Chapter 4. Moses Urges Them To Respond Fully To Yahweh's Covenant And Remember With What Glory and Power It Came.
Having established the certainty of their successful entry into the land Moses now follows this up with a charge to fulfil all God's requirements. And he does it in the light of what God has revealed Himself to be. This chapter up to verse 40 in fact makes the first four Chapter s into a mini-covenant for it follows the historical prologue of Deuteronomy 1-3 by summarising the stipulations of their Overlord (Deuteronomy 4:1-2), stresses how favoured they are because of His superiority and the superiority of the teaching that He has given them (Deuteronomy 4:7-8) and that He had appeared personally in order to urge these stipulations on them (Deuteronomy 4:10-15), and ends with warnings in line with the covenant pattern (Deuteronomy 4:25-28), and an appeal to witnesses (Deuteronomy 4:26). It thus forms a mini-covenant within the larger covenant.
This summarisation, which will later be expounded in more detail, confirms that we have here an actual address. It is similar to the modern preacher who, having dealt with an initial passage, summarises the principles that will follow which he will later deal with in more detail in the following sermons.
And it demonstrates how Moses constantly thought in covenant treaty terms. He saw things in terms of Who Yahweh is, what Yahweh had done for them, what He required of them in response and what the consequences of disobedience would be. His vision was filled with Yahweh Who was his all. He himself could not see how anyone could fail to respond to Him fully, although he knew from practical experience that they could.
The chapter expresses the plea that they will remember the glory and holiness of the One Who gave the laws, and Who will therefore call them to account. They are to remember that He is no pushover, but rather that He is a consuming fire. They must thus avoid all idolatry and all that provokes God to anger, otherwise they too will have to be turned from the land. And they must take heed to all that He has done for them, and respond from an obedient heart.
He finally reminds them of the sacredness of human life and God's hatred of the unnecessary (and forbidden) shedding of blood by appointing three cities of refuge. The establishment of these cities was a demonstration of their permanent occupation of the land. They demonstrated that Israel were there for good. Perhaps by mentioning these cities of refuge at this time he also intended to remind them of the fact that they themselves had a continuing refuge, and that God was the One Who was their refuge also. For these cities were a like a lighthouse whose beams declared openly Yahweh's protective care for the unfortunate.
We need to learn to apply the same covenant principles to our lives, by remembering Who Christ is, the Lord of all; what He has done for us, dying for us on the cross; what He requires of us, a response of full obedience; and what the consequences will be if we fail in our joyous duty toward Him, in coming under His disapproval, and losing the glory of what He would give us.
Having Described All that Yahweh Has Done For Them Moses Now Urges A Full Response To All Yahweh's Instruction (Deuteronomy 4:1-5).
One further preparation was now necessary before advancing into the land. While the nation were all together as one it was necessary for the covenant requirements to be affirmed and established lest having gained the land they lose it by disobedience and transgression. Thus in this chapter he urges the importance of obedience to Yahweh's statutes and ordinances, and reminds them of the uniqueness of their Overlord and how they had seen Him and had received the covenant requirements directly from His mouth, and how He was the One Who had delivered them from the iron furnace of Egypt, and he warns what will happen to them if the requirements of the covenant are neglected, first from his own example as one excluded from the land because of sin, and then in terms of their too being driven out of the land as their fathers had been before them, and as the Canaanites would be as a result of their efforts. This will then be followed in a later speech (5 onwards) by a reminder of the wording of the covenant and an abbreviated but detailed outline of the covenant stipulations.
This passage may be analysed as follows:
a They are to listen to the statutes and judgments which Moses teaches them for them to do, so that they might live, and might go in and possess the land which Yahweh their God is giving them (Deuteronomy 4:1).
b They must not add to them or diminish them, but must keep the commandments of Yahweh their God which he gives them (Deuteronomy 4:2).
c For their eyes have seen all that Yahweh did because of Baal-peor (Deuteronomy 4:3 a).
c For Yahweh their God has destroyed from their midst all the men who followed Baal-peor (Deuteronomy 4:3 b).
b But they who clove to Yahweh their God are alive this day, every one of them (Deuteronomy 4:4).
a And he has taught them statutes and judgments even as Yahweh his God has commanded him, so that they may do them in the land which they are going in to possess (Deuteronomy 4:5).
