“Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.”
My Notes
What Does Deuteronomy 9:7 Mean?
Moses issues a blunt command: remember. And don't forget. Remember how you provoked God from day one — from Egypt to this moment, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
This is not motivational speaking. Moses is building the case that Israel's standing before God is based entirely on grace, not merit. He's about to take them into the Promised Land, and he doesn't want them to walk in thinking they earned it. So he forces them to remember: you've been rebellious the entire time. Every step of this journey, you've pushed back against the God who was saving you.
The time frame is devastating: "from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place." That's the entire wilderness period — every single day of it characterized by rebellion. Red Sea to Sinai, Sinai to Kadesh, Kadesh to the Jordan. Rebellion was the constant.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What parts of your spiritual journey are you tempted to forget or romanticize?
- 2.How does honest memory — including your failures — protect you from spiritual pride?
- 3.When you look at where you are now, can you see grace rather than earned achievement?
- 4.What would it look like to 'remember and not forget' as a daily spiritual practice?
Devotional
Remember how bad you were. That's Moses' instruction. Not to induce shame — to prevent pride.
Israel is about to enter the Promised Land. They're about to receive cities they didn't build, vineyards they didn't plant, wells they didn't dig. And the danger is that they'll walk in and think: we deserve this. We earned this. Our faithfulness got us here.
Moses says: no. Remember. You've been rebellious from day one. Every single day of this journey. The only reason you're standing here isn't your obedience — it's God's patience.
This is one of the most important spiritual disciplines: honest memory. Not nostalgia. Not selective recall. Honest memory that includes the full picture — your failures, your rebellion, your persistent resistance to the God who kept choosing you anyway.
Why? Because honest memory produces genuine gratitude. When you remember how far you've come and how unfaithful you've been along the way, every blessing becomes unmistakably grace. You can't take credit for what you didn't earn when you remember who you actually were during the journey.
Remember. And don't forget.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness,.... Aben Ezra remarks that…
That they might have no pretence to think that God brought them to Canaan for their righteousness, Moses here shows them…
Remember, forget thou not More musical without the intervening andwhich Sam. inserts.
thou provokedst … to wrath See on…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture