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<h2><a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,'all');">Deu 9</a> - The Battles Ahead and the Failures Behind</h2>
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<p>A. Considering the battles ahead.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,'1-2');">1-2</a>) <span>The</span> difficulty of the battles ahead.</p>
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<p class="c2">Hear, O Israel: You <i>are </i>to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and <i>of whom </i>you heard <i>it said, </i>"Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?"</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself</span></b>: God was leading Israel into something too big for them. It was a challenge they could only meet if they trusted in God.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Cities great and fortified up to heaven</span></b>: The cities they would battle against were mighty and the people they would battle against were <b><span class="c3">great and tall</span></b>. Yet God had called them to enter into this seemingly impossible battle.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. There was no way Israel could do this in the flesh, or on their strength. God commanded them to do something that was just beyond their ability to do in themselves.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Obviously, God did not inspire Israel with a false sense of confidence or hype. He wanted them to realistically know what the battle ahead would be like.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. In the same way, Jesus never calls us with hype or false promises that would lead to false confidence. He plainly says, <i>If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',16,24);">Mat 16:24</a>) Jesus let us know right from the beginning that following Him would require giving God everything.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,3);">3</a>) <span>Why</span> victory is possible with the difficult battles ahead.</p>
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<p class="c2">Therefore understand today that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> your God <i>is </i>He who goes over before you <i>as </i>a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the <span class="c6">Lord</span> has said to you.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Understand today</span></b>: Just as much as Israel had to understand the impossibility of the battle on their own, they also must understand the <i>certainty</i> of victory in the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">The <span class="c6">Lord</span> your God is He who goes before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them</span></b>: It was a battle too big for Israel, but not too big for the <span class="c6">Lord</span>. Israel could know both facts: That in themselves, the job was impossible (<i>without Me you can do nothing</i>, <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',15,5);">Jhn 15:5</a>), but in God the battle could <i>not</i> be lost (<i>I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me</i>, <a onclick="return mV('Phl',4,13);">Phl 4:13</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">He will destroy them</span></b>: God was also calling Israel to a <i>partnership</i> in winning the battles. <b><i><span class="c3">He</span></i><span class="c3"> will destroy them</span></b> does not contradict <b><i><span class="c3">you</span></i><span class="c3"> shall quickly drive them out and destroy them quickly</span></b>. Was God going to do it, or was Israel going to do it? Both, really - God was calling Israel to <i>workers together with Him</i> (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',6,1);">2Cr 6:1</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Destroy them quickly</span></b>: God did not want the Israelites to show mercy to the Canaanites. He wanted Israel to be a unique army of judgment against the Canaanites and their culture, which was so depraved that it deserved this kind of judgment. </p>
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<p class="c5">i. Archaeologist William F. Albright, in his book <i>From the Stone Age to Christianity</i>, describes what the primary focus of Canaanite religion was: sex. The featured idols recovered by archaeologists are hundreds of nude female forms in sexually suggestive forms, as well as male idols associated with homosexual cults (<i>From the Stone Age to Christianity</i>, pages 232-235).</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "Thus the Canaanites, with their orgiastic nature-worship, their cult of fertility in the form of serpent symbols and sensuous nudity, and their gross mythology, <span>were</span> replaced by Israel." (Albright, page 281).</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,'4-6');">4-6</a>) <span>The</span> danger of pride when the <span class="c6">Lord</span> gives them victory.</p>
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<p class="c2">Do not think in your heart, after the <span class="c6">Lord</span> your God has cast them out before you, saying, "Because of my righteousness the <span class="c6">Lord</span> has brought me in to possess this land"; but <i>it is </i>because of the wickedness of these nations <i>that </i>the <span class="c6">Lord</span> is driving them out from before you. <i>It is </i>not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart <i>that </i>you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations <i>that </i>the <span class="c6">Lord</span> your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the <span class="c6">Lord</span> swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you <i>are </i>a stiff-necked people.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Do not think in your heart</span></b>: Israel's temptation to pride did not come in something they would actually say. Long before we will say proud words we think proud thoughts in our heart. Therefore Israel must not think in their heart that it was because of their <b><span class="c3">righteousness</span></b> that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> has given them the land.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. This is a preview of salvation by grace through faith, in which we cannot think that it is our righteousness that has obtained it. Instead, it is the righteousness we have received in Jesus Christ.