Israel's Rebellion
Deuteronomy 9, verse 1. “Hear, O Israel, You are to cross over the Jordan today and go in to inherit nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, Deuteronomy 9, verse 2. a people, great and large and tall, the sons of Anak, whom you know and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand against the face of the sons of Anak?’ Deuteronomy 9, verse 3. Therefore understand today, the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and turn them from your face; and you will destroy them, as the Lord said to you. Deuteronomy 9, verse 4. Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God consumes these nations before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord brought me in to inherit this good land’; but because of the ungodliness of these nations, the Lord will destroy them before your face. Deuteronomy 9, verse 5. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to inherit their land, but because of the ungodliness of these nations, the Lord will destroy them before your face, that He may establish His covenant He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Deuteronomy 9, verse 6. Thus you will know today, the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to inherit because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. Deuteronomy 9, verse 7. Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the desert. From the day you came out of Egypt until you came into this land, you continued being disobedient to the Lord. Deuteronomy 9, verse 8. Also in Horeb you provoked the Lord, and the Lord was angry enough with you to destroy you, Deuteronomy 9, verse 9. when I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant the Lord established with you; and I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. Deuteronomy 9, verse 10. Then the Lord delivered two tablets of stone to me, written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words the Lord spoke to you on the mountain, in the day of the assembly. Deuteronomy 9, verse 11. And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Deuteronomy 9, verse 12. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people you brought out of Egypt have acted lawlessly; they turned aside quickly from the way I commanded them; they made themselves a molten image.’ Deuteronomy 9, verse 13. Furthermore, the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘I told you once and twice, I see this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. Deuteronomy 9, verse 14. Let Me destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger and larger than they.’ Deuteronomy 9, verse 15. “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets were in my two hands. Deuteronomy 9, verse 16. Then I looked, and you had sinned against the Lord your God and made for yourselves a molten image. You turned aside quickly from the way the Lord commanded you. Deuteronomy 9, verse 17. Then I took the two tablets and threw them down with my two hands, and broke them before you. Deuteronomy 9, verse 18. And I prayed before the Lord a second time, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sins you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him. Deuteronomy 9, verse 19. For I was afraid because of the anger and the wrath, for the Lord was provoked by you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at this time also. Deuteronomy 9, verse 20. The Lord was also very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; so I also prayed for Aaron at that time. Deuteronomy 9, verse 21. Then I took the sin you committed, the calf you made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain. Deuteronomy 9, verse 22. “Also at the Burning and the Temptation and the Graves of Lust, you provoked the Lord your God to wrath. Deuteronomy 9, verse 23. Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and inherit the land I give you,’ then you disobeyed the word of the Lord your God, and you did not believe Him nor listen to His voice. Deuteronomy 9, verse 24. You were disobedient to the Lord from the day He became known to you. Deuteronomy 9, verse 25. “Thus I prayed before the Lord; forty days and forty nights I kept praying, because the Lord said He would destroy you. Deuteronomy 9, verse 26. Therefore, I prayed to God, and said, ‘O Lord, O Lord, O King of the gods, do not destroy Your people and Your portion You redeemed through Your great strength, whom You brought from the land of Egypt with Your great strength, Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm. Deuteronomy 9, verse 27. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself; do not look on the hardness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sins, Deuteronomy 9, verse 28. lest those who inhabit the land You brought us from should say, “Because the Lord was unable to bring them to the land He promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the desert.” Deuteronomy 9, verse 29. Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and outstretched arm.’