Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power, Because He loved your fathersThe phrase "Because He loved your fathers" underscores the covenantal love God had for the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Hebrew word for "loved" is "אָהֵב" (ahav), which conveys a deep, enduring affection and commitment. This love is not based on the merit of the patriarchs but on God's sovereign choice and grace. Historically, this reflects the Abrahamic covenant, where God promised to bless Abraham's descendants, a promise that is foundational to Israel's identity and history. He chose their descendants after them
The word "chose" in Hebrew is "בָּחַר" (bachar), indicating a deliberate and sovereign selection. This choice is an act of divine election, emphasizing that Israel's status as God's people is not due to their own righteousness but because of God's gracious decision. The descendants, the Israelites, are thus part of a divine plan that extends beyond human understanding, rooted in God's faithfulness to His promises. and brought you out of Egypt
This phrase recalls the Exodus, a pivotal event in Israel's history where God delivered His people from slavery. The Hebrew term for "brought out" is "יָצָא" (yatsa), which implies a powerful act of deliverance. The Exodus is a central theme in the Old Testament, symbolizing salvation and God's ability to redeem His people. Archaeologically, while direct evidence of the Exodus is debated, the event is deeply embedded in Israel's collective memory and identity. by His Presence
The "Presence" of God, or "פָּנִים" (panim) in Hebrew, signifies God's personal involvement and guidance. This is not a distant or abstract force but a tangible, relational presence that led Israel through the wilderness. The presence of God was manifested in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, signifying His constant guidance and protection. and great power
The phrase "great power" highlights the miraculous and mighty acts God performed during the Exodus. The Hebrew word for "power" is "כֹּחַ" (koach), which denotes strength and might. This power was demonstrated through the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and the provision in the wilderness. It serves as a reminder of God's omnipotence and His ability to fulfill His promises against all odds. Persons / Places / Events 1. God (Yahweh)The central figure in this verse, demonstrating His love and sovereign choice. 2. The Fathers (Patriarchs)Refers to the patriarchs of Israel, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom God loved and made covenants with. 3. Descendants (Israelites)The chosen people of God, the descendants of the patriarchs, whom God brought out of Egypt. 4. EgyptThe place of bondage from which God delivered the Israelites. 5. The ExodusThe event of God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, showcasing His presence and power. Teaching Points God's Sovereign LoveGod's love is the foundation of His actions. He chose the patriarchs and their descendants out of love, not because of their merit. Divine Choice and PromiseGod's choice of Israel is rooted in His promises to the patriarchs. This highlights the faithfulness of God to His word. Deliverance by God's PowerThe Exodus is a powerful demonstration of God's presence and power. It serves as a reminder of His ability to deliver His people from bondage. Covenantal RelationshipThe relationship between God and Israel is based on a covenant, which is initiated and sustained by God’s love and faithfulness. Application to BelieversJust as God chose Israel, believers are chosen in Christ. This should lead to a life of gratitude and obedience, recognizing God's love and power in our own deliverance from sin. Bible Study Questions 1. How does understanding God's love for the patriarchs enhance our appreciation of His love for us today? 2. In what ways does the Exodus event serve as a model for understanding God's deliverance in our personal lives? 3. How can we see the faithfulness of God in His promises to the patriarchs reflected in the New Testament promises to believers? 4. What are some practical ways we can respond to God's sovereign choice and love in our daily lives? 5. How does the concept of being chosen by God, as seen in Deuteronomy 4:37, relate to the New Testament teachings on being chosen in Christ? Connections to Other Scriptures Genesis 12God's covenant with Abraham, promising to make his descendants a great nation. Exodus 3God's call to Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, emphasizing His presence with them. Deuteronomy 7Further explanation of God's love and choice of Israel, not because of their number, but because of His love and promise. Psalm 136A recounting of God's enduring love and mighty acts, including the deliverance from Egypt. Romans 9Paul's discussion on God's sovereign choice and mercy, relating to the descendants of the patriarchs. People Amorites, Baalpeor, Bezer, Gadites, Israelites, Manasseh, Manassites, Moses, Og, Reubenites, SihonPlaces Arabah, Aroer, Bashan, Beth-baal-peor, Bezer, Egypt, Gilead, Golan, Hermon, Heshbon, Horeb, Jordan River, Mount Sion, Peor, Pisgah, Ramoth, Sea of the Arabah, Valley of the ArnonTopics Bring, Chose, Countenance, Descendants, Egypt, Fathers, Fix, Forefathers, Love, Loved, Mighty, Personally, Power, Presence, Present, Seed, Sight, StrengthDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 4:37 1255 face of God
5955 strength, divine
7141 people of God, OT Deuteronomy 4:37-38 6640 election, privileges Library February the Sixteenth Crowding Out God
"Lest thou forget." --DEUTERONOMY iv. 5-13. That is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a man and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may ignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him! Opposition, injury, contempt, neglect, forgetfulness! Surely this is a descending scale, and the last is the worst. And yet we can forget the Lord God. We can forget all His benefits. We can easily put Him out of mind. We can live as though He were …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling YearDeuteronomy
(Third Sunday after Easter.) Deut. iv. 39, 40. 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. Thou shall 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. Learned men have argued much of late as to who wrote …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch Political and Religious Life of the Jewish Dispersion in the West - their Union in the Great Hope of the Coming Deliverer.
