Deuteronomy 4:1-40 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Second Part of Moses-' First Address. This contains exhortations to obedience from motives of self-interest and of gratitude to Yahweh, and forms an apparent logical unity with Deuteronomy 1:6 to Deuteronomy 3:29: but the two pieces had probably a separate origin. The lessons in Deuteronomy 4:1-40 are not drawn immediately from chs. 1- 3. The writer of 1- 3 has in mind the events which followed the departure from Horeb: that of Deuteronomy 4:1-40 concentrates attention upon the theophany on Horeb.

Deuteronomy 4:27-31 seems to imply that the exile has taken place. Yet the editor of Dt. evidently regarded Deuteronomy 1:6 to Deuteronomy 4:40 as a unity, and the characteristic language and spirit of D runs through the whole.

Deuteronomy 4:1-4. Long life and possession of Canaan are often mentioned in Dt. as rewards of obedience. statutes and judgments: Deuteronomy 4:45 *. The principle of a fixed Canon of Scripture is involved in 2. At the close of his Code Hammurabi pronounces a blessing upon the man who will not deface or alter his law, and a curse upon anyone who will change it in the least degree.

Deuteronomy 4:3. because of: read, in (see Numbers 25:1-5).

Deuteronomy 4:4. The idea of cleaving to Yahweh is peculiar to Dt.

Deuteronomy 4:5. Render, I teach, etc.

Deuteronomy 4:7. a god: render, gods.

Deuteronomy 4:9. thy soul: Hebraism = thyself (emphatic), Deuteronomy 2:30 *. thy children: Dt. lays stress on the duty of training children (Deuteronomy 6:7, etc.).

Deuteronomy 4:10 f. Cf. Exodus 19:9 f., Ex. 1917f.

Deuteronomy 4:10. in Horeb: i.e. in the space in front of Horeb, so Deuteronomy 9:8; Deuteronomy 18:16. The duty of fearing Yahweh (Job 1:1) is often insisted upon in Dt.

Deuteronomy 4:13. The idea of a covenant between Yahweh and Israel holds a conspicuous place in Dt. and in allied writings of the OT, especially in Jer. Dt. mentions three covenants: (a) That made with the fathers in which Yahweh promises a numerous posterity (Deuteronomy 13:17) and the possession of the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 6:18, cf. Genesis 15:18 (JE), etc.). (b) The covenant made at Horeb based upon the Decalogue (see Deuteronomy 5:7 ff., Deuteronomy 9:9 f., cf. Deuteronomy 4:23). (c) That made in the land of Moab, sharply distinguished from that of Mount Horeb in Deuteronomy 29:1 (Heb. rightly 28:69), see Deuteronomy 29:9; Deuteronomy 29:12; Deuteronomy 29:14; Deuteronomy 29:21; Deuteronomy 26:17-19. It is not strictly true that the conception of a covenant between Yahweh and Israel occurs first in D (see Hosea 2:18; Hosea 6:7 f., Genesis 15:18 (J), Deuteronomy 26:1-4 (J), and Deuteronomy 28:13 f. (J). ten commandments: Heb. ten words (Exodus 34:28), hence the technical term Decalogue from the Gr. (LXX) rendering (deka logoi). two tables of stone: in P the two tables of the testimony (Exodus 31:18).

Deuteronomy 4:15-24 gives reasons why Israel should not worship idols.

Deuteronomy 4:16. corrupt yourselves: render, act corruptly. graven image: Exodus 20:4 *. The specific forms follow (cf. molten image, Deuteronomy 9:12).

Deuteronomy 4:18. the water under the earth: the abyss of waters on which the earth was supposed to rest; see Genesis 1:6-8 *, Genesis 49:25; Exodus 20:4, and Cent.B, Psalms, vol. ii. p. 174f.

Deuteronomy 4:20. iron furnace: one heated sufficiently to melt iron (see Jeremiah 11:4, etc.). a people of inheritance: a Hebraism, meaning a possessed people (see Deuteronomy 7:6).

Deuteronomy 4:21. for your sakes: Deuteronomy 1:37 *, cf. Deuteronomy 3:26. sware: Yahweh's oath to exclude Moses from Canaan is not mentioned elsewhere. Some omit the clause. giveth: better here and elsewhere in the same connexion, is about to give.

Deuteronomy 4:25-31 seems to presuppose the Exile if not also the Restoration.

Deuteronomy 4:25. provoke: the Heb. word, common in Dt., Jer., etc. means, to annoy, bother, not to make angry (so Deuteronomy 9:18; Deuteronomy 31:29; Deuteronomy 32:16; Deuteronomy 32:21; cf. Deuteronomy 9:7 a *).

Deuteronomy 4:26. Heaven and earth are summoned as abiding witnesses; see Deuteronomy 30:19; Deuteronomy 31:28, Deuteronomy 32; Isaiah 1:2; Jeremiah 2:12; Jeremiah 6:19.

Deuteronomy 4:31. merciful: better, compassionate.

Deuteronomy 4:33 f. God: render in both verses a god.

Deuteronomy 4:34. temptations: better, testings (see Deuteronomy 6:16). These and also the signs and wonders (lit. outstanding acts) refer all of them to the plagues of Egypt viewed on different sides. by a mighty hand, etc.: a frequent expression in Dt. (Deuteronomy 5:15, etc.), cf. Jeremiah 32:21.

Deuteronomy 4:35; Deuteronomy 4:39 teach absolute monotheism.

Deuteronomy 4:36. instruct: in the moral and religious sense (see Deuteronomy 8:5, chasten, same verb). Add to Deuteronomy 4:36 and didst live (see Deuteronomy 4:33), and omit the first word of Deuteronomy 4:37. The difference in the Heb. is slight.

Deuteronomy 4:37. loved; Dt. dwells much on Yahweh's love (Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:13, etc.) and also on Israel's duty to love Yahweh. with his presence: Hebraism for Himself; my presence (lit. face) in Heb. means, I myself (see Exodus 33:14 (J), and cf. Deuteronomy 2:30 *, Deuteronomy 4:9 *).

Deuteronomy 4:40. Obedience pays, so Dt. constantly teaches (see Deuteronomy 5:16; Deuteronomy 5:33, etc.).

Deuteronomy 4:41-43 (three cities of refuge E. of the Jordan) is an interpolation, and has no connexion here with the preceding or succeeding verses. The sites are unknown (see Deuteronomy 19:1 ff.*, where the subject is introduced as if for the first time.

Deuteronomy 4:45-49 is the proper introduction to Deuteronomy 6-11 as Deuteronomy 4:44 is that to Deuteronomy 12-26 and Deuteronomy 28.

Deuteronomy 4:44. law: Deuteronomy 1:5 *.

Deuteronomy 4:45. Render these are the admonitions (lit. commands given in the presence of witnesses) and the statutes (lit. what is engraved on wood or stone, cf. CH) and the ordinances (lit. judicial decisions, then precedent laws). Moses. Egypt: Moses could not have written so.

Deuteronomy 4:48. Sion: a clerical slip for Sirion (Deuteronomy 3:9 *).

Related Commentaries of Deuteronomy 4:1

Deuteronomy 4:1-40

1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.

4 But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midsta of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; onlyb ye heard a voice.

13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath dividedc unto all nations under the whole heaven.

20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

21 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:

22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.

23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye 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 thy God, to provoke him to anger:

26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.

28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?

33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, 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 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.

36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

38 To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.