Hear, Israel! Thou art to pass over the Jordan this day, to enter in to possess nations greater and mightier than thou, cities great and walled up to heaven,
Moses speaks to Israel at the edge of the Jordan, and he begins by naming the odds against them: bigger nations, stronger armies, huge walled cities. Do honest facts about the enemy kill faith, or feed it?
The chapter opens with a call that runs through the whole book. One writer calls it the keynote of Deuteronomy, and shows what Moses does with it.
This chapter opens with the same great sentence of Deuteronomy: "Hear, O Israel." We may say this is the keynote of this most blessed book, and above all of the opening addresses we have been looking at... First, the lawgiver sets before the people, in very solemn terms, what lay ahead of them as they entered the land. He does not hide from them that they would meet serious difficulties and formidable enemies. He does this, we need hardly say, not to discourage their hearts, but to warn them, arm them, and get them ready.
Moses repeats that call across the book. Another writer notes how Israel answered it.
Jehovah kept calling for their attention. When they became the keepers of the divine law, His great declarations began with the words they boasted in, though the boast was empty: "Hear, O Israel" (Deut. 5:1; Deut. 6:3-4; Deut. 9:1; Deut. 20:3). But Israel was deaf to everything He revealed.
Crossing "today" also carries a picture. One writer sets the Jordan beside the earlier crossing of the Red Sea.
The crossing of the Red Sea pictured Christ dying for the believer, so that the believer escapes death and judgement. The crossing of the Jordan pictured the believer dying with Christ and rising with Him, so that the path of death becomes the path of life (Col. 2:20; Col. 3:1)... Many have taken the Jordan itself as a picture of death, which we must pass through to reach heaven. It is better read as a picture of entering, while still on earth, through death with Christ, into the heavenly position of the Christian. There he has to stand for the Lord in conflict with spiritual powers of wickedness (see Eph. 6:10-18), just as Israel had to fight the Canaanites.
Faith does not pretend the opposition is not there. Three people can look at the same obstacle and say three different things.
It is not the place of faith, nor its path, to deny that God's people meet difficulties. That would be the height of folly... A lazy unbeliever may say, "There is a lion in the way." A blind enthusiast may say, "There is no such thing." The true man of faith will say, "Even if there were a thousand lions in the way, God can soon deal with them."
Naming the enemy in advance also has a protective purpose.
Moses tells the people plainly what lay ahead of them. He does it not to discourage them, but to guard them from self-confidence, which always gives way in the moment of trial, and to throw them on the living God, who never fails a trusting heart.
The comparison in the verse is between Israel and the nations. One writer shifts the comparison to the One going with them.
The subject here is not the Jewish people in Jehovah's school, showing what was in their heart and what He was towards them. It is the people strengthened by Jehovah in the face of a power mightier than their own. Everything rested on this one truth: Jehovah was with them. What did all the others matter? They might be greater, stronger, wiser than the Israelites; but what about Jehovah? This was their boast. Could they match Him? They could not.
The book of Joshua records the outcome of that promise.
According to the assurance given upon the passage of the Jordan, the living God had driven out the nations, the cities walled to heaven and the dreaded giants, had fallen.
So on what grounds could Israel drive out nations like these?
Since God was for them, they would have power to destroy those nations completely. But God would use that power not because Israel was so righteous, but because the peoples of the land were so wicked. In effect he says to the people: don't imagine God will give you the victory because you have deserved it.
One writer sets Israel's fight beside the Christian's, and marks the difference.
Israel's enemies were flesh and blood; ours are not. Israel's conflict was in the land; ours is with the wicked spirits in the heavenly places... The Canaanites stood in the way of Israel possessing and enjoying the land. In the same way, the aim of the wicked spirits is to hold us back, to stop us possessing and enjoying our spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.
- Hear — the chapter opens with the keynote of the whole book, a call Israel boasted in but did not obey.
- Cross — "today" they pass a river. It pictures dying and rising with Christ, and taking a heavenly place while still on earth.
- Face — faith does not pretend the walls are low. Naming the danger guards the heart from self-confidence and drives it to God.
- Compare — the nations were greater than Israel, but none of them was greater than the God who was with them.
- Remember — no one earned this victory; God gave the power because the nations were wicked, not because Israel was righteous.
a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard [say], Who can stand before the sons of Anak!
Moses gets Israel ready to cross into Canaan by naming the enemy out loud: great cities, tall men, and a boast the whole camp knew. Does repeating an enemy's reputation build faith, or break it?
