Deuteronômio 9
David Guzik · Citado em PreceptAustin
Deuteronômio 9
Guzik - God was leading Israel into something too big for them. It was a challenge they could only meet if they trusted in God. (Deuteronomy 9)
Deuteronômio 9
Guzik - Israel could know both facts: That in themselves, the job was impossible (without Me you can do nothing, John 15:5), but in God the battle could not be lost (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Philippians 4;13). (Deuteronomy 9) Destroy (demolish, exterminate, annihilate)(Lxx = exolethreuo = utterly destroyed) (08045)(shamad) is a verb meaning "be destroyed, decimated, perished, overthrown, exterminated, i.e., pertaining to being in a totally ruined state, which can include death of a person or extinction of an entity." (Swanson) The destruction depicted by shamad usually involves a rather sudden catastrophe such as warfare or a mass killing. For example in Dt 6:15 God says He will "wipe" Israel off the face of the earth, so great was His anger against them! Many of the uses of shamad have God as the subject rendering the destruction, sometimes against Israel's enemies, sometimes threatening Israel herself or Aaron her priest. Nearly four-fifths of the occurrences of שָׁמַד carry a heavy theological load since they are in contexts where God is the immediate or implied subject. Extermination comes upon a nation or class of people because they have fallen under the judgment of God. Two-thirds of the theological uses occur in Deut. The OT authors have appropriated the word as indicating what God will do or did to the nations that inhabited the land of Canaan. Deut 7:23–24 is typical. The inhabitants had to be annihilated because of their abominations, lest Israel learn their ways and abandon God. Shamad in Deuteronomy - Deut. 1:27; Deut. 2:12; Deut. 2:21; Deut. 2:22; Deut. 2:23; Deut. 4:3; Deut. 4:26; Deut. 6:15; Deut. 7:4; Deut. 7:23; Deut. 7:24; Deut. 9:3; Deut. 9:8; Deut. 9:14; Deut. 9:19; Deut. 9:20; Deut. 9:25; Deut. 12:30; Deut. 28:20; Deut. 28:24; Deut. 28:45; Deut. 28:48; Deut. 28:51; Deut. 28:61; Deut. 28:63; Deut. 31:3; Deut. 31:4; Deut. 33:27 So that (purpose) you may drive (yarash) them out and destroy them quickly - Israel's responsibility is clearly stated and would be a belief (faith) in God's promise to destroy and subdue the enemy which they would drive out and destroy. In summary, God had prepared the enemy for Israel and to drive them out and destroy them was Israel's responsibility, which we see in the book of Judges was only partially accomplished. As Guzik asks "Was God going to do it, or was Israel going to do it? Both, really – God was calling Israel to workers together with Him (2 Corinthians 6:1)." Guzik - Archaeologist William F. Albright, in his book From the Stone Age to Christianity, 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 (From the Stone Age to Christianity, pages 232-235).. “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, were replaced by Israel.” (Deuteronomy 9) Pulpit Commentary on destroy them quickly - There is no contradiction here of what is said in Deuteronomy 7:22; for there the reference is to the possession of the land by Israel, here it is to the destruction which was to come on the Canaanites — the former was to be by degrees, the latter was to come suddenly and overwhelmingly (Deuteronomy 9) Perish (Lxx = apollumi = ruined) (06)(abad) is a verb meaning to perish, to be destroyed, to be ruined, to be lost, to in a state of ruin and destruction pertaining to an object, including the death (Ex 10:7). The perishing and destruction can refer to a wide variety of things, usually in the context of judgment: Abad in Deuteronomy - Deut. 4:26; Deut. 7:10; Deut. 7:20; Deut. 7:24; Deut. 8:19; Deut. 8:20; Deut. 9:3; Deut. 11:4; Deut. 11:17; Deut. 12:2; Deut. 12:3; Deut. 22:3; Deut. 26:5; Deut. 28:20; Deut. 28:22; Deut. 28:51; Deut. 28:63; Deut. 30:18; Deut. 32:28; Just as the LORD has spoken to you - God is faithful to keep His promises, promises like those below in Exodus 23... Exodus 23:23+ “For My angel (IS THIS THE Angel of the LORD) will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them. Exodus 23:27+ “I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. Norman Geisler - DEUTERONOMY 9:3—Were the Canaanites destroyed quickly or slowly? PROBLEM: This verse claims the Canaanites were destroyed “quickly” (maher), but an earlier passages (Deut. 7:22+) said it would not be quickly, but “little by little.” SOLUTION: There are two different ways to understand this. First, it may be an example where the same term is applied to the same thing in different senses. It was quick, relative to the magnitude of the work, but slow with regard to the rate of their occupation. Or, it may be referring to two different things in the same basic sense. The initial victories were rapid, but mop-up activity took much longer. They conquered the land in a short time, but they occupied it much more slowly. The major battles did not take long, but all the subsequent minor skirmishes took some time. (When Critics Ask) God as Consuming Fire - Fire, which (the apocryphal) Ecclesiasticus 39:26 groups with