with their wealth.  The gold went back to the ground, by way of living water, washing away the impurity.

Ramban suggests that this was in order to degrade the idol further by turning it into human waste. Rabbinic exegesis, followed by some modern scholars, takes the forced drinking as a kind of ordeal designed to identify the guilty, comparable to the “waters of bitterness” ritual for testing the suspected adulteress (Num. 5:11–31).

Tigay, J. H. (1996). Deuteronomy (pp. 101–102).

Jewish Publication Society.

Moses wanted these people to remember their stiff-necked actions so as not to repeat them.  They must remember they were inclined to sin as well as remembering the call to trust the Lord in all things.  

Deuteronomy 9:22-24

In case anyone forgot all the other times, Moses reminded them the calf incident wasn’t their only failure.

• Taberah was the plain of complaint and rebellion (Numbers 11:1-3).  The Lord brought down fire and consumed some at the edge of the camp.
• Massah was the place where they complained about not having water.  Moses struck the rock and water came out (Exodus 17:1-8).
• Kibroth Hattaavah was the place where they complained about not having meat (manna from heaven was not enough).  They missed what they remember as the good food from Egypt (Numbers 11:4).
• Kadesh Barnea became the main camp of the wilderness wandering when they failed to enter the land in response to the spies' report. 

Moses summed these things up by saying they had a history of rebellion.  There was no reason for this next generation to think they would be any different.  They needed to guard against that.

Deuteronomy 9:25-29

It was a prostrated Moses who interceded on behalf of the people before the Lord.  The Lord intended to destroy them.  He asked the Lord to consider His covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as consider the damage to His reputation.  The nations would say that God couldn’t complete what He started.  They would say that He hated them and took them to the wilderness to abandon them there.

God called the Israelites Moses’ people when they were sinning.  Moses reminded the Lord that they were His people, chosen by Him and His inheritance.  He brought them out by His power and outstretched arm.  The people needed God’s pardon.  Moses could do nothing but intercede.

Did God need to be reminded of these things?  Had He forgotten?  How could we believe our Almighty, sovereign God had forgotten anything?  If God forgot about Israel, is it possible He might forget about us?  Should we not see this as God showing the people their wicked ways and inclinations?  Wasn’t God showing them their need?  Wasn’t Moses acting in the capacity of a high priest, a foreshadowing of Jesus? 

In this, we might also see, that God would never leave or forsake His people, but He loves them enough to allow them to leave Him.

©2007, 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater