Promises for Obedience, Blessings vs. Cursing

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Deuteronomy 10:6) And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera; there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead. (7) From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of water.

In the last post Moses was making a speech to the people about how unrighteous they were, and that it was only by the mercy and grace of God, and because of the wickedness of the nations they were going in to possess, that they were being given that great land, certainly not for any righteousness of their own.  This verse and the next few seem to be a parenthetical pause in Moses's speech to the people.  Perhaps Moses was stating this in his speech, as he had been relating historical events, but it appears parenthetical nonetheless, whenever Moses said or wrote it.

The children of Israel had taken their journey from Beeroth to Mosera where Aaron died and was buried.  Mosera is said to be the desert of Mount Hor, where Aaron was said to have died and was buried according to Numbers 20:23-28.  Eleazar succeeded his father as high priest.  Some of the names of the other places don't exactly line up with the list of stations in Numbers 33, but most can be explained as in the case of Mosera and Mount Hor, that in one place a city may be mentioned and in another account the region of that city. 

In the last chapter and post, Moses had related how the people had made the golden calf, and that God had been angry enough to destroy them all, and He had also been very angry with Aaron.  Verse 6 shows that the Lord had been gracious in answering Moses's prayers and had reconciled with His people.  He continued to lead them on their journeys, and although Aaron had died, the Lord perpetuated the priest's office through Aaron's son who then became high priest in Aaron's place.  Then the Lord continued guiding His people in their journeys.

(8) At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day. (9) Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD your God promised him.

These two verses are a continuation of the parenthetical pause.  Either meaning about that time, or perhaps when Eleazar became priest in Aaron's place, there was a renewal of the separation of the Levites to bear the ark of the covenant and to minister to the Lord in the priest's office.  The tribe of Levi had no portion or inheritance in the land of Canaan.  The Lord was the Levites' inheritance, and the Lord's portion, the tithes and offerings which belong to God, were given by Him to the Levites for their subsistence, from generation to generation.

(10) "And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened to me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy you."

Verse 10 returns to the words of Moses.  He spoke of the time he had received the second two tablets back from the Lord written by His finger.  He had stayed on the mountain another forty days and nights as he had the first time he had received the original tablets.  He commented that the Lord had listened to his prayer, as He had done many times before, and had relented from His plan to destroy them.

(11) "And the LORD said to me, 'Arise, take your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’"

Answering Moses's prayer and having relented of His plan to destroy His people, the Lord then told Moses to go on before the people and lead them onward to the land the Lord had promised their forefathers.

(12) “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, (13) To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?"

Moses posed the question what did the Lord ask in return for all His mercy and forgiveness of their sins, and for His renewal of His promise to their forefathers?  Just that they turn to Him and obey Him--have a reverential fear of God as the Lord of life and all within the universe, to walk in the ways He told them to walk in His commandments, to love Him, and serve Him, and to keep all the commandments and statutes that Moses was now giving them again.  All these things were for their own good, as the ways of God meant life, and transgressions against His laws meant death.

(14) "Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD'S your God, the earth also, with all that is in it."

Moses reasoned that after all, God was indeed the maker and possessor of heaven and all the universe of heaven beyond what was seen and known by them; the earth was His and all that was in the earth, as well.

(15) "Yet the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, you above all people, as it is this day."

Even though the entire universe and all that was in it was His, the Lord delighted in their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and loved them, and chose their descendants after them, these children of Israel, to be His very own people, above all other people, as it still was to that day Moses was speaking to them.

(16) “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no more."

Moses exhorted the people to circumcise their hearts, by removing whatever was sinful to the Lord, all transgressions of the heart, all idolatry, etc., and to no longer be a stubborn people.  When Jesus came and told people He had not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, and began to teach the spirit of the law, we see here that this spirit is what God intended all along with His laws.  It was not enough to merely circumcise the flesh, which was but an outward sign of purification, but they must purify their hearts and souls.  As Adam Clarke wrote so beautifully in his Commentary on the Bible, "Loving God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, the heart being circumcised to enable them to do it, was, from the beginning, the end, design, and fulfillment of the whole law."

(17) “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and terrible, who shows no partiality nor takes a reward."

Moses further extolled the Lord as God and Lord of all, the one and only true God, almighty and with awesome terror, who showed no partiality to any particular sort of person, and never exchanged favors for bribes, but was merciful and gracious according to His own pleasure and will, having nothing to do with any works of man, for after all, "There is none who does good, no, not one" (Psalm 14:3).

(18) "He does execute judgment for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing."

God's providence and judgment extends to all; He is Father to the fatherless, Protector and Provider for the widow, and loves the stranger, giving life and provision to all, even to the Gentiles, strangers to Israel.  As Jesus said in Matthew 6:26, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"  God provides not only for His own people, and for the strangers, but to all living creatures.

(19) “Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt."

Moses exhorted the children of Israel to love the stranger, remembering that they were once strangers in the land of Egypt.  Jesus gave us that Golden Rule, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12).

(20) “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall cleave, and swear by His name."

Moses further exhorted the people to have a reverential fear of the one true God, and to serve Him, clinging only to Him, and not turning aside to follow false idols, and to swear by His name only.

(21) “He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrible things which your eyes have seen."

Their Lord God was the object and deserver of all praise.  He alone was the one who had done all the mighty and awesome wonders which they themselves had personally witnessed.

(22) “Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude."

From so small a beginning, when Jacob went into Egypt with a total of seventy people, including himself (Genesis 46:27), the children of Israel had been multiplied to more than 600,000 (Numbers 26:51), as numerous as the stars appeared in heaven.

(Deuteronomy 11:1) “Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always."

Chapter 11 of Deuteronomy begins with Moses summing up the reasoning for loving the Lord and always keeping His commandments, because of who He was, and because of all the great and miraculous things He had done for them, including the multiplication of their numbers, the last thing he mentioned at the end of chapter 10.

(2) "And know this day that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, His greatness, His mighty hand, and His stretched out arm, (3) And His miracles, and His acts, which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land."

Moses exhorted the people to take notice that he did not speak to them as their descendants who had not personally seen the chastening of the Lord, or His mighty power and miracles that He had done in Egypt to Pharaoh.  It may be that Moses was only addressing the elders at this point, because the adult generation that had come out of Egypt had died in the wilderness.  However, their children, who would at this time be an elder generation, would have witnessed all the things that took place in Egypt.

(4) "And what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots; how He made the water of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day."

Moses continued describing the miraculous works of their Lord that these people would have witnessed themselves, when they came through the Red Sea parted by the Lord, and then He caused the sea to overflow the Egyptian armies of horses and chariots that had pursued them.  The effects of the destruction of Egypt were felt to that day.

(5) "And what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place."

They had seen all the ways the Lord had provided for them in the wilderness, leading them, feeding them with manna from heaven, providing water, etc.

(6) “And what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance in their possession, in the midst of all Israel."

They had also witnessed the chastisements of the Lord, how He opened the earth to swallow up Dathan and Abiram and all their households and belongings, openly before all Israel.  These chastisements were always for Israel's welfare, just as God's provisions were acknowledged to be.  The dangerous rebellion of Dathan and Abiram and Korah and his company threatened to destroy the entire nation of Israel if it had not been immediately crushed by the hand of the Lord.

(7) "But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which He did."

Moses summed up what he started in verse 2.  He was not speaking to their children, who did not personally witness all these things, but he spoke to the people who had personally known all these great acts of the Lord.

(8) “Therefore you shall keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land where you go to possess it."

Because these people had personal knowledge and experience with all the Lord was and what He did, they should know better than anyone to keep all the commandments of the Lord, that were designed for their good and would strengthen them and enable them to go in and possess their promised land.

(9) "And that you may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey."

Keeping the commandments of their Lord would allow their days to be prolonged in the land promised to their forefathers and their descendants, a land abounding in all good things.

(10) “For the land which you go in to possess is not like the land of Egypt from where you came out, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a garden of herbs."

Moses told the people the land they were going in to possess was not like the land in Egypt from where they had come.  I believe the message Moses was trying to convey is that this was not like the land in Egypt where they labored to sow their seed, and carried water to water it, or used their feet to dig furrows, in a garden they planted in the midst of the dry country that rarely had rain.