water, iron, salt, flour, milk, honey, wine, oil and clothing as a basic necessity, is the servant of human beings. It cooks their food (Ex 12:8; Is 44:15–16; Jn 21:9), makes them warm (Is 44:15; Jn 18:18) and gives them light to see (Is 50:11; Mt 25:1–13). It can be part of a manufacturing process (Gen 11:3) and can refine metals (Is 1:25; Mal 3:2–3). It also burns refuse (Lev 8:17). Because starting a fire is work (cf. 2 Macc 10:3), it is p 287 prohibited on the sabbath (Ex 35:3). But fire, which can terrify as well as benefit, is also an instrument of warfare. Throughout the Bible many battles end with the victors (sometimes at God’s command) burning down the city of the losers (e.g., Josh 6:24; 8:8; 11:11; Judg 1:8; 1 Kings 9:16; cf. Mt 22:7). This is why war itself or its fury can be likened to, or spoken of, as fire (Num 21:28; Is 10:16; Zech 12:6). Fire can be the instrument of execution for criminals (Gen 38:24; Lev 20:14; 21:9; Josh 7:15; cremation is otherwise not practiced in the Bible; see Crime and Punishment). So it is in Daniel 3, where rescue from fire is a miracle (cf. Heb 11:34). Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, although thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, survive the ordeal without harm. The event causes the pagan king to bless the Hebrews’ God and to promote the three youths. Unlike Greek mythology, the Bible has nothing to say about the origin of fire. But this very silence compels readers to presume fire to be one of the gifts of creation. Already Abel brings fat portions of his firstlings to sacrifice (Gen 4:4), implying a burnt offering. (Incidentally, although Genesis 4:4–5 does not inform us how Cain and Abel recognize that God has regard for the sacrifice of Able but not of Cain, commentators have long speculated that, as in other OT stories, divine fire burns up one offering but not the other.) Religious Uses. Beyond the common secular uses, people also used fire for religious purposes. In Numbers 31:22–23, for instance, fire is an instrument of ceremonial purification. More importantly, sacrifices—not just “burnt offerings”—are typically burned (cf. Lev 2:2, etc.). Perhaps we should find here a symbol: the fire represents God’s desire to destroy sin and to purify his people (cf. Is 6:6–7). Moreover, the smoke from fire rises, which is an appropriate indication of the symbolic movement of sacrifice: the offerer on earth is seeking to communicate with God in heaven (cf. incense and prayer ascending to heaven, Rev 8:4; Phil 4:18). The practice of burning offerings is not confined to Israel. The OT refers, for example, to the sacrificial burning of children by pagans and apostate Jews (e.g. Lev 18:21; Deut 18:10; 2 Kings 16:3; 17:17; 21:6; 23:10; Jer 7:31; 32:35). Several of these refer to the cult of Molech and use the phrase “make their sons and daughters pass through the fire” (RSV). Reference is also made to “strange” or “unholy” fire, which seems to involve fire taken from elsewhere than the official altar. According to Leviticus 6:8–13 the fire on the altar of burnt offering should be ever-burning: the priests must not allow it to go out. It is a sign of God’s continual presence. Theophany of Fire. In Genesis 15:17 the presence of God appears as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, and in Exodus 3:2 God makes himself known to Moses “in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (RSV; see Burning Bush). This association of God with fire runs throughout the Bible. God descends upon Mount Sinai “in fire” in Exodus 19:18. (That there is thunder encourages one to think of the lightning; but that there is smoke and a mountain moves one to envisage a volcano; cf. 2 Sam 22:8–9.) When Ezekiel tries to describe the indescribable—that is, the form on the divine throne—he says, “Upward from what had the appearance of his loins I saw as it were gleaming bronze, like the appearance of fire enclosed round about; and downward from what had the appearance of his loins I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him” (Ezek 1:27 RSV). In Revelation 4:5 lightning flashes from God’s throne. Often the imagery of God’s appearance is clearly that of a thunderstorm, and the fire that is mentioned must be akin to lightning. In Psalm 18:14 (a battle theophany), lightning flashes are God’s arrows (cf. Ps 144:6). Psalm 29:7 says that “the voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness” (RSV). In Ezekiel 1:4 the prophet sees “a storm wind” come “out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness round about it, and fire flashing forth continually” (RSV). That God should appear as fire is appropriate for many reasons. Just as all physical life depends on the fire that is the sun (cf. Rev 16:8), so does all spiritual life depend on God. Just as fire both purifies and destroys, so does God purify the righteous and destroy the wicked (“for our God is a consuming fire,” Heb 12:29 RSV). Just as fire lights up the blackness of night, so does God overcome the dark powers of evil. Just as fire is mysterious and immaterial, so too is God enigmatic and incorporeal. And just as fire is always flickering and changing its shape and