Deuteronomy 5:1-33 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day… I. THE COVENANT. (Vers. 2, 3.) 1. Proposed by God (Exodus 19:3-7). 2. Accepted by the people (Exodus 24:7). 3. Entailed obligations on subsequent generations (cf. Deuteronomy 6:2). In this covenant, formally ratified by sacrifice (Exodus 24:6, 7), Israel (1) accepted Jehovah to be its spiritual and temporal Sovereign. (2) Pledged itself to observe his Law. (3) Was adopted by him as his peculiar people. (4) Had every blessing secured to it on condition of obedience (Exodus 23:22-27). The new covenant in Christ, while in many respects different from, and superior to, that of Horeb, yet resembles it in several of these particulars. II. THE LAW. (Vers. 6-22.) 1. Holy in its nature. 2. Internally complete as a summary of duty. "He added no more" (ver. 22). 3. Explicative of the character of God. The absoluteness and unity of God, e.g. taught in first commandment; his spirituality, jealousy of his honor, sovereignty, love, and mercy, in second commandment; his holiness, in third commandment; his searching of hearts, in tenth commandment; while in all he appears as the Source of moral obligation, and the Guardian of rights. 4. To be kept from the motive of love (ver. 10). This Law is not abolished, but fulfilled in Christ, by whose Spirit its precepts are written in the minds and hearts of believers (2 Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 8:10). III. THE MEDIATOR. (Vers. 5, 22-33.) The mediation of Moses was: 1. Craved by the people (vers. 23-28). The manifestation of God's holiness overwhelms sinful men (cf. Isaiah 6:3-6). Moses not only endured this manifestation, but went up alone into the thick darkness where God was. How exceptionally great he appears in this! 2. Acquiesced in by God (vers. 28-32). This transacting through a mediator was in harmony with the principle of his dealings with them from the first. A figure of the mediation of Christ. 3. Suitable in itself. As tending to enhance in their minds the impression of God's holiness and the feeling of their own sinfulness. - J.O. Parallel Verses KJV: And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. |
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