They Are Ever To Remember The Great and Wondrous Experience of Horeb (Sinai) And Take Note Of His Statutes and Judgments (Deuteronomy 4:10-14).
Moses now stressed the importance of the Sinai/Horeb experience which they must ever stir to remembrance and keep before their eyes, so that they would remember Who and What God is. In the context of the covenant this was a reminder of the appearance of their Overlord to declare His rights over them, and of His greatness, which therefore made obedience to the covenant all the more important.
a Moses reminds them of the day when they stood before Yahweh in Horeb (Deuteronomy 4:10 a).
b When He had called them to assemble to His words so that they might fear Him all their days and teach their children (Deuteronomy 4:10 a).
c And they came near and stood below the mountain and it burned with heavenly fire, with darkness, cloud and thick darkness (Deuteronomy 4:11).
c And the voice of Yahweh spoke from the midst of the fire and they heard His words but saw no form. There was only a voice (Deuteronomy 4:12).
b And He declared to them His words which He commanded them to carry out, the ten words which were written on tables of stone (Deuteronomy 4:13).
a And Yahweh commanded him in that day to teach them statutes and judgments so that they may do them in the land when they went over to possess it (Deuteronomy 4:14).
Note that in ‘a' he reminds them of ‘the day' in which they stood before Yahweh in Horeb and in the parallel Yahweh commanded him ‘on that day' to teach them His statutes and judgments. In ‘b' He called them together to hear His words so that they might fear Him, and in the parallel He declares to them His words and commands them to carry them out. In ‘c' they come to the mountain burning with fire but in darkness and cloud, and in the parallel they hear Him speak from the midst of the fire but they see no form, only hear a voice.
‘ The day that you stood before Yahweh your God in Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, “Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.” '
For they must ever remember that unforgettable day when they stood before the Mount in Horeb and saw the dreadful flames that seemed to burn up the top of the mountain, and heard His voice like thunder speaking to them (Exodus 19:18; Exodus 20:18; Exodus 24:17). For Yahweh had called on him to assemble the people so that they might hear His words expressed in such a way that they would never forget them, and might learn to have a godly fear of Him all through their lives. That had been His purpose, but men's hearts were so hard that with many it did not succeed.
To ‘stand before Yahweh' was a great privilege. But their joy was that they could also stand before Yahweh by choice in the courtyard of the tabernacle when they brought their offerings for it was His earthly Dwellingplace (Deuteronomy 12:7; Deuteronomy 31:11-13), and when they gathered round the Tabernacle for worship, and although He would be hidden they would know that He was there in His Holy of Holies, even while He was riding the heavens and enthroned in the Heaven of Heavens (1 Kings 8:27). Compare Deuteronomy 19:17.
“That they may teach their children.” This connects back to Deuteronomy 4:9. While in sections the speech is a unit.
‘ And you came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.'
He reminds those who had been present that day of the awesomeness of it. They had fearfully approached the mountain, and had stood under it in awe, and they had been before Yahweh, and the mountain had burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, and cloud, and the intense blackness of night pervading it even during the day. See Exodus 19:18; Exo 20:21; 2 Samuel 22:10; 1 Kings 8:12; Psalms 18:9; Psalms 18:11; Psalms 97:2. This heavenly fire that revealed Yahweh is a theme of this whole section of the speech. See Deuteronomy 4:15; Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 4:33; Deuteronomy 4:36. As is not seeing His form (Deuteronomy 4:12; Deuteronomy 4:15).
We must try and picture the unforgettable scene. The multitude gathered below the mountain looking up in awe, the whole top of the mountain ablaze with fire, and yet the smoke and the cloud and the thick darkness, and the mighty voice that spoke from it with its terrible words. ‘Fire to the heart of heaven' is a reminder that this was no earthly fire, it was fire from the centre of heaven itself, heavenly fire, glorious, dazzling, intense and unearthly. It spoke of His glory, His purity, his righteous judgment. And then the cloud and the darkness which spoke of His mystery, His unapproachableness (1 Timothy 6:16), declaring a glory so intense that it must be hidden in order to be revealed. If we remember what God is like, we too will be more careful how we approach Him. Through Christ we are welcomed, but we should ever remember Who He is.
‘ And Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of words, but you saw no form, only heard a voice.'
He reminds them of how Yahweh spoke to them from the midst of the fire, but that while they heard His voice and His words they saw no form. They saw only the flaming fire, and the cloud and the darkness. There was no visible form. This should bring home the fact that Yahweh has no visible form. He is pure Spirit (John 4:24). Thus any attempt to represent Him by any image is to demean and degrade Him and make Him like ourselves and our world (see Deuteronomy 4:15-16). It is both misrepresentation and blasphemy.
God speaking from the midst of the fire is a theme prominent in Deuteronomy. Compare Deuteronomy 4:15; Deuteronomy 4:33; Deuteronomy 4:36; Deuteronomy 5:22; Deuteronomy 5:24; Deuteronomy 5:26; Deuteronomy 9:10; Deuteronomy 10:4 where the same thought is emphasised. Moses clearly saw the voice at Mount Sinai as connected with the God of the burning bush where God ‘in a flame of fire' (Exodus 3:2) spoke to him ‘out of the (burning) bush' (Exodus 3:4) at the same Mountain of God (Exodus 3:1).
‘ And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten words, and he wrote them on two tables of stone.'
And there Yahweh had declared to them His covenant, that He was Yahweh their God, that He had mightily delivered them, and that He had given to them His ten words, all of which He had then written on two tables of stone. This was the covenant by which they were bound, and to which they must respond, and the principles declared were principles required to be observed by all men and women of all ages. That which was written on stone was seen as having special authority and special significance. It was permanent and for ever.
The two tables of stone may have been duplicates with the idea that one was a reminder to Yahweh, and the other a reminder to the people. Duplicate copies of treaties would regularly be made, one kept by the overlord and lodged in a sanctuary, and one passed over to the subject nation to be lodged in their main sanctuary. The tabernacle was both Yahweh's dwellingplace and Israel's sanctuary. Or they may have contained five words each, one containing those relating to honouring Yahweh and His authority, and the other containing those relating to man's behaviour towards man.
‘ And Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land to which you go over to possess it.'
And Yahweh had not only given them the ten words, but He had commanded Moses to teach them His many statutes and ordinances which He would reveal to Moses for him to pass on. These can be found in Exodus 20 onwards, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy 5 onwards. In the words of Hosea, ‘I write for him my law in ten thousand precepts' (Hosea 8:12).
It is inconceivable that a man with Moses background would not ensure that the revelations he received were written down. All important covenant matters were committed to writing in order to indicate their solemnity, and we are elsewhere given examples of where this happened (Deuteronomy 31:9; Exodus 17:14; Exodus 24:4; Exodus 34:27; Numbers 33:1-2). God's words in Deuteronomy 17:14 would hardly be seen as applying only to that incident. They rather drew attention to the need to record in writing all such experiences of God's provision and protection. It was giving Moses the basis on which he should conduct his future activity. All the references simply draw attention to Moses' habit of ensuring the writing down of the revelation Yahweh revealed and the wondrous things that he did for Israel. They do not limit it to those occurrences. And he passed this responsibility also onto Joshua, whom we have good reason to believe did much of the actual writing.