Note how in ‘a' he has given the statutes and judgments that they might live and possess the land, and in the parallel he has taught them the statutes and judgments so that they might do them when they possess the land. In ‘b' they must keep the commandments whole and not diminish them, and in the parallel because they have remained faithful to Yahweh they have been kept as a whole (and not diminished). In ‘c' they have seen what happened at Baal-peor and in the parallel they know that Yahweh has destroyed from their midst those who sinned with Baal-peor.
‘ And now, O Israel, listen well to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is gives you.'
“And now.” This links back with all that has been said. Yahweh has done for them all that he has described, and has given them all the assurance that they could possibly want that He will give them the land. Now it is their responsibility to respond fully to Him and go in and possess the land which He is giving them because of His love for their fathers.
But Moses was aware that if they were live their lives to the full they would have to do more than possess the land. They would need to listen and respond to Yahweh's statutes and ordinances, which Moses had taught them and would teach them, and to do them.
“Which I teach you.” His longer speech which will follow contains such statutes and ordinances. But we must also see here a reference back to teaching already given to which they can refer to in their minds, otherwise, with their not knowing what was coming, much of the impact of his words would be lost. He was continually giving them teaching and they were to heed it all.
And by following Yahweh's statutes and ordinance they would ‘live', in contrast with those who had not listened and had died in the wilderness and at Baal-peor, and they would not only live, but would live lives of fullness. The emphasis is on quality of life. Compare Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 8:1; Deuteronomy 8:3; Deuteronomy 12:1; Deuteronomy 16:20; Deuteronomy 30:6; Deuteronomy 30:16; Deuteronomy 30:19. See Leviticus 18:5. Notice how often other blessings are added to the term ‘live', such as it being well with them (Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 30:16), longevity of life (Deuteronomy 5:33), possession of the land (Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 8:1; Deuteronomy 12:1; Deuteronomy 16:20), God's working in the heart (circumcision of the heart - Deuteronomy 30:6), and multiplicity of offspring (Deuteronomy 8:1; Deuteronomy 30:16). Here the special added blessing is to possess the land under the care and watch of Yahweh, being under His heavenly rule. It was such a life of joy and satisfaction in God to which the writer of Ecclesiastes pointed (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26; Ecclesiastes 3:22; Ecclesiastes 5:18-20; Ecclesiastes 9:7-10).
Note how this emphasis on life contrasts with his own future. He was to die and not live. Thus he knew even more than most the value of life.
‘ You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.'
Obedience would involve right discernment. They must neither add to God's instruction, nor reduce it. What He had revealed they must do without altering it for only in that way would they fully keep the commandments of ‘Yahweh your God'.
This principle of not meddling with sacred texts was a common one among the ancients. Similar guidance was given to scribes in ancient Egypt. It was also included in treaty covenants. An overlord's subjects were not permitted to alter his requirements.
‘ Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from the midst of you.'
He makes them think back to what had been the result of Baal-peor when some of their number had been led astray by the Moabite women into idol worship with its accompanying sexual misbehaviour (see Numbers 25:1-3), eating food ‘provided' by the god and bowing down to it, and indulging in its excesses. Baal-peor may have been Baal as associated with Peor, or a god known as ‘the Lord (baal) of Peor'. But it certainly shared the propensities of the Canaanite gods. They will remember that such people had been destroyed from the midst of them. Their Overlord had dealt with them severely for their breach of covenant.
‘ But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive every one of you this day.'
But those who had been loyal to the covenant and had chosen to cling to Yahweh rather than to Moabite women were still alive. For clinging to Yahweh brings life. And they were witnesses of this by the very fact that they were alive. The lesson should therefore come home to them. Idolatry leads to death, trusting in Yahweh leads to life.
‘ Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land to which you go in to possess it.'
So let them take heed to what he has taught them at Yahweh's bidding, for they had been given so that when they possessed the land they might ‘do them'. The possessing of the land and the doing of Yahweh's was to go together. Indeed that was why their fathers had not possessed the land. That was why the Canaanites were being driven out of the land. It was because neither had been willing to do the will of God. By these words he incorporates into the covenant the statutes and ordinances that he has already taught them, as well as those that he will teach them. This confirms that some of these statutes are already well known and probably recorded, otherwise such a reference would be meaningless from a covenant point of view.