Now, Israel, listen 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, gives you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; for Yahweh your God has destroyed all the men who followed Baal Peor from among you. But you who were faithful to Yahweh your God are all alive today. Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?
Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children— the day that you stood before Yahweh your God in Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, “Assemble the people to me, 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.” You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. Yahweh spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice. He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets. Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it. Be very careful, for you saw no kind of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire, lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky. But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as it is today. Furthermore Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance; but I must die in this land. I must not go over the Jordan, but you shall go over and possess that good land. Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you. For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. When you shall father children and children’s children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land which you go over the Jordan to possess it. You will not prolong your days on it, but will utterly be destroyed. Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Yahweh will lead you away. There you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to Yahweh your God and listen to his voice. For Yahweh your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as great as this thing is, or has been heard like it? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him. Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you. On earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the middle of the fire. Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their offspring after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that Yahweh himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else. You shall keep his statutes and his commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for all time.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 40 For this doctrine standeth not in bare knowledge, but…
For this doctrine standeth not in bare knowledge, but in practice of life.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 32, 37, 39 Deu 4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the…
Deu 4:1 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.
Ver. 1. The statutes and the judgments.] By "statutes" we may understand the moral law, by "judgments" the judicial, which was fitted to the Jews: Like, as Solon being asked whether he had given the best laws to the Athenians, answered, The best that they could suffer. As for the ceremonial law, it is called "statutes that were not good," because they commanded neither virtue nor vice in themselves, as one {a} gives the reason.
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{a} Mr Weems.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37 The statutes; the laws which concern the worship and…
The statutes; the laws which concern the worship and service of God. The judgments; the laws concerning your duties to men. So these two comprehend both tables, and the whole law of God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 This most lively and excellent discourse is so entire,…
This most lively and excellent discourse is so entire, and the particulars of it are so often repeated, that we must take it altogether in the exposition of it, and endeavour to digest it into proper heads, for we cannot divide it into paragraphs.
I. In general, it is the use and application of the foregoing history; it comes in by way of inference from it: Now therefore harken, O Israel, Deu 4:1. This use we should make of the review of God's providences concerning us, we should by them be quickened and engaged to duty and obedience. The histories of the years of ancient times should in like manner be improved by us.
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II. The scope and drift of his discourse is to persuade them to keep close to God and to his service, and not to forsake him for any other god, nor in any instance to decline from their duty to him. Now observe what he says to them, with a great deal of divine rhetoric, both by way of exhortation and direction, and also by way of motive and argument to enforce his exhortations.
1. See here how he charges and commands them, and shows them what is good, and what the Lord requires of them.
(1.) He demands their diligent attention to the word of God, and to the statutes and judgments that were taught them: Hearken, O Israel. He means, not only that they must now give him the hearing, but that whenever the book of the law was read to them, or read by them, they should be attentive to it. "Hearken to the statutes, as containing the great commands of God and the great concerns of your own souls, and therefore challenging your utmost attention." At Horeb God had made them hear his words (Deu 4:10), hear them with a witness; the attention which was then constrained by the circumstances of the delivery ought ever after to be engaged by the excellency of the things themselves. What God so spoke once, we should hear twice, hear often.
(2.) He charges them to preserve the divine law pure and entire among them, Deu 4:2. Keep it pure, and do not add to it; keep it entire, and do not diminish from it. Not in practice, so some: "You shall not add by committing the evil which the law forbids, nor diminish by omitting the good which the law requires." Not in opinion, so others: "You shall not add your own inventions, as if the divine institutions were defective, nor introduce, much less impose, any rites of religious worship other than what God has appointed; nor shall you diminish, or set aside, any thing that is appointed, as needless or superfluous." God's work is perfect, nothing can be put to it, nor taken from it, without making it the worse. See Ecc 3:14. The Jews understand it as prohibiting the alteration of the text or letter of the law, even in the least jot or tittle; and to their great care and exactness herein we are very much indebted, under God, for the purity and integrity of the Hebrew code. We find a fence like this made about the New Testament in the close of it, Rev 22:18, Rev 22:19.
(3.) He charges them to keep God's commandments (Deu 4:2), to do them (Deu 4:5, Deu 4:14), to keep and do them (Deu 4:6), to perform the covenant, Deu 4:13. Hearing must be in order to doing, knowledge in order to practice. God's commandments were the way they must keep in, the rule they must keep to; they must govern themselves by the moral precepts, perform their devotion according to the divine ritual, and administer justice according to the judicial law. He concludes his discourse (Deu 4:40) with this repeated charge: Thou shalt keep his statutes and his commandments which I command thee. What are laws made for but to be observed and obeyed?
(4.) He charges them to be very strict and careful in their observance of the law (Deu 4:9): Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently; and (Deu 4:15), Take you therefore good heed unto yourselves; and again (Deu 4:23), Take heed to yourselves. Those that would be religious must be very cautious, and walk circumspectly. Considering how many temptations we are compassed about with, and what corrupt inclinations we have in our own bosoms, we have great need to look about us and to keep our hearts with all diligence. Those cannot walk aright that walk carelessly and at all adventures.
