The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Stiffnecked” it comes from the Hebrew Word “qesheh oreph” which means “stiff-necked, stubborn.”
Moses makes sure Israel understands exactly why they’re about to receive this land, and it isn’t because they’ve earned it. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Deuteronomy 9.
Moses warns Israel that they are about to cross the Jordan to dispossess nations greater and mightier than themselves, with great, fortified cities, but reassures them that “the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee,” who will destroy these nations and bring Israel in to possess their land. He then delivers a sharp, necessary correction. “Speak not thou in thine heart… For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.” Israel’s inheritance was never a reward for their own goodness, but a judgment on the wickedness of the nations already there, combined with God’s ancient promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses reminds them bluntly of their own history of rebellion, calling them “a stiffnecked people,” using the Hebrew phrase “qesheh oreph,” describing stubborn resistance to correction. He recounts in detail the golden calf incident, receiving the tablets of stone from God’s own hand, only to come down and find the people already worshiping an idol they had made. Moses recalls breaking the tablets in his anger, and God’s intention to destroy the entire nation and start over through him alone. Moses recounts his own desperate, forty-day intercession on Israel’s behalf, falling before the Lord without eating or drinking, pleading for God not to destroy His inheritance, His own redeemed people, reminding God of what the Egyptians would say if He did. He also recalls Aaron’s involvement in that same sin, and his own intercession specifically for Aaron’s life as well, along with several other occasions Israel provoked God to wrath throughout their journey.
Moses went out of his way to prevent Israel from misunderstanding their coming victory as a reward for their own righteousness. Their stubborn, repeated history of rebellion made that impossible to claim honestly. Every good thing about to happen for them flowed entirely from God’s faithfulness and mercy, not their own merit.
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