cannot be held for examination, so is God always the indefinable who is beyond our grasp. (It is striking that in 1 Kings 19:12, in the revelation on Horeb [= Sinai] to Elijah, God is not in the fire as he is for Moses on Sinai, but in the silence. Here God, against expectation, dissociates himself from a traditional constituent of the theophany. He need bind himself to no natural element.) If God himself appears as fire, so do the things around him. His throne is “fiery flames,” its wheels “burning fire” (Dan 7:9). His angelic servants are “flames of fire” (Heb 1:7, quoting LXX Ps 104:4; and Lk 10:18, the devil as lightning or a meteor). Between the cherubim are fire and coals of fire (Ezek 10:2, 6–7). Before God’s throne is a “sea of glass mingled with fire” (Rev 15:2; cf. 1 Kings 7:23; 2 Chron 4:2), and from before God issues a “stream of fire” (Dan 7:10). The “seven spirits of God” are “torches of fire” (Rev 4:5). Heavenly chariots are made of fire (2 Kings 2:11; 6:17). Even the eyes of the glorified Jesus and other heavenly creatures are like flames of fire (Dan 10:6; Rev 1:14; 2:18). In Acts 2:3–4 the Holy Spirit too is associated with fire (“tongues as of fire”; cf. Is 5:24). Fire from God. During the exodus God makes a pillar of fire to lead his people in the wilderness. p 288 The pillar is the outward sign of God’s guiding presence (Ex 12:21; Num 14:14); the same presence covers the tabernacle (Num 9:15–16). But it is much more typical for supernatural fires to be destructive. Fire falls from heaven and consumes Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24), Nadah and Abihu (who conduct improper ritual, Lev 10:1–2), murmuring Israelites (Num 11:1), soldiers of Ahaziah (2 Kings 1:10; cf. Lk 9:54), Job’s flocks (Job 1:16), and Gog and Magog (Rev 20:9; cf. Ezek 38:22; 39:6). Sometimes the image is of something like lightning (e.g., Ex 9:24; Num 11:1); other times one thinks rather of a volcanic eruption (e.g., Sodom and Gomorrah). Fire also occasionally falls not to consume the wicked but to consume a sacrifice, a circumstance that shows God’s reality and approval (Lev 9:24; Judg 6:21; 1 Kings 18:24: “the God who answers by fire, he is God” [RSV]; 1 Chron 21:26; 2 Chron 7:1; Lk 9:54: “do you want us to bid fire to come down from heaven?” RSV). In Revelation 13:13 making fire fall from heaven is a “great sign,” yet something that the eschatological false prophet can nevertheless do. God’s Wrath and Eschatological Fire. In what seems to us to be bold anthropomorphism, God’s anger burns like a fire (Hos 8:5). It is hot, and he pours it out like fire (Nahum 1:6; cf. Lam 2:4). Isaiah 66:15 (God comes in fire to “render his anger in fury”) and Jeremiah 15:14 (God says, “in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever”; cf. 17:4) are typical. Prophecies of destruction by fire are often simply figurative ways of saying that God’s judgment is sure or thorough (e.g., Ps 97:3; Is 33:12; Joel 2:3; Mic 1:4). For Ezekiel “the fire of my wrath” is a fixed expression (Ezek 21:31; 22:21, 31; 38:19). The images of God’s fiery wrath vary from text to text. In several texts the image is of God as a mythical, fire-breathing monster (cf. Job 41:19–21; Rev 9:17; 11:5). Thus in Psalm 18:8 smoke comes from his nostrils, devouring fire from his mouth (cf. 2 Sam 22:9); and Isaiah 30:33 likens the Lord’s breath to a stream of brimstone (cf. 65:5). But in Jeremiah 21:14 one sees a forest fire; in Lamentations 1:13, lightning (“from on high he sent fire”); in Malachi 3:2, a furnace (“a refiner’s fire”); and in Isaiah 30:33, a carefully stacked pile of wood. The association of fire with wrath and the fact that God sometimes destroys the wicked by raining fire make it natural that eschatological judgment be depicted as fire. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 says that the Lord Jesus will be revealed “from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire” (RSV). Revelation’s accounts of the latter days are filled with fire-falling from heaven (8:7, 8; 13:13; 16:8), coming from the mouths of humans and beasts (9:17–18; 11:5), punishing the wicked (14:10; 17:16; 18:8). Furthermore, although the prophecy in Zephaniah 3:8 (“in the fire of my jealous wrath all the earth shall be consumed” RSV) is probably figurative (cf. Deut 32:22; Amos 7:4), the one in 2 Peter 3:7, according to which the world is now “stored up for fire,” [RSV] should be taken literally. Most commonly the object of eschatological fire is not the world as such but the people in it, especially the wicked (cf. Heb 10:27). There are a variety of pictures. Fire will burn up dross to refine metal (Mal 3:2); it will burn like an oven (Mal 4:1); it will burn up unfruitful trees (Mt 3:10), unfruitful branches (Jn 15:6, though this may be only parabolic, since the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine epistles do not mention eschatological fire otherwise), tares (Mt 13:40) and chaff (Mt 3:12). It will even burn up flesh (Jas 5:3). Fire belongs not only to the moment of the final judgment but also to the world of eternity; it is the fearful antithesis of the kingdom of God. Already Isaiah 66:24 speaks of a fire