Deuteronomy 9:4
When the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, "Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land." Rather, the LORD is driving out these nations before you because of their wickedness.
Sermons
Against Self-Righteous ConceitD. Davies Deuteronomy 9:1-6
The Call to AttentionHenry, MatthewDeuteronomy 9:1-6
The JordanE. Smith, B. A.Deuteronomy 9:1-6
The Policy of ReprobationR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 9:1-6
Heaven and Glory not the Reward of Our Own RighteousnessJames Stratten.Deuteronomy 9:4-5
Mercy, not MeritHomilistDeuteronomy 9:4-5
That Outward SuccessAnthony Burgess.Deuteronomy 9:4-5
The Address of MosesBp. Harvey Goodwin.Deuteronomy 9:4-5
The Favoured Peoples of the EarthHomilistDeuteronomy 9:4-5
The Warnings of MosesH. W. Dearden, M. A.Deuteronomy 9:4-5
Self-RighteousnessJ. Orr Deuteronomy 9:4-7














Strange capacity of human nature for self-delusion! It was an extraordinary error to fall into, when the Jew began to fancy that by his own power and might he had conquered Palestine (Deuteronomy 8:17). Yet more extraordinary was the delusion that he had been brought into the land on account of righteousness. The two errors sprang from the same root. The worldly mind, which spurns at the acknowledgment of God's bestowal of what it has, has its counterpart in the self-righteous mind, which attributes God's dealings with it to its superior sanctity. Self-exaltation, pride, in both. In the one case, "my power," etc., in the other, "my righteousness."

I. THE NATURE OF THE ERROR. A magnified opinion of one's righteousness. The idea that it is our righteousness which is the meritorious ground of the bestowal of blessing. The Jews might not suppose that they were absolutely righteous - though some of the later Pharisees seem almost to have got this length (Luke 18:11). But they thought that they were so far righteous as to have established a claim on God's justice for what they had. This is a state of mind into which men glide half unconsciously. We often say it "in our hearts," when we would be ashamed to avow it with our lips. The self-complacency, e.g. which accepts prosperity as the reward of superior virtue; the self-satisfaction which esteems such reward due to it; the complaint of injustice which is raised when blessings are removed, - betray its presence. In the spiritual sphere, the tendency is evidenced in the denial of the need of salvation; in the self-justifying spirit which refuses to accept the position of one condemned, and justly exposed to wrath; in the reassertion in subtler or coarser forms of the principle of salvation by works. In whatever degree a man thinks himself entitled to acceptance with God, and to spiritual blessings, whether on the ground of obedience to prescribed rules, or on the ground of internal characteristics (faith, holiness, etc.), he is permitting himself to fall into this error.

II. THE SOURCE OF THE ERROR. The Israelites might fall into it:

1. By emphasizing their acts of obedience and forgetting their rebellions. This, as Moses shows, is practically what they did. It is not an uncommon fault. We forget our sins, and, thinking only of obediences, slide by easy stages into a self-satisfied and pleased view of ourselves.

2. By comparing themselves with the former generation. They had not been, as their fathers were, absolutely disobedient and recalcitrant. They were going up to possess the land. This comparing of ourselves with others is not wise. If a little in advance of our neighbors, it is extremely apt to inflate our consciousness of integrity (2 Corinthians 10:12).

3. By arguing from the fulfillment of promise. God had promised victory and possession on condition of obedience. Having got the blessings, they might argue that, in God's judgment, they must have been obedient. We, in like manner, may argue from God's kindness to us that we must have been peculiarly, pleasing to him. Hence that we are deserving of what we have received. The spring of all is the natural egoism of the heart. It is its own center. It wishes to exalt and glorify itself. It has no idea of glorying only in God. It is self-exalting, not God-exalting (1 Corinthians 1:29-31; Galatians 6:14; Philippians 3:7-10).

III. THE REFUTATION OF THE ERROR. Even perfect righteousness would not justify self-righteousness. The very indulgence of the self-glorying spirit refutes the contention of righteousness. Whoever is the righteous man, it is not he who boasts of righteousness!