(5.) He charges them particularly to take heed of the sin of idolatry, that sin which of all others they would be most tempted to by the customs of the nations, which they were most addicted to by the corruption of their hearts, and which would be most provoking to God and of the most pernicious consequences to themselves: Take good heed, lest in this matter you corrupt yourselves, Deu 4:15, Deu 4:16. Two sorts of idolatry he cautions them against: - [1.] The worship of images, however by them they might intend to worship the true God, as they had done in the golden calf, so changing the truth of God into a lie and his glory into shame. The second commandment is expressly directed against this, and is here enlarged upon, Deu 4:15-18. "Take heed lest you corrupt yourselves," that is, "lest you debauch yourselves;" for those that think to make images of God form in their minds such notions of him as must needs be an inlet to all impieties; and it is intimated that it is a spiritual adultery. "And take heed lest you destroy yourselves. If any thing ruin you, this will be it. Whatever you do, make no similitude of God, either in a human shape, male of female, or in the shape of any beast or fowl, serpent or fish;" for the heathen worshipped their gods by images of all these kinds, being either not able to form, or not willing to admit, that plain demonstration which we find, Hos 8:6 : The workman made it, therefore it is not God. To represent an infinite Spirit by an image, and the great Creator by the image of a creature, is the greatest affront we can put upon God and the greatest cheat we can put upon ourselves. As an argument against their making images of God, he urges it very much upon them that when God made himself known to them at Horeb he did it by a voice of words which sounded in their ears, to teach them that faith comes by hearing, and God in the word is nigh us; but no image was presented to their eye, for to see God as he is is reserved for our happiness in the other world, and to see him as he is not will do us hurt and no good in this world. You saw no similitude (Deu 4:12), no manner of similitude, Deu 4:15. Probably they expected to have seen some similitude, for they were ready to break through unto the Lord to gaze, Exo 19:21. But all they saw was light and fire, and nothing that they could make an image of, God an infinite wisdom so ordering his manifestation of himself because of the peril of idolatry. It is said indeed of Moses that he beheld the similitude of the Lord (Num 12:8), God allowing him that favour because he was above the temptation of idolatry; but for the people who had lately come from admiring the idols of Egypt, they must see no resemblance of God, lest they should have pretended to copy it, and so should have received the second commandment in vain; "for" (says bishop Patrick) "they would have thought that this forbade them only to make any representation of God besides that wherein he showed himself to them, in which they would have concluded it lawful to represent him." Let this be a caution to us to take heed of making images of God in our fancy and imagination when we are worshipping him, lest thereby we corrupt ourselves. There may be idols in the heart, where there are none in the sanctuary. [2.] The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, is another sort of idolatry which they were cautioned against, Deu 4:19. This was the most ancient species of idolatry and the most plausible, drawing the adoration to those creatures that not only are in a situation above us, but are most sensibly glorious in themselves and most generally serviceable to the world. And the plausibleness of it made it the more dangerous. It is intimated here, First, How strong the temptation is to sense; for the caution is, Lest thou shouldest be driven to worship them by the strong impulse of a vain imagination and the impetuous torrent of the customs of the nations. The heart is supposed to walk after the eye, which, in our corrupt and degenerate state, it is very apt to do. "When thou seest the sun, moon, and stars, thou wilt so admire their height and brightness, their regular motion and powerful influence, that thou wilt be strongly tempted to give that glory to them which is due to him that made them, and made them what they are to us - gave them their beings, and made them blessings to the world." It seems there was need of a great deal of resolution to arm them against this temptation, so weak was their faith in an invisible God and an invisible world. Secondly, Yet he shows how weak the temptation would be to those that would use their reason; for these pretended deities, the sun, moon, and stars, were only blessings which the Lord their God, whom they were obliged to worship, had imparted to all nations. It is absurd to worship them, for they are man's servants, were made and ordained to give light on earth; and shall we serve those that were made to serve us? The sun, in Hebrew is called shemesh, which signifies a servant, for it is the minister-general of this visible world, and holds the candle to all mankind; let it not then be worshipped as a lord. Moreover, they are God's gifts; he has imparted them; whatever benefit we have by them, we owe it to him; it is therefore highly injurious to him to give that honour and praise to them which is due to him only.
(6.) He charges them to teach their children to observe the laws of God: Teach them to thy sons, and thy sons' sons (Deu 4:9), that they may teach their children, Deu 4:10. [1.] Care must be taken in general to preserve the entail of religion among them, and to transmit the knowledge and worship of God to posterity; for the kingdom of God in Israel was designed to be perpetual, if they did not forfeit the privilege of it. [2.] Parents must, in order hereunto, particularly take care to teach their own children the fear of God, and to train them up in an observance of all his commandments.
(7.) He charges them never to forget their duty: Take heed lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, Deu 4:23. Though God is ever mindful of the covenant, we are apt to forget it; and this is at the bottom of all our departures from God. We have need therefore to watch against all those things which would put the covenant out of our minds, and to watch over our own hearts, lest at any time we let it slip; and so we must take heed lest at any time we forget our religion, lest we lose it or leave it off. Care and caution, and holy watchfulness, are the best helps against a bad memory. These are the directions and commands he gives them.