Moses could have spoken only of the good land ahead. Instead he put the hardest facts first. One commentator sees this as the mark of a faithful leader.
Moses tells the people plainly what lay ahead of them. This was not to discourage them. It was to guard them from self-confidence, which is certain to give way in the moment of testing, and to throw them on the living God, who never fails a trusting heart.
The same writer names two wrong reactions to a real obstacle, and one right one:
It is not the place of faith, nor its path, to deny that the people of God will meet difficulties... A lazy unbeliever may say, "There is a lion in the way." A blind enthusiast may say, "There is no such thing." The true man of faith will say, "Though there were a thousand lions in the way, God can soon get rid of them."
"Who can stand before the sons of Anak?" was a slogan, not a survey. One writer ties the name itself to height and to pride, and finds God's answer to both.
The Anakim are the "long-necked," giants in size and children of pride. Of them people make the boast, "Who can stand before the sons of Anak?"... God puts the mark of nothingness on what is highest in nature, and He brings it low.
Israel had heard of these men before. A generation earlier the report of them broke the nation's nerve. Now the question is what that reputation is worth to someone who listens to God's word.
Israel meet on their way the very people who at the start had struck terror into their hearts and caused them to fall: the Anakim, who had kept them from going up boldly to take the land... But what impression could the sons of Anak make on the mind of someone led by the word of God? The victory is his.
The first failure was not bad information. It was bad arithmetic. The obstacles were real, but the spies weighed them against the wrong thing:
they had only looked at the obstacles to conquering the land with the natural eye instead of the eye of faith. The result was that they left Jehovah out. They measured the enemies they would meet by their estimate of their own strength instead of the Lord's.
The verse ends with a boast about who can stand. Put God into the sum, and the size of the enemy changes.
Here, then, is God's answer to all difficulties, however great they may be. What were mighty nations, great cities and walled defences in the presence of Jehovah? No more than chaff before the whirlwind. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" The very things that scare the cowardly heart and trip it up give an occasion for God to display His power, and for faith to win its magnificent victories.
Beating giants could look like proof that Israel deserved the land. One commentator rules that out.
Because God was for them, they would have power to destroy them completely. But God would use that power not because they were so righteous, but because the peoples of the land were so wicked. In effect he says to the people: don't imagine God will give you the victory because you have deserved it.
One writer sees the same contest in the Christian life.
Having in this way put the flesh in the place of death as a picture, the Israelites had to get ready for battle with giants who lived in "cities great and fortified up to heaven" — enemies next to whom they seemed "like grasshoppers" in their own eyes. In the same way, we have enemies, rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, next to whom all our strength is mere weakness.
- Named — Moses states the enemy's size up front. He aims to kill self-confidence, not courage.
- Measured — the first generation heard the same facts, left God out of the sum, and measured the giants against themselves.
- Answered — set beside Jehovah, mighty nations and walled cities are chaff before the whirlwind.
- Undeserved — Israel wins because the nations were wicked, not because Israel was righteous.
- Repeated — believers face enemies far stronger than themselves, and hold their ground by the same arithmetic.
Know then this day, that Jehovah thy God is he that goeth over before thee, a consuming fire; he will destroy them, and he will cast them down before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them and cause them to perish quickly, as Jehovah hath said unto thee.
Israel stood on the edge of the Jordan facing walled cities and a people famous for being unbeatable, and Moses does not soften the picture. Instead he tells them who would cross over ahead of them, and what that One is.
One writer treats this honesty as the mark of real faith, set against both cowardice and bravado.
It is not the business of faith, nor its path, to deny that the people of God face difficulties. It would be the height of folly to do so, since the difficulties are real. To deny them would be recklessness, fanaticism, or mere human excitement. It is always good for people to know what they are dealing with. They should not rush blindly into a path they are not prepared for. An unbelieving sluggard may say, "There is a lion in the way." A blind enthusiast may say, "There is no such thing." The true man of faith will say, "Though there were a thousand lions in the way, God can soon dispose of them."
Moses had a reason for leaving the danger in full view.
Moses tells the people plainly what was before them. This was not to discourage them, but to keep them from self-confidence, which is sure to collapse in the moment of testing. It was to throw them upon the living God, who never fails a trusting heart.
Everything rests on one thing — God crosses first.
Here, then, is God's answer to every difficulty, however formidable. What were mighty nations, great cities, and fortified walls in the presence of the LORD? Simply chaff before the whirlwind. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" The very things that frighten and trip up the cowardly heart become an occasion for God to display His power, and for the magnificent triumphs of faith. Faith says, "Grant me only this, that God is before me and with me, and I can go anywhere."