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. When we receive any gift from God, we are tempted to take it and use it to glorify ourselves. Israel must not do this in regard to the gift of the Promised Land, and we must not do it in regard to any gift the <span class="c6">Lord</span> would give us.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. Sayings or proverbs of the ancient world reflect man's desire to <i>earn</i> his own righteousness and justification before God. "I will not have heaven for nothing" said one, and another said "Give me heaven, for Thou owe it to me." The same idea is expressed in an old Roman Catholic teaching that dying men should pray, "<span class="c6">Lord</span>, join my righteousness with Christ's righteousness" as if the two together could accomplish something. Instead, we look to the righteousness of Jesus alone.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">For you are a stiff-necked people</span></b>: The idea is that Israel, like a rebellious domestic animal, would stiffen its neck against the yoke God would put upon it. They would not submit to God's direction in their life.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <b><span class="c3">Stiff-necked</span></b> "is a figurative expression for stubborn, intractable, obdurate, and hardheaded." (Kalland)</p>
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<p>B. The stiff-necked character of Israel is demonstrated in their past failures.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,7);">7</a>) A call to remember their past rebellions.</p>
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<p class="c2">Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the <span class="c6">Lord</span> your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Remember and do not forget</span></b>: God's purpose in reminding Israel of their rebellions against Him was not to discourage them or to make them feel defeated. The purpose was so that they would recognize their own weakness and trust in Him.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">You have been rebellious against the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>: The same idea is communicated in the New Testament at <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',10,12);">1Cr 10:12</a>: T<i>herefore let him who things he stands take heed lest he fall</i>. When we remember our sinful nature, we walk in the poverty of spirit Jesus said was essential to a life of blessing (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',5,3);">Mat 5:3</a>).</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,'8-21');">8-21</a>) Remembering the rebellion at Mount Horeb.</p>
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<p class="c2">Also in Horeb you provoked the <span class="c6">Lord</span> to wrath, so that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was angry <i>enough </i>with you to have destroyed you. When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the <span class="c6">Lord</span> made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. Then the <span class="c6">Lord</span> delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them <i>were </i>all the words which the <span class="c6">Lord</span> had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, <i>that </i>the <span class="c6">Lord</span> gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the <span class="c6">Lord</span> said to me, "Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molded image." Furthermore the <span class="c6">Lord</span> spoke to me, saying, "I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they." So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant <i>were </i>in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the <span class="c6">Lord</span> your God; had made for yourselves a molded calf! You had turned aside quickly from the way which the <span class="c6">Lord</span> had commanded you. Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. And I fell down before the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, to provoke Him to anger. <span>For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was angry with you, to destroy you.</span> But the <span class="c6">Lord</span> listened to me at that time also. And the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was very angry with Aaron <i>and </i>would have destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it <i>and </i>ground <i>it </i>very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Also in Horeb you provoked the <span class="c6">Lord</span> to wrath</span></b>: This recalls the events at Mount Sinai, where Israel worshipped a golden calf when Moses was gone a long time on Mount Sinai, receiving the law from the <span class="c6">Lord</span> (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',19,'1-25');">Exd 19-32</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Written with the finger of God</span></b>: The original tablets of the law Moses received on Mount Sinai were actually written by God Himself, and contained the Ten Commandments (<b><span class="c3">all the words which the <span class="c6">Lord</span> had spoken to you on the mount from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly</span></b>, found in <a onclick="return mV('Exd',20,'all');">Exd 20</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they</span></b>: God told Moses of His desire to wipe out Israel in judgment, and to start over again with a new nation, descended from Moses himself.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">The mountain burned with fire</span></b>: The burning fires on Mount Sinai were physical representations of the glory of God and His holy presence. The mountain began to burn when Israel first came to Mount Sinai (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',19,18);">Exd 19:18</a>). Those fires had burned for 40 straight days, and they burned <i>at the very time</i> Israel made a golden calf and began to worship it.</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes</span></b>: Moses broke the tablets, "Not by an unbridled passion, but in zeal for God's honour, and by direction of God's Spirit, to signify to the people, that the covenant between God and them contained in those tables was broken and made void, and they were now quite cast out of God's favor, and could expect nothing from him but fiery indignation and severe justice." (Poole)</p>
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<p class="c4">f. <b><span class="c3">For I was afraid</span></b>: The Hebrew word here is a rare word, translated in the Septuagint by the strong word <i>ekphobos</i>, which means "exceedingly frightened" or "stricken with terror." When he saw the sin of Israel and knew the holiness of God, Moses was <i>very</i> afraid for the sake of the people of Israel.</p>