2. Let us see now what are the motives or arguments with which he backs these exhortations. How does he order the cause before them, and fill his mouth with arguments! He has a great deal to say on God's behalf. Some of his topics are indeed peculiar to that people, yet applicable to us. But, upon the whole, it is evident that religion has reason on its side, the powerful charms of which all that are irreligious wilfully stop their ears against.
(1.) He urges the greatness, glory, and goodness, of God. Did we consider what a God he is with whom we have to do, we should surely make conscience of our duty to him and not dare to sin against him. He reminds them here, [1.] That the Lord Jehovah is the one and only living and true God. This they must know and consider, Deu 4:39. There are many things which we know, but are not the better for, because we do not consider them, we do not apply them to ourselves, nor draw proper inferences from them. This is a truth so evident that it cannot but be known, and so influential that, if it were duly considered, it would effectually reform the world, That the Lord Jehovah he is God, an infinite and eternal Being, self-existent and self-sufficient, and the fountain of all being, power, and motion - that he is God in heaven above, clothed with all the glory and Lord of all the hosts of the upper world, and that he is God upon earth beneath, which, though distant from the throne of his glory, is not out of the reach of his sight or power, and though despicable and mean is not below his care and cognizance. And there is none else, no true and living God but himself. All the deities of the heathen were counterfeits and usurpers; nor did any of them so much as pretend to be universal monarchs in heaven and earth, but only local deities. The Israelites, who worshipped no other than the supreme Numen - Divinity, were for ever inexcusable if they either changed their God or neglected him. [2.] That he is a consuming fire, a jealous God, Deu 4:24. Take heed of offending him, for, First, He has a jealous eye to discern an affront; he must have your entire affection and adoration, and will by no means endure a rival. God's jealousy over us is a good reason for our godly jealousy over ourselves. Secondly, He has a heavy hand to punish an affront, especially in his worship, for therein he is in a special manner jealous. He is a consuming fire; his wrath against sinners is so; it is dreadful and destroying, it is a fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries, Heb 10:27. Fire consumes that only which is fuel for it, so the wrath of God fastens upon those only who, by their own sin, have fitted themselves for destruction, Co1 3:13; Isa 27:4. Even in the New Testament we find the same argument urged upon us as a reason why we should serve God with reverence (Heb 12:28, Heb 12:29), because though he is our God, and a rejoicing light to those that serve him faithfully, yet he is a consuming fire to those that trifle with him. Thirdly, That yet he is a merciful God, Deu 4:31. It comes in here as an encouragement to repentance, but might serve as an inducement to obedience, and a consideration proper to prevent their apostasy. Shall we forsake a merciful God, who will never forsake us, as it follows here, if we be faithful unto him? Whither can we go to better ourselves? Shall we forget the covenant of our God, who will not forget the covenant of our fathers? Let us be held to our duty by the bonds of love, and prevailed with by the mercies of God to cleave to him.
(2.) He urges their relation to this God, his authority over them and their obligations to him. "The commandments you are to keep and do are not mine," says Moses, "not my inventions, not my injunctions, but they are the commandments of the Lord, framed by infinite wisdom, enacted by sovereign power. He is the Lord God of your fathers (Deu 4:1), so that you are his by inheritance: your fathers were his, and you were born in his house. He is the Lord your God (Deu 4:2), so that you are his by your own consent. He is the Lord my God (Deu 4:5), so that I treat with you as his agent and ambassador;" and in his name Moses delivered unto them all that, and that only, which he had received from the Lord.
(3.) He urges the wisdom of being religious: For this is your wisdom in the sight of the nations, Deu 4:6. In keeping God's commandments, [1.] They would act wisely for themselves; This is your wisdom. It is not only agreeable to right reason, but highly conducive to our true interest; this is one of the first and most ancient maxims of divine revelation. The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, Job 28:28. [2.] They would answer the expectations of their neighbours, who, upon reading or hearing the precepts of the law that was given them, would conclude that certainly the people that were governed by this law were a wise and understanding people. Great things may justly be looked for from those who are guided by divine revelation, and unto whom are committed the oracles of God. They must needs be wiser and better than other people; and so they are if they are ruled by the rules that are given them; and if they are not, though reproach may for their sakes be cast upon the religion they profess, yet it will in the end certainly return upon themselves to their eternal confusion. Those that enjoy the benefit of divine light and laws ought to conduct themselves so as to support their own reputation for wisdom and honour (see Ecc 10:1), that God may be glorified thereby.