"For merit lives from man to man,
And not from man, O Lord, to thee." But:

1. We are not righteous. The only justifying righteousness is a perfect one, and that no man can plead. The legal ground is destroyed when we admit failure in even one point (James 2:10).

2. We are, in many ways, disobedient and rebellious. Past acts testify against us. Our daily life testifies against us. He knows little of self who does not read, in his disinclinations to duty, in his reluctant performances, in his rebellions at difficulties, in his secret impatience, in his frequent inclining to things forbidden, the signs of a wayward and rebellious disposition. The true ground on which blessing is bestowed is wrapped up in that old oath sworn to the fathers (ver. 5), in the seed of Christ, in whom only we have acceptance. - J.O.

Not for thy righteousness.
I. MEN ARE VERY PRONE TO MAKE THE OUTWARD PROSPERITY AND INCREASE WHICH GOD GIVETH THEM AN ARGUMENT OF THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND SO OF GOD'S LOVE TO THEM, TO SAVE THEM. They think it impossible that, seeing God hath so blessed them here, He should damn them hereafter. For the discovery of the weakness of this prop take notice first of these particulars.

1. Prosperity, wealth, and success are in themselves blessings, mercies, and so good things to be desired. Hence we read of the people of God praying for these earthly mercies, and we have a direction for it in the Lord's Prayer, when we pray for daily bread. It is true, indeed, the very petition doth much limit our desires, for it is after the great things that belong to God's glory; and it is but one petition, whereas there are divers for spiritual things, so that our Saviour would have us to be above these earthly things, as those fowls of the heaven are which on a sudden fall on the ground for their food, but presently fly up to heaven again; and then it is daily food, or as the most learned expound it, food convenient, and decent for our place and calling, not superfluity.

2. Although these are blessings and mercies, and so good things, yet they are not sanctifying of those that have them. Dives said he had good things laid up in store, but how were they good which made him bad? How were they good which could not keep him out of hell? Riches, therefore, are neither good nor bad, but indifferent in their nature. Those are good things which make us good.

3. As outward wealth and increase are blessings, so they do belong by promise unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:8). I do not say with some divines that wicked men have no right to their goods, that they are usurpers, and shall answer for every bit of bread they eat, as robbers and thieves. No, it is a dangerous position to hold civil dominion and right to be placed upon godliness. The earth hath He given to the children of men, saith the Psalmist, to all men as well as to the godly; but as there is a lawful, civil right, so there is a sanctified use, and this only the godly have.

4. Although we cannot conclude grace by outward mercies, yet thus far we must by Scripture say, that God out of a general love in a providential way doth give many a man outward prosperity and wealth for his diligence, industry, upright and honest dealing in the world. Thus Solomon saith, "The hand of the diligent maketh rich," and truth and justice in our day is blessed by God to increase.

5. Some go into another extremity, and conclude of their good estate and holy condition because they are in a poor, needy, and miserable estate, and destitute of all earthly comforts. But every poor man is not a Lazarus, nay, there are many times none more wicked, cursed, profane, and enemies to all goodness, than those that are in a low and miserable condition. A woeful thing it is, indeed, to have nothing but misery here, and nothing but torments hereafter.

II. WHY OUTWARD PROSPERITY AND BLESSINGS DO NOT ARGUE A MAN'S GOOD ESTATE.

1. It may be demonstrated from the original, or fountain, whence they flow. It is not only from God's love, but His anger also. Sometimes God giveth men the outward comforts of this life in His hot displeasure.

2. Therefore may not outward plenty and mercies be made a sign of our good estate, because they have always in corrupt hearts corrupt and sinful operations. As —(1) Outward comforts in the plenty of them are apt to beget pride and loftiness of heart, so as to despise and contemn those that are under them.(2) If these outward mercies deaden thy heart to the things of God, or the exercise of those means of grace God hath appointed, oh, thou hast cause then to tremble in the increase of them.(3) Then can outward abundance be no comfortable sign, when the means to get it and the way to preserve it are unlawful, and such as the Scripture condemneth.

3. Therefore may we not trust in outward prosperity, because God many times giveth a man all the good things he shall have in this life only, and afterwards there is nothing but everlasting woe and misery.

4. Therefore may we not trust in these, because we many times abuse them to a contrary end for which God gave them; He gave them to be instruments of much glory to God and good to others. Rich men are the greatest men in debt of all others; they owe much to God, much to the public, much to others' necessities; now what comfort canst thou take if God bless thee with these things if thou dost not also find Him making thee thereby instrumental to His glory? If thou keepest all the good mercies God vouchsafeth to thee, as the ants and pismires do their grain and corn, which they hide in their little hills, and, as they say, bite it that it may not grow.

5. They are not to be relied on, because though all power to get wealth and prosper in the world argue God is with thee, yet He may be only with thee providentially and powerfully, not graciously; as when Nebuchadnezzar conquered and prevailed, when Alexander became great, Augustus happy. God was with these in a mighty, providential way, but not graciously.Use — 1. Of reproof to those who desire these outward good things more than inward and spiritual.Use — 2. Of instruction to those who meet with much prosperity and outward encouragements in this world. Take heed of thinking that God doth this to thee for thy righteousness, for thy piety.Use — 3. Of consolation to the godly, who, it may be, want many of those outward mercies the wicked have. Let them know they are no arguments of true godliness, or of God's dear love in Christ.

(Anthony Burgess.)

I. PRINCIPLES OF GOD'S GOVERNMENT.

1. Mark the assertion that God governs mankind.

2. That God governs by law in the moral as in the material world.

II. THEY POINT OUT A NATIONAL DANGER — SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

1. A subtlety in self-righteousness. It is so multiform.

(1)There may be the form of godliness, etc.

(2)A power to criticise.

(3)Freedom from observable faults.

(4)Possession of some great virtues.

2. And its danger is —

(1)To mistake the outward for the inward.

(2)To lose sight of personal sin through the glorification of some real or imaginary virtue.

(3)To rest on privileges.

(4)To simulate virtues.

(5)To blind the soul as to its real state and need.Application —

1. Self-righteousness the great hindrance to the reception of the Gospel now (Luke 18:10; Romans 10:3; Revelation 3:17).

2. Use David's prayer (Psalm 139:23).

3. Work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8).

(H. W. Dearden, M. A.)

I. The address of Moses IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE ADDRESSES OF MOST CAPTAINS OF ARMIES UNDER SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES.

1. He makes no attempt to underrate the power of the enemies with whom the Israelites had to contend. He begins his address by telling the people that they are that day to pass over Jordan, to go in and possess nations greater and mightier than themselves. The reason for his giving such information was that the design of God was not merely to conquer the Canaanites, but to educate Israel, to teach them that by God's power weakness may be made strength and the mighty vanquished by the feeble.

2. Moses assures the people in plain language that no righteousness of theirs had gained them the land. They might be ready enough to admit that it was not their own courage or their own bodily strength, but they might still be disposed to think that they had deserved God's favour, that if they had not been deserving of the victory, God would not have given it to them. Self-flattery is easy, and therefore Moses very wisely and decidedly protested once for all against such a view of God's doings.

II. THE PRINCIPLE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE WITH OURSELVES IS PRECISELY THAT WHICH MOSES LAID DOWN AS THE PRINCIPLE OF NATIONAL LIFE FOR THE ISRAELITES. God gives us the land of promise for no righteousness of our own. Everything depends on God's mercy, God's will, God's purpose; the certainty of victory depends, not upon any feelings or experiences or conflicts of ours, but upon the ever-present help of the Almighty God.

(Bp. Harvey Goodwin.)

One would think this too obvious to be disputed in the mind of an Israelite. Then I ask if any man or woman, taking a calm retrospect of his or her life, has not to say the same?

I. Let us inquire TO WHAT SUBJECTS THIS PRINCIPLE MAY BE APPLIED.

1. To our lot in life, and to our temporal affairs. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." He may do what He will with His own. In the independence and infinite sovereignty of His government He sends small means and penury, or He dispenses riches and honours, according to His own good pleasure, and to accomplish the inscrutable purposes of His heavenly providence.

2. To our religious condition and privileges.

3. To success in the ministry.

4. To the rest and glory of the heavenly world. Eternal life is the gift of God.

II. WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR WHICH WE SHALL POSSESS THE LAND?

1. The choice and will, the purpose and pleasure of the Almighty.

2. God's justice on the one hand, and His goodness on the other.

3. The faithfulness of God to His promises.

III. WHAT IS THE USE OF THIS DOCTRINE?

1. It is taught us that we may understand it. Acknowledge your own poverty and God's riches. Submit to His method and plan of justification and acceptance by Christ. Do not go about to establish your own righteousness.

2. I cannot conclude without one caution. A farthing is a farthing, and a sixpence is a sixpence; so of an ingot of gold or a banknote. And a farthing will only purchase what it is worth. A sixpence will not buy what is worth a hundred pounds. But let it buy what it will. If you want an estate you must give the ingots and the banknotes. So let the work of Christ alone, the costly and prodigious sum, secure for you the glory and the heritage of heaven. But let your own righteousness and your small virtues do what they will. You cannot purchase glory with them, but they will do much for the welfare of men and the honour of God, and they will show forth your gratitude and love.

(James Stratten.)

Homilist.
Mercy, not merit, is the cause of all the blessings of our being.

I. This is true of our SECULAR POSSESSIONS. If we say that our comfortable homes, our freedom from temporal anxiety, and our possession of a competency, have come to us as the result of industrious efforts and economical habits, that they are our reward for honest labour: the reply is —

1. That to such a reward we have no right. We are sinners, and justly deserve not only destitution but destruction.

2. That both the materials of labour, and the power to labour, which have brought us these comforts, are to be ascribed to God's mercy.

II. This is true of OUR RELIGIOUS ADVANTAGES. Bibles, sanctuaries, religious literature. "The tender mercies of our God have visited us."

III. This is true of OUR CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.

IV. This is true of OUR SPIRITUAL USEFULNESS. "Not by might, nor by power," etc.

V. This is true of OUR HEAVENLY INHERITANCE.

(Homilist.)

Homilist.
There are favoured peoples in all communities — persons specially favoured by their healthful constitutions, vigorous intellect, lofty genius, high culture, worldly wealth.

I. Whatever favours distinguish one class of men from another in society, they are the GIFTS OF GOD. This should teach us —

1. Not to be proud for our superiorities.

2. To thank God for our superiorities.

3. To bless men by our superiorities.

II. These distinguished gifts are bestowed, NOT ON THE GROUND OR ANY SPECIAL MORAL EXCELLENCE.

III. The fact that they are not bestowed on the ground of moral superiority SHOULD BE WELL UNDERSTOOD BY MEN.

1. Understand it, that you may not deceive yourself. Let no man conclude because he is prosperous that he is the favoured of heaven.

2. Understand it, that you may realise your responsibility.

(Homilist.)

People
Aaron, Anak, Anakites, Isaac, Jacob, Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Horeb, Jordan River, Kadesh-barnea, Kibroth-hattaavah, Massah, Taberah
Topics
Account, Cast, Dispossess, Dispossessing, Drive, Driven, Driving, Driwes, Evil-doing, Flight, God's, Heart, Nations, Possess, Possession, Presence, Righteousness, Saying, Seeing, Speak, Thrust, Thrusteth, Whereas, Wickedness
Outline
1. Moses dissuades them from the opinion of their own righteousness
7. Moses reminds them of the golden calf

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 9:4

     5493   retribution
     8824   self-righteousness, nature of

Deuteronomy 9:1-5

     5607   warfare, examples
     6026   sin, judgment on

Deuteronomy 9:4-5

     7944   ministry, qualifications

Deuteronomy 9:4-6

     6639   election, to salvation
     6640   election, privileges

Library
The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6

Moses' Prayer to be Blotted Out of God's Book.
"And Moses returned unto the Lord and said. Oh! this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou--wilt, forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray they, out of thy book which than hast written." In the preceding discourse we endeavored to show that the idea of being willing to be damned for the glory of God is not found in the text--that the sentiment is erroneous and absurd--then adduced the constructions which have been put on the text by sundry expositors,
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark,
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Mount Zion.
"For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them: for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

The Angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch, and the Book of Joshua.
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself, filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was committed the direction
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf.
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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