He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow--the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone. He declared to youThe phrase "He declared to you" emphasizes the direct communication from God to His people. The Hebrew root for "declared" is "נָגַד" (nagad), which means to make known or to announce. This highlights the personal and authoritative nature of God's revelation. In the historical context, this declaration was not just a casual statement but a divine proclamation, underscoring the importance and solemnity of the message being delivered. His covenant
The term "His covenant" refers to the binding agreement between God and the Israelites. The Hebrew word for covenant is "בְּרִית" (berit), which signifies a solemn agreement or promise. This covenant is foundational to the relationship between God and His people, establishing them as His chosen nation. It is a testament to God's faithfulness and His desire for a committed relationship with humanity. which He commanded you to follow
This phrase underscores the obligatory nature of the covenant. The Hebrew word for "commanded" is "צָוָה" (tsavah), meaning to give orders or to charge. It implies that the covenant is not merely a suggestion but a divine mandate. The Israelites were expected to adhere to these commands as a demonstration of their obedience and loyalty to God. the Ten Commandments
The "Ten Commandments" are central to the moral and ethical teachings of the Bible. In Hebrew, they are referred to as "עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת" (aseret ha-dibrot), meaning "the ten words" or "the ten sayings." These commandments form the core of God's law, providing a framework for righteous living. They are timeless principles that reflect God's character and His expectations for human behavior. that He wrote
The phrase "that He wrote" highlights the divine authorship of the commandments. The act of writing signifies permanence and authority. In the ancient Near Eastern context, written documents were considered binding and unchangeable. This underscores the enduring nature of God's law and its relevance across generations. on two tablets of stone
The "two tablets of stone" symbolize the durability and unchanging nature of God's commandments. Stone, in the ancient world, was a medium used for important and lasting inscriptions. The use of stone tablets indicates that these commandments were meant to endure and be preserved for all time. Archaeologically, this aligns with the practice of inscribing significant legal codes on stone, as seen in other ancient cultures. The two tablets also suggest completeness and balance, representing the fullness of God's law. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe leader of the Israelites who received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai and communicated them to the people. 2. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God who were delivered from Egypt and were given the Law to follow as part of their covenant with God. 3. Mount SinaiThe mountain where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, symbolizing His covenant with Israel. 4. GodThe divine author of the covenant, who established the Ten Commandments as a moral and spiritual guide for His people. 5. The Ten CommandmentsThe core moral laws given by God, written on two tablets of stone, serving as the foundation of the covenant between God and Israel. Teaching Points The Covenant RelationshipThe Ten Commandments are not just rules but a covenant, a binding agreement that establishes a relationship between God and His people. Moral FoundationThe Ten Commandments serve as a moral foundation for believers, guiding ethical behavior and decision-making. God's Unchanging NatureThe giving of the Ten Commandments reflects God's unchanging nature and His desire for holiness among His people. The Role of the Law in Christian LifeWhile Christians are under grace, the moral principles of the Ten Commandments remain relevant and instructive for righteous living. The Fulfillment in ChristJesus Christ fulfills the Law, and through Him, believers are empowered to live out the commandments in love and truth. Bible Study Questions 1. How does understanding the Ten Commandments as a covenant change your perspective on their importance in your life? 2. In what ways can the moral principles of the Ten Commandments be applied in contemporary society? 3. How does Jesus' teaching in the New Testament enhance or expand upon the commandments given in Deuteronomy 4:13? 4. What role do the Ten Commandments play in your personal spiritual growth and relationship with God? 5. How can you practically demonstrate the principles of the Ten Commandments in your daily interactions with others? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 20This chapter provides the full account of the Ten Commandments as initially given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Matthew 5:17-20Jesus speaks about the Law, emphasizing its fulfillment and the importance of adhering to God's commandments. Hebrews 8:6-13Discusses the new covenant established through Jesus Christ, which fulfills and transcends the old covenant given through the Law. Psalm 119Highlights the beauty and importance of God's law, reflecting a deep love and reverence for His commandments. Romans 7:7-12Paul explains the purpose of the Law, showing how it reveals sin and points to the need for a Savior. 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 Agreement, Commanded, Commandments, Covenant, Declared, Declareth, Follow, Law, Matters, Perform, Rules, Stone, Stones, Tables, Tablets, Ten, Writeth, Writing, WroteDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 4:13 1349 covenant, at Sinai
1653 numbers, 6-10
4366 stones
5377 law, Ten Commandments
5574 tablet
7021 church, OT anticipations Deuteronomy 4:9-14 8336 reverence, and obedience Deuteronomy 4:13-14 7263 theocracy 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 4:13 NIVDeuteronomy 4:13 NLTDeuteronomy 4:13 ESVDeuteronomy 4:13 NASBDeuteronomy 4:13 KJV
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