(11) "But the land, where you go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of heaven."

Unlike Egypt that was mainly flat and dry desert, the land they were going to possess was a land of hills and valleys, and was watered, refreshed, and made fruitful by rain from heaven.  The Lord Himself watered this good land; the people would not have to labor so hard to bring water to their crops.

(12) "A land which the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year."

This special land promised by God to His people was specially cared for by Him.  The eyes of the Lord were always on it from the beginning of the year to the end of it.  The Lord's eyes are everywhere, and all provisions come from Him, but in Israel's case, He had given His people the best land with His special blessings, if they would but follow His instructions in order to receive the best.

An interesting side note comes from something I read by John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible.  He wrote that later writers wrote what seemed to be a contradiction about the land of Canaan.  They described it as a barren soil, far from a land flowing with milk and honey.  As Wesley said, rather than questioning the authority of scripture, it rather confirmed it, that the land was blessed because God was in it, and barren when God was not.  As Psalm 33:12 states, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD..."

(13) "'And it shall come to pass, if you shall hearken diligently to My commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, (14) That I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil.'"

Moses, speaking the words of God Himself, said that if the people would diligently follow His commandments, and would love and serve Him with all their hearts, He would give them rain in due season.  That is, it would first rain at seed time, and later rain, as needed, before harvest.  Again this rather confirms that if God did not bless the land with His rain, it would indeed be a barren land.

(15) "'And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’"

This is a continuation of the thought started in verse 13, that if they followed the Lord's commandments, they would have rain when best needed for their crops, and grass as needed for their livestock, so that they would be well fed.

(16) "Take heed to yourselves, that your heart not be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, (17) And the LORD'S wrath be aroused against you, and He shut up the heaven that there be no rain, and the land does not yield its fruit, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD gives you."

Moses warned the people not to allow themselves to be deceived and turn aside to other gods.  Dr. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, pointed out reasonably, that the people might come to observe the influence of the sun, moon, and stars, upon their land, an influence put in motion by God Himself, but the objects falsely worshiped by heathen nations.  However, their hearts were just as likely to be deceived by any number of false worship they witnessed from neighboring nations.  The Lord, that jealous God, ever zealous in His protection of His people, would turn from them, shutting up heaven stopping the rain, and their land would no longer yield its fruit and they would perish from the land the Lord was giving to them.

(18) “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."

Moses exhorted the people to treasure the words he had spoken, specifically the word of God and His laws, in their hearts and in their whole being.  Their eyes should constantly be fixed on the word of God; as signs bound on their hands and foreheads, they should always be in view, on their minds and in their souls.

(19) “And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."

They were to teach their children God's laws, speaking about them constantly, whether in their houses or in public; they were to be an ongoing way of life--living and teaching the word of God from the moment they woke till the time they retired.

(20) “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, (21) That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth."

They should write the laws on the doorposts of their houses and on their gates, again as constant reminders when they were leaving and upon their return, and also as a sign to other passers by.  Again they were to do all these things that their days and the days of their children might be long in the land the Lord had sworn to their forefathers before them.

(22) “For if you diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him, (23) Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves."

On the eve of their entering their promised land to possess it, Moses declared to the people the promise of their Lord that if they diligently kept His commandments, loved and held fast to Him, and walked in His ways, He would drive out all the nations from before them, and they would possess the nations that had been greater and mightier than they were.

(24) “Every place on which the soles of your feet tread shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the uttermost sea shall your coast be."

Every place in their promised land of Canaan that they trod upon would be their possession, from the wilderness of Paran in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River on the eastern side to the Mediterranean Sea which was the western-most coast.  This map shared on Pinterest shows the Promised Land as described in this verse:

(25) “No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as He has said to you."

No man in the places within the borders of the promised land upon which they would tread, would be able to stand against the children of Israel, because their Lord would would put fear and dread upon all the inhabitants of the land, who would hear of all the mighty works of God to bring His people to this place.  This was originally prophesied in the song at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:14), and the Lord had indeed told them this in Deuteronomy 2:25.