(4.) He urges the singular advantages which they enjoyed by virtue of the happy establishment they were under, Deu 4:7, Deu 4:8. Our communion with God (which is the highest honour and happiness we are capable of in this world) is kept up by the word and prayer; in both these Israel were happy above any people under heaven. [1.] Never were any people so privileged in speaking to God, Deu 4:7. He was nigh unto them in all that they called upon him for, ready to answer their enquiries and resolve them by his oracle, ready to answer their requests and to grant them by a particular providence. When they had cried unto God for bread, for water, for healing, they had found him near them, to succour and relieve them, a very present help, and in the midst of them (Psa 46:1, Psa 46:5), his ear open to their prayers. Observe, First, It is the character of God's Israel that on all occasions they call upon him, in every thing they make their requests known to God. They do nothing but what they consult him in, they desire nothing but what they come to him for. Secondly, Those that call upon God shall certainly find him within call, and ready to give an answer of peace to every prayer of faith; see Isa 58:9, "Thou shalt cry, as the child for a nurse, and he shall say, Here I am, what does my dear child cry for?" Thirdly, This is a privilege which makes the Israel of God truly great and honourable. What can go further than this to magnify a people or a person? Is any name more illustrious than that of Israel, a prince with God? What nation is there so great? Other nations might boast of greater numbers, larger territories, and more ancient incorporations; but none could boast of such an interest in heaven as Israel had. They had their gods, but not so nigh to them as Israel's God was; they could not help them in a time of need, as Kg1 18:27. [2.] Never were any people so privileged in hearing from God, by the statutes and judgments which were set before them, Deu 4:8. This also was the grandeur of Israel above any people. What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous? Observe, First, That all these statutes and judgments of the divine law are infinitely just and righteous, above the statutes and judgments of any of the nations. The law of God is far more excellent that the law of nations. No law so consonant to natural equity and the unprejudiced dictates of right reason, so consistent with itself in all the parts of it, and so conducive to the welfare and interest of mankind, as the scripture-law is, Psa 119:128. Secondly, The having of these statutes and judgments set before them is the true and transcendent greatness of any nation or people. See Psa 147:19, Psa 147:20. It is an honour to us that we have the Bible in reputation and power among us. It is an evidence of a people's being high in the favour of God, and a means of making them high among the nations. Those that magnify the law shall be magnified by it.
(5.) He urges God's glorious appearances to them at Mount Sinai, when he gave them this law. This he insists much upon. Take heed lest thou forget the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, Deu 4:10. Some of them were now alive that could remember it, though they were then under twenty years of age, and the rest of them might be said to stand there in the loins of their fathers, who received the law and entered into covenant there, not for themselves only, but for their children, to whom God had an eye particularly in giving the law, that they might teach it to their children. Two things they must remember, and, one would think, they could never forget them: - [1.] What they saw at Mount Sinai, Deu 4:11. They saw a strange composition of fire and darkness, both dreadful and very awful; and they must needs be a striking foil to each other; the darkness made the fire in the midst of it look the more dreadful. Fires in the night are the most frightful, and the fire made the darkness that surrounded it look the more awful; for it must needs be a strong darkness which such a fire did not disperse. In allusion to this appearance upon Mount Sinai, God is said to show himself for his people, and against his and their enemies, in fire and darkness together, Psa 18:8, Psa 18:9. He tells them again (Deu 4:36) what they saw, for he would have them never forget it: He showed thee his great fire. One flash of lightning, that fire from heaven, strikes an awe upon us; and some have observed that most creatures naturally turn their faces towards the lightning, as ready to receive the impressions of it; but how dreadful then must a constant fire from heaven be! It gave an earnest of the day of judgment, in which the Lord Jesus shall be revealed in flaming fire. As he reminds them of what they saw, so he tells them what they saw not; no manner of similitude, from which they might form either an idea of God in their fancies or an image of God in their high places. By what we see of God sufficient ground is given us to believe him to be a Being of infinite power and perfection, but no occasion given us to suspect him to have a body such as we have. [2.] What they heard at Mount Sinai (Deu 4:12): "The Lord spoke unto you with an intelligible voice, in your own language, and you heard it." This he enlarges upon towards the close of his discourse, Deu 4:32, Deu 4:33, Deu 4:36. First, They heard the voice of God, speaking out of heaven. God manifests himself to all the world in the works of creation, without speech or language, and yet their voice is heard (Psa 19:1-3); but to Israel he made himself known by speech and language, condescending to the weakness of the church's infant state. Here was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, to prepare the way of the Lord. Secondly, They heard it out of the midst of the fire, which showed that it was God himself that spoke to them, for who else could dwell with devouring fire? God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind, which was terrible; but to Israel out of the fire, which was more terrible. We have reason to be thankful that he does not thus speak to us, but by men like ourselves, whose terror shall not make us afraid, Job 33:6, Job 33:7. Thirdly, They heard it and yet lived, Deu 4:33. It was a wonder of mercy that the fire did not devour them, or that they did not die for fear, when Moses himself trembled. Fourthly, Never any people heard the like. He bids them enquire of former days and distant places, and they would find this favour of God to Israel without precedent or parallel, Deu 4:32. This singular honour done them called for singular obedience from them. It might justly be expected that they should do more for God than other people, since God had done so much more for them.
