And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today? And what nation is great enoughIsrael’s true greatness rested in the Lord’s covenant presence, not in its size, military strength, or wealth. The God who delivered Israel from Egypt had drawn near to them, revealed His will, and made them His treasured possession among the nations. Their calling was to display His wisdom and holiness before the world (Deuteronomy 4:6–7). Psa 147:19-20 He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes…
Exo 19:5-6 Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant,…
Deu 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.…
to have righteous statutes and ordinances The laws given through Moses revealed God’s righteous character and established justice in worship, family life, courts, property, treatment of the poor, and national conduct. Israel was not left to follow the changing customs of surrounding peoples or the demands of false gods. The Lord’s ordinances protected life, restrained evil, required honest judgment, and called His people to mercy and holiness. Psa 19:7-9 The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;…
Neh 9:13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them…
Rom 7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy…
like this entire law The law formed a unified covenant instruction for Israel. It included the Ten Commandments, sacrificial requirements, regulations for priests and worship, civil judgments, and commands governing daily life. Obedience was never intended as a means of earning God’s redemption; He had already redeemed Israel from Egypt. Their obedience was the proper response of a people belonging to Him. Jos 1:7-8 Above all, be strong and very courageous.…
Deu 31:9-13 So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests,…
Neh 8:8 So they read from the Book of the Law of God, explaining it…
I set before you today? Moses placed God’s covenant requirements before the generation preparing to enter Canaan. Each generation of Israel was responsible to receive the Lord’s word personally and live under it faithfully. The law exposed human sin and pointed beyond itself to the need for the promised Redeemer. In Christ, believers are not under the Mosaic covenant as Israel was, yet God’s righteousness remains fully revealed, and the Spirit enables His people to obey from renewed hearts. Deu 30:15-16 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity,…
Deu 11:26-28 See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—…
Jos 24:15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD,…
Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe leader of the Israelites who is delivering God's laws and statutes to the people. He is speaking to the Israelites as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. 2. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, who are receiving the laws and statutes from Moses. They are on the brink of entering Canaan, the land promised to them by God. 3. Mount Horeb (Sinai)The place where Moses received the Ten Commandments and other laws from God. It is a significant location in the history of Israel's covenant with God. 4. CanaanThe Promised Land that the Israelites are about to enter. It represents the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham and his descendants. 5. The LawRefers to the statutes and ordinances given by God to the Israelites, which include moral, ceremonial, and civil laws. Teaching Points The Uniqueness of God's LawGod's statutes and ordinances are unique and set Israel apart from other nations. This uniqueness is a testament to God's special relationship with His people and His desire for them to live righteously. The Righteousness of God's LawThe laws given to Israel are described as righteous, reflecting God's holy character. As believers, we are called to pursue righteousness by aligning our lives with God's standards. The Privilege of Divine RevelationHaving access to God's Word is a privilege. Just as Israel was blessed with God's laws, Christians today are blessed with the full revelation of Scripture. We should cherish and study it diligently. Living as a Testimony to OthersThe righteousness of God's laws was meant to be a testimony to other nations. Similarly, our lives should reflect God's righteousness and serve as a witness to those around us. The Fulfillment of the Law in ChristWhile the law was given to Israel, its ultimate fulfillment is found in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are called to live by the Spirit, fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law through our relationship with Him. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the uniqueness of God's law to Israel reflect His character and His relationship with His people? 2. In what ways can we, as modern believers, demonstrate the righteousness of God's laws in our daily lives? 3. How does the privilege of having God's Word impact your personal faith journey and your responsibility to share it with others? 4. What are some practical ways we can live as a testimony to God's righteousness in our communities? 5. How does understanding the fulfillment of the law in Christ change the way we approach the Old Testament laws today? Connections to Other Scriptures Psalm 147:19-20Highlights the uniqueness of God's statutes given to Israel, emphasizing that no other nation has received such direct revelation from God. Romans 3:1-2Paul speaks about the advantage of the Jews in having been entrusted with the oracles of God, which aligns with the idea of Israel's unique possession of God's laws. Matthew 5:17-19Jesus speaks about the fulfillment of the Law, indicating its continued importance and the righteousness it represents. 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 Body, Decisions, Decrees, Judgments, Law, Laws, Nation, Ordinances, Righteous, Setting, Statutes, To-dayDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 4:8 1125 God, righteousness
5036 mind, of God
5136 body 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 4:8 NIVDeuteronomy 4:8 NLTDeuteronomy 4:8 ESVDeuteronomy 4:8 NASBDeuteronomy 4:8 KJV
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