a N 4:1-8. Statutes announced.
O r 4:9-20. Warnings against idolatry.
s 4:21,22. Moses (Death announced).
O r 4:23-40. Warnings against idolatry.
s 4:41-43. Moses (Cities of refuge severed).
N 4:44–5:33. Statutes recited.
N t 1-. Statutes: Hearken.
u -1. Object.
v 2. Injunction.
w 3,4. Motive (from experience).
t 5-. Statutes: Behold.
u -5. Object.
v 6-. Injunction.
w -6-8. Motive (from privilege).Deuteronomy 4)
1: Now therefore listen, O Israel, to the statutes (= ordinances: God-ward. Ex.12:24,43; 30:21. Heb.9:1) and to the judgments (= duties and punishment: manward. First occ. in plural in Ex. 21:1. The two often united. See 5:1; 6:1; 12:1. Mal. 4:4, &c.), which I teach you (=cause to learn. Heb. lâmad. From where the word "Talmud" comes from. First occ.), for to do them,
that you all may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers gives you.
2: You all shall not add to the word which I command you (cp. 12:32. Prov. 30:5,6. Jer. 23:28; 26:2. Ezek. 2:5,7. Rev.22:18,19), neither shall you all diminish anything from it, that you all may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
3: Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor (see 3:29 and Num. 25:1-5,9. Ps. 106:28. Hos. 9:10. 1 Cor. 10:8): for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has exterminated (Heb. shmadh) them from among you.
4: But all of you that did cleave to the the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.
5: Behold, I have taught you ordinances and duties and punishments, even as the Lord my God commanded me,
that you all should do so in the land to which place you all go to possess it.
6: Keep therefore and do them;
for this is your wisdom and your understanding (= discernment) in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these ordinances, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning People.’
7: For what nation is there so great, who has God so near to help them (cp. Ps. 32:9; 34:18; 119:151; 145:18. Neh. 13:4), as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?
8: And what nation is there so great, that has ordinances and duties and punishments so righteous as all this law (see Ex. 18:16 [Laws before Sinai], and cp. 2 Sam. 7:23), which I set before you this day?
r x 9-13. Law at Horeb. No similitude.
y 14. Intention–Command.
x 15-19. Law at Horeb. No similitude.
y 20. Intention–Act.
9: Only take heed to yourself (note the 3 occ. in this chapter vv.9,15,23), and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart (= mind) all the days of your life: but teach them your sons, and your sons' sons;
10: Specially (or "Remember") the day that you stood before the the Lord your God in Horeb (occ. 3 times before Deut., namely Ex. 3:1; 17:6; 33:6. Sinai is the general word, but occ. only once in Deut. 33:2), when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather Me the People together, and I will make them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me (= revere or love) all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.’
11: And you all came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness (see Ex. 20:21, and cp. Heb. ‘ârâphel. 2 Sam. 22:10. 1 Kings 8:12. Ps. 97:2).
12: And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you all heard the voice of the words, but saw (Fig. Zeugma, i.e. by which one verb "saw" is used with two objects and suits only the first. A second verb "heard" must be supplied: cp. Ex. 3:16. 2 Kings 11:12. 1 Tim.4:3.It is for the purpose of calling attention to the emphasis thus put on the verb "saw"; an idol being that which is seen) no similitude (= appearance of form, or likeness); only you all heard a voice.
13: And He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone (see Ex.17:14 [The Book of the Law]; only here and 10:4 in Deut.).
14: And the Lord commanded me at that time (emphasis on "me" to call attention to the mediation of Moses) to teach you ordinances and duties and punishments, that you all might do them in the land to which place you all go over to possess it.
15: Take you all therefore good heed unto yourselves; for you all saw no manner of similitude of form on the day that the Lord spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16: Lest you all corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image (= a sculpture, Heb. pesel. Ex. 20:4), the likeness of any figure (Heb. semel only here, 2 Chron. 33:7,15 and Ezek. 8:3,5), the form of male or female (Heb. tablinith = model),
17: The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air,
18: The likeness of any thing that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19: And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven (sun, moon, stars. This sin foreknown. 2 Kings 17:18; 23:4. cp. Amos 5:26 with Acts 7:42,43. And the times of this day that we live in), should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has divided to all nations under the whole heaven.
20: But the Lord has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace (cp. Gen. 15:17. Ex. 3:2. 1 Kings 8:51-53. Jer. 11:4), even out of Egypt, to be to Him a People of inheritance (cp. Ex. 19:5. Deut. 9:29; 32:9), as you all are this day.
