When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. When you are in distressThis phrase speaks to the inevitable trials and tribulations that the Israelites would face. The Hebrew word for "distress" is "tsar," which conveys a sense of being in a tight spot or under pressure. Historically, the Israelites experienced numerous periods of distress, often as a result of turning away from God. This serves as a reminder that distress can be a tool for spiritual growth and a call to return to God. In a broader sense, it reflects the human condition of facing challenges and the opportunity to seek divine assistance. and all these things have happened to you
This phrase refers to the consequences of the Israelites' actions, particularly their disobedience to God's commandments. The "things" mentioned are the curses and hardships outlined earlier in Deuteronomy. The historical context here is crucial, as it underscores the covenant relationship between God and Israel, where blessings follow obedience and curses follow disobedience. It serves as a timeless reminder of the cause-and-effect nature of our spiritual lives. then in later days
The phrase "later days" or "acharit hayamim" in Hebrew often points to a future time, sometimes eschatological, when God will act decisively. This can be seen as a prophetic element, indicating that despite current or impending distress, there is hope for redemption and restoration. It encourages believers to maintain faith and patience, trusting in God's ultimate plan and timing. you will return to the LORD your God
The call to "return" is a central theme in the Hebrew Bible, with the Hebrew word "shuv" meaning to turn back or repent. This is not just a physical return but a spiritual one, involving a heartfelt repentance and recommitment to God. Historically, this has been seen in the cycles of Israel's history, where periods of apostasy are followed by repentance and renewal. It is a powerful reminder of God's mercy and willingness to forgive those who earnestly seek Him. and listen to His voice
Listening to God's voice implies obedience and attentiveness to His commandments. The Hebrew word "shama" means to hear, listen, and obey. This phrase emphasizes the importance of not just hearing God's words but acting upon them. In the scriptural context, it underscores the relational aspect of the covenant, where listening to God is a sign of loyalty and love. It inspires believers to cultivate a life of obedience and attentiveness to God's guidance, trusting that His voice leads to life and blessing. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe speaker of this passage, Moses is addressing the Israelites, reminding them of their covenant with God and the consequences of disobedience. 2. IsraelitesThe audience of Moses' message, they are God's chosen people who are about to enter the Promised Land. 3. The LORD (Yahweh)The covenant God of Israel, who promises to be with His people if they return to Him. 4. DistressRefers to the hardships and trials that the Israelites will face as a result of their disobedience. 5. Later DaysA prophetic reference to future times when the Israelites will experience distress and have the opportunity to return to God. Teaching Points The Call to ReturnGod’s invitation to return is always open, no matter how far we have strayed. This reflects His grace and mercy. Obedience as a ResponseTrue repentance involves not just returning to God but also obeying His voice. This is a call to align our actions with His will. The Role of DistressDistress can be a catalyst for spiritual awakening and repentance. It often leads us to recognize our need for God. Hope in ProphecyThe mention of "later days" provides hope that God’s promises extend into the future, encouraging us to trust in His faithfulness. Covenant RelationshipOur relationship with God is covenantal, requiring commitment and faithfulness, but also offering forgiveness and restoration. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the concept of returning to God in times of distress apply to your personal life today? 2. In what ways can the account of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) deepen our understanding of Deuteronomy 4:30? 3. What are some modern-day "distresses" that might prompt individuals or communities to return to God? 4. How can we ensure that our return to God is accompanied by genuine obedience to His voice? 5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God’s faithfulness after returning to Him. How did this impact your relationship with Him? Connections to Other Scriptures Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28These chapters outline the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, providing context for the distress mentioned in Deuteronomy 4:30. Jeremiah 29:12-14This passage echoes the theme of returning to God and finding Him when seeking with all one's heart. Hosea 3:5Speaks of the Israelites returning and seeking the LORD in the latter days, similar to the promise in Deuteronomy 4:30. Luke 15:11-32 (Parable of the Prodigal Son) Illustrates the concept of returning to the Father after a period of distress and disobedience. 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 Distress, Ear, Future, Hast, Hearken, Hearkened, Later, Latter, Listen, Obedient, Obey, Oppression, Return, Tribulation, Trouble, Turn, Voice, WiltDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 4:25-31 7520 dispersion, the Deuteronomy 4:27-31 8160 seeking God Deuteronomy 4:29-31 2425 gospel, requirements Deuteronomy 4:30-31 6627 conversion, nature of 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 4:30 NIVDeuteronomy 4:30 NLTDeuteronomy 4:30 ESVDeuteronomy 4:30 NASBDeuteronomy 4:30 KJV
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