Their Required Response In The Light of What He Is, Is Now Expanded On (Deuteronomy 10:16-22).
‘ Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your (of ye) heart, and be no more stiffnecked.'
In lieu of this, therefore, they, as a gathering of people, were all to circumcise the foreskins of their hearts, putting aside their obstinacy and stubbornness. They had to cast it from them. In other words just as the covering of their foreskin was removed in circumcision, so their obstinacy was to be seen as a covering that had to be cut out and removed, so that they no more hid behind it. All barriers that separated their hearts from God and from their fellowmen must be incisively removed. Thus they must also love the resident alien (Deuteronomy 10:19).
Alternately he may be referring to the fact that circumcision would soon be required as a seal of the covenant (Genesis 17:9-12), but that what they must do even more importantly was ensure that the covenant was cut into their hearts. The making of a covenant was often spoken of as ‘cutting a covenant', for it was sealed by blood, and circumcision involved the shedding of blood (compare Exodus 4:24-26 where this is stressed). Either way the idea is the same. They must become responsive to the covenant from their hearts.
‘ For Yahweh your God, he is the God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, who does not regard people with favouritism (literally ‘does not lift up faces'), nor takes reward.'
And this was because they must recognise Who they were dealing with. They must acknowledge Who Yahweh is, that He is their God. But not only is He their God, they must recognise that He is more than that. They must recognise that He is the God of all gods, God over all spiritual beings (the elohim), and He is the Lord of all lords. All gods and all lords, whether superhuman or human, are therefore under His rule and judgment. He is the great God, the mighty, the terrible. Note the threefoldness, great, mighty and terrible; great on behalf of the righteous, mighty on behalf of His own people, a terror to the sinful. The picture gains added significance in the light of their experiences of His power in Egypt. Their God is over all.
Alternately we may take ‘God of Gods' and ‘Lord of Lords' as expressing the superlative. Compare ‘Holy of Holies', which mean the ‘most Holy', the Holiest of All. In the same way God of Gods can mean ‘Supremely God', ‘uniquely God above all'. And similarly Lord of Lords can mean ‘the Supreme Lord'. The latter is especially significant in the terms of the covenant where He is the Supreme Overlord.
“Who does not regard people with favouritism (literally ‘does not lift up faces”), nor takes reward.' He is the One Who judges all equally. He does not regard anyone with favouritism or accept bribes and softeners, putting one in a favoured position against another. He is absolutely just and fair, for He is the One Who is above all. Having spoke of the superlative greatness of God, this now emphasises that as such He is so great that He has dealings with men, with all men, on a totally fair basis. He is the Judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25). And in those dealings all His judgments are based on His commandment, His statutes and ordinances as they were revealed to His people, and as they were to be fulfilled by them in love and godly fear. There is no varying from truth with Him.
“The great God, the mighty, and the terrible.” In ancient days the supreme ruler was often called ‘the Great King' (compare this of Yahweh in Psalms 48:2; see also Ezekiel 26:7; Ezra 7:12. It was a title known at Ugarit and in Akkadian records). But Yahweh is even greater, He is ‘the Great God'. What is more He is the Mighty One (see Psalms 24:8; Isaiah 42:13), the great warrior (compare 1 Samuel 2:4; 2 Samuel 10:7), and the terrible One, feared by His opponents. The point that is being stressed is that He is invincible and far above all.
‘ He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the resident alien, in giving him food and clothing.'
And this comes out in that He especially ensures that justice is found for those who are the least important in society, those who are unable to help themselves and have no one to defend them, those who have no fathers, those who are widows and those who are resident aliens, those who have no one to protect them (Deuteronomy 24:17; Deuteronomy 27:19; Exodus 22:22). But He watches over such. As we will see later, among other things He demonstrates His love for orphans, widows and resident aliens by the way He seeks to ensure for them sufficient food and clothing (Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 16:14; Deuteronomy 24:19-21; Deuteronomy 26:12-13).
This trait was often spoken of as being the sign of a great king in ancient records, including the law code of Hammurabi and at Ugarit in the second millennium BC. No king was greater than the one who could even watch over the weak because all was completely under his control and he did not need favours (compare Psalms 72:11-15; Psalms 146:7-10).
‘ You, therefore, love the resident alien, for you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.'
And He not only does this but He exhorts His people to do as He does and be the same as He is. Let them bring to mind in this regard that they had been resident aliens in Egypt, and remember how it was then, how they had been treated as strangers, and subjected to forced labour, and how they had groaned. And they must remember how He had loved them and delivered them And with that to spur them on they are to love the resident aliens, both those among them now and when they are in their own land, His land, and act towards them with compassion (compare Leviticus 19:34).
‘ You shall fear Yahweh your God; him shall you serve; and to him shall you cleave, and by his name shall you swear.'
They were also to fear Yahweh their God, ‘for the fear of Yahweh, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil that is understanding' (Job 28:28). And as a result of fearing Him with a godly fear and love they must serve Him, must cleave to Him faithfully, and swear by His name. For it is how men respond that reveals what they see to be real. Note the threefold ‘serve -- cleave -- swear'. Serving includes both worship and obedience. Cleaving involves loyalty, commitment and integrity. Swearing by His name means acknowledging Him above all. Swearing was done in the name of the highest sole authority. This latter may refer to dedication to the covenant, or it may indicate a determination to be as true as He is in matters of justice. So He requires dedication, love and submission to His authority, and true justice in all things.
The word ‘cleave' is a powerful one. It is used of a man ‘cleaving' to his wife when they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24), and of bones cleaving to the skin (Job 19:20).
‘ He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and terrible things, which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of heaven for multitude.'
But He is also the One fitted for praise. He is totally praiseworthy, and is to be the object of their worship. And the reason that they should praise Him is because He is their God, the very God Who has done great and terrible things for them which their eyes have seen. Many of the oldest had been in Egypt as small children and had seen His power revealed there, and the great and terrible things that He had done, and even more of them had seen what He had done since in the wilderness, including especially the defeat of the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, and their territories.
Their fathers had gone down into Egypt few in number, and here they now were as the result of His watch over them, as the stars of heaven for multitude, just as Yahweh had promised. It is hard to believe, he says, that when they went down into Egypt they had been comparatively few, seventy males with their households (and thus a few hundred, or even one or two thousands). It demonstrated how Yahweh had blessed them in spite of all attempts to decimate them. And it was mind-boggling to consider that they had all almost been destroyed.
“Seventy” indicates divine perfection intensified. An examination of the seventy described in Genesis 46:8-27 makes clear that the number has been artificially made up to seventy in order to bring out this point. This was one way in which the ancients used numbers. Their question was not ‘how many', but ‘of what quality?' Joseph and his sons, for example, were already in Egypt. It is saying that the party that went down to Egypt in one way or another (Joseph's sons ‘in his loins') was the perfect group from which Yahweh would produce His holy people. And now here they were, multiplied in numbers because of His working.