(6.) He urges God's gracious appearances for them, in bringing them out of Egypt, from the iron furnace, where they laboured in the fire, forming them into a people, and then taking them to be his own people, a people of inheritance (Deu 4:20); this he mentions again, Deu 4:34, Deu 4:37, Deu 4:38. Never did God do such a thing for any people; the rise of this nation was quite different from that of all other nations. [1.] They were thus dignified and distinguished, not for any thing in them that was deserving or inviting, but because God had a kindness for their fathers: he chose them. See the reasons of free grace; we are not beloved for our own sakes, but for his sake who is the great trustee of the covenant. [2.] They were delivered out of Egypt by miracles and signs, in mercy to them and in judgment upon the Egyptians, against whom God stretched out his arm, which was signified by Moses's stretching out his hand in summoning the plagues. [3.] They were designed for a happy settlement in Canaan, Deu 4:38. Nations must be driven out from before them, to make room for them, to show how much dearer they were to God than any other people were. Egyptians and Canaanites must both be sacrificed to Israel's honour and interest. Those that stand in Israel's light, in Israel's way, shall find it is at their peril.
(7.) He urges God's righteous appearance against them sometimes for their sins. He specifies particularly the matter of Peor, Deu 4:3, Deu 4:4. This had happened very lately: their eyes had seen but the other day the sudden destruction of those that joined themselves to Baal-peor and the preservation of those that clave to the Lord, from which they might easily infer the danger of apostasy from God and the benefit of adherence to him. He also takes notice again of God's displeasure against himself: The Lord was angry with me for your sakes, Deu 4:21, Deu 4:22. He mentions this to try their ingenuousness, whether they would really be troubled for the great prejudice which they had occasioned to their faithful friend and leader. Others' sufferings for our sakes should grieve us more than our own.
(8.) He urges the certain advantage of obedience. This argument he begins with (Deu 4:1): That you may live, and go in and possess the land; and this he concludes with (Deu 4:40): That it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee. He reminds them that they were upon their good behaviour, that their prosperity would depend upon their piety. If they kept God's precepts, he would undoubtedly fulfil his promises.
(9.) He urges the fatal consequences of their apostasy from God, that it would undoubtedly be the ruin of their nation. This he enlarges upon, Deu 4:25-31. Here, [1.] He foresees their revolt from God to idols, that in process of time, when they had remained long in the land and were settled upon their lees, they would corrupt themselves, and make a graven image; this was the sin that would most easily beset them, Deu 4:25. [2.] He foretels the judgments of God upon them for this: You shall utterly be destroyed (Deu 4:26), scattered among the nations, Deu 4:27. And their sin should be made their punishment (Deu 4:28): "There shall you serve gods, the work of men's hands, be compelled to serve them, whether you will or no, or, through your own sottishness and stupidity, you will find no better succours to apply yourselves in your captivity." Those that cast off the duties of religion in their prosperity cannot expect the comforts of it when they come to be in distress. Justly are they then sent to the gods whom they have served, Jdg 10:14. [3.] Yet he encourages them to hope that God would reserve mercy for them in the latter days, that he would by his judgments upon them bring them to repentance, and take them again into covenant with himself, Deu 4:29-31. Here observe, First, That whatever place we are in we may thence seek the Lord our God, though ever so remote from our own land or from his holy temple. There is no part of this earth that has a gulf fixed between it and heaven. Secondly, Those, and those only, shall find God to their comfort, who seek him with all their heart, that is, who are entirely devoted to him, earnestly desirous of his favour and solicitous to obtain it. Thirdly, Afflictions are sent to engage and quicken us to see God, and, by the grace of God working with them, many are thus reduced to their right mind, "When these things shall come upon thee, it is to be hoped that thou wilt turn to the Lord they God, for thou seest what comes of turning from him;" see Dan 9:11, Dan 9:12. Fourthly, God's faithfulness to his covenant encourages us to hope that he will not reject us, though we be driven to him by affliction. If we at length remember the covenant, we shall find that he has not forgotten it.
Now let all these arguments be laid together, and then say whether religion has not reason on its side. None cast off the government of their God but those that have first abandoned the understanding of a man.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–40 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and…
Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments,.... The laws of God, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which they are exhorted to attend to and obey, in consideration of the great and good things the Lord had done for them, ever since they came from Horeb, where they were given them; such as providing for them, and feeding them in the wilderness, preserving them from every hurtful thing, and delivering their enemies into their hands, the two kings of the Amorites, which they are put in mind of in the preceding chapters; hence this begins with "therefore hearken"; for nothing is a greater incentive to obedience than the kindness and goodness of God:
which I teach you for to do that ye may live; the law was taught by Moses, but the Gospel of grace and truth by Jesus Christ; and it was taught by him, as well as it was to be hearkened to by them, in order to yield obedience to it; for not bare hearing, but doing the law, is the principal thing of any avail; and which was to be done, that they might live; not a spiritual and eternal life, which are not by the works of the law, but are had only from Christ, through his grace and righteousness; but a corporeal life, and a comfortable enjoyment of the blessings of it, and particularly that that might be continued to them:
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and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you; the land of Canaan, which the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had promised to give to their posterity, and which they were to hold by their obedience to his laws.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 24, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37 An exhortation to obedience, ver. 1-13. A warning against…
An exhortation to obedience, ver. 1-13. A warning against idolatry, ver. 14-28. A promise upon repentance, ver. 29-40. Cities of refuge appointed, ver. 41-43. The place where Moses repeated the law, ver. 44-49.
