Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Observe them carefullyThe Hebrew root for "observe" is "שָׁמַר" (shamar), which means to keep, guard, or give heed. This implies a diligent and intentional action, not merely passive acknowledgment. In the context of Deuteronomy, it emphasizes the importance of actively engaging with God's commandments. The word "carefully" suggests meticulous attention, indicating that the Israelites are to approach God's laws with reverence and precision. Historically, this reflects the covenant relationship between God and Israel, where obedience is a sign of faithfulness. for this will show your wisdom and understanding
The Hebrew words for "wisdom" (חָכְמָה, chokmah) and "understanding" (בִּינָה, binah) are often paired in the Old Testament to denote not just intellectual knowledge, but practical and moral insight. Wisdom in the biblical sense is the ability to live in accordance with God's will. Understanding involves discernment and the ability to apply knowledge rightly. This phrase highlights that the observance of God's laws is not just a religious duty but a demonstration of profound insight and moral clarity. in the sight of the peoples
This phrase underscores the public and communal aspect of Israel's obedience. The "peoples" refers to the surrounding nations who would witness Israel's conduct. Historically, Israel was situated at a crossroads of ancient civilizations, making their witness to God's laws visible to many. This visibility was intended to serve as a testimony to the nations of the wisdom inherent in God's commandments. who will hear all these statutes
The word "statutes" (חֻקִּים, chukkim) refers to decrees or laws that are established by God. The emphasis on "hearing" suggests that the nations will not only observe Israel's actions but will also come to understand the principles behind them. This hearing is both literal and metaphorical, implying comprehension and acknowledgment of the divine origin of these laws. and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'
The phrase "this great nation" reflects the high regard that would be afforded to Israel as a result of their adherence to God's laws. The acknowledgment by other nations that Israel is "wise and understanding" serves as a fulfillment of God's promise to make Israel a light to the nations. This recognition is not just about national pride but is a testament to the transformative power of living according to divine wisdom. Historically, this was a radical concept, as it positioned Israel's identity and success not in military might or wealth, but in their relationship with God and adherence to His commandments. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe leader of the Israelites who delivered God's laws and commandments to the people. He is the speaker in this passage, urging the Israelites to follow God's statutes. 2. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, who are being instructed to observe God's laws as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. 3. The Promised LandThe land of Canaan, which God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Israelites are on the brink of entering this land. 4. The NationsThe surrounding peoples who will observe Israel's adherence to God's laws and recognize their wisdom and understanding. 5. God's Statutes and LawsThe commandments given by God to the Israelites, which are meant to guide their conduct and set them apart as a holy nation. Teaching Points The Importance of ObedienceObserving God's laws is not just about legalism but about demonstrating wisdom and understanding. Our obedience can be a testimony to others. Wisdom as a WitnessThe way we live out our faith can attract others to God. When we follow His commandments, we reflect His wisdom to the world. God's Laws as a BlessingThe statutes given by God are meant to be a blessing, guiding us to live in a way that honors Him and benefits us. Community ImpactOur collective obedience as a community of believers can have a powerful impact on those around us, drawing them to inquire about our faith. Reflecting God's CharacterBy living according to God's laws, we reflect His character and holiness, setting us apart as His people. Bible Study Questions 1. How does observing God's commandments demonstrate wisdom and understanding in your own life? 2. In what ways can your obedience to God's laws serve as a witness to those around you? 3. How can the principles in Deuteronomy 4:6 be applied in a modern context, especially in a diverse and pluralistic society? 4. What are some specific areas in your life where you can better align with God's statutes to reflect His wisdom? 5. How do other scriptures, such as Proverbs 1:7 and James 1:22-25, reinforce the message of Deuteronomy 4:6 about the importance of living out God's word? Connections to Other Scriptures Proverbs 1:7This verse highlights the beginning of wisdom as the fear of the Lord, connecting to the idea that observing God's laws demonstrates wisdom. James 1:22-25This passage emphasizes the importance of being doers of the word, not just hearers, which aligns with the call to observe God's statutes carefully. Matthew 5:14-16Jesus speaks about being the light of the world, which parallels the idea of Israel being a witness to the nations through their obedience. 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 Carefully, Clear, Decrees, Far-seeing, Hearing, Kept, Laws, Nation, Nations, Observe, Peoples, Sense, Sight, Statutes, Surely, Truly, Understanding, Verily, Wisdom, WiseDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 4:6 5424 nationalism
8355 understanding
8365 wisdom, human 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 4:6 NIVDeuteronomy 4:6 NLTDeuteronomy 4:6 ESVDeuteronomy 4:6 NASBDeuteronomy 4:6 KJV
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