Why does Moses tell Israel not to claim that its own goodness earned the land?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He says the nations are destroyed for their wickedness and the Lord is fulfilling his oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Israel itself is stubborn. Moses recalls its repeated rebellion, the molten calf, and his prayers that the Lord would not destroy the people.

Chapter breakdown

Moses tells Israel it will cross the Jordan that day to possess nations very great and stronger than itself, with great cities walled up to the sky. The sons of the Enacims are great and tall; Israel has seen and heard of them, and no man can stand against them. The Lord will pass over before Israel as a devouring and consuming fire. He will destroy them, root them out, and quickly bring them to nothing, as he has said. When he destroys them, Israel must not say in its heart that its own justice earned the land. It is not Israel’s justice or upright heart that gives it possession. These nations are destroyed for their wickedness, and the Lord fulfills the word sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Israel is very stiffnecked—that is, stubbornly refusing to obey.

They must remember and not forget how they provoked the Lord in the wilderness. From leaving Egypt to this place they have always resisted him. At Horeb they provoked him, and he was angry and would have destroyed them. Moses went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets of the covenant. He remained there forty days and nights, neither eating bread nor drinking water. The Lord gave him two stone tablets written with the finger of God. They contained all the words spoken from the fire on the mountain when the people were assembled. Moses repeats that the Lord gave him the two covenant tablets when forty days and as many nights had passed.

The Lord told Moses to arise and go down quickly. The people he had brought from Egypt had quickly left the way he had shown them and made a molten idol, an image made from melted and cast metal. The Lord called them stubborn. He told Moses to let him alone so he might destroy them, remove their name from under heaven, and set Moses over a nation greater and stronger than this one.

Moses came down the burning mountain holding the two covenant tablets in both hands. He saw that the people had sinned against the Lord, made a molten calf, and quickly left the way shown to them. He cast the tablets from his hands and broke them in their sight. He fell before the Lord as before, forty days and nights without bread or water, for all their sins that had provoked the Lord. Moses feared the Lord’s anger, which would have destroyed them, and says the Lord heard him this time also. The Lord was exceedingly angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him too; Moses prayed in the same way for Aaron. The verse does not give a separate outcome for Aaron. Moses took the calf, burned it, and broke it into pieces until it was as small as dust. He threw it into the torrent coming down from the mountain. The account records the breaking of the tablets without stating its symbolic meaning.

They also provoked the Lord at the burning, the place of temptation, and the graves of lust. When he sent them from Cadesbarne to go up and possess the land he had given them, they slighted his command, did not believe him, and would not hear his voice. Moses says they have always been rebellious from the day he began to know them.

Moses recalls lying before the Lord forty days and nights, humbly asking him not to destroy the people as he had threatened. His prayer asks the Lord not to destroy his people and inheritance, whom he redeemed in his greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. He asks him to remember his servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not to look on the people’s stubbornness, wickedness, and sin. He raises a possibility: the inhabitants of the land from which they came might say the Lord could not bring them into the promised land and hated them, so he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. Moses ends by calling Israel the Lord’s people and inheritance, brought out by his great strength and outstretched arm. This is a concern voiced in Moses’ prayer, not a report that the inhabitants said these things.

The story inside

Moses answers the claim that Israel earned the land by recalling its own conduct. At Horeb he received two stone tablets after forty days and nights without bread or water. The Lord told him to hurry down because the people had left the way shown to them and made an idol. Moses saw the molten calf and broke the tablets before the people. He then describes his fasting and prayer, his fear of the Lord’s anger, and the Lord hearing him this time also. He also prayed for Aaron and destroyed the calf. Further rebellions at the burning, the place of temptation, the graves of lust, and Cadesbarne support his description of Israel as stubborn. His final prayer does not call the people innocent. It asks the Lord to remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and raises what the inhabitants of the land left behind might say. The argument returns to the Lord’s people and inheritance, brought out by his strength.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Israel’s possession of the land does not prove its own goodness. Moses expressly denies that explanation and names the other nations’ wickedness and the oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
2
The record of rebellion includes specific acts. At Horeb the people made a molten calf and left the Lord’s way; at Cadesbarne they slighted his command, did not believe him, and would not hear him. These details support Moses’ warning against boasting.
3
Moses’ prayer names both Israel’s sin and the Lord’s past acts. He asks that the people not be destroyed, recalls their rescue from Egypt, names the three fathers, and raises what other inhabitants might say. He does not present the people as innocent.

