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Deuteronomy 4

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Obey the Statutes to Live 1–8

1
Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. ​
2
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. ​
3
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you. ​
4
But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.
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.
6
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. ​
7
For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? ​
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?

Remember the Day at Horeb 9–14

9
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; ​
10
Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, 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. ​
11
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
12
And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. ​
13
And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
14
And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

Warning Against Idolatry 15–24

15
Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: ​
16
Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17
The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18
The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19
And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. ​
20
But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. ​
21
Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: ​
22
But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
23
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
24
For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. ​

Consequences of Disobedience and Return 25–31

25
When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: ​
26
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27
And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you. ​
28
And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29
But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. ​
30
When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31
(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. ​

The Uniqueness of Israel’s God 32–40

32
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? ​
33
Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34
Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35
Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. ​
36
Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37
And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; ​
38
To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
39
Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. ​
40
Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

Setting Apart Cities of Refuge 41–43

41
Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising; ​
42
That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:
43
Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

Summary of the Law's Setting 44–49

44
And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: ​
45
These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,
46
On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:
47
And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
48
From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, ​
49
And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 4

Verse 1

that ye may live — 'Statutes' (chuqqim) and 'judgments' (mishpatim) are taught 'for to do them', and life and the land follow doing. Lev 18:5 says 'he shall live in them', and Paul cites the principle in Rom 10:5: 'the man which doeth those things shall live by them'.

Verse 2

Ye shall not add — Yasaph, to add, and gara, to take away. The same pair guards the law again in 12:32, 'thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it'. Prov 30:6 and Rev 22:18–19 apply it to God's words and to the prophecy. Its stated purpose is keeping 'the commandments of the LORD'.

Verse 3

Baalpeor — The Moabite god, Baal of Peor. At Shittim 'the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab' (Num 25:1), and 24,000 died in the plague (Num 25:9). 'Followed' is literally 'walked after'. Ps 106:28 says they 'joined themselves also unto Baalpeor'. Verse 4 gives the contrast.

Verse 6

your wisdom and your understanding — Chokmah and binah. Obedience is itself the wisdom, as Ps 111:10 says: 'a good understanding have all they that do his commandments'. The nations are pictured hearing the statutes and saying, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people'.

Verse 7

so nigh — Qarob, near. Israel's greatness is measured by the nearness of God to a people who 'call' (qara) on him. Ps 145:18 states it generally: 'The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him'. The nearness was shown at Horeb (vv.10–12).

Verse 9

keep thy soul diligently — Shamar, to guard, serves both for 'take heed' and 'keep'; the nephesh is the whole living person. The danger named is forgetting 'the things which thine eyes have seen'. The remedy is teaching sons and grandsons, as in Deut 6:7: 'thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children'.

Verse 10

make them hear my words — Horeb is the Sinai of Exodus. 'Gather' is qahal, to assemble the congregation, and the aim was to 'learn to fear' (yare) the LORD and to teach their children. Heb 12:18–19 recalls the scene: 'the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words'.

Verse 12

saw no similitude — Temunah is a form or shape. At Horeb Israel heard 'the voice of the words' out of the fire, and saw nothing. Moses draws the consequence in vv.15–16: since no form was seen, no image may be made.

Verse 15

Take ye therefore good heed — 'Yourselves' is nephesh, souls. The reason is the absence of any temunah, form, at Horeb. The prohibition follows at once in v.16: 'Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image'. It restates Ex 20:4; Isa 40:18 asks, 'To whom then will ye liken God?'

Verse 19

the host of heaven — Tsaba, the army of heaven. The LORD 'hath divided' (chalaq, apportioned) these lights to all nations, and God made them (Gen 1:16). Worship of them is judged in Deut 17:3 and 2 Kings 17:16; Rom 1:25 describes the error as serving 'the creature more than the Creator'.

Verse 20

the iron furnace — Kur barzel, a smelting furnace, Scripture's image for Egypt's bondage; Solomon repeats it in 1 Kings 8:51 and the LORD in Jer 11:4. 'A people of inheritance' (am nachalah) is the LORD's own possession: 'Jacob is the lot of his inheritance' (Deut 32:9).

Verse 21

angry with me for your sakes — Moses recalls Deut 1:37 and 3:26, where his plea was refused. The cause is given in Num 20:12: 'Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me'. Ps 106:32–33 also links it to the people's provocation. He sees 'that good land' (v.22) only from afar.

Verse 24

a consuming fire — Esh okelah, fire that eats. It recalls the fire of Horeb (vv.11–12) and is joined to 'jealous' (qanna), the LORD's exclusive claim on his people after the warning against images (v.23). Heb 12:29 repeats it: 'For our God is a consuming fire'.

Verse 25

ye shall have remained long — Yashan means to grow old, hence to remain long. After generations in the land they 'shall corrupt' themselves, the verb (shachath) of v.16, and make images. 2 Kings 17:16 records it: 'they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images'.

Verse 27

scatter you among the nations — Puts, to disperse. The warning is that of Lev 26:33, 'I will scatter you among the heathen', and Deut 28:62, 'ye shall be left few in number'. Neh 1:8–9 recalls this warning together with the promise to gather those who turn back.

Verse 29

with all thy heart and with all thy soul — Levav and nephesh, the inner person and the whole life. Seeking (baqash, darash) even 'from thence', in exile, is met by finding. The promise returns in Jer 29:14, 'I will be found of you, saith the LORD', and in 2 Chr 15:4.

Verse 31

a merciful God — Rachum, compassionate, one of the words the LORD proclaims of himself in Ex 34:6, 'merciful and gracious'. Hope in exile rests on that character and on the oath: he will not 'forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them'. Neh 9:31 prays on the same ground.

Verse 32

since the day that God created man — Bara, to create, as in Gen 1:27. Moses sends Israel to search all history and 'from the one side of heaven unto the other' for anything like 'this great thing', which vv.33–34 name: God's voice from the fire and the deliverance from Egypt.

Verse 35

that the LORD he is God — 'Shewed' (ra'ah) means made to see; the purpose of the sight and the sound at Horeb was knowing (yada). 'There is none else beside him' returns in v.39 and in Isa 45:5, 'I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me'.

Verse 37

he loved thy fathers — Ahav, to love, with bachar, to choose. The cause of election lies in God's love, not in Israel: 'Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them' (Deut 10:15). 'In his sight' is literally before his face (panim).

Verse 39

consider it in thine heart — Literally 'bring it back' (shuv) to the heart, to hold it there. The confession repeats v.35. 2 Chr 20:6 echoes it in prayer: 'art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen?'

Verse 41

severed three cities — Badal, to separate. Num 35:14 commanded 'three cities on this side Jordan' and three more in Canaan as refuge for the manslayer. Moses sets apart the eastern three at once, though the western ones would come only after the crossing; they are named in v.43.

Verse 44

the law which Moses set — Torah, instruction, 'set' (sum) before the children of Israel. This verse opens the address that follows, which Deut 1:5 introduces: 'began Moses to declare this law'. Mal 4:4 calls it 'the law of Moses my servant'.

Verse 48

mount Sion, which is Hermon — This Siyon is a name for Hermon, not the Sion of Jerusalem. With Aroer on the Arnon it marks the south and north of the land taken from Sihon and Og (Deut 3:12). Deut 3:9 gives Hermon's other names: 'Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir'.