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<p class="c4">g. <b><span class="c3">I prayed for Aaron also</span></b>: Aaron's sin, detailed in <a onclick="return mV('Exd',32,'all');">Exd 32</a>, was so bad, that he surely would have been destroyed by the <span class="c6">Lord</span> - except Moses prayed for him. This shows both the prevailing power of Moses' prayer and the great love in the heart of Moses.</p>
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<p class="c4">h. <b><span class="c3">Burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small</span></b>: Moses burnt the idol, ground it up, and sprinkled it in the people's drinking water for three reasons. </p><ul class="c6"><li>To show this god was nothing and could be destroyed easily</li><li>To completely obliterate this idol</li><li>To make the people pay an immediate consequence of their sin</li></ul>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,'22-24');">22-24</a>) Parenthesis: remembering the rebellions at Taberah, Massah, Kibroth Hattaavah, and Kadesh Barnea.</p>
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<p class="c2">Also at Taberah and Massah and Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the <span class="c6">Lord</span> to wrath. Likewise, when the <span class="c6">Lord</span> sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, "Go up and possess the land which I have given you," then you rebelled against the commandment of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> your <span>God,</span> and you did not believe Him nor obey His voice. You have been rebellious against the <span class="c6">Lord</span> from the day that I knew you.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Also at Taberah</span></b>: The name <b><span class="c3">Taberah</span></b> means "burning," and in <a onclick="return mV('Num',11,'all');">Num 11</a>, when the people of Israel first left Mount Sinai to head towards Kadesh Barnea and the Promised Land, they immediately complained and God sent fires of judgment against them at a place they called <b><span class="c3">Taberah</span></b> because of the burning fires of God's judgment.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">And Massah</span></b>: <a onclick="return mV('Exd',17,7);">Exd 17:7</a> describes the naming of a place called <b><span class="c3">Massah</span></b>, which means "tempted," because there Israel provoked the <span class="c6">Lord</span> by doubting His loving care and concern for them in the wilderness.</p>
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<p class="c4"><span>c</span>. <b><span class="c3">Kibroth Hattaavah</span></b>: The name means "graves of craving" and was the place where Israel longed for meat instead of manna, and God gave them meat. However, it became plagued in the mouths of those with greedy and discontent hearts (described in <a onclick="return mV('Num',11,'all');">Num 11</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">When the <span class="c6">Lord</span> sent you from Kadesh Barnea</span></b>: Moses briefly remembered the rebellion at <b><span class="c3">Kadesh Barnea</span></b>, where Israel doubted God's love for them and refused to enter the Promised Land by faith - rebelling against the <span class="c6">Lord</span> (<a onclick="return mV('Num',13,'1-14');">Num 13-14</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">You did not believe Him nor obey His voice</span></b>: Israel's disobedience to God began with their unbelief. They did not believe God loved them and was mighty enough to bring them into the Promised Land.</p>
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<p class="c1">4. (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,'25-29');">25-29</a>) Moses' prayer of intercession for Israel when they rebelled at Mount Horeb.</p>
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<p class="c2">Thus I prostrated myself before the <span class="c6">Lord</span>; forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself, because the <span class="c6">Lord</span> had said He would destroy you. Therefore I prayed to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, and said: "O Lord <span class="c6">God</span>, do not destroy <span>Your</span> people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which You brought us should say, 'Because the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.' Yet they <i>are </i><span>Your</span> people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm."</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Therefore I prayed to the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>: This great prayer of intercession from Moses is described more fully in <a onclick="return mV('Exd',32,'all');">Exd 32</a>. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God's past faithfulness to them (<b><span class="c3">whom <span>You</span> have redeemed</span></b>).</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Remember <span>Your</span> servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob</span></b>: Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God's past faithfulness to the patriarchs.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Lest the land from which <span>You</span> brought us should say, "Because the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was not able"</span></b>: Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of concern for the glory of God's own name and His reputation among the nations.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Your people...Your inheritance...You brought out...Your mighty power...Your outstretched arm</span></b>: Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because they were God's people.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. We can seek the mercy and power of God through prayer by praying with the same heart and by pleading the same reasons before the <span class="c6">Lord</span>. Prayer on solid reasons like these is far more effective than merely casting wishes up towards heaven.</p><ul class="c6"><li>Because of God's past faithfulness to us</li><li>Because of His past faithfulness to our forefathers</li><li>Because of His own glory and reputation among the nations</li><li>Because we are His people</li></ul>
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<p class="c5">ii. Keeping these things in mind is also a way to refine our prayers. When we pray only for the things consistent with God's glory, we have our hearts set on the right things.</p>
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