(26) “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; (27) A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day; (28) And a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known."

Moses conveyed to the people that they had been presented with a choice between blessing and a curse.  If they obeyed the commandments of their Lord, which were instructions for life, they would have the blessings that would naturally occur as a result of living right.  That's not to say that God couldn't or wouldn't personally give them extra blessings, but the laws of God are about life and blessing, so following them and walking in the ways of God, does in itself bring blessing.  The people would be choosing a curse if they chose to disobey God's commandments and turn away from Him to go after false gods they had never known, choosing to leave what is certain blessing for unknown mysteries, which always lead to depravity and death.

(29) "And it shall come to pass, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal."

When the Lord had brought them into their promised land, the Israelites were to designate two mountains, one as a mountain of blessings, and the other as a mountain of cursings.  These two mountains were and are parallel to each other, Mount Gerizim being southward, and Mount Ebal northward, and the valley of Shechem in between.  As seen in the photo below, also shared on Pinterest, the mountains are very similar in height and shape: 

"Gerizim" meant "cut off" or "cut down", by implication "cutters down" or "reapers", perhaps designating reapers of harvest from a fertile land.  "Ebal" meant "bald" or "bare", surely implying a barren mountain.  Although it may not be as noticeable now as it was then, Adam Clarke, who lived in the late 1700's and early 1800's, wrote, "That Gerizim is very fruitful, and that Ebal is very barren, is the united testimony of all who have traveled in those parts. See Ludolf, Reland, Rab, Benjamin, and Mr. Maundrell."  How could it be that two mountains so similar in height and shape and so close together, be so different?  It can only be by the providence of God that one can be so fertile, and that without God, one is cursed to barrenness.

(30) “Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the champaign opposite Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?"

Moses further described the location of the two mountains that would be designated as a mountain of blessing and a mountain of cursing.  They were across the Jordan River in the land of Canaan in the plain opposite Gilgal beside the plains of Moreh, near Shechem, which is in the valley between the two mountains.  The following map shows the location of the two mountains in Canaan:

John Wesley made an interesting observation regarding the plains of Moreh:  "This was one of the first places that Abram came to in Canaan. So that in sending them thither to hear the blessing and the curse, they were minded of the promise made to Abram in that very place, Gen.12:6-7."

(31) "For you shall pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell in it."

Moses assured the children of Israel that they would indeed cross over the Jordan River and claim their promised land and would live in it.

(32) "And you shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day."

Moses further proclaimed that the people would observe and follow all the Lord's statutes and judgments that Moses was giving to the people.  Of course, that is the only way that ensured their continual possession of their promised land.  To be able to achieve what Moses stated in verse 31 was to do what Moses said in verse 32.

Moses Reminds the People of Their Unrighteousness

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Deuteronomy 9:1) “Hear, O Israel: You are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fenced up to heaven."

Moses appears to have started a new discourse here, with some pause after his speech in the preceding chapters, because he seems to be gathering the Israelites' attention again with his words, "Hear, O Israel."  The children of Israel were about to pass over the Jordan River.  The original word translated as "this day" was "yom", and it didn't always mean "today" as some translations assert.  It was a period of time at hand.  They were about to go into their promised land and possess nations that were bigger and stronger than they were, with great walled and fortified cities.  How else could they do this but by the grace and power of God, as Moses was about to confirm to them.

(2) "A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’"

The people of the nations the Israelites were about to dispossess were descendants of the Anakim, who were said to be giants, and apparently there was a known fear of confronting them.

(3) "Understand therefore this day, that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you; as a consuming fire He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before your face, so shall you drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said to you."

Indeed, Moses did go on to reassure the Israelites that it was their God who went before them to dispossess those giants in their huge fortified nations.  "As a consuming fire", that phrase they had personally come to understand, God would destroy those people and nations before them, so that the Israelites could drive them out and destroy them quickly, as their Lord had told them previously.  In Deuteronomy 7:22-23, Moses had told them the Lord would completely destroy their enemies from before them, but He would do it little by little, not all at once so as to overwhelm them.

