9:1 Hear, O Israel: Thou [art] to pass over Jordan a this day,
to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than
thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
(a) Meaning shortly.
9:2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom
thou knowest, and [of whom] thou hast b heard [say], Who
can stand before the children of Anak!
9:3 Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God [is] he
which c goeth over before thee; [as] a consuming fire he
shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy
face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them
quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.
(c) To guide you and govern you.
9:4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God
hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my d
righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this
land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth
drive them out from before thee.
(d) Man by himself deserves nothing but God's anger, and
if God spares anyone it comes from his great mercy.
9:6 Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not
this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou
[art] a e stiffnecked people.
(e) Like stubborn oxen who will not endure their masters
yoke.
9:7 Remember, [and] forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy
God to wrath in the wilderness: f from the day that thou
didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto
this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.
(f) He proves by the length of time, that their rebellion
was great and intolerable.
9:10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written
with the g finger of God; and on them [was written]
according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you
in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the
assembly.
(g) That is, miraculously, and not by the hand of men.
9:12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly
from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth
out of Egypt have h corrupted [themselves]; they are
quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them;
they have made them a molten image.
(h) As soon as man declines from the obedience of God, his
ways are corrupt.
9:14i Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out
their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a
nation mightier and greater than they.
(i) Demonstrating that the prayers of the faithful are a
bar to restrain God's anger so that he does not consume
all.
9:16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD
your God, [and] had made you a molten calf: ye had turned
aside quickly out of the k way which the LORD had
commanded you.
(k) That is, from the Law: in which he declares what the
cause of our punishment is.
9:20 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have l
destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
(l) By which he shows the danger they are in who have
authority and do not resist wickedness.
9:21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt
it with fire, and stamped it, [and] ground [it] very small,
[even] until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust
thereof into the brook that descended out of the m mount.
(m) Horeb, or Sinai.
9:23 Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying,
Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye
n rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God,
and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.
(n) At the return of the spies.
9:25 Thus I fell down before the LORD o forty days and forty
nights, as I fell down [at the first]; because the LORD had
said he would destroy you.
(o) By which is signified that God requires earnest
continuance in prayer.
9:27p Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look
not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their
wickedness, nor to their sin:
(p) The godly in their prayers ground on God's promise, and
confess their sins.