It was not only in the capital of the Empire that the Jews enjoyed the rights of Roman citizenship. Many in Asia Minor could boast of the same privilege. [327] The Seleucidic rulers of Syria had previously bestowed kindred privileges on the Jews in many places. Thus, they possessed in some cities twofold rights: the status of Roman and the privileges of Asiatic, citizenship. Those who enjoyed the former were entitled to a civil government of their own, under archons of their choosing, quite independent …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Of the Cities of Refuge.
Hebron, the most eminent among them, excites us to remember the rest. "The Rabbins deliver this; Moses separated three cities of refuge beyond Jordan, [Deut 4:41-43;] and, against them, Joshua separated three cities in the land of Canaan, [Josh 20:7,8]. And these were placed by one another, just as two ranks of vines are in a vineyard: Hebron in Judea against Bezer in the wilderness: Shechem in mount Ephraim against Ramoth in Gilead: Kedesh in mount Napthali against Golan in Basan. And these three …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica That the Devout Soul Ought with the Whole Heart to Yearn after Union with Christ in the Sacrament
The Voice of the Disciple Who shall grant unto me, O Lord, that I may find Thee alone, and open all my heart unto Thee, and enjoy Thee as much as my soul desireth; and that no man may henceforth look upon me, nor any creature move me or have respect unto me, but Thou alone speak unto me and I unto Thee, even as beloved is wont to speak unto beloved, and friend to feast with friend? For this do I pray, this do I long for, that I may be wholly united unto Thee, and may withdraw my heart from all created …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ The First Covenant
"Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me."--EX. xix. 5. "He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments."--DEUT. iv. 13.i "If ye keep these judgments, the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant,"--DEUT. vii. 12. "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, which My covenant they brake."--JER. xxxi. 31, 32. WE have …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants The Unity of God
Q-5: ARE THERE MORE GODS THAN ONE? A: There is but one only, the living and true God. That there is a God has been proved; and those that will not believe the verity of his essence, shall feel the severity of his wrath. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' Deut 6:6. He is the only God.' Deut 4:49. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else.' A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity The Northern Coasts of Galilee. Amanah. The Mountain of Snow.
This coast is described by Moses, Numbers 34:7: "From the Great Sea to mount Hor: from mount Hor to the entrance of Hamath," &c. Mount Hor, in the Jewish writers, is Amanah; mention of which occurs, Canticles 4:8, where R. Solomon thus: "Amanah is a mount in the northern coast of the land of Israel, which in the Talmudical language is called, The mountainous plain of Amanon; the same with mount Hor." In the Jerusalem Targum, for mount 'Hor' is the mount Manus: but the Targum of Jonathan renders it …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10, 6-13. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III Epistle cxxvii. From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory .
From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory [89] . To the holy lord, and father in Christ, the Roman [pope], most fair ornament of the Church, a certain most august flower, as it were, of the whole of withering Europe, distinguished speculator, as enjoying a divine contemplation of purity (?) [90] . I, Bargoma [91] , poor dove in Christ, send greeting. Grace to thee and peace from God the Father [and] our [Lord] Jesus Christ. I am pleased to think, O holy pope, that it will seem to thee nothing extravagant …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments "They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning A Reformer's Schooling
'The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2. That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Second visit to Nazareth - the Mission of the Twelve.
It almost seems, as if the departure of Jesus from Capernaum marked a crisis in the history of that town. From henceforth it ceases to be the center of His activity, and is only occasionally, and in passing, visited. Indeed, the concentration and growing power of Pharisaic opposition, and the proximity of Herod's residence at Tiberias [3013] would have rendered a permanent stay there impossible at this stage in our Lord's history. Henceforth, His Life is, indeed, not purely missionary, but He has …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.
If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Wisdom and Revelation.
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul Links Deuteronomy 4:37 NIVDeuteronomy 4:37 NLTDeuteronomy 4:37 ESVDeuteronomy 4:37 NASBDeuteronomy 4:37 KJV
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