that will not be quenched. In the NT this is assumed to be the everlasting and tormenting fire of hell (Mt 5:22; 13:42; 18:8–9). Revelation 20:10, 14–15 envisages a frightful “lake of fire” into which the devil and his false prophet, death and hades, and all evildoers are cast at the end. Hell is nonetheless also said to be, paradoxically, dark (Mt 8:12; 2 Pet 2:17; Jude 13). The expectation of eschatological fire may provide the background for some NT texts that are otherwise obscure. When John the Baptist, in a prophecy of the last judgment, warns of a baptism of fire, the image is of a river or stream of fire (cf. Dan 7:10); so we should perhaps imagine an eschatological stream of fire by which the wicked are consumed and the righteous refined (cf. Zech 13:9). The obscure Mark 9:49, according to which “everyone will be salted with fire” (RSV), could presuppose the same idea. (Salt preserves, while fire destroys; eschatological fire does both.) In 1 Corinthians 3:10–15 the judgment day is a fire that tests all: it burns up the dross and refines that which is truly valuable. In Isaiah 4:5, however, eschatological fire is not destructive. In the latter days there will be over Mount Zion a cloud by day “and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night” (RSV). This prophecy recalls the pillar of fire of the exodus (cf. Ex 13:21). As in 2 Kings 6:17 (the fiery hosts that protect Elisha) and Zechariah 2:5 (“I will be to her [Jerusalem] a wall of fire round about” RSV), here God protects his people with fire. (Longman, et al - Dictionary of Biblical Imagery - excellent resource) Like a Consuming Fire - Moses encouraged Israel on the edge of the promised land by saying, "The Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy [your enemies]; he will subdue them before you" (Deut. 9:3). The simile of a devouring or consuming fire often appears in Scripture as a picture of the judgment of God: "See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire" (Isa. 30:27; cp. 30:30,33; 33:14; Nah. 1:5-6). God's judgment may be temporal, in his present opposition to kings, nations, and individuals, or eternal at the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). The second coming of Christ is often spoken of in fiery terms: "This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thess. 1:7-8; cp. Isa. 66:15). The writer of Hebrews alludes to Deuteronomy 9:3 and 4:24 in exhorting Christians to live holy lives: "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire'" (Heb. 12:28-29). Many people who do not object to God judging Sodom and Gomorrah or the wickedness terminated by the flood of Noah still find fault with Israel's invasion of Canaan. The point of view of Deuteronomy, however, sees Israel as the divine instrument of wrath upon wickedness. That they had something to gain (a homeland) from the process is beside the point. There is no suggestion in Scripture that Israel was qualified morally to act in judgment against the Canaanites. In fact, Deuteronomy 9:4-6 expressly teaches that they were not. God sometimes uses dirty objects for his work simply because clean ones are not to be found. (McIntosh Holman Old Testament Commentary) Deuteronomy 9:3 - GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY - OUR RESPONSIBILITY “He will destroy them…so that you may drive them out and destroy them.” (Deut. 9:3 NASB) In all of God’s dealings with mankind, there is a curious merging of the divine and the human. Take the Bible, for example. There is the divine Author, and there are human authors, who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. As far as salvation is concerned, it is of the Lord from start to finish. There is nothing a man can do to earn or deserve it. And yet he must receive it by faith. God clearly elects individuals to salvation, but they must enter in at the strait gate. And so Paul writes to Titus of “the faith of God’s elect (Tit. 1:1). From the divine standpoint, we are “kept by the power of God.” Yet there is also the human side—“through faith” (1 Pet. 1:5). “Kept by the power of God through faith.” Only God can make me holy. Yet He will not make me holy without my cooperation. I must add to my faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love (2 Pet. 1:5-7). I must put on the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:13-18). I must put off the old man and put on the new man (Eph. 4:22-24). I must walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16). You find the merging of the divine and the human in the whole area of Christian ministry. Paul plants, Apollos waters, but God gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6). When we come to leadership in the local church, we learn that only God can make a man an elder. Paul reminded the Ephesian elders that it was the Holy Spirit who had made them overseers (Acts 20:28). Yet a man’s own will is involved. He must desire to exercise oversight (1 Tim. 3:1 JND). Finally, in the text with which we began, we see that it is God who destroys our enemies, but we must drive them out and destroy them (Deut. 9:3 NASB). In order to be balanced Christians, we must recognize this merging of the divine and human. We must pray as if everything depended on God but work as if everything depended on us. Or to borrow the wartime exhortation, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.” As someone suggested, we must pray for a good harvest but keep on hoeing. (William MacDonald Truths to Live By) Deuteronomy 9:4 "Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. Speak not: De 9:5 7:7,8 8:17 Eze 36:22,32 Ro 11:6,20 1Co 4:4,7 Eph 2:4,5 2Ti 1:9 Tit 3:3-5 wickedness: De 12:31 18:12 Ge 15:16 Lev 18:24,25 Deuteronomy 9 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passage: Leviticus 18:24-25+ ‘Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. 