The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, "Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children." The day you stood before the LORD your God at HorebThis phrase refers to a significant moment in Israel's history when the Israelites gathered at Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai. The Hebrew root for "stood" (עָמַד, 'amad) implies a deliberate positioning or readiness to receive something important. This was not a casual gathering but a solemn assembly before the LORD, emphasizing the gravity and sanctity of the occasion. Horeb is a place of divine revelation, where God established His covenant with Israel, underscoring His holiness and the people's need for obedience. when He said to me
Moses is recounting God's direct communication to him, highlighting the prophetic role Moses played as a mediator between God and the people. The phrase underscores the authority of Moses' leadership and the divine origin of the instructions given to Israel. It is a reminder of the unique relationship Moses had with God, as one who spoke with God "face to face" (Exodus 33:11). 'Assemble the people before Me
The command to "assemble" (קָהַל, qahal) indicates a gathering for a sacred purpose. This was not merely a physical assembly but a spiritual congregation before the LORD. The act of assembling before God signifies unity and collective responsibility among the Israelites to hear and obey God's words. It reflects the communal nature of the covenant, where the entire nation is called to participate in the divine revelation. to hear My words
Hearing in the Hebrew context (שָׁמַע, shama) goes beyond auditory reception; it implies understanding, acceptance, and obedience. God's words are not just to be heard but to be internalized and acted upon. This phrase emphasizes the importance of divine instruction as the foundation for Israel's life and conduct. It is a call to attentiveness and responsiveness to God's voice. so that they may learn to fear Me
The fear of the LORD (יִרְאָה, yirah) is a central theme in the Hebrew Scriptures, denoting reverence, awe, and respect for God's majesty and authority. Learning to fear God involves recognizing His holiness and justice, leading to a life of obedience and worship. This phrase highlights the educational aspect of the covenant, where the knowledge of God is to be continually cultivated and deepened. all the days they live on the earth
This phrase underscores the enduring nature of the covenant relationship with God. The fear of the LORD is not a temporary or occasional attitude but a lifelong commitment. It speaks to the perpetual relevance of God's commandments and the ongoing responsibility of the Israelites to live in accordance with His will throughout their earthly existence. and that they may teach them to their children
The transmission of faith and obedience to future generations is a critical component of the covenant. The Hebrew concept of teaching (לָמַד, lamad) involves diligent instruction and modeling of God's ways. This phrase emphasizes the importance of family and community in nurturing faith, ensuring that the knowledge and fear of the LORD are passed down to sustain the covenant relationship across generations. It reflects the biblical mandate for parents to be the primary educators of their children in the ways of the LORD. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe leader of the Israelites who is recounting God's instructions to the people. 2. The LORD (Yahweh)The God of Israel who gave the commandments and laws to His people. 3. HorebAnother name for Mount Sinai, where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. 4. The IsraelitesThe chosen people of God who were delivered from Egypt and are receiving God's laws. 5. The AssemblyThe gathering of the Israelites to hear God's words and learn His commandments. Teaching Points The Importance of ReverenceUnderstanding the fear of the LORD is foundational to a life of faith. It is not about being afraid but having a deep respect and awe for God's holiness and authority. Generational TeachingThe command to teach God's words to children underscores the responsibility of parents and leaders to pass on faith and values to the next generation. Community GatheringThe assembly at Horeb highlights the importance of communal worship and learning. Gathering together to hear God's word strengthens faith and unity. Obedience to God's WordHearing God's words should lead to obedience. The Israelites were called to live out the commandments in their daily lives, just as we are today. Living with PurposeLearning to fear the LORD and teaching His commandments gives life purpose and direction, guiding believers in their walk with God. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the concept of "fearing the LORD" influence your daily decisions and actions? 2. In what ways can you actively teach God's commandments to the next generation within your family or community? 3. Reflect on a time when gathering with other believers strengthened your faith. How can you prioritize communal worship in your life? 4. How does understanding the events at Horeb deepen your appreciation for God's covenant with His people? 5. What practical steps can you take to ensure that you are not only hearing God's word but also living it out in obedience? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 19-20These chapters describe the events at Mount Sinai (Horeb) where God gave the Ten Commandments, providing a detailed account of the covenant between God and Israel. Psalm 78:5-7This passage emphasizes the importance of teaching God's laws to the next generation, echoing the command in Deuteronomy 4:10. Proverbs 9:10This verse highlights the fear of the LORD as the beginning of wisdom, connecting to the purpose of learning to fear God mentioned in Deuteronomy 4:10. Ephesians 6:4This New Testament verse instructs parents to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, aligning with the command to teach God's words to children. Hebrews 12:28-29These verses speak of worshiping God with reverence and awe, reflecting the fear of the LORD that Deuteronomy 4:10 aims to instill. 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 Alive, Assemble, Cause, Fear, Gather, Ground, Hast, Hearing, Horeb, Learn, Remember, Revere, Saying, Sons, Specially, Stood, Stoodest, Teach, Teaching, WaitingDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 4:10 5184 standing
8115 discipleship, nature of Deuteronomy 4:9-10 5302 education
5588 traditions
5854 experience, of God
8313 nurture Deuteronomy 4:9-14 8336 reverence, and obedience Deuteronomy 4:10-11 8334 reverence, and God's nature Deuteronomy 4:10-12 4269 Sinai, Mount
8474 seeing God 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 4:10 NIVDeuteronomy 4:10 NLTDeuteronomy 4:10 ESVDeuteronomy 4:10 NASBDeuteronomy 4:10 KJV
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