The statutes - The laws which concern the worship and service of God. The judgments - The laws concerning your duties to men. So these two comprehend both tables, and the whole law of God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 9, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34 Exhortations to obedience, 1.
CHAPTER IV
Exhortations to obedience, 1.
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Nothing to be added to or taken from the testimonies of God, 2.
The people are exhorted to recollect how God had destroyed the
ungodly among them, 3;
and preserved those who were faithful, 4.
The excellence of the Divine law, 5, 6.
No nation in the world could boast of any such statutes,
judgments, c., 7, 8.
They are exhorted to obedience by the wonderful manifestations
of God in their behalf, 9-13.
Moses exhorts them to beware of idolatry, and to make no
likeness of any thing in heaven or earth as an object of
adoration, 14-20.
He informs them that he must die in that land as God had refused
to let him go into the promised land, being angry with him on
their account, 21, 22.
Repeats his exhortation to obedience, 23, 24.
Predicts the judgments of God against them, should they turn to
idolatry, 25-28.
Promises of God's mercy to the penitent, 29-31.
The grand and unparalleled privileges of the Israelites, 32-40.
Moses severs three cities on the east side of Jordan for cities
of refuge, 41, 42.
Their names, 43.
When and where Moses gave these statutes and judgments to
Israel, 44-49.
NOTES ON CHAP IV
Verse 1. Hearken - unto the statutes] Every thing that concerned the rites and ceremonies of religion judgments - all that concerned matters of civil right and wrong.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 30, 32, 37, 39 Deu 4:1. Now therefore hearken, O Israel — Having…
Deu 4:1. Now therefore hearken, O Israel — Having called to their remembrance the extraordinary dispensations of Divine Providence toward them, both in the way of mercy and judgment, he now calls upon their whole assembly, in the most serious and earnest manner, to consider what influence these things ought to have upon their conduct, answerable to the design of such mercies and judgments; namely, to render them punctually obedient to the laws of God, and cautions of offending him; this being the very intent for which they were conducted to the promised land, and the absolute condition of their peaceful and happy enjoyment of it. We may observe Moses here to speak with all possible energy of language. The greatness of the subject he is upon inspires him with more than usual warmth, and he cannot take a view of the extraordinary privilege and happiness bestowed upon his people, in having divine statutes and judgments to direct them, without rapture and admiration. He sees the happiness of their condition therein, and bestows all his zeal and spirit to make them sensible of it. He regards nothing but this only, as knowing this would be every thing to them, to make them great and happy. The statutes — The laws which concerned the worship and service of God. The judgments — The laws concerning their duty to men. So these two comprehend both tables, and the whole law of God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 9, 12, 19, 25, 29 The general entreaty contained in this chapter is pointed…
The general entreaty contained in this chapter is pointed by special mention and enforcement of the fundamental principles of the whole covenant Deut. 4:9-40, the spiritual nature of the Deity, His exclusive right to their allegiance, His abhorrence of idolatry in every form, His choice of them for His elect people. Compare further Moses’ third and last address, Deut. 27–30.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 38, 39 And judgments, regarding religion and civil affairs. (Calmet) ---…
And judgments, regarding religion and civil affairs. (Calmet) --- Live a happy life. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The separation of the Cities of Refuge as a…
The separation of the Cities of Refuge as a pause to the first discourse.
Deu_4:41-43
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41Then [After that] Moses severed three cities on this [that] side Jordan, toward the sun-rising; 42That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares [without design] and hated him not in times past [yesterday, the third day]; 43and that fleeing [and flee] unto one of these cities he might live: Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of [for] the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of [for] the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of [for] the Manassites.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Through the whole fourth chapter down to the fortieth verse, “life” has been the thought insisted upon. If in the connection the relations to God have been made prominent, the preservation of life in our relations to our fellow-men, our neighbors, is still a very obvious, supplementary realization of the same thought. Then there is no more effective form of the fundamental idea of the whole law, which should be carried out, than that Moses, while he takes breath, should immediately use the pause, to follow the word with the deed, and therewith show his hearers what was also expected from them. See the divine command in question, Num_35:6; Num_35:14. Lastly, Baumgarten says correctly, “that the East Jordan land thus first received its full consecration, and the assumption in the preceding discourse of Moses, of the conquest and possession of the two Amoritic kingdoms on the further side of Jordan, was thus fully grounded.” Moreover the historical conclusion here is just as appropriate as the historical beginning, Deu_1:1-5. [These verses are clearly in place. They narrate an occurrence which took place between the close of the first and beginning of the second discourse, and therefore are inserted here. Aside from the connection in thought, and the moral lesson they teach, they belong historically here and no where else.