Deuteronomy 9:1-12--Not Because of Righteousness

Deuteronomy 9:1-12
English Standard Version

Not Because of Righteousness
9 “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3 Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

4 “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. 7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. 8 Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

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The LORD promises to go before His people and drive out the people from before them--the people that the original generation once said would be impossible to defeat because the sons of Anak were giants and the spies were but like grasshoppers in their sight.  The problem that Joshua and Caleb tried to tell the people at that time is they were making the wrong comparison, for it is the sons of Anak that are like grasshoppers to God.  God says He is an all-consuming fire and would go forth before them to destroy and subdue the enemies of the people and that He would do so quickly, though not so quickly that it would put the people in a dangerous position from the wild animals like we read earlier.

Now even though the LORD has made their inheritance of this land conditional on their obedience and adherence to the Law, the LORD warns them not to get self-righteous and haughty and imagine that the victory they are being given is somehow earned.  No, it is still by grace alone, through faith alone, to the glory of God alone, just like we read of our salvation in Ephesians 2:8-9.  God knows exactly who they are--a stubborn and stiff-necked people much like their fathers--and they deserve judgment every bit as much as their fathers did because they too will rebel against God and break the covenant early and often--especially as it comes to sexual sin and idolatry.

No, it is because of the wickedness of these Canaanite nations that He is dispossessing them (a warning to the Israelites that they too might be dispossessed if they become as wicked as these Canaanites) and for the sake of the Name of the LORD that He will be faithful to fulfill the covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  There is no man, let alone a whole group of people, that could ever deserve to have such a covenant made with them.  None of use deserve God's grace and we likewise had better not claim that there was something special about us that made God choose us when He took us who were dead in our trespasses and sins and made us alive in Christ.

Moses reminds the people that early on, while he was receiving the Law on Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai), the people were "playing" and making and worshiping idols and made God so angry that He was ready to destroy them.  This is when God told those people they would not enter the Land and He would not go up with them because if He did, He would consume them along the way and that they should just try to make their own way and go on without Him.  The people refused to move from that spot until the LORD moved to lead them, but the LORD did bring plagues on the people for their rebellion and we see that just because these people had a "salvation experience" of Passover and crossing through the Red Sea on dry ground did not change their hearts.  They appeared from all indications to be dead on the inside and they would end up being just as wicked as the Canaanites if God allowed them to possesses the Land.  How do I know that?  Because I've read the book of Judges (we'll see a good summary of how quickly they disobey God in chapters 1 and 2).  Moses seems to know by knowledge the LORD has given him what is coming and he's trying to warn the people to take a different path, but the people refuse to believe that they will ever fall into that kind of sin like their fathers did.  They will be different.  Or will they?  Will they too quickly turn aside from the commands of the LORD almost as soon as they promise to be careful to obey everything in them just like their fathers did? They will, just like all of us do, which is why we must be glad that the LORD's salvation does not depend on our righteousness, but on the righteousness of Christ alone.