(4) "Speak not in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out from before you, saying, ‘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 drives them out from before you."

Moses cautioned the people against thinking that it was because of their own righteousness that the Lord had brought them into that promised land.  The cup of those heathen nations' iniquity was now full, and it was God's will that they now be destroyed.  Israel was merely the instrument He used to destroy them.  He desired to give His people a great land, but it had nothing to do with their own deservedness.  God can use anyone He wants to fulfill His will; we must always remember He used a donkey, so He could use anyone and it has absolutely nothing to do with how righteous they are.

(5) "Not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may perform the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Again Moses repeated that it was not for the Israelites' righteousness or the uprightness of their hearts that they were being given that land, but because of the nations' wickedness that they were to be driven out.  By then giving the land to the children of Israel, God would be fulfilling His word that He swore to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

(6) "Understand therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess it because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people."

Moses once again exhorted the people to really understand that it had nothing to do with their righteousness that the Lord was giving them that land, because frankly, they weren't righteous at all!  They were a stubborn group of people.

(7) "Remember, and do not forget, how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you departed out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD."

Moses reminded the people and exhorted them not to forget how often they had continually angered their Lord in the wilderness from the time they left Egypt up until that point, by their stubborn rebellion against Him.

(8) “Also in Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you."

Moses reminded them that in Horeb, they had so egregiously provoked their Lord to wrath when they made the golden calf and worshiped it while Moses was on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments, that He would have destroyed them then.  In Exodus 32:10, God had proposed to Moses to destroy all His people, and make of him, Moses, a great nation instead.  A people, who but by the intercession of Moses, would have been totally destroyed for their unrighteousness, had no reason at all to believe it was because of their righteousness that they were being given that land, but in utter humility should be thankful for their Lord's grace and mercy.

(9) “When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water."

Moses went on to detail exactly what had happened at the time the Lord almost destroyed His people.  Moses had gone up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone which contained God's commandments, the people's part of their covenant with God.  Moses had stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, not eating or drinking anything.

(10) "And the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them according to all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. (11) And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant."

Moses went on to describe how the Lord had given him two tablets of stone, written by the finger of God, which had the Ten Commandments, the same exact commandments He had spoken to the people out of the fire and smoke that day the people had assembled to hear Him.  He had given the tablets to Moses at the end of his forty days and forty nights.

(12) "And the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molded image.’"

Moses described how it was the Lord who told him to hurry back down to the people because, unbelievably, although they had just heard from the Lord Himself about six weeks prior, they had made for themselves a molded idol.  It sounded as if the Lord had already disowned that people, so highly displeased with them, that he called them Moses's people, the ones Moses had brought out of Egypt. 

(13) “Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. (14) Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’"

It was at that point the Lord had told Moses, and he at this time, told the people the Lord's words, that He had witnessed that those people were a stubborn lot, and He asked Moses to leave Him alone so that He might destroy them all and blot out their name as His special people, and He would then make a nation out of Moses that would be greater and mightier than they were.  Most of the commentaries I study wrote that when the Lord said to leave Him alone, He was telling Moses not to plead or intercede for the people.  The 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes even had written, "...Demonstrating that the prayers of the faithful are a bar to restrain God's anger so that he does not consume all."  That goes too far for me.  Nothing can restrain God!  Whatever He wills will happen.  Consider the prayers of David, a man after God's own heart, for his and Bathsheba's firstborn baby.  God said that baby would die, and no amount of prayers from David changed that.  God's ultimate will shall be done, but that's not to say that prayers can't change an outcome that is within God's will.  Consider Jonah's prophecy to Nineveh that they would be destroyed in forty days.  The Ninevites repented and were not destroyed.  Did that make Jonah a false prophet?  Indeed not!  Why else would he be sent to the Ninevites to declare that prophecy, but to have them repent and follow God?  In that case, it was God's will that they repent and follow Him, and they did just that, at least for awhile.

Back to the verses above.  Perhaps God was saying He didn't want to hear anything from Moses, but that wasn't because He thought it might change His mind, and He didn't want that to happen.  I believe He was merely saying, go on down and leave Me, maybe don't talk anymore, but mainly just GO and see about your people.

