Deuteronomy 9:6-12 – Don’t be stiff-necked

In the earlier verses of Deuteronomy 9, Moses was essentially urging the people of Israel not to over-estimate themselves. He did not want them to think that they deserved the blessings of God because of their righteousness. They were such stubborn, underserving people and would have been destroyed if not for the grace and mercy of God. All that they had and would soon be having were granted them not on the merit of their goodness but on God’s generosity and magnanimity. If He were to deal with them according to what they had done, they would have perished already. Moses wanted them to know that he did not accuse them of being a stubborn people without any basis. He told them that since they left Egypt, they had been rebelling against the Lord. They continued to do so throughout the wilderness journey. Even when they had arrived at the edge of the promised land, they were still provoking the Lord to anger.  

In verses 8-12, Moses brought them back to the event at the foot of Mount Sinai to further substantiate his accusation. He recalled that after God had spoken to the whole assembly a few days earlier, He summoned him up to Mount Sinai. He went up to receive the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written by God’s own finger. He remembered staying up in the mountain waiting on God for 40 days and 40 nights, and neither ate food nor drank water for that duration. At the end of the 40 days, as the Lord handed him the two tablets of stone, He told Moses a piece of very unpleasant news. God hastened him to return to the assembly to deal with it. These were the words of the Lord, “Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.”   

This passage serves as a call for us to be vigilant in our journey with God. Firstly, we need to watch out for our stubborn traits. Stubbornness can be a positive attitude if we used it rightly. When we stubbornly resist the world and its luring temptation, stubbornness can be a good thing. But when we stubbornly resist the prompting of God’s workings in our lives, we will be guilty of grieving or quenching the Spirit. Don’t be stubborn when it comes to obeying God. Secondly, we must learn to rightly discern the moment. If we do not, we risk being enticed into a life of levity. Here was Moses up in the Mountain in the most intense sacred moment with God. He was fasting and waiting on God. Instead of waiting together with him at the base of the Mountain, they lived their lives frivolously. If we don’t rightly discern the moment, though God is near we can be distracted and be led to a careless disregard for Him. As the leaders wait upon the Lord for direction, what we can do is to undergird their ministry with our prayers as well. Thirdly, we need to remember that sin will unwittingly influence us to act corruptly. The lament of God in verse 12 was that the people had acted corruptly and had quickly turned aside from the way that God had commanded them. Sin always makes us contradict God to pander to its corrupting nature. We must not underestimate the influence of sin. The fact that Moses was told to go down quickly to deal with it shows us how swiftly God wants us to deal with our sins. Don’t allow sin to influence us a minute longer to bring us to our ruin. So be vigilant and seize every moment to live for God. The route to backsliding is very real!