21: Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes (cp. 1:37; 3:2), and swore that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance:
22: But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but you all shall go over, and possess that good land.
r a 23-25. Sin.
b 26-28. Threatening–Dispersion.
a 29,30. Repentance.
b 31-40. Promise. Reason.
23: Take heed to yourselves, lest you all forget the covenant of The Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a sculpture, or the form of any thing, which the Lord your God has forbidden you (Heb. zivvah, a Homonym = to command, and to forbid. Here = forbid, also in Judg. 13:14, where it is wrongly rendered "command").
24: {For the Lord your God is a consuming fire (cp. Ex. 24:17. Heb. 12:29), even a jealous GOD (El).
25: When you shall beget sons, and your son's sons, and you all shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord your God, to provoke Him to anger:
26: I call (Fig. Deisis, or Adjuration. An expression of feeling by oath or assertation. Cp. 31:28) the heaven and the earth (always plural and with the Heb. paricle ‘eth, except Gen. 2:1. See 1:1. One of the 13 occ. of the Heb. expressions noted in the Massorah.) to witness against you this day (a solemn idiom, used for great emphasis. Occ. 42 times [6 x 7] in this book. It is this Old Testament idiom in Luke 23:43), that you all shall soon utterly perish from off the land where-unto you all go over Jordan to possess it; you all shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be exterminated.
27: And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations (= disperse, Heb. pűz. See Gen. 10:18; 11:4,9, not used in Lev.26:33, but is used in Jer.30:11, and frequently: also in Ezek. Cp. Deut. 28:64, and Ezek. 20:23), and you all shall be left few in number among the heathen, to which place the Lord shall lead you.
28: And there you all shall serve gods (cp. Dan. 5:23. Rev. 9:20), the work of mankind's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29: But if from that place you shall seek the Lord your God (cp. Lev.26:40. Jer. 29:13, &c.), you shalt find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30: When you are in tribulation, and all these things are come upon you, even in the latter days (= the end of days), if you turn to the Lord your God, and shall be obedient to His voice;
31: {For the Lord your God is a merciful God (= El);) He will not forsake you (first occ. of this promise. Repeated in 31:6 for the journey. Repeated to Joshua for conflict, Josh. 1:5,6; to Solomon for work, 1 Chron. 28:20; to us for daily provisions and comfort, Heb. 13:5,6), neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them (no need for "rapture").
32: For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that the God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there has been any such thing as this great thing is, or has been heard like it?
33: Did ever people hear the voice of God (or, a god) speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
34: Or has God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation (here we have the whole of Exodus, cp. Jer. 32:21), by temptations (= trial, or proving), by signs, and by wonders, and by war (= fightings, cp. Ex. 14:25), and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35: To you it was showed, that you might know that the Lord He is God (cp. 1 Kings 18:39. Isa.45:21); there is none else beside Him.
36: Out of heaven He made you to hear His voice, that He might instruct you: and upon earth He showed you His great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
37: And because He loved your fathers (cp. 7:7; 9:5; 10:15), therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought you out in His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt;
38: To drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you are, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
39: Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord He is God (= The God) in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
40: You shall keep therefore His statutes, and His commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the earth, which the Lord your God gives thee, for ever (= all the day, i.e. for all time).
41: Then (emphatic, marking the end of his first address) Moses (change to third person, not because it is now editorial, but because the first direct address is ended.See 1:1) severed (= separated, cp. Ex. 21:13. Num. 35:6-29) three cities on this side Jordan toward the sun-rising;
42: That the slayer might flee to that place, which should kill his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live:
43: Namely, Bezer in the wilderness (Heb. = an inaccessible spot, gold ore), in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead (= heights), of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan (= captive, circle), of the Manassites.
N c 4:44–5:4. The Law. General.
d 5:5. Mediation of Moses.
c 5:6-21. The Law. Particular.
d 5:22-33. Meditation of Moses.
44: And this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel (i.e. which hereafter follows. The commencement of the new section according to the Structure):
45: These are the testimonies (Heb. ‘űd, to say again and again, hence, testifying's, affirmations, &c.), and the ordinances, and the duties and punishments, which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,
46: On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel smote (cp. Num. 21:24.Deut. 1:4), after they were come forth out of Egypt:
47: And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan (cp. Num. 21:33. Deut. 3:3), two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sun-rising;
48: From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion (written for Sirion, see Deut.3:9), which is Hermon,
49: And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.