Moses Emphasises That The Covenant Was Not Only Given To Their Fathers But Was Given Also Directly To Them Out Of The Midst of The Fire (Deuteronomy 5:1-5).
Moses now repeats briefly what he has already said in his previous speech. We note here that this directly connects back to Deuteronomy 4:10-14, and that Moses wants them to see the covenant words as directly addressed to them.
Analysis.
a All Israel are called together (at the Tabernacle). Then Moses says, “Listen and take heed, O Israel, to the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your (your) ears this day, that you may learn them, and observe to do them (Deuteronomy 5:1).
b Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb (Deuteronomy 5:2).
c Yahweh did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day (Deuteronomy 5:3).
b Yahweh spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire (Deuteronomy 5:4).
a I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to show you the word of Yahweh, for you were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up into the mount” (Deuteronomy 5:5).
Note that in ‘a' that Moses is declaring to them the testimonies, statutes and ordinances of Yahweh, and in the parallel had done so at the Mount, acting as mediator between them and Yahweh, because they had been afraid of the Fire (Yahweh revealed in fire). In ‘b' he reminds them that Yahweh had made a covenant with them in Horeb (Sinai) and in the parallel that Yahweh had done it speaking fact to face with them from the midst of the Fire. In ‘c' he declares that the covenant was not to be seen as made with their fathers but as made with him and those who were listening to him.
‘ And Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your (your) ears this day, that you (ye) may learn them, and observe to do them.'
Moses calls ‘all Israel' as a nation, but also as a plurality (ye), to hear his proclamation of Yahweh's statutes and ordinances, so that they may learn them and observe them. This proclamation of the covenant was no doubt required on a regular basis at the different feasts, so that it would come as no surprise. We do not know exactly what was read out at the different feasts, but certainly there would be participation in cult activity and declarations of the Law as well as feasting. In fact Moses will later declare that every seven years the whole law was to be read out to the people at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 31:9-13 compare Joshua 8:34-35). This proclamation here thus simply follows precedent, and something like it would have been expected before the great move forward, and may well to some extent have previously occurred during their feasting.
“Observe to do them.” In New Testament terms they were to be like the wise man who built his house on a rock, depicting the fact that he not only heard God's words through Jesus but did them (Matthew 7:24). They also were to hear Yahweh's words and do them, for it is only those who do His word who are truly established on the Rock.
‘ Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Yahweh did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.'
He begins by reminding them of the covenant that Yahweh had made with them. He stresses that the covenant was made with all of them, not just with their fathers. It is personal to them. Indeed they are not to think of it as a covenant made with their fathers at all but as one that has been made with them, that is, ‘with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day'.
“Yahweh did not make this covenant with our fathers.” This is not to be seen as a denial that the covenant was made with their fathers. What he is indicating here in a forceful way is that the covenant was not only for their fathers. At this present time it was a covenant made with them. Of course, it had been made with their fathers, but they had failed to obtain its full benefit by refusing to enter the land at Yahweh's command. Thus in the end there was a sense in which it had not been for them. They had not obtained its full benefit, and in the end had forfeited it. But now that covenant was being renewed with those who were currently listening to Moses and he was calling on them to make it effective. Their fathers had failed to respond to it, but now it was made to them too and open for their response. They must choose whether they will make it their own, and act on it. That is why he will now repeat it almost word for word.
This reflects the important principle that no man is in covenant because his father was. Each must in the end respond for himself. Each succeeding generation must opt to enter into the covenant.
It reminds us that God's word comes to all of us, both as a church and as individuals, but that if we fail to respond to Him truly and fail to walk in His ways, then He will declare that it is not for us but for others. If we refuse His light shining on our lives in order to reveal what we are and bring us to His Lordship, we will be left in outer darkness (John 3:19-21).
‘ Yahweh spoke with you (ye) face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,'
Moses now encircles the words of the basic covenant itself with a reminder of the awe-inspiring background against which it was given, and what had been their response to it. He wants them to recognise the seriousness of what he is bringing to their thoughts.
He opens by reminding them of the circumstances of the giving of the covenant, of how Yahweh had spoken with them face to face out of the midst of the raging, savagely burning, resplendent and glorious Fire that had descended on the Mount, the Fire which had made its peak seem alight. Some of them who had been children then would remember it vividly. They could never have forgotten its glory. Others would have been retold the story again and again. The Fire had both laid bare His glory and warned them that He was a consuming fire so that they would take heed to what they heard (Deuteronomy 4:24).
“Spoken with them face to face.” Not strictly of course. They had not seen His face. But it had been a person to person encounter, for they had seen the Fire that signified His presence and personally heard His voice.
“Talked with you out of the midst of the Fire.” Compare Deuteronomy 4:12; 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). He wanted the people to be aware of the source of the commandments, statutes and ordinances, and continually stresses the Fire through which Yahweh revealed Himself (thirteen times in Deuteronomy 4-5).
‘ (I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to show you the word of Yahweh, for you (ye) were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up into the mount), saying,'
And he reminds them of the fearsome nature of their own experience, and that in the end he alone had been able to go up into the Mount, standing as mediator between Yahweh and the people, and giving them the word of Yahweh. Indeed they had been so full of fear because of the Fire and the Voice, that they had not wanted to go up into the Mount, even though they had previously been able to wander in it freely. And once Yahweh took possession of it they had actually not been able to, for it was forbidden to them. It had become ‘holy' ground.
“Saying.” And this was what Yahweh had said. He will now repeat the ‘ten words' as given at Mount Sinai with slight changes to suit the present situation.