25 ‘For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. WARNING AGAINST PRIDE Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you - Moses had given a similar warning in Dt 8:17+ declaring "“Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth." So there Moses addressed the temptation of Israel to think it was their physical prowess which brought about their conquest of the Promised Land. Here Moses warns Israel of the temptation to take credit was driving out and destroying the strong enemy. They could have easily become proud. The inherent danger of Israel's flesh (and that of all of us), is to become self-congratulatory when they began to experience victory after victory over their formidable foes. "Look at what WE have accomplished." This is a variation on the warning in chapter 8 to not forget God. Here, while they might not totally forget Him, they forget that their victory is a manifestation of His provision of grace and power. The heart of men's problem is the problem of their heart. This passage recalls Dt 8:17+ “Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ Guzik on do not say in your heart - 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 righteousness that the Lord has given them the land. 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.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 Lord would give us. (Deuteronomy 9) Grant on do not say in your heart - But although there might be no open declaration that this would be their triumph it might still be the thought that would be in their hearts. Openly they might express their delight in the work of the Lord in giving them the victory, but inwardly they might really believe that this was due to their own righteousness, the rightful reward for a faithful people. (What the Bible Teaches – Leviticus and Deuteronomy) Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess (yarash) this land - Note the key word in vv4-6 is righteousness, pointing out the danger of a victorious Israel to begin to gloat in self-righteousness. Israel would begin to believe they deserved the land because of their own righteousness. Moses seeks to completely cut off that dangerous sin of a self-righteous spirit. . Conquest of the Promised Land was not to be seen by Israel as a reward from God because they were so good! McIntosh makes an understatement - Israel (as Moses will explain beginning in Dt 9:7) possessed a bad track record when it came to righteousness. (Holman Old Testament Commentary) But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you - Lev 18:1-30+ gives more detail on the wickedness of the nations. So it was not Israel's righteousness but the enemies wickedness that God gave them victory over these peoples. It was not because Israel was so good, but that the pagans were so bad! Grant draws an excellent analogy with Jesus' disciples in the NT who had experienced "victory." - There was the possibility of falling into the trap of crediting themselves with the victory and quite forgetting that the battle and the triumph were the Lord's alone.When the twelve disciples were sent by the Lord, two by two, on a preaching tour of Israel they saw the hand of the Lord at work (Mk 6:7-13). They preached that men should repent, they cast out many demons, and they anointed the sick with oil. When they returned it is emphasised that they told the Lord "all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught" (Mk 6:30). They regarded the work and its results as being their doing. With this background the Lord Jesus invited them to the place where He knew that there would be thousands waiting and there would be insufficient food to feed them. As the day wore on the disciples approached the Lord with the request, "Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread". The Lord answered, "Give ye them to eat" (Mk 6:36-37). They had been claiming what they had done and now He challenged them to do this. Their response should have been to state they could not, but that He could. Nevertheless, He showed clearly that any work for God is His work and that disciples are only servants. Any power given to them is His alone. (What the Bible Teaches – Leviticus and Deuteronomy) Bob Utley makes an excellent point on God's grace repeatedly manifest to Israel - It must be stated clearly that the Exodus, the Wilderness Wandering, and the Conquest were grace acts on YHWH’s part, not merited rewards due to Israel’s actions: (1) It was YHWH’s love for “the fathers”—Deut. 