Test your recall

What reasons does Moses give in his prayer for asking the Lord not to destroy Israel despite its stubbornness and sin?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 19557–19589
Deuteronomy Chapter 9 Lest they should impute their victories to their own merits, they are put in mind of their manifold rebellions and other sins, for which they should have been destroyed, but God spared them for his promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 9:1. Hear, O Israel: Thou shalt go over the Jordan this day; to possess nations very great, and stronger than thyself, cities great, and walled up to the sky, 9:2. A people great and tall, the sons of the Enacims, whom thou hast seen, and heard of, against whom no man is able to stand. 9:3. Thou shalt know therefore this day that the Lord thy God himself will pass over before thee, a devouring and consuming fire, to destroy and extirpate and bring them to nothing before thy face quickly, as he hath spoken to thee. 9:4. Say not in thy heart, when the Lord thy God shall have destroyed them in thy sight: For my justice hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land, whereas these nations are destroyed for their wickedness. 9:5. For it is not for thy justices, and the uprightness of thy heart that thou shalt go in to possess their lands: but because they have done wickedly, they are destroyed at thy coming in: and that the Lord might accomplish his word, which he promised by oath to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 9:6. Know therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this excellent land in possession for thy justices, for thou art a very stiffnecked people.
Lines 19591–19608
9:7. Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou camest out of Egypt unto this place, thou hast always strove against the Lord. 9:8. For in Horeb, also thou didst provoke him, and he was angry, and would have destroyed thee, 9:9. When I went up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you: and I continued in the mount forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking water. 9:10. And the Lord gave me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and containing all the words that he spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled together. 9:11. And when forty days were passed, and as many nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant,
Lines 19610–19620
9:12. And said to me: Arise, and go down from hence quickly: for thy people, which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have quickly forsaken the way that thou hast shewn them, and have made to themselves a molten idol. 9:13. And again the Lord said to me: I see that this people is stiffnecked: 9:14. Let me alone that I may destroy them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and set thee over a nation, that is greater and stronger than this.
Lines 19622–19645
9:15. And when I came down from the burning mount, and held the two tables of the covenant with both hands, 9:16. And saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made to yourselves a molten calf, and had quickly forsaken his way, which he had shewn you: 9:17. I cast the tables out of my hands, and broke them in your sight. 9:18. And I fell down before the Lord as before, forty days and nights neither eating bread, nor drinking water, for all your sins, which you had committed against the Lord, and had provoked him to wrath: 9:19. For I feared his indignation and anger, wherewith being moved against you, he would have destroyed you. And the Lord heard me this time also. 9:20. And he was exceeding angry against Aaron also, and would have destroyed him, and I prayed in like manner for him. 9:21. And your sin that you had committed, that is, the calf, I took, and burned it with fire, and breaking it into pieces, until it was as small as dust, I threw it into the torrent, which cometh down from the mountain.
Lines 19647–19655
9:22. At the burning also, and at the place of temptation, and at the graves of lust you provoked the Lord: 9:23. And when he sent you from Cadesbarne, saying: Go up, and possess the land that I have given you, and you slighted the commandment of the Lord your God, and did not believe him, neither would you hearken to his voice: 9:24. But were always rebellious from the day that I began to know you.
Lines 19657–19676
9:25. And I lay prostrate before the Lord forty days and nights, in which I humbly besought him, that he would not destroy you as he had threatened: 9:26. And praying, I said: O Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. 9:27. Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not on the stubbornness of this people, nor on their wickedness and sin: 9:28. Lest perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which thou hast brought us, say: The Lord could not bring them into the land that he promised them, and he hated them: therefore he brought them out, that he might kill them in the wilderness, 9:29. Who are thy people and thy inheritance, whom thou hast brought out by thy great strength, and in thy stretched out arm.