Deuteronomy 9:17-21

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 9:7-17

Human memory a repository of guilt. The memory of man is a book of God; and, though the entries may be temporarily obscured, yet the light of eternity will make them all legible. The present tendency of sin is to weaken memory; its effect, to obliterate recollection. Our profoundest gratitude is due to the man that reminds us of our falls. I. REMEMBER SIN IN THE LIGHT OF ITS OBJECT , VIZ . OF GOD . Discourtesy to a king is a graver offence than discourtesy to an... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 9:7-25

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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 9:7-29

Humiliating memories. Following up the idea of their waywardness, Moses proceeds to recall instances of it. The remembrance of sin is salutary, if it induces humiliation; but detrimental, if it induces a repetition of the sin. When assured of its forgiveness, we should forget it, so far as the remembrance would provoke repetition. Moses here recalls sin, that it may be salutary in the remembrance. I. THEIR REBELLION HAD BEEN CONTINUAL . ( Deuteronomy 9:7 , Deuteronomy 9:24... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 9:8-22

The sin at Horeb. Moses dwells on this sin, alike as memorable in itself, and as illustrating the proposition that the people had again and again forfeited their covenant standing by their acts of disobedience. I. THE ENORMITY OF THIS SIN . 1. It was a sin committed immediately after solemn covenant with God ( Deuteronomy 9:9 ). The transactions recorded in Exodus 24:3-9 were not yet forty days old. The people had literally heard God speaking to them. They had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 9:13-29

True greatness manifested in a great emergency, by self-sacrifice and intercession. As were marked in the previous Homily, these incidents can only be rightly arranged by a preacher, for the purpose of preaching thereon, so far as the entire narrative is before his view. Hence a junction of this paragraph with Exodus 32:1-35 , is imperative, and will here be taken for granted. There would seem to have been a compilation of several documents. It is not easy to gather therefrom, with... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 9:17

Moses cast from him the two tables of stone on which God had inscribed the words of the Law, and broke them in pieces in the view of the people, when he came down from the mount and saw how they had turned aside from the right way, and were become idolaters. This was not the effect of a burst of indignation on his part; it was a solemn declaration that the covenant of God with his people had been nullified and broken by their sinful apostasy. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 9:18-20

Moses interceded with God for the people before he came down from the mount ( Exodus 22:11 , etc.); but this he passes over here, merely referring to it in the words, "as at the first," and makes special mention only of a subsequent intercession, that mentioned in Exodus 34:28 . In the account in Exodus nothing is said of Moses interceding for Aaron specially, as well as for the people generally; but prominence is given to this here, "not only that he might make the people thoroughly aware... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 9:18-29

The place of human mediation. The best men have always desired to intercede for the bad. True holiness is benevolent. I. MEDIATION CONCERNS ITSELF WITH THE INTERESTS OF BOTH PARTIES . Moses had at heart the honor of God—the maintenance of his just rule, while he also identified himself with the well-being of the Hebrews. If there be, on the part of the mediator, a leaning to the interests of the one party rather than the other, his office will fail. One party or both... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 9:18

I fell down before the Lord, as at the first - Moses interceded for the people before he came down from the mountain the first time Exodus 32:11-13. This intercession is only briefly alluded to in this verse. Afterward he spent another 40 days on the mountain in fasting and prayer to obtain a complete restitution of the covenant Exodus 34:28. It is this second forty days, and the intercession of Moses made therein (compare Exodus 34:9), that is more particularly brought forward here and in... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 9:20

Israel could not even boast that its heads and representatives continued, faithful. Aaron had been already designated for the high priestly functions; but he fell away with the rest of the people. It was due therefore solely to the grace of God and the intercession of Moses that Aaron himself and his promised priesthood with him were not cut off; just as at a later time, when Aaron had actually to die for a new sin Israel owed it still to the same causes that Eleazar was substituted and the... read more

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