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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 10:12 - 10:22
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What The Fear of God Demands
v. 12. And now, Israel, what doth the Lord, thy God, require of thee, thus Moses asks in a powerful appeal, but to fear the Lord, thy God, with the fear which flowed out of the realization of His grace and mercy, to walk in all His ways, as a manifestation of the right veneration, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul, as the culmination and completion of the true worship of Jehovah,
v. 13. to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, both the precepts of the covenant and the obligations of the universal Moral Law, which I command thee this day for thy good? The true fear of the Lord, as it learns to understand the mercy of God, is ever the source of love toward Him, which, in turn, manifests itself in a wholehearted service that puts aside all selfish motives.
v. 14. Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens, the highest heaven with all its glory, is the Lord's, thy God, the earth also, with all that there in Isaiah Such is the majesty, the exaltation, of the mighty God, who surely does not need any man to complete His happiness, to make His bliss more perfect.
v. 15. Only the Lord, in free grace and mercy, had a delight in thy fathers to love them. He chose to show them His affection in this manner, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day; for the people were abundantly experiencing the richness of His love.
v. 16. Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart, said of the removal of the hardness and callousness which was indifferent to the many manifestations of God's mercy, and be no more stiff-necked, rebellious, unwilling to follow His leadership. Without this preparation of the heart, which is essentially repentance, neither true fear nor love of God is possible.
v. 17. For the Lord, your God, is God of gods, high above all idols to whom that name is falsely applied, and Lord of lords, immeasurably exalted above all the princes of this earth, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, 1Ti_6:15; Psa_95:3, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward, His justice cannot be deflected by any attempt at bribery; He is far removed from all the petty faults of human judges, Lev_19:15. The very imagining of Him in terms of human weakness is an insult to His greatness. And this great might and this loving mercy are blended in just the proper manner.
v. 18. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, those whose natural protector has been taken from them, and loveth the stranger, one likely to be subjected to oppression, in giving him food and raiment. This example of God's compassionate love is held before the people for a special reason.
v. 19. Love ye, therefore, the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt, and the remembrance of those experiences, which many of the Israelites could recall from the days of their childhood and youth, was to be an inducement to them to exercise the virtues of mercy and compassion.
v. 20. Thou shalt fear the Lord, thy God; for that is the essence of all worship and the fulfillment of the First Commandment; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, cling firmly to Him alone in all vicissitudes of life, and swear by His name, Deu_6:13.
v. 21. He is thy praise, in whom they should glory, for He had given them many occasions to sing His praises, and He is thy God, the supreme good, the essence of all goodness, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen, for they were deeds of His divine power, which gave evidence of His incomparable majesty and had been performed in assisting the children of Israel.
v. 22. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons, Gen_46:27; and now the Lord, thy God, hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude, as He had promised Abraham, Gen_15:5. The same almighty and merciful God is the trust of His children throughout the ages.