The verse calls Israel to know something that day.
Israel is told to go in and dispossess nations greater and mightier than themselves, with great fortified cities. The people are great and tall, descendants of the Anakim who were giants, and they had a reputation of being invincible (vs.1-2). But Israel must understand that it was the living God who went before them "as a consuming fire" to render the enemy helpless before them (v.3).
The fire is not aimed only at Israel's enemies.
He is a consuming fire, because He is holy. He is intolerant of evil, and must consume our dross.
The verse promises a fast and total victory. The next verses block the obvious wrong conclusion: that Israel had earned it.
God being for them, they would have power to destroy them completely; yet God would exert that power, not because they were so righteous, but because the peoples of the land were so wicked. In effect he says to the people: don't imagine God will give you the victory because you have deserved it. He then goes on to remind them of their great unbelief and sin in making the golden calf, and of their refusal to go up to the land when the spies came back. All this proved that they had no righteousness in which to stand before their God.
That danger is not felt in the fight, but afterwards.
There is moral danger in the very moment of victory — danger arising out of what we are in ourselves. There is the danger of congratulating ourselves, a terrible trap for us. In the hour of conflict we feel our weakness, our nothingness, our need. This is good and morally safe. It is good to be brought down to the very bottom of self and all that belongs to it. There we find God, in all the fullness and blessedness of what He is, and this is sure and certain victory, and praise that follows.
Years later Joshua faced those same giants, holding this promise.
Joshua had received the word; he could count on God's promise: "He who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God." (Deut. 9:3) How small and petty our former fears and terrors look when we go on with God. What is a "man of six cubits and a span," with a "coat of mail of 5,000 shekels of bronze," in the presence of "God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth"? What is he before "the Lord of all the earth," before whom all things will be subdued, and who will subdue all things before His own? "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." (Rom. 16:20)
- Look honestly. Faith does not deny the giants, and it does not freeze in front of them. It measures them against God, who can dispose of a thousand lions.
- Look ahead. The strength of the verse is the word before — God crosses first, and walls become chaff before a whirlwind.
- Fire first. "A consuming fire" is God acting according to His holiness; it makes an invincible enemy helpless.
- Guard the heart. The victory is quick and complete, but it is never a payment. It came because the nations were wicked, not because Israel deserved it.
- Giants fall. Joshua acted on this promise and found the old terrors small — the same God of peace will crush Satan under His people's feet.
Thou shalt not say in thy heart, when Jehovah thy God thrusteth them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah dispossess them from before thee.
Israel stood on the edge of Canaan with victory promised. Before a single city fell, Moses told them what they must never say to themselves afterwards: that the land came to them because they deserved it.
The danger is not in the battle but in what the heart says afterwards.
But our treacherous and deceitful hearts are prone to forget where the strength and victory come from. That gives moral force, value and timeliness to the warning of God's faithful servant. He spoke it to the hearts and consciences of his people: "Do not say in your heart" — this is where the mischief always begins.
This may sound like an unlikely temptation. The warning itself proves otherwise.
How terrible to think that we are capable of saying in our hearts such words as, "For my righteousness!" Yes, reader, we are capable of such glaring folly. Israel was capable of it, and so are we, because we are made of the very same material. We know they were capable of it, because God warned them against it. The Spirit of God does not warn against phantom dangers or imaginary temptations. We really can turn God's actions on our behalf into an occasion for self-congratulation. Instead of seeing in those gracious actions a reason for heartfelt praise to God, we use them as a reason for exalting ourselves.
The verse gives its own reason for the eviction. One writer explains it with a picture from renting property.
God was about to drive out the seven nations, in the exercise of His righteous government, on the ground of their wickedness. Every landlord has a perfect right to evict bad tenants. The nations of Canaan had not only failed to pay their rent, as we say; they had also damaged and defiled the property so badly that God could no longer endure them. So He was going to drive them out, quite apart from who the incoming tenants were. Whoever was going to get the property, these dreadful tenants had to go.
God waited a long time before that judgment fell. The same rule would later apply to Israel itself.
The Scriptures plainly present the conquest of Canaan as an example of God's positive judgment after all patience had already proved useless, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. It also shows His power against the enemies of His nature, purposes and people, and His faithfulness to His people. God told Abraham that his descendants must go down and live in Egypt for a long time, because the sin of the Amorites was not yet full; and this happened. Leviticus 18 puts the same truth in the strongest possible way: the land vomits out its inhabitants, and God warned Israel that it would spit them out too if they defiled it. Israel was fully warned and told the principle on which it was done. It is a great public sample of God's full judgment in the earth.
