Deuteronomy 9:7

Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Remember, and forget not.—More abruptly in the original, “Remember—do not forget—how thou hast stirred the indignation of Jehovah.”

Rebellious.—Not simply rebels, as Moses called them (in Numbers 20:10) at Meribah, but provoking rebels—rebels who rouse the opposition of Him against whom they rebel.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:7. Stiff-necked — Rebellious and perverse, and so destitute of all pretence to righteousness. And thus our gaining possession of the heavenly Canaan must be ascribed to God’s power and grace, and not to our own might or merit. In him we must glory, and not in ourselves.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly - This is not inconsistent with Deuteronomy 7:22, in which instant annihilation is not to be expected for the reasons assigned. Here Moses urges the people to trust in God's covenanted aid; since He would then make no delay in so destroying the nations attacked by them as to put them into enjoyment of the promises, and in doing so as fast as was for the well-being of Israel itself.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord—To dislodge from their minds any presumptuous idea of their own righteousness, Moses rehearses their acts of disobedience and rebellion committed so frequently, and in circumstances of the most awful and impressive solemnity, that they had forfeited all claims to the favor of God. The candor and boldness with which he gave, and the patient submission with which the people bore, his recital of charges so discreditable to their national character, has often been appealed to as among the many evidences of the truth of this history.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 wilderness; and for bread in the wilderness of Sin, and for water again at Rephidim; all which were before they came to Horeb or Sinai, and which agrees with what follows:

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; though they had such a series of mercies, yet their life was a continued course of rebellion against the Lord: which is a sad character of them indeed, and given by one that thoroughly knew them, was an eyewitness of facts, and had a hearty respect for them too, and cannot be thought to exaggerate things; so that they were far from being righteous persons in themselves, nor was there any reason to conclude it was for their righteousness the land of Canaan was given them.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. Remember, forget thou not] More musical without the intervening and which Sam. inserts.

thou provokedst … to wrath] See on Deuteronomy 1:34.

7b. It is in this clause that the Sg. form of address ceases and the Pl. begins, to continue up to Deuteronomy 10:9 or 11. Coincidently exhortation is replaced by a historical retrospect: a retrospect similar to the discourse in chs. 1–3, not merely by being couched in the Pl. as that also is, but by other features of its style and by its dependence (even more full and literal) on JE. With no reference to the P narrative with which the JE has been interlaced, Exodus 24:12-18 it is supplementary to 1–3 for it gives an account of the legislation at Ḥoreb, which that discourse lacks. On these grounds the section has been assigned to the same author as 1–3 (Horst, Bertholet, etc.); while Steuern. takes it as the continuation of the Pl. discourse in ch. 5, and as having originally formed with that the introduction to the Law Code by the writer who used the PL address throughout (see Introd.). On this compare supplementary note at the end of the section; and for possible additions especially in Deuteronomy 9:10-14 see the separate notes. Driver, Deut. 112, gives a comparative table of the section and the corresponding passages in JE on which it is based. Notice how the divine title is given simply as Jehovah without the usual deuteronomic addition thy God (nowhere except in Deuteronomy 9:16; Deuteronomy 9:23). The style of the section is instructive both as to the way in which the original deuteronomic writer expanded JE and subsequent editors made further expansion by the addition of deuteronomic formulas.

Sam. and LXX differ from Heb. as to where the Pl. begins, reading ye went forth for thou wentest forth: possibly original, the Heb. Sg. being due to the omission of a consonant before its double in the next word1[128]; and the transition being more likely just here. Whether Deuteronomy 9:7 b and even Deuteronomy 9:8 as Steuern. supposes are from the hand of the editor who joined the originally separate sections is uncertain. Notice in Deuteronomy 9:7 b, Deuteronomy 9:8 phrases which like the rest of this Pl. section recall chs. 1–3.

[128] Does the Pasaḳ in the Massoretic text indicate a lost letter?

until ye came unto this place] Deuteronomy 1:31.

ye have been rebellious against Jehovah] been acting rebellion (part. with auxil. verb: a frequent constr. in Deut.) with (i.e. in your dealings with) Jehovah. The same constr. Deuteronomy 9:24, Deuteronomy 31:27. A different constr. of same verb Deuteronomy 1:26 q.v.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 7-25. - Moses reminds them of many instances of their rebelliousness by which they had provoked the Lord, from the time of their escape out of Egypt until their arrival in the plains of Moab. Their rebellion began even before they had wholly escaped from their oppressors, before they had passed through the Bed Sea (Exodus 14:11). Even at Horeb, where, amid the most affecting manifestations alike of the Divine majesty and the Divine grace, just after the Lord had spoken to them directly out of the fire, and whilst Moses had gone up to receive the tables of the Law, on which the covenant of God with Israel was based, and whilst that covenant was being struck, they had sinned so grievously as to make to themselves a molten image, which they worshipped with idolatrous rites (Exodus 31:18-32:6; cf. Deuteronomy 24:12, etc.). Deuteronomy 9:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He reminded the people how they had provoked the Lord in the desert, and had shown themselves rebellious against God, from the day of their departure from Egypt till their arrival in the steppes of Moab. את־אשׁר, for אשׁר, is the object to תּשׁכּח (Ewald, 333, a.): "how thou hast provoked." המרה, generally with את־פּי (cf. Deuteronomy 1:26), to be rebellious against the commandment of the Lord: here with עם, construed with a person, to deal rebelliously with God, to act rebelliously in relation to Him (cf. Deuteronomy 31:27). The words "from the day that thou camest out," etc., are not to be pressed. It is to be observed, however, that the rebellion against the guidance of God commenced before they passed through the Red Sea (Exodus 14:11). This general statement Moses then followed up with facts, first of all describing the worship of the calf at Horeb, according to its leading features (Deuteronomy 9:8-21), and then briefly pointing to the other rebellions of the people in the desert (Deuteronomy 9:22, Deuteronomy 9:23).