31 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Deuteronomy 9 In this chapter the Israelites are assured of the ejection of the Canaanites, though so great and mighty, to make room for them, Deuteronomy 9:1, and they are cautioned not to attribute this to their own righteousness, but to the wickedness of the nations which deserved to be so treated, and to the faithfulness of God...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear, O Israel,.... A pause being made after the delivery of the preceding discourse; or perhaps what follows might be delivered at another time, at some little distance; and which being of moment and importance to the glory of God, and that Israel might have a true notion of their duty, they are called upon to listen with attention to what was...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The design of Moses in this chapter is to convince the people of Israel of their utter unworthiness to receive from God those great favours that were now to be conferred upon them, writing this, as it were, in capital letters at the head of their charter, "Not for your sake, be it known unto you," Ezek. xxxvi. 32. I. He assures them of victory...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A people great and tall,.... Of a large bulky size, and of an high stature, so that the spies seemed to be as grasshoppers to them, Numbers 13:33, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest; by report, having had an account of them by the spies, who described them as very large bodied men, and of a gigantic stature, the descendants of one...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Understand therefore this day,.... Or be it known to you for your encouragement, and believe it: that the Lord thy God [is] he which goeth over before thee as a consuming fire: did not only go before them over the river Jordan, in a pillar of cloud and fire, to guide and direct them, and was a wall of fire around them to protect and defend them,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Speak not thou in thine heart,.... Never once think within thyself, or give way to such a vain imagination, and please thyself with it: after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee; to make way for the Israelites, and put them into the possession of their land; which is to be ascribed not to them, but to the Lord: saying, for my...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart,.... Neither for their external righteousness before men, or their outward conformity to the law, nor for the inward sincerity of their hearts, and their upright intentions in doing good, in which they were defective: dost thou go to possess their land; this is repeated, and enlarged...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness,.... This is again repeated to impress it upon their minds, that it was not for any goodness of theirs, but as a gift of divine goodness to them, that they were put into the possession of the good land, which greatly exceeded any merits of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness,.... Aben Ezra remarks that this was after they journeyed from Horeb; but before they came thither, even as soon as, they were in the wilderness, they provoked the Lord, as by their murmuring for water at Marah, when they had been but three days in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath,.... The word "also" shows that they had provoked him before, but this instance is given as a very notorious one; here they made the golden calf and worshipped it, while Moses was on the mount with God, receiving instructions from him for their good. Near to this place a rock had been smitten for them,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone,.... The tables of the law, the same law which forbid idolatry, and which they had lately heard from the mouth of God himself: even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you; which they had agreed unto, and solemnly promised they would observe and do, Exodus 24:7, then...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone, written with the finger of God,.... The letters were of his devising and forming, the writing was his, the engraving them on the stones was his own doing; and which was done to show its original, to stamp a divine authority on it, and to denote its duration; see Exodus 31:18 and on them was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights,.... The time of Moses's stay in the mount, when it was just up, and not before: that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, [even] the tables of the covenant, as in Deuteronomy 9:9. Aben Ezra observes, that this shows that the day the tables were given to Moses the calf was made.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto me,.... The omniscient God, who knew what was doing in the camp of Israel, though Moses did not, of which he informs him: arise, get thee down quickly from hence; from the mount where he was; and the word "arise" does not suppose him to be sitting or lying along, neither of which postures would have been suitable,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying,.... After he had given him the two tables, and before his departure from the mount: I have seen this people; took notice of them, their ways, and their works: and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people; unwilling to submit to, and bear the yoke of my commandments; see Exodus 32:9.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let me alone, that I may destroy them,.... Do not say one word to me on their behalf, or entreat me to spare them, and not destroy them: and blot out their name from under heaven; that no such nation may be heard of, or known by the name of Israel: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they; of his family, whereby the Lord's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So I turned and came down from the mount,.... As the Lord commanded: and the mount burned with fire; as it had for six weeks past, ever since the Lord's descent upon it; and so it continued, for the words may be rendered, "and the mount was burning" (b); and yet this did not deter the Israelites from idolatry: and the two tables of the covenant...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I looked,.... When he was come down from the mount, and was nigh the camp: and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God; that plainly appeared by what they had done, and at which he was amazed; and therefore a behold is prefixed to it, it being such a gross sin, having so much impiety and ingratitude, and stupidity in it: and made you...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands,.... In wrath and indignation at the sin they were guilty of: and brake them before your eyes; as an emblem of their breach of them by transgressing them.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I fell down before the Lord,.... In prayer for Israel who had sinned; but this he did not immediately after he had broken the tables, but when he had first ground the calf to powder, strewed it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it; and when he had chided Aaron, and ordered the sons of Levi to slay every man his brother: as at...