Bible Commentaries
Deuteronomy 9

Verses 1-29

Practical Exhortations (continued)

The rebellions and provocations of the wilderness are recalled, to show the people that it is not of their own merit that they are to inherit the promises, nor by their own strength that they are to dispossess the inhabitants of Canaan, but by the grace and power of God.

8. Also in Horeb] Even at Horeb, in view of those awe-inspiring tokens of the divine majesty, and at the very time when the Law was being promulgated, the people corrupted themselves: see Exodus 32 and notes.

9. I neither did eat bread nor drink water] In Exodus 34:28 this fact is recorded in connexion with the second writing of the Law.

17. And brake them] The action symbolised the breaking of the covenant through the sin of the people.

18. I fell down] i.e. in intercession: see on Numbers 16:4. The words as at the first refer probably to the intercession on the mount spoken of in Exodus 32:11: cp. Exodus 32:31.

22-24, giving other instances of the people’s rebellion, seem to be a parenthesis. Deuteronomy 9:25 takes up the thread of Deuteronomy 9:21.