If Israel's own record gave them no claim, something else did — and it reaches far beyond Canaan.
What then remained? Well, there was the promise to Abraham, confirmed to Isaac and Jacob, and it carried no conditions that they had to fulfil. That remained, and Moses pleaded it before God, as verse 27 reveals. The covenant with the fathers was one of grace. God will make it good in the "new covenant" promised in Jeremiah 31, when His dealings with Israel reach their end. That new covenant rests on the death and resurrection of Christ, and on this basis the Gospel goes out today, as 2 Corinthians 3:6 shows. It is the "everlasting covenant," as we see in Hebrews 13:20.
A person can break this warning and still sound thankful.
When we dwell on the effect in ourselves, and not on the source in God, we show the spirit of the Pharisee without realising it. The Pharisee (Luke 17) began by giving thanks — "I thank you, O God." What marks a pharisaic spirit is not the failure to thank God for our blessings. Its essence is this: instead of saying, "I thank you for what you are," it says, "I thank you for what I am." The Pharisee thinks of the grace given, and is lifted up. He does not think of the grace which gives, and which forgives.
- Heart. God forbids a claim made silently, inside. That is where the trouble starts — after the victory, not during the battle.
- Wickedness. The nations lost the land because their evil had become unbearable. God evicted them like a landlord evicting tenants who wreck the property.
- Patience. The judgment fell only after long patience had proved useless. It stands as a public sample of God's judgment in the earth.
- Promise. Israel's one claim was the promise to Abraham, which carried no conditions. Writers trace that covenant of grace on to the new covenant and the gospel.
- Thanks. The alternative to "for my righteousness" is not silence but praise — thanking God for what He is, not for what I am.
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou enter in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah thy God dispossess them from before thee, and that he may perform the word which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Moses stands with Israel at the border of Canaan. He removes every reason they might give for being there. He gives two causes — the wickedness of the nations, and the oath God swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Neither one lies in Israel.
The danger is a sentence spoken in the heart, not an outward act.
What ignorance of our own hearts! How terrible to think that we are capable of saying in our hearts such words as, "For my righteousness!" Yes, reader, we are truly capable of such foolishness. Israel was capable of it, and so are we, since we are made of the very same material. We know they were capable of it, because they received that warning. And the Spirit of God does not warn against imaginary dangers. We are truly capable of turning God's actions on our behalf into an occasion for self-satisfaction.
God drove the Canaanites out as an act of His government. One writer pictures Him as a landlord with bad tenants.
Every landlord has a perfect right to evict bad tenants. The nations of Canaan had not only failed to pay their rent, as we say. They had also damaged and defiled the property so badly that God could no longer put up with them. So He was going to drive them out, quite apart from who the incoming tenants were. Whoever was going to take possession of the property, these dreadful tenants had to go. The iniquity of the Amorites had reached its highest point. Nothing was left but for judgment to take its course.
That judgment came only after long patience. And the same standard hung over Israel's own head.
God told Abraham that his descendants must go down and live in Egypt for a long period, because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. And this happened. God clearly told Israel the cause of that judgment... Leviticus 18 states this truth in the strongest possible way. It warns Israel not to fall into the same detestable practices. "The land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep my statutes... lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you." So God let a people ripen to the full height of their wickedness. Then He used them to show His righteous anger and power. He fully warned Israel and made the principle behind it plain.
If Israel's merit is ruled out, something must take its place, and the second half of the verse supplies it.
The people were reminded that their possession of the land of Canaan was simply in fulfilment of God's promise to their fathers. This placed the matter on the most solid basis — a basis that nothing could ever disturb.
That promise was made long before the law existed, which is why obedience was never the price of the land.
But then what about the law? Did that make any difference? None at all, as far as God's gift and promise are concerned. Four centuries before the law came, God Almighty settled and established the great transaction with Abraham His friend — settled and established forever. So nothing can possibly touch it. God set no legal conditions before Abraham. It was all pure and absolute grace. He gave the land to Abraham by promise, not by law in any form.
Moses does not stop at the warning. The rest of the chapter goes through their record.
This chapter and the first eleven verses of chapter ten strike at the spirit of self-righteousness. First comes the warning. Then comes their shameful past. It showed that in their case every boast of being righteous had to be ruled out. So did every claim to have any righteousness at all. They had been rebels, and they owed their existence wholly to the mercy of God... Our hearts are no different from theirs. How easily we forget all that we were, and that we owe all we are to the grace of God.
