At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. At that timeThis phrase situates the events in a specific historical context. It refers to a pivotal moment in Israel's journey, emphasizing the immediacy and relevance of God's instructions. Historically, this was a time of transition for the Israelites, as they were on the brink of entering the Promised Land. The phrase underscores the urgency and importance of the divine commands given to Moses. the LORD commanded me
The use of "the LORD" (YHWH) highlights the covenantal relationship between God and Israel. It is a reminder of God's authority and the divine origin of the laws. The Hebrew root for "commanded" (צָוָה, tsavah) implies a direct and authoritative instruction, emphasizing that these are not mere suggestions but divine mandates that require obedience. to teach you
Teaching here is not just the transmission of information but a comprehensive process of instruction and discipleship. The Hebrew word for "teach" (לָמַד, lamad) suggests a deep, ongoing process of learning and internalization. It reflects the responsibility of Moses as a leader to ensure that the people understand and live by God's laws. the statutes and ordinances
These terms refer to the body of laws given to Israel. "Statutes" (חֻקִּים, chukkim) often refer to decrees that may not have an obvious rationale but are to be followed out of obedience to God. "Ordinances" (מִשְׁפָּטִים, mishpatim) are judgments or laws that are more understandable and often relate to justice and social order. Together, they encompass the comprehensive legal and moral framework that God provided for His people. you are to follow
This phrase emphasizes the active role of the Israelites in adhering to God's commands. The Hebrew root (שָׁמַר, shamar) for "follow" implies careful observance and guarding of the laws. It is a call to vigilance and faithfulness in living out the covenant relationship with God. in the land
The land is a central theme in Deuteronomy, representing the fulfillment of God's promises to the patriarchs. It is not just a physical territory but a place where the Israelites are to live out their identity as God's chosen people. The land is both a gift and a responsibility, requiring the Israelites to maintain their covenantal obligations. that you are crossing the Jordan
Crossing the Jordan River symbolizes a significant transition from the wilderness wanderings to the establishment in the Promised Land. It is a moment of faith and obedience, as the Israelites trust in God's promise and provision. The Jordan River serves as a boundary between the past and the future, marking a new chapter in Israel's history. to possess
The Hebrew root (יָרַשׁ, yarash) for "possess" implies taking ownership and settling in the land. It is not merely about occupying space but involves establishing a society based on God's laws and principles. Possession of the land is contingent upon obedience to God's commands, highlighting the conditional nature of the covenant blessings. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe leader of the Israelites who received the commandments from God and was tasked with teaching them to the people. 2. The LORD (Yahweh)The God of Israel who gave the commandments to Moses for the people. 3. The IsraelitesThe people of God who were to receive and follow the statutes and ordinances. 4. The Jordan RiverThe boundary the Israelites were to cross to enter the Promised Land. 5. The Promised LandThe land God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which the Israelites were about to enter. Teaching Points The Importance of ObedienceGod’s statutes and ordinances are given for our good and are meant to guide us in righteous living. Role of Leadership in TeachingJust as Moses was commanded to teach the people, spiritual leaders today have the responsibility to teach God’s Word faithfully. Preparation for God’s PromisesThe Israelites were to learn and follow God’s laws as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. Similarly, we must prepare our hearts and lives to receive God’s promises. Continuity of God’s LawThe principles of God’s law remain relevant and are fulfilled in Christ, calling us to live in obedience through the Spirit. Community and AccountabilityThe statutes were given to the community of Israel, highlighting the importance of communal faith and accountability in following God’s commands. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the command to teach and follow God’s statutes in Deuteronomy 4:14 relate to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20? 2. In what ways can we ensure that we are not just hearers of the Word, but doers, as encouraged in James 1:22-25? 3. How does understanding the historical context of the Israelites preparing to enter the Promised Land enhance our understanding of this verse? 4. What role does community play in helping us to live out the statutes and ordinances of God today? 5. How can we apply the principles of God’s law in our daily lives while recognizing the fulfillment of the law in Christ? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 20This chapter contains the Ten Commandments, which are part of the statutes and ordinances Moses was to teach. Joshua 1After Moses, Joshua is commanded to lead the people into the Promised Land, emphasizing the continuity of following God's law. Psalm 119This psalm extols the virtues of God's law, reflecting the importance of statutes and ordinances in the life of a believer. Matthew 5:17-20Jesus speaks about the fulfillment of the law, showing the continuity and fulfillment of the Old Testament laws in the New Testament. James 1:22-25Encourages believers to be doers of the word, not just hearers, which aligns with the call to follow God's statutes. 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 Clear, Commanded, Crossing, Decisions, Decrees, Follow, Heritage, Jordan, Judgments, Laws, Orders, Ordinances, Passing, Perform, Possess, Statutes, Teach, WhitherDictionary of Bible Themes 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 4:14 NIVDeuteronomy 4:14 NLTDeuteronomy 4:14 ESVDeuteronomy 4:14 NASBDeuteronomy 4:14 KJV
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