4:37–38; 7:8; 10:15 (2) It was not Israel’s number—Deut. 7:7 (3) It was not Israel’s strength and power—Deut. 8:17 (4) It was not Israel’s righteousness or uprightness—Deut. 9:5–6 (5) YHWH continues to love Israel even amidst judgment—Jer. 31:3 (Deuteronomy 9 Commentary) Deuteronomy 9:4; 2 Corinthians 4:7 ACHIEVEMENTS—not given their due Not According to Its Worth - One night in the fall of 1861, while watching campfires from thousands of bivouacs around Washington, D.C., Julia Ward Howe experienced a powerful inspiration of words and music—the melody familiar, the prose militantly biblical. They danced separately in her head at first, then together, then arm in arm. She sent the poem to the Atlantic Monthly, which published it in the spring of 1862. “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” became an instant sensation all over the North. Julia did not profit by it, however; she received only $5 for her classic. Lorraine Petersen became the Sun-Maid Raisin Girl in 1915, appearing in a red bonnet, holding a basket of the fruit. The company made millions. She received $15 a week as part-time model and part-time seeder/packer for the Griffin and Skelley Packing Company. The company purchased the original Sun-Maid portrait from her for $1,700. In seventy days General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s troops in Northern Malaya advanced seven hundred miles, all the while outfighting, outwitting, and out-maneuvering General Percival. Then, with a stroke of military genius, his 30,000 men captured Singapore and its 100,000 Britons. For this stunning achievement, military commander Tojo, ever jealous, transferred Yamashita to Manchuria, a military no-man’s-land. There he stayed for three years while Japan lost the war. There is a quintessential unrewarded merit: God in Christ reconciling the world to himself—an expressed spiritual elegance the unsaved cannot fathom, an accepted spiritual glory the saved fail to esteem. (Hurley, Virgil - Speaker’s sourcebook of new illustrations) Warren
Deuteronômio 9
Guzik - 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. You have been rebellious against the Lord: The same idea is communicated in the New Testament at 1 Corinthians 10:12: Therefore let him who things he stands take heed lest he fall. When we remember our sinful nature, we walk in the poverty of spirit Jesus said was essential to a life of blessing (Matthew 5:3). (Deuteronomy 9) McIntosh points out that "Spiritual insensitivity is often associated with a poor or selective memory. God wanted Israel to reflect soberly on their distressing record from the day they left Egypt until they arrived on the fringe of the promised land. God does not desire his people to spend their lives grieving over their sins, but neither does he want them to be unconcerned about their obedience. Israel's track record had been consistently rebellious against the Lord through Moses' long association with them. (Holman Old Testament Commentary) John
Deuteronômio 9
Guzik explains that "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 (Exodus 19:18). Those fires had burned for 40 straight days, and they burned at the very time Israel made a golden calf and began to worship it. (Deuteronomy 9)
Deuteronômio 9
Guzik - This shows both the prevailing power of Moses’ prayer and the great love in the heart of Moses. (Deuteronomy 9) McIntosh - The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him Aaron, Moses' brother and the first high priest of Israel, acted unfaithfully and stupidly in fashioning the golden calf (see Exod. 32:1-6). In his defense, he may have considered the calf a vehicle for worshiping the true God (cp. Ex 32:5), but he should have known better. Discipline of believers to the point of death is not an uncommon subject in Scripture. The apostle John spoke of a category of sin that could lead to death: "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that" (1 John 5:16NKJV). (ED: SEE RELATED RESOURCE BELOW) One believer at Corinth began an affair with his stepmother. When Paul heard of it, he determined to end this public embarrassment and "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1 Cor. 5:5NKJV+). When other Christians in Corinth began to drink excessively as part of their observance of the Lord's Supper, God was not amused. He began to afflict them bodily in various ways. Initially, the offending believers began to experience weakness. When they still failed to repent, God sent sickness among them. Some were so obstinate in their participation in drunkenness at the Lord's Supper that he took their lives (1 Cor. 11:20-22,27-30+). The solution to this problem was and is repentance born of self-judgment: "If we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment" (1 Cor. 11:31+). Had Aaron considered what he was about to do, he would have resisted the will of the crowd and refused to cooperate in their idolatry. As it was, he narrowly escaped death, and then only by Moses' intercession. Christian intercessors can save the physical lives of disobedient believers. (Holman Old Testament Commentary) Related Resource: What is the sin unto death? | GotQuestions.org