Deuteronomy 9:25

Deu 9:25 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.

Ver. 25. Thus I fell down.] The three former verses come in by a parenthesis. Here he returns again to the history of his interceding for them the second time.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 9:25. I fell down — In a way of humiliation and supplication, on your behalf. Forty days — The same forty that were mentioned Deu 9:18, as appears by comparing this with the account given in Exodus, where this history is more fully related, and where this is related to have been done twice only. See Exo 32:10; Exo 33:5.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After vindicating in this way the thought expressed in Deu 9:7, by enumerating the principal rebellions of the people against their God, Moses returns in Deu 9:25. to the apostasy at Sinai, for the purpose of showing still further how Israel had no righteousness or ground for boasting before God, and owed its preservation, with all the saving blessings of the covenant, solely to the mercy of God and His covenant faithfulness. To this end he repeats in Deu 9:26-29 the essential points in his intercession for the people after their sin at Sinai, and then proceeds to explain still further, in Deu 10:1-11, how the Lord had not only renewed the tables of the covenant in consequence of this intercession (Deu 10:1-5), but had also established the gracious institution of the priesthood for the time to come by appointing Eleazar in Aaron's stead as soon as his father died, and setting apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant and attend to the holy service, and had commanded them to continue their march to Canaan, and take possession of the land promised to the fathers (Deu 10:6-11). With the words "thus I fell down," in Deu 9:25, Moses returns to the intercession already briefly mentioned in Deu 9:18, and recalls to the recollection of the people the essential features of his plea at the time. For the words "the forty days and nights that I fell down," see at Deu 1:46. The substance of the intercession in Deu 9:26-29 is essentially the same as that in Exo 32:11-13; but given with such freedom as any other than Moses would hardly have allowed himself (Schultz), and in such a manner as to bring it into the most obvious relation to the words of God in Deu 9:12, Deu 9:13. אל־תּשׁחת, "Destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance," says Moses, with reference to the words of the Lord to him: "thy people have corrupted themselves" (Deu 9:12). Israel was not Moses' nation, but the nation and inheritance of Jehovah; it was not Moses, but Jehovah, who had brought it out of Egypt. True, the people were stiffnecked (cf. Deu 9:13); but let the Lord remember the fathers, the oath given to Abraham, which is expressly mentioned in Exo 32:13 (see at Deu 7:8), and not turn to the stiffneckedness of the people (קשׁי equivalent to ערף קשׁה, Deu 9:13 and Deu 9:6), and to their wickedness and sin (i.e., not regard them and punish them). The honour of the Lord before the nations was concerned in this (Deu 9:28). The land whence Israel came out ("the land" = the people of the land, as in Gen 10:25, etc., viz., the Egyptians: the word is construed as a collective with a plural verb) must not have occasion to say, that Jehovah had not led His people into the promised land from incapacity or hatred. יכלת מבּלי recalls Num 14:16. Just as "inability" would be opposed to the nature of the absolute God, so "hatred" would be opposed to the choice of Israel as the inheritance of Jehovah, which He had brought out of Egypt by His divine and almighty power (cf. Exo 6:6).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Whereby is signified that God requireth earnest continuance in prayer.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first--After the enumeration of various acts of rebellion, he had mentioned the outbreak at Kadesh-barnea, which, on a superficial reading of this verse, would seem to have led Moses to a third and protracted season of humiliation. But on a comparison of this passage with Num 14:5, the subject and language of this prayer show that only the second act of intercession (Deu 9:18) is now described in fuller detail.

Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 10

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(25) Thus I fell down . . .—Literally, And I fell down before Jehovah forty days and forty nights, as 1 had fallen down (originally on the fortieth day) when the Lord said He would destroy you: i.e., when He told Moses of the calf.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. So I fell down, etc.] Having recounted in Deu_9:22-24 the accumulated burdens of the people’s sins (there is therefore no need to doubt the originality of these verses, as Steuernagel does) under which he fell down, the speaker returns to the fact of his falling; and in—

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,.... The covenant he had made with them, the promises he had made to them of the multiplication of their seed, and of giving the land of Canaan to them; which is a third argument used with the Lord not to destroy them:

look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin; nor to the natural temper and disposition of the people, which was to be stubborn, obstinate, stiffnecked, and self-willed; nor to their wickedness, which appears in various instances; nor to that particular sin of idolatry they had now been guilty, of; tacitly owning that if God looked to these things, there was sufficient reason to destroy them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Nights. See ver. 18. (Calmet) --- After specifying various seditions of the people, Moses returns to what he had been saying respecting the tables of the law, and shews with what difficulty he obtained pardon for the people, and the second tables. (Haydock) --- Some people believe that Moses was thrice 40 days in the mountain. He mentions the prayer which he addressed to God before his first descent, Exodus xxxii. 11. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Forty days and forty nights; the same mentioned before, Deu 9:18, as appears,

1. By comparing this with Exodus, where this history is more fully related, and where this is said to be done twice only.

2. By the occasion and matter of Moses’s prayer here following, which is the same with the former.

3. By the words here following,

as I fell down at first, which show that this was the second time of his so doing.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25-29. Remember thy servants — After the above enumeration of the principal occasions when the people awakened the anger of Jehovah, Moses returns to the apostasy at Horeb. He repeats the substance of his intercession with Jehovah, as given in Exo_32:11-13.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 25-29. Having enumerated these instances of the rebelliousness of the people, Moses reverts to the apostasy at Sinai, in order still more to impress on the minds of the people the conviction that not for any righteousness or merit of theirs, but solely of his own grace, was God fulfilling to them his covenant with their fathers.

Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; rather, the forty days and forty nights in which I fell down. The reference is to the intercession before Moses came down from the mount, described in Exo_32:11-13. (For the form of the expression, cf. Deu_1:46)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I fell down forty days - The same as were mentioned before, ver. 18, as appears by comparing this with Exodus, where this history is more fully related, and where this is said to be done twice only.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Moses continues reminding the people of Israel about what happened in the past.

lay facedown before Yahweh

"lay with my face on the ground." See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 9:18.

forty days and forty nights

"40 days and 40 nights" (See: Numbers)

you have redeemed

Moses speaks as if Yahweh had rescued the Israelites by paying money to free them from slavery. AT: "you have rescued" (See: Metaphor)

through your greatness

The word "greatness" is a metonym for Yahweh's great power. AT: "through your great power" (See: Metonymy)

with a mighty hand

Here "a mighty hand" refers to Yahweh's power. See how you translated similar words in Deuteronomy 4:34. AT: "with your mighty power" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

inherit

redeem

might

hand

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ואתנפל וגו׳ AND I FELL DOWN [BEFORE THE LORD … THE FORTY DAYS … WHICH I HAD FALLEN DOWN] — These are the very same forty days mentioned above (v. 18), and it mentions them a second time here, because there is written here (in the next verse) the wording of his prayer, as it is said, “O Lord God, destroy not thy people, etc.”.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND I FELL DOWN BEFORE THE ETERNAL. He is stating: “I had to cast myself down in prayer for you forty days and forty nights because of this great sin, for at first G-d said to destroy you, until I prayed to G-d and said ‘[O G-d Eternal], destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance.’” This was his prayer before he came down from the mountain, and it was because of this prayer that he was answered with And the Eternal repented of the evil which He said He would do unto His people., Verse 14. The word “repented” here is an anthropomorphism (Ibn Ezra). He did not mention the prayer of the forty days and forty nights, for the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. I have already explained. the reason why the Divine Names are written both with Aleph Daleth, and Yod Hei [in Verse 26: O G-d Eternal, destroy not Thy people etc.].

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.