Deuteronomy 9 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Deuteronomy 9 Summary - A Quick Overview

WHEN:

• Moses’ speech, recorded in the opening chapters of Deuteronomy, occurred immediately following the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  

• The Israelites were in the wilderness from approximately 1490-1450 B.C.

• The Book of Deuteronomy opens on the 1st day of the 11th month in the 40th year (Deu 1:3) following the Israelites departure from Egypt (approximately 1450 B.C.).

CHARACTERS:

• Israelites (Hebrews) – The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God granted them freedom after several hundred years in slavery in Egypt. Leading up to the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites had spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness as they made their way to Canaan, the land God promised to give them as a home.

• Moses – Moses was selected by God to lead the Israelites to Canaan. God spoke directly to Moses and Moses communicated God’s words and laws to the people.    

• Aaron – Moses’ brother. He was the first High Priest of Israel. He made the golden calf when Moses was on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32).

WHERE:

• Deuteronomy 1:5 tells us Moses spoke the words recorded in Deuteronomy while in Moab, probably on the plains of Moab near Pisgah (Numbers 22:1).

OUTLINE:

• ISRAEL REMINDED OF THEIR STUBBORNESS AND WICKEDNESS (9:1-29):

  • God was going to empower the Israelites to conquer the land of Canaan even though their enemies were powerful people.

  • But God did not want the Israelites to think He was giving them the land because of their personal righteousness. In fact, He told them that was not the case.

  • The Israelites were going to be allowed to conquer the Promised Land because of the wickedness of the nations who lived there before them.

  • God intended to punish those nations for their evil and was going to use the Israelites to do it.

  • The other reason God was giving Israel the Canaan land was because of the promises He made to their forefathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph).

  • Moses reminded the Israelites of two occasions when they rebelled against God:

    • 1. When the people made an idol, a golden calf, and worshiped it while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the law from God (Exodus 32).

    • 2. When Israel abandoned faith in God and despaired at the negative report brought back by the 10 spies who were sent to spy out Canaan (Numbers 13-14).

  • On both occasions, Moses had to plead with the Lord not to destroy the Israelites.

APPLICATION:

• Critics of the Bible love to present the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan as a bloodthirsty imperialist march of violence sanctioned by God to steal land belonging to the innocent townspeople.

• But this chapter reveals the people of Canaan were not innocent, they were evil, and God intended on using the Israelites to punish them.

• God did this to several nations in the Old Testament, including the Israelites when they became corrupt later in their history.  

• These types of mischaracterizations are part of the reason we need to study these more obscure Old Testament books. Critics aren’t shy about abusing lesser-known texts.