Deuteronomy 9:7-12

The History of Israel’s Stubbornness

9:7 Remember – don’t ever forget¹ – how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him.² 9:8 At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. 9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained there³ forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. 9:10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger⁴ of God, and on them was everything⁵ he⁶ said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. 9:11 Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 9:12 And he said to me, “Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image.”⁷

Deuteronomy 9:22-24

9:22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah,⁸ Massah,⁹ and Kibroth-Hattaavah.¹⁰ 9:23 And when he¹¹ sent you from Kadesh-Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God¹² and would neither believe nor obey him. 9:24 You have been rebelling against him¹³ from the very first day I knew you!

¹tn By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (zekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (’al-tishÿkakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.

²tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise in the following verse with both “him” and “he”). See note on “he” in 9:3.

³tn Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴sn The very finger of God. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself – not Moses in any way – was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).

⁵tn Heb “according to all the words.”

⁶tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise at the beginning of vv. 12, 13). See note on “he” in 9:3.

⁷tc Heb “a casting.” The MT reads מַסֵּכָה (massekhah, “a cast thing”) but some mss and Smr add עֵגֶל (’egel, “calf”), “a molten calf” or the like (Exod 32:8). Perhaps Moses here omits reference to the calf out of contempt for it.

⁸sn Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the Hebrew verb בָעַר (ba’ar, “to burn”), thus, here, “burning.” The reference is to the Lord’s fiery wrath against Israel because of their constant complaints against him (Num 11:1-3).

⁹sn Massah. See note on this term in Deut 6:16.

¹⁰sn Kibroth-Hattaavah. This place name means in Hebrew “burial places of appetite,” that is, graves that resulted from overindulgence. The reference is to the Israelites stuffing themselves with the quail God had provided and doing so with thanklessness (Num 11:31-35).

¹¹tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.

¹²tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.

¹³tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.