John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 9:18

"And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger." — Deuteronomy 9:18 (ASV)

And I fell down before the Lord. The order of the narrative is confused, for this fact of which he speaks did not precede his second ascent into the mount, when he was commanded to prepare the second tablets. If so, he would have fasted three times, which we gather from other passages not to have been the case; but we must not be surprised that the same thing should be often repeated, as we shall see at the beginning of chapter 10, as well as shortly afterwards.

The mention of it here, however, is timely, because the Covenant was to be renewed, and therefore, as if nothing had been done, he again abstained from meat and drink for forty days. Yet we have elsewhere seen that there were other prayers which had intervened before He ascended the mount a second time; but He does not here distinctly record the details. In fact, he mixes up the prayers by which he interceded with God with the second fast, because this was the point most worthy of observation: that the first promulgation of the Law had failed to achieve its effect, and the Covenant which they had violated was to be repeated, as it were, from its very beginning.

Although he says that “because of their sins” he had not eaten bread nor drunk water, he does not mean that this fast was a sign of grief and mourning, just as Joel invites the people to sackcloth and ashes, and urges them to weeping and fasting to testify to their repentance (Joel 2:12). For abstinence, as I have already shown, was no more difficult or grievous to Moses than to the angels. But he simply reminds them that so great a sin could not be expiated unless he had again renounced the life of men and had been taken up to God.

Meanwhile, it must be kept in mind that before this, he had already pleaded for the people and had also been accepted, since it was a sign that God was reconciled and appeased when He called up Moses to receive the Law and to bring it down to them a second time. What he adds in the next verse, “For I was afraid of the anger,” etc., refers to this, for he was still in anxiety about the welfare of the people, since God did not cease to threaten them. We see, therefore, that this fear and anxious earnestness in prayer are separated from the fast, as different things; and certainly he had already propitiated God when, by His command, he hewed out the new tablets on which the Covenant was to be renewed.

Still, I do not deny that he also labored in the mount to obtain pardon, just as believers, by continuing the requests which have already been granted, confirm their faith more and more. I only warn my readers to observe the distinction of time which I have noticed.