Deuteronomy 9:21 "I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain. I took: Ex 32:20 Isa 2:18-21 30:22 31:7 Ho 8:11 Deuteronomy 9 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Exodus 17:6+ “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. MOSES BURNS, GRINDS AND SCATTERS THE IDOL IMAGE This is also what the godly king Josiah did (2Ki 23:6,12,15) I took your sinful thing (a metonymy), the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust - NET = "As for your sinful thing that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down, ground it up until it was as fine as dust." In Exodus 32:20+ Moses added some detail describing that he "took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it." (Ingested gold is not absorbed and thus is not toxic). In the re-telling, Moses does not speak of the drinking of pulverized idol in the water (click here for thoughts on why Moses made there drink the idol polluted water). Also in the re-telling Moses called the calf your sinful thing (a metonymy). Notice that no one attempted to stop Moses from destroying their "god!" Moses came down from Mt Sinai with the authority of a man who had been with God for 40 days and Israel did not try to deny it. In burning and grinding the calf, scattering the ashes on water and making the people drink it there was a strong symbolism showing Moses' repudiation of Israel's idolatry. And I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain - Dt 9:21 describes "the surface of the water" in Exodus 32:20+ as water that "came down from the mountain." The question is whether this is the water that flowed from the rock from which water came forth in Ex 17:6? Guzik - Moses burnt the idol, ground it up, and sprinkled it in the people’s drinking water for three reasons. To show this god was nothing and could be destroyed easily. To completely obliterate this idol. To make the people pay an immediate consequence of their sin (Deuteronomy 9) Walter Kaiser - Not only were the stone tablets broken, symbolizing the breaking of God’s covenant by the people, but Moses quickly broke up the calf and the festivities, bringing an end to the people’s covenant with carnality. (EBC) THOUGHT - Is this not an attitude that God wants all His children to have concerning idols? Utter destruction is called for. No compromise! Half measures will not do. God wants no competing "suitors" either for His Wife Israel or His Bride the Church. TSK - This was the stream which flowed from the rock that Moses smote with his rod, (Ex 17:6,) and to which the Psalmist alludes in Ps 78:16-20; Ps 105:41. Josiah one of the last kings (and actually the last good king) of Judah instituted a restoration in which he mimicked Moses' actions... He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people....15 Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, (HE MADE NOT ONE BUT TWO GOLDEN CALVES - read 1 Ki 12:28 = "behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.") had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah. (2 Kings 23:6, 15) Deuteronomy 9:22 "Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. Taberah: Nu 11:1-5 Massah: Ex 17:7 Kibroth-hattaavah: Nu 11:4,34 Deuteronomy 9 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Numbers 11:1-5+ Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD and the fire died out. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them. 4 The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 “We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, Exodus 17:7+ He named the place Massah and Meribah (quarreling) because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us, or not?” Numbers 11:4+ The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? (ANSWER IN PASSAGES BELOW) Numbers 11:31-35+ Now there went forth a wind from the LORD and it brought quail from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp and about two cubits deep on the surface of the ground. 32 The people spent all day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers) and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague. 34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth. The story of the sending of the quail is a good example of poetic justice, or talionic justice. God had provided for the people, but even in that provision they were not satisfied, for they remembered other foods they had in Egypt. No doubt there was not the variety of foods in the Sinai that might have been available in Egypt, but their life had been bitter bondage there as well. They had cried to the LORD for salvation, but now they forget, as they remember things they used to have. God will give them what they crave, but it will not do for them what they desire. Psalm 78:27-31 (DESCRIPTION OF GOD'S WRATH AT Kibroth-hattaavah) When He rained meat (QUAIL) upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas, 28 Then He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their dwellings. 29 So they ate and were well filled, And their desire He gave to them. 30 Before they had satisfied their desire, While their food was in their mouths, 31 The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel.
Deuteronômio 9
Guzik - Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God’s past faithfulness to the patriarchs. (Deuteronomy 9) Moses is basically asking God to forgive Israel's sin and he bases this request on two reasons - (1) the pagans are watching (Dt 9:28) and (2) the people are His peculiar possession (Dt 9:29, cf Ex 19:5+). THOUGHT - God hears prayer. Prayer is one of the basic laws of the universe established by God. Prayer has been chosen by God to be one of the basic laws that stir Him to act as He governs the universe. Prayer is an act of man that arouses God to move and act in behalf of man. As stated, God answers prayer (cf Mt 7:7, Mk 11:24, Jn 15:7, 1 Jn 3:22, Ps 91:15). (Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible – Deuteronomy) Do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin (chattat/chattath) - NLT is not a good paraphrase here for it has "Please overlook..." More literally it reads"do not turn the face to" or "do not look back to." Moses is not asking God to ignore their sin! What an appeal! Asking God not to look at the sullied character of Israel - stubborn, wicked, sinful! And this is Who the LORD redeemed from slavery! Stubbornness is a Hebrew word used only here (qeshi from qashah- stiffen, harden) and in the Septuagint is the noun sklerotes which literally means hardness and figuratively describes a resistant attitude and unreceptivity to instruction (sklerotes is only in Ro 2:5+) and gives us our English arteriosclerosis. Israel in effect had a serious case of "spiritual arteriosclerosis!" Deuteronomy 9:28 'Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, "Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness." the land: Ge 41:57 Ex 6:6-8 1Sa 14:25 Because: De 32:26,27 Ex 32:12 Nu 14:15,16 Jos 7:7-9 Ps 115:1,2 Isa 43:25 Isa 48:9-11 Jer 14:7-9 Eze 20:8,9,14 Da 9:18,19 Deuteronomy 9 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries EGYPTIANS MIGHT QUESTION GOD'S CHARACTER Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, "Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them - Moses says the Egyptians (as implied by the land from which You brought us) would say Yahweh was not powerful enough to bring Israel into the promised land and that is why He had to destroy them. Utley paraphrases Moses - God, because of Your reputation and worldwide purpose of redemption, spare Israel. Another phrase used in the same sense is, “for God’s namesake” (cf. Isa. 48:9–11; Ezek. 20:9, 14, 22, 44; 36:21–23; Dan. 9:17–19). (Deuteronomy 9 Commentary) And because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness - Egyptians would see it as judgment on Israel. Merrill - Most important is the reputation of Israel's God, the one who committed himself by covenant pledge. Should God destroy Israel, the Egyptians, among others, could draw at least two conclusions: (1) God, having brought his people out of Egypt, was powerless to see them all the way to Canaan; or (2) with cruel treachery he brought them out, all the while planning to destroy them. The one deduction would reflect negatively on God's power, the other on his character. To Moses's way of thinking, neither was a tolerable prospect. To sum up as well as to reemphasize the heart of his argument, Moses "reminded" Yahweh that the people whose plight was so tenuous in light of the impending divine wrath were, after all, God's people, the ones he had redeemed at great price (Dt 9:29). (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary) Deuteronomy 9:29 'Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.' Yet they: De 9:26 4:20 1Ki 8:15 Ne 1:10 Ps 95:7 100:3 Isa 63:19 whom you: De 9:26 4:34 Deuteronomy 9 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries MOSES APPEALS TO THE GLORY OF GOD Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.' - Since Israel was God's people, His inheritance, the ones He delivered, it was His glory which was on display and to destroy them would be to sully His glory before the watching pagans. Guzik - Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because they were God’s people. . 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 Lord. Prayer on solid reasons like these is far more effective than merely casting wishes up towards heaven. Because of God’s past faithfulness to us. Because of His past faithfulness to our forefathers. Because of His own glory and reputation among the nations. Because we are His people. 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. (Deuteronomy 9) McIntosh says it this way "The glory of God is the purpose around which all history moves. There can be nothing greater than the expression of his glory, and nothing worse than calling it into question. All of human redemption is subsidiary to the glory of God (Eph. 1:14). Moses longed for it and recognized that there could be no higher appeal. The glory of God would be diminished if Israel were destroyed, for they were his people, his inheritance." (Holman Old Testament Commentary) Outstretched arm - Exod. 6:6; Deut. 4:34; Deut. 5:15; Deut. 7:19; Deut. 9:29; Deut. 11:2; Deut. 26:8; 1 Ki. 8:42; 2 Ki. 17:36; 2 Chr. 6:32; Ps. 136:12; Jer. 27:5; Jer. 32:17; Jer. 32:21; Ezek. 20:33; Ezek. 20:34