—A. G.]. For the later mention, and perhaps first full completion of the Mosaic separation, comp. on Joshua 20. The closer limitation, Deu_4:41, toward the sun-rising explains on this side Jordan, as the East Jordanic cities in distinction from the Canaanitic cities of refuge in chap. 19. Comp. that chap. The separation by Moses, as it rested upon a divine command, raises the free cities to sacred places (Exo_21:14; 1Ki_2:28 sq.; 1Ki_1:50 sq). The regulation, Deu_4:42 (Num_35:15 sq.), prevents or restrains blood revenge; for the life of man is not merely precious to the slain, so that his murder must be revenged, but is alike costly to the slayer, who indeed as the murderer must pay with his own life that which he has violently taken, but whose life, even on that account, as he has simply given the fatal stroke (without foreknowledge, without any premeditated hostility) must be preserved. Deu_4:43. Bezer, “probably Bosor, 1Ma_5:36, but not yet certainly ascertained” (Keil). The plain country (Deu_3:10) is the Amoritic: thus the wilderness is used for the steppes of the Euphrates wilderness (1Ch_5:9-10) to which Reuben lay open on the east. If the six places of refuge, on the west and east side of Jordan, were arranged at equal distances, we should look for Bezer over against Hebron. Ramoth in Gilead, is identical with Ramoth Mizpeh, a border city of Gad, now Salt, the only inhabited city in Belka, whose castle, surrounded by steep mountains, rises in a narrow rocky valley, the houses rising as terraces. Golan, east of the sea of Galilee, but not certainly discovered, although the district Gaulanitis bears its name.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Calvin: “Athough he was not able to fulfil in every part, the divine command to select six cities, he did not delay until the three other cities could be added, from whence we may learn that although we may not immediately complete what God commands, we should not delay, and still we are not to be over anxious since He may intend to complete it through others.” Wurt. Bib.: “Sins are not all of the same dye, Mat_12:31-32.” The refuge cities east of Jordan; 1) their significant number (three, the number of the divine life); 2) their typical position (toward the sun-rising) in reference to their chief significance, the preserving of life; in reference to Mal. [Deu_4:2]; Luk_1:78; 2Pe_1:19; 2 Peter 3) their significance, over against the custom of blood revenge, and for the law of God. The sacredness of human life. [The whole law is unto life. Obedience to it is not only the path to life hereafter, but to life here, Deu_4:1; Deu_4:40; Pro_3:2; Pro_4:4. This provision of the cities of refuge, with all the arrangements as to ease of access, shows how sacredly the law guards human life. It claims indeed life for life, thus lays its restraints upon human passion and violence, but still protects the unintentional and therefore guiltless man slayer.—A. G.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 26, 28, 30 Ye shall not add unto the word which I…
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you--by the introduction of any heathen superstition or forms of worship different from those which I have appointed (Deu 12:32; Num 15:39; Mat 15:9).
neither shall ye diminish aught from it--by the neglect or omission of any of the observances, however trivial or irksome, which I have prescribed. The character and provisions of the ancient dispensation were adapted with divine wisdom to the instruction of that infant state of the church. But it was only a temporary economy; and although God here authorizes Moses to command that all its institutions should be honored with unfailing observance, this did not prevent Him from commissioning other prophets to alter or abrogate them when the end of that dispensation was attained.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 10, 13, 15, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29 THE PEOPLE EXHORTED TO FAITHFULLY OBSERVE THE LAW, Deu_4:1-40.…
THE PEOPLE EXHORTED TO FAITHFULLY OBSERVE THE LAW, Deu_4:1-40. After the preceding historical review Moses passes to a forcible exhortation to keep the law of Jehovah. He commences by urging the people to keep the requirements of Jehovah without adding to them or taking from them. He warns them of the perils of disobedience by recalling to their minds the fate of those who joined in the idolatrous and licentious rites of Baal-peor. He reminds them that they who kept Jehovah’s commandments are alive. He tells them that their greatness as a nation and their position in the estimation of other nations would depend upon their observance of these statutes and requirements. He warns them not to forget what they have seen in their past experience. By the sublime scenes of Horeb, when Jehovah spake unto them out of the midst of the fire, they are warned against idolatry. The discourse passes to a threatening of their dispersion among the nations as the punishment for their turning away from God, but with a promise of their restoration if they shall again seek Jehovah. Again, Moses appeals to the wonders of their past history. He tells them God loved their fathers. He brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. He is to drive out great and mighty nations so as to give them an inheritance. This first discourse closes with promises of prosperity if they will keep the commandments and statutes of Jehovah.
1. The statutes and… judgments — That is, the whole law. Compare the same expression in Lev_19:37, and in this book, Deu_26:16.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 1. And now] Emphatic call to the practical purpose…
1. And now] Emphatic call to the practical purpose of the discourse; the same in Deu_10:12, the beginning of the last stage of the second introduction to the Code.
O Israel, hearken] Sg. imper. confirmed by Sam. and LXX in a context using the Pl. form of address; an instance of the natural transition by the same author from one to the other, cp. Deu_4:5 and Deu_1:8.