(15) “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands."

Moses described how he indeed left the Lord at that point, and came down from the mountain that burned with fire, and he was carrying the two tablets given him by God.

(16) “And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made for yourselves a molded calf; you had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you."

Moses related what he saw when he came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments.  He saw that the people had quickly turned from God's commandments, and had sinned against the Lord by making a molded calf!  It really is incredible when you think about it.  They had heard the actual voice of God telling them the Ten Commandments, which had terrified them; and the mountain was still burning with fire, which should have been a reminder, and there they were making a golden calf!  But then again, I shouldn't be too smug.  Although this is a vivid picture of how quickly people can forget God, I am quite sure I have seen an awesome work of God, and then forgotten it and fallen into sinful faithlessness a mere six weeks later.

(17) "And I took the two tablets and cast them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes."

Moses described how he had thrown the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God, and broke them.  That signified that the people had broken their covenant with God.  After they had heard the voice of the Lord, and then asked Moses to go to the Lord himself and then tell them what the Lord had said, so they did not have to try to bear His great and terrible voice, fearing they could not continue to hear the voice of the Lord and live; and after they had promised to listen to the word of the Lord as Moses told them, and they would do it--even then, they so quickly had broken their promise and their covenant with God.  God had said at the time, "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!"  God knew then they would so quickly fall away.

(18) “And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sins which you sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger."

Moses related that he fell down before the Lord in prayer and supplication for Israel.  He fasted another forty days and forty nights because of the sins of the children of Israel in doing so wicked a thing as making the golden calf and worshiping it as God.  At first reading, it appears that Moses may have added to the original story as this part doesn't seem to appear in the historical account.  However, as we continue to read, we see that Moses is referring to the second forty days and nights he spent with the Lord in intercession for the people.  In verse 18 he refers to it, and then in verses 19-24 he goes back and fills in the details leading up to his second forty days and nights, which he mentions again in verse 25.

(19) “For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was angry against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened to me at that time also."

Moses related to the people that he had been afraid for them.  He had seen the hot wrath of the Lord and heard His intent to destroy them because of what they had done.  However, the Lord did listen to Moses as he entreated for the people, as he had done many times before.  In this, Moses is seen as a symbol of Christ, the Mediator and Advocate between sinners and a holy God who by His nature cannot abide sin.

Again the order of the retelling seems out of kilter.  Was Moses saying that eventually the Lord relented of His plan to destroy the people, and then filled in the details leading up to that point?  When reading the original account of the incident, we find Moses did briefly plead for the people at the end of his first forty days before the Lord told him to leave.  Exodus 32:14 stated that the Lord had changed His mind about completely destroying the people at that point.  However, that wasn't known to Moses at the time.  He did not know the Lord had relented of His original plan until after He met with the Lord again (Exodus 32:31).  Obviously, Moses later did come to know that the Lord had relented before he left the mountain the first time, because he is the one who wrote these books of the Bible; perhaps he was stating in the latter part of verse 19 that the Lord had indeed relented at that point.

(20) “And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time."

Moses told the people that the Lord was very angry with Aaron at the time, too, and would have destroyed him also.  After all, as high priest, he should have been faithful above all.  Our religious leaders are held to a higher standard because they are responsible for leading their congregations.  However, Aaron had gone along with the people, very easily, in fact, without any hesitation.

(21) “And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, ground it very small, until it was as small as dust; and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain."

Moses described how he had taken their golden calf and burned it in fire and ground it to dust, and cast the dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.  Additionally, something he didn't relate here, Moses made the people drink the water in the brook with the gold dust, demonstrating the worthlessness of their idol they could now drink.

(22) “And at Taberah and Massah and Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath."

Moses reminded the people there were other times they had provoked the Lord with their complaining and murmuring about lack of water.

(23) “Likewise, when the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and you did not believe Him nor hearken to His voice."

Another time they had provoked the Lord, when the Lord had told them to go in and possess the land He had given them, they had instead sent spies and believed their bad report, and would not go in.

(24) “You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you."

Moses summed up his retelling of the people's rebellion and unrighteousness that he started in verse 7, when he told them that ever since they left Egypt until they came to their current place, they had been rebellious against the LORD.  This was to illustrate to them that it was not for any righteousness of their own that the Lord was giving them this land, as he stated in verses 4-6.  They weren't righteous at all!

(25) "Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first, because the LORD had said He would destroy you."

Moses returned to his point he started in verse 18, that because of their terrible sin of idolatry, and his fear that the Lord would indeed destroy them, Moses fell down before the Lord in prayer and supplication for the people, and fasted for forty days and forty nights, as he had done when he first went up the mountain to receive the tablets with the Ten Commandments.

(26) "I prayed therefore to the LORD, and said, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.'"

Moses recited his prayer to the people that the Lord not destroy His people and His inheritance, whom He had chosen and redeemed through His greatness, not because of any greatness of the people He chose, the people He had brought out of bondage in Egypt with mighty miracles, to be His own people.

(27) "‘Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin.'"

Moses continued the retelling of his prayer at the time.  He pleaded with the Lord to remember His servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom He had first made His covenant, and not to look on the stubbornness and wickedness of this current people.

(28) "'Lest the land from where You brought us out say, "Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.”'"

Moses had turned to the honor and glory of his Lord in his plea.  He didn't want it erroneously said that because the Lord had been unable to fulfill His promise, and because He hated the people, He had just brought them out into the wilderness to kill them.  Once again, this proves Moses's point that the people had no righteousness of their own.  It was only for the glory of God and the righteousness of their forefathers and the Lord's promise to them, that they weren't destroyed.

(29) "‘Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.’"

Moses concluded his prayer to the Lord by saying they were, after all, His people and His inheritance, if only because of His glory and mighty power in bringing them out of Egypt to this land as promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

(Deuteronomy 10:1) “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Hew two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make an ark of wood.'"

After Moses's second forty days of fasting and prayer, the Lord told him to hew two stone tablets just like the first ones God had given him, and to bring them up to Him on the mountain.  Additionally, He told him to make a wooden chest.

(2) "‘And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’"

The Lord told Moses He would write on the two tablets the words that were on the first tablets, the Ten Commandments, and he was to put them in the wooden chest.  I can't help but notice that God chose the words "which you broke".  God doesn't appear angry with Moses for breaking the tablets, but I believe the point is that God did not break His covenant; the people broke it.  God agreed to renew it, but this time asked Moses to prepare the stones.  Perhaps this was to illustrate the preparation of the heart by conviction and humility to receive God's law upon it.

(3) "And I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up into the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand."

Moses did as the Lord had commanded him.  He made a chest of acacia wood, and hewed two stone tablets like the first ones the Lord had given him, and took them up into the mountain.  It is not clear if this is the same elaborate Ark of the Covenant that Moses managed the building of rather than actually crafting himself, or if he had indeed made a perhaps simple temporary chest himself.

(4) “And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me."

The Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on the two stone tablets Moses had brought up the mountain with him.  They were the same words, the very same Ten Commandments, the Lord had written on the first two tablets, and the same words the Lord had spoken to the people that day out of the fire and smoke on the mountain.

(5) “And I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the LORD commanded me.”

Moses left the presence of the Lord and came down with the two tablets and put them in the ark it is written he himself had made.  The phrase "there they are" might suggest the tablets were in the same place Moses had placed them then until the current day he was speaking to the people, which would mean it was the same Ark of the Covenant Bezaleel had made (Exodus 37:1).  Perhaps rather than making it himself, Moses ordered it be made, and while he was on the mountain receiving the commandments from God, the people were earnestly preparing for them.  Perhaps Moses did indeed make a wooden chest, that was later embellished by Bezaleel in the manner instructed by God, or maybe it was a temporary chest.  Maybe the phrase "there they are" just meant those tablets Moses had brought down and placed in an ark were now in the place he pointed out to the Israelites at the time he was talking to them.  In Moses's retelling of events, he did not necessarily go into every last detail, and perhaps didn't always relate events in the actual order of their occurrence, but rather linked events that were related to each other to illustrate his points.