John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 9

Hear, O Israel
A pause being made after the delivery of the preceding discourse; or perhaps what follows might be delivered at another time, at some little distance; and which being of moment and importance to the glory of God, and that Israel might have a true notion of their duty, they are called upon to listen with attention to what was now about to be said:

you are to pass over Jordan this day ;
not precisely that very day, but in a short time after this; for it was on the first day of the eleventh month that Moses began the repetition of the laws he was now going on with, (Deuteronomy 1:3) , and it was not until the tenth day of the first month of the next year that the people passed over Jordan, (Joshua 4:19) which was about two months after this:

to go in and possess nations greater and mightier than yourself ;
the seven nations named (Deuteronomy 7:1) where the same characters are given of them:

cities great and fenced up to heaven ;
as they were said to be by the spies, (Deuteronomy 1:28) , and were no doubt both large and strongly fortified, and not to be easily taken by the Israelites, had not the Lord been with them, (Deuteronomy 9:3) .

A people great and tall
Of a large bulky size, and of an high stature, so that the spies seemed to be as grasshoppers to them, (Numbers 13:33) ,

the children of the Anakims, whom you know ;
by report, having had an account of them by the spies, who described them as very large bodied men, and of a gigantic stature, the descendants of one Anak, a giant; and so the Targum of Jonathan, "a people strong and high like the giants;" from these Bene Anak, children of Anak, or Phene Anak, as the words might be pronounced, the initial letter of the first word being of the same sound, Bochart ^F26 thinks the country had its name of Phoenicia:

and of whom you have heard say, who can stand before the children, of
Anak ?
or the children of the giants, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; which they had heard either from the spies who had suggested the same, (Numbers 13:31) or as a common proverb in the mouths of most people in those days.

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: Canaan, l. 1. c. 1. col. 346.

Understand therefore this day
Or be it known to you for your encouragement, and believe it:

that the Lord your God [is] he which goes over before you as a
consuming fire :
did not only go before them over the river Jordan, in a pillar of cloud and fire, to guide and direct them, and was a wall of fire around them to protect and defend them, but as a consuming fire, before which there is no standing, to destroy their enemies; see (Deuteronomy 4:24) (Hebrews 12:29) ,

he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before your face ;
be they as great and as mighty, as large and as tall as they may, they will not be able to stand before the Lord, but will soon be made low, and be easily brought down to the earth by him, and to utter destruction; which would be done in a public and visible manner, so as that the hand of the Lord would be seen in it by the Israelites:

so shall you drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord
has said to you ;
that is, the far greater part of them, and so many as to make room for the Israelites, and which was quickly done. The Jews commonly say ^F1 , that they were seven years in subduing the land; otherwise they were not to be driven out and destroyed at once, but by little and little: see (Deuteronomy 7:22) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31, 32.

Speak not you in your heart
Never once think within yourself, or give way to such a vain imagination, and please yourself with it:

after that the Lord your God has cast them out from before you ;
and put them into the possession of their land; which is to be ascribed not to them, but to the Lord:

saying, for my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess
this land ;
such a thought as this was not to be secretly cherished in their hearts, and much less expressed with their lips; nothing being more foreign from truth than this, and yet a notion they were prone to entertain.

They were always a people, more or less, from first to last, tainted with a conceit of their own righteousness, and goodness, which they laboured to establish, and were ready to attribute all the good things to it they enjoyed, and nothing is more natural to men, than to fancy they shall be brought to the heavenly Canaan by and for their own righteousness;

which is contrary to the perfections of God, his purity, holiness, and justice, which can never admit of an imperfect righteousness in the room of a perfect one; to justify anyone thereby, is contrary to the Gospel scheme of salvation; which is not by works of righteousness men have done, but by the grace and mercy of God through Christ;

it would make useless, null, and void, the righteousness of Christ, which only can justify men in the sight of God, give a title to heaven and happiness, and an abundant entrance into it; and would occasion boasting, not only in the present state, but even in heaven itself; whereas the scheme of salvation is so framed and fixed, that there may be no room for boasting, here or hereafter, see (Romans 3:27Romans 3:28) (Ephesians 2:8Ephesians 2:9) (Titus 3:5Titus 3:7) ,

but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord does drive them out
from before you ;
namely, their idolatry, incest, and other notorious crimes; see (Leviticus 18:3–28) , which sufficiently justifies God in all his dealings with these nations.

Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your
heart
Neither for their external righteousness before men, or their outward conformity to the law, nor for the inward sincerity of their hearts, and their upright intentions in doing good, in which they were defective:

do you go to possess their land ;
this is repeated, and enlarged on, and explained, that this notion might be entirely removed from them, and not entertained by them; similar to which is that of men, who fancy that their sincere obedience, though imperfect, will be accepted of God instead of a perfect one, on account of which they shall be justified and saved; but by the deeds of the law no flesh living can be justified in the sight of God, nor by any works of righteousness done by the best of men, and in the best manner they are capable of, will any be saved;

but for the wickedness of those nations the Lord your God drives
them out from before you ;
which is repeated, that it might be taken notice of as the true reason of the Lord's dealing with them in such severity; and which because it would be now doing, when the Israelites passed over Jordan, and went in to possess the land, it is expressed in the present tense, "drives", the work being not yet finished; sin was the cause of their ejection out of their land, and another thing was the reason of the Israelites possessing it, and not their righteousness next expressed:

and that he may perform the word which the Lord swore unto your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ;
it was to fulfil his covenant, and make good his word of promise to their fathers, and not on account of any righteousness of theirs; and the salvation of the Lord's people in a spiritual sense, and their enjoyment of the heavenly Canaan, are owing to the gracious purposes and promises of God, and to his covenant engagements, as well as to the undertakings, obedience, and righteousness of his Son, and not to any righteousness of theirs.