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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:1 - 4:13
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Moses Reminds the People of the Law-Giving. —
v. 1. Now, therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, they were to heed carefully both the moral precepts which fixed their covenant relation toward Jehovah and the special obligations which rested upon them with regard to both God and men, for to do them, that ye may live, namely, in the enjoyment of a long and happy life, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.
v. 2. Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, for in either case the force of the commandment would be weakened and the Word of God changed into the precepts of men, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I command you. This does not merely mean keeping the wording intact and handing it down unchanged to posterity, but observing and doing what they enjoined. Cf Mat_5:7.
v. 3. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor, when the Midianites succeeded in introducing whoredom and idolatry into the ranks of Israel, Numbers 25; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord, thy God, hath destroyed them from among you.
v. 4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord, your God, are alive, every one of you, this day. The reward of faithfulness and the punishment of unfaithfulness were thus plainly before their eyes.
v. 5. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord, my God, commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
v. 6. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, a matter of ordinary sound common sense, which shall hear all these statutes, the precepts as they governed the covenant relations of Israel, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. It is an Old Testament form of the New Testament injunction that believers should let their light shine before men, Mat_5:16, These facts cause Moses to exclaim in a fervent, ecstatic appeal.
v. 7. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, in whose midst God has revealed Himself in so open and definite a manner, as the Lord, our God, is in all things that we call upon Him for? Israel was the only nation with which Jehovah had entered into such a covenant relation, which was sure at all times of His almighty assistance, Psa_34:19; Psa_145:18.
v. 8. And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day? All true righteousness of life has its roots in God, and the more the knowledge of the true God is darkened, the more is the foundation of all true law and order shaken to its very depths.
v. 9. Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, the miracles and the many evidences of God's presence during the years of the wilderness journey, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, that is, for so much as one minute; but teach them thy sons, thy children, and thy sons' sons, thy grandchildren, the command thus including three points: to remember, to observe, and to transmit in its integrity;
v. 10. specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord, thy God, in Horeb, when the Law was given from Mount Sinai, when the Lord said unto me, Gather Me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
v. 11. And ye came near and stood under the mountain, at its foot; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, so that the fire and the smoke rose up into the sky as far as the eye could reach, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness, for the happenings on the mountain were screened from the eyes of the people by a heavy screen of dark clouds.
v. 12. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice, the sound, of the words, but saw no similitude, no form of God; only ye heard a voice. God did not manifest Himself in any outline or shape which was visible to human eyes.
v. 13. And he declared unto you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments, Exo_20:1-17; Exo_34:28; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone. The covenant consisted essentially in this, that the doing on the part of the people corresponded to the command on the part of the Lord. As the memory of God's goodness and of the covenant was to induce Israel to be faithful to Him, so we Christians should ever keep His kindness and His mercy before our eyes as a spur to a life of sanctification.