A record like this looks like a locked door. One writer asks whether it is, and where that leaves us.
Could the enemy, the accuser, take up everything Israel had done and make it a barrier to their entering the land? Could he stop us getting into heaven? For this is heaven for us. He could not... What is man's place with God? Lowliness. And when that is so, all his delight is in being nothing and receiving everything.
- Not for your righteousness — the verse gives two reasons for Israel's entry: the sin of the nations, and the oath to the fathers. It rules out a third — anything in Israel.
- The cause outside them — God evicted the Canaanites as bad tenants who had ruined the property. His patience had let their wickedness ripen to the full.
- The gift behind them — the land rested on a promise God made to Abraham four centuries before the law. He attached no conditions, so nothing can touch it.
- The mirror before them — the same land that spat out its earlier peoples could spit out Israel too. Leviticus 18 aimed that warning at them.
- The result in us — the record of failure never bought the inheritance, so it cannot cancel it either. What it kills is the inward sentence "for my righteousness."
Know therefore that Jehovah thy God doth not give thee this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people.
Moses has just told Israel that the land ahead is not a prize they earned. Here he presses the point home: they are not going in because they are good, and their own record proves it. The verse raises two hard questions — if not for their righteousness, then on what ground? And how can God settle a "stiff-necked people" in His good land at all?
The danger is not spoken out loud. It is what the heart says to itself after the victory:
But our treacherous and deceitful hearts are quick to forget where the strength and the victory come from. That is why the warning words of God's faithful servant carry such moral force, value and timeliness. He spoke them to the hearts and consciences of his brothers: "Do not say in your heart" — this is where the mischief always begins — "after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, saying, 'It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land.'"
The rest of the chapter is Moses' evidence. He reminds them of their own record:
Then, as the rest of this chapter shows, he reminded the people of their great unbelief and sin in making the golden calf. He also reminded them of their refusal to go up to the land when the spies came back. All this proved that they had no righteousness in which to stand before their God.
Israel's merit did not bring them in. So why were the nations sent out? Their own wickedness — and that was settled without reference to who moved in next:
Every landlord has a perfect right to evict bad tenants. The nations of Canaan had not only failed to pay their rent, as we say. They had also damaged and defiled the property so badly that God could no longer endure them. So He was going to drive them out, whoever the incoming tenants might be... Waiting any longer would have meant approving the most terrible practices. That was morally impossible.
So what made Israel different from the people they were replacing? Nothing in themselves:
Surely, as they reviewed all these things, they could see the utter folly of these words: "It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land." How could people who made a metal idol talk like that! Should they not instead see, feel and admit that they were no better than the nations about to be driven out before them? For what had made them differ? The sovereign mercy and electing love of their covenant God.
In justice, being stiff-necked is a reason for God to stay away. In grace, through a mediator, it becomes a reason to ask Him to come near:
If it were only a matter of justice, His coming among them could only destroy them, because they were "a stiff-necked people." But the moment He speaks of grace, through the mediator, that same stubbornness becomes a reason to ask for His presence... This is deeply beautiful. A stiff-necked people needed the boundless grace and endless patience of God. No one but He could bear with them.
Moses' verdict here is not God's last word about Israel. One writer shows how a very different verdict on the same people can be true at the same time:
Moses states what the people were in their nature and practical ways; God declares what they are in His sight, because of the blood of atonement. Notice, God does not say there is no iniquity in Jacob, but that "he has not beheld it." There was plenty of it. But they were a redeemed people, sheltered under the blood of the Lamb... He could not see both the iniquity and the blood shed to wash it away.
(The older translation of Numbers 23:21 reads "He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob"; the ESV reads "He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob.")
The lesson is not only for Israel:
Mercy alone had saved them and brought about their restoration. How easily our poor hearts, no different from theirs, forget all we were and that we owe all we are to the grace of God. Self-righteousness is detestable in God's sight. True faith and obedience means true humility.
- Not merit. The land was never wages. Moses forbids Israel even to think, "Because of my righteousness."
- Not partiality. God removed the Canaanites for their own wickedness — bad tenants evicted, whoever moved in next.
- But mercy. What made Israel differ was not their record but the sovereign mercy and electing love of their covenant God.
- Even stiff-necked. Justice would answer their stubbornness with destruction. Under grace, through a mediator, that same stubbornness becomes a reason to ask for God's presence.
- So humility. Moses tells them what they are in themselves. God tells them what they are under the blood. Together these truths leave no room for self-righteousness.