Deuteronomy 9:5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations…
Immediately before the children of Israel began to take possession of the land of Canaan, God made two things clear to them: 1) That He wasn’t driving out the inhabitants of the land because of Israel’s righteousness, because … they were not righteous. Instead, 2) that God is righteous fire, devouring all wickedness that stands against Him. This is a statement that destroys false pride and delivers a warning.
Deuteronomy 9:3-6 The Lord your God who goes before you is a devouring fire; He will defeat and subdue the nations in the land. You will dispossess and destroy them as He has promised, but afterwards do not think, “Because of our righteousness the Lord has brought us here to possess the land.” No, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out in order to confirm the promise He made to your ancestors – to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This may not sound like the greatest “game-day speech” ever recorded, but God’s prophet was setting the stage for what would happen beyond the battles. They needed to remember that it was God’s righteousness and the wickedness of these people that caused the land to come into their possession. The logical conclusion that the prophet of God declared that day was that if they allow wickedness to become the foundation of their nation, God the righteous, devouring fire, would just as easily remove them. A short version of this warning might be: do not be so arrogant as to imagine that you are righteous, and do not be so foolish as to become wicked.
