Deuteronomy 9:2

_A PEOPLE GREAT AND TALL, THE CHILDREN OF THE ANAKIMS, WHOM THOU KNOWEST, AND OF WHOM THOU HAST HEARD SAY, WHO CAN STAND BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ANAK!_ Anakims ... of whom thou hast heard say. The currency of this familiar saying in the days of Moses warrants the inference, which is supported by other and independent reasons, that the Anakim had obtained a hold upon Canaan at a comparatively recent period-most probably subsequent to the time of Abraham....

1-6 Moses represents the strength of the enemies they were now to encounter. This was to drive them to God, and engage their hope in him. He assures them of victory, by the presence of God with them. He cautions them not to have the least thought of their own righteousness, as if that procured this favour at God's hand. In Christ we have both righteousness and strength; in Him we must glory, not in ourselves, nor in any sufficiency of our own. It is for the wickedness of these nations that God drives them out. All whom God rejects, are rejected for their own wickedness; but none whom he accepts are accepted for their own righteousness. Thus boasting is for ever done away: see Ephesians 2:9; Ephesians 2:11; Ephesians 2:12....

EXPOSITION DISSUASIVES FROM SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. DEUTERONOMY 9:1 Israel might acknowledge that it was of God's free gift that they possessed the land of Canaan, and yet might flatter themselves by thinking it was because of their righteousness and goodness that the gift was bestowed. To guard against this, _Moses _tells them that not because of their righteousness would God go before them and drive out the mighty peoples that then occupied the land, but because of the wickedness of these peoples themselves were they to be extirpated (Deuteronomy 9:1). He further reminds them of their transgressions in the past, and how they thereby came under the Divine displeasure, and were saved

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 THOU KNOWEST; 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 z thinks the country had its name of Phoenicia: AND OF WHOM THOU HAST 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

5. WARNING AGAINST SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THEIR PREVIOUS FAILURES Chapter S 9:1-10:11 _ 1. The warning (Deuteronomy 9:1)_ 2. The failures of the past (Deuteronomy 9:7) 3. The intercession of Moses (Deuteronomy 9:25) 4. The results of the intercession (Deuteronomy 10:1) This chapter and the first eleven verses of the tenth are aimed against the spirit of self righteousness. First there is the warning. This is followed by their shameful history of the past, which showed that a boast of being righteous, or having any righteousness had to be positively excluded in their

DEUTERONOMY 9:1_ a_. Israel's victory over the Canaanites due to the wickedness of their foes and Yahweh's promise. Deuteronomy 9:6. stiffnecked: lit. hard, _i.e._ obstinate, of neck (Exodus 32:9). The figure is that of an animal which refuses to take the yoke. Deuteronomy 9:7_ a._ PROVOKEDST. TO WRATH: DEUTERONOMY 4:25 * where a Heb. verb of different meaning is similarly translated....

CHILDREN. sons. ANAKIMS. The descendants of Anak; the progeny of the second irruption of fallen angels (see Genesis 6:4 and App-25, and compare Joshua 11:22....

_great and tall … Anakim_ See on Deuteronomy 1:28. _whom thou knowest_, etc.] Deuteronomy 7:15; _and hast heard say_, Deuteronomy 1:28; Numbers 13:28....

_VER._ 2. _WHO CAN STAND BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ANAK!_— The strength and valour of this people were so great, that they became proverbial. They were vanquished by Joshua, who made them flee to the Philistines, where, it should seem, a remnant of them lived till the time of David; for Goliah and his brethren appear to have been Anakims, 1 Chronicles 20:6 being all born at Gath, whither the Anakims fled. 2 Samuel 21:22.Joshua 11:22. Some critics think, that from the word _Anak_ the Greeks derived their _anax,_ or _king,_ taken from the idea of the power and greatness of these men, some of whom, it is probable, passed into Greece when they were driven out of their own country by Joshua....

b. HOW TO PREVENT THE THREAT (Deuteronomy 9:1 to Deuteronomy 11:21) (1) BY A REALISTIC SELF-EVALUATION (Deuteronomy 9:1 to Deuteronomy 10:11) (Moses rehearses the story of the two tables of stone and the Israelite's sin at Sinai. This is done so Israel might see their previous course: rebelliousness, stubbornness, and disobedience.) Hear, O Israel: thou art to pass over the Jordan this day to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can sta