John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 9:7

"Remember, forget thou not, how thou provokedst Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou wentest forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah." — Deuteronomy 9:7 (ASV)

Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst. In order to reprove the people's ingratitude, Moses here briefly refers to some of their offenses. However, he principally insists on the history of their revolt, in which their extreme and most detestable impiety betrayed itself. He therefore narrates this crime in almost the identical words that he had previously used in Exodus.

He begins by urging them to reflect often on their sins, so that these sins would not ever be forgotten. This constant recollection of these sins not only tended to humiliate them, but also to teach them eventually to lay aside their depraved nature and to accustom themselves to become obedient to God.

Afterwards, he proceeds to the history itself, showing that God had been provoked by their idolatry to destroy them. If the question is raised here of how God was persuaded by Moses to change His intention, our curiosity must be restrained, so that we do not dispute more deeply than is fitting concerning the secret and incomprehensible decree of God.

It is certain that God did not act otherwise than He had determined; however, Moses goes no deeper than the sentence that was revealed to him, just as we must certainly conclude that destruction is prepared for us when we transgress, and that God’s anger is appeased when we fly to His mercy in true faith and with sincere affections.

The rest has already been explained.