Deuteronomy 9:13-29 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 9:13-29. Let’s go!
Deuteronomy 9:13-29 (NIV)
13 And the LORD said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed!
14 Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”
15 So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.
16 When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.
17 So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.
18 Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD’s sight and so provoking him to anger.
19 I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me.
20 And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too.
21 Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.
22 You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah.
23 And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, “Go up and take possession of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not trust him or obey him.
24 You have been rebellious against the LORD ever since I have known you.
25 I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights because the LORD had said he would destroy you.
26 I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin.
28 Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the desert.’
29 But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”
On verses 13-29: In Deuteronomy 9:13-29, Moses describes two recurring patterns in Israel’s history so far. First, the Israelites kept rebelling against God. As Moses says in verse 24: “You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.”
But second, each time the Israelites rebelled against God, Moses was there to stand in the gap, to intercede and pray for his fellow Israelites. God responded to Moses’ prayers and showed mercy to the Israelites.
Let’s thank God that just as the Israelites had an intercessor in Moses, we have an intercessor in Jesus Christ, who is always interceding for us. As 1 John 2:1 says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. “
Not only does Jesus pray for us when we sin, but amazingly He even died to pay for our sins. As Romans 8:34 says, “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
As Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
I’m so thankful that Jesus is not just the King of kings. He’s also the Priest of priests, and He’s praying for you and me right now.
Like Moses, and like our Saviour Jesus, let’s stand in the gap and pray for our family members and friends who do not yet know the eternal hope that is in Jesus Christ. May they come to know Jesus and respond to His love with faith. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
