Ver. 16-19. Ye shall not tempt the Lord, &c.— He had warned them, ver. 12 against the sin of ingratitude, and forgetfulness of God, to which they might be tempted by prosperity: here he cautions them against the vice that they were liable to from the other extreme, adversity; namely, distrust of Providence, and murmuring against God, which is justly termed a tempting of God; for it is calling his goodness and veracity in question. In the first words of the eighteenth verse, we have the true definition of good works, and one which should be the only rule of our conduct; namely, the will of God, and not the caprices and decisions of our own will.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Moses is solicitous to approve his own fidelity to the Israelites, and to inculcate in them every command that he has received from the Lord; and he charges them to transmit them to their children's children, seeing that on their religious observance of them their well-being both in time and eternity depended. And he begins with the fear of God, for filial fear is the strongest preservative from falling. Note; (1.) Parents have an awful charge, and great will be their guilt if they neglect it. (2.) To walk in the fear of God is the way to please him. (3.) They who walk in his fear need fear nothing else; for God will take care, and abundantly provide for them.
2nd, To know the true God is everlasting life; because we cannot know him without loving, nor love without desire and delight to please him. Therefore, 1. Moses teaches them what God is. One in essence, in opposition to the gods many and lords many of the heathen; the self-existent, eternal, omnipotent Jehovah, beside whom there is and can be no other. Happy the man that has him for his God. 2. He urges the duty they owe him, to love him with all their heart: this is the first and great commandment, and it contains all the rest; for then we cannot but delight in what he commands, and trust on what he promises; and most deserving he is of our warmest affection, since in himself so transcendently excellent, and to us so amazingly kind: well may he challenge our heart, our whole heart; in sincerity, that knows no reserve; with supreme affection, which admits no rival; with ardency stronger than death, and with permanence equal to the days of eternity. Lord! shed abroad such love in our hearts. 3. The means prescribed to maintain and increase this love in their hearts: they are to store up God's words in their mind and memory, to instruct their children in them, by frequently inculcating the commandments upon them; and to make them the matter of constant daily converse for their mutual edification. Note; (1.) God's word should be read with seriousness every day. (2.) Our hearts should be employed in meditation thereon, that we may inwardly digest it for our souls' food. (3.) We should take delight to make it the subject of our discourse; not to dispute on what is abstruse, but to build up each other in love and obedience to what is evident and clear. (4.) Especial care should we take, early to acquaint our children and servants with the invaluable knowledge which alone is able to make them wise unto salvation. 4. Such attention to God's commands would preserve them from forgetting God in a day of prosperity. They were going into a land of plenty, and sadly apt is the heart to be debauched by ease and affluence. Note; No state so dangerous to the soul, none calls for greater fear and trembling, than when the world smiles, abundance surrounds us, and every earthly blessing tempts the idolatrous heart to take up its rest below. 5. The fear of God must be before their eyes, and his service their happy freedom. No mention of idol gods must come into their mouths; but when they swear, it must be an appeal to the true, and only heart-searching God. As their great danger ever lay from their idolatrous neighbours, they must carefully avoid going after their gods; for that would infallibly bring down upon them the wrath of God to consume them. Note; (1.) An oath is an appeal to God, and it must be made in his name: it is the height of profaneness to swear by any other. (2.) A jealous fear over ourselves is the way to avoid provoking a jealous God.