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the statutes and … the judgements] Heb. ḥuḳḳîm and mishpaṭîm, a common title for the deuteronomic Laws, Deu_4:1; Deu_4:5; Deu_4:8; Deu_4:14, Deu_5:1, Deu_11:32, Deu_12:1, Deu_26:16; sometimes combined with or varied by miṣwah, commandment, and ‘edwôth, solemnly pronounced decrees (see on Deu_4:45). Ḥôḳ means engraven or instituted, a statute covering ‘positive institutions or enactments, moral, ceremonial, civil (e.g. Deu_7:1-3; Deu_7:12; Deu_7:14; Deu_7:16 f. etc.)’; mishpaṭ, lit. judgement, judicial decision, ‘the provisions of the civil and criminal law’ (Driver).
which I teach you] The participle, am about to teach you; cp. Deu_4:5. It is remarkable that in the Pent. D alone uses this verb—teach and learn—of religion and the Law, and this no fewer than 17 times. The idea is the same as that of the prophets, especially Hosea and Jeremiah, that true religion rests on the knowledge of God, the people sinning because not understanding with the heart (Heb. for the practical intellect) what God is and demands; and perishing for lack of knowledge.
that ye may live] as a nation! That the national existence depends on the keeping of the Law is a principle of the deuteronomic writers. Understood in a thoroughly spiritual temper it is uncontestable. Every nation lives by loyalty to law, and the people who were loyal to the spirit of this law would be strong and survive. As a matter of fact Israel preserved its identity among the nations and survived the influences which overwhelmed the religions of its neighbours by its obedience. The Law was a fence about the people. But their danger was to substitute the letter for the spirit, as according to both Jeremiah and Jesus they did. On live cp. Deu_30:6.
1–8. Enforcement of the Impending Legislation
The main purpose of the discourse, the enforcement of the Laws about to be given, for on the practice of these depends Israel’s survival in the Land (Deu_4:1 f.)—let them remember Ba‘al-Pe‘or! (Deu_4:3 f.)—as well as their wisdom and fame as a people (Deu_4:5 f.); what other has such a God or such laws? (Deu_4:7 f.). Deu_4:1 closely joins with the preceding Deu_1:6 to Deu_3:29, which indeed requires some such practical conclusion as is provided in Deu_4:1-4, and the unity of these vv. with Deu_1:6 to Deu_3:29 is generally recognised, but as we shall see there is no reason to doubt that Deu_4:5-8 also belong to that unity.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21, 24, 25, 27, 28, 32, 37, 39 (1) Now therefore hearken.—The whole point of the exhortation…
IV.
(1) Now therefore hearken.—The whole point of the exhortation in this chapter is the same which we find in Joshua’s address to the people (Joshua 24), that they should serve Jehovah. And the ground of the exhortation is His revelation of Himself in Horeb as their God.
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The statutes . . . and the judgments.—Perhaps we should say “institutions and requirements” in modern language. For “judgments,” see Exodus 21-23.
That ye may live, and go in.—Life is put before possession. The penalty of the broken law is death.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Deuteronomy 4
Deuteronomy 4
Now therefore hearken O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgements 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."
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Here we have, very prominently before us, the special characteristic of the entire book of Deuteronomy. "Hearken," and "do;" that ye may "live" and "possess." This is a universal and abiding principle. It was true for Israel, and it is true for us. The pathway of life and the true secret of possession is simple obedience to the holy commandments of God. We see this all through the inspired volume, from cover to cover. God has given us His word, not to speculate upon it, or discuss it; but that we may obey it. And it is as we, through grace, yield a hearty and happy obedience to our Father’s statutes and judgements, that we tread the bright pathway of life, and enter into the reality of all that God has treasured up for us in Christ. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
How Precious is this! Indeed it is unspeakable. It is something quite peculiar. It would be a very serious mistake to suppose that the privilege here spoken of is enjoyed by all believers. It is not. It is only enjoyed by such as; yield a loving obedience to the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. It lies within the reach of all, but all do not enjoy it, because all are not obedient. It is one thing to be a child, and quite another to be an obedient child. It is one thing to be saved, and quite another thing to love the Saviour, and delight in all His most precious precepts.
We may see this continually illustrated in our family circles. There, for example, are two sons, and one of them only thinks of pleasing himself, doing his will, gratifying his own desires. He takes no pleasure in his father’s society; does not take any pains to carry out his father’s wishes; knows hardly anything of his mind, and what he does know he utterly neglects or despises. He is ready enough to avail himself of all the benefits which accrue to him from the relationship in which he stands to his father; ready enough to accept clothes, books, money - all, in short, that the father gives; but he never seeks to gratify the father’s heart by a loving attention to his will, even in the smallest matters. The other son is the direct opposite to all this. He delights in being with his father; he loves his society, loves his ways, loves his words; he is constantly taking occasion to carry out his father’s wishes, to get him something that he knows will be agreeable to him. He loves his father, not for his gifts, but for himself; and he finds his richest enjoyment in being in his father’s company, and in doing his will.
Now, can we have any difficulty in seeing how very differently the father will feel towards those two sons? True, they are both his sons, and he loves them both, with a love grounded upon the relationship in which they stand to him. But, beside the love of relationship common to both, there is the love of complacency peculiar to the obedient child. It is impossible that a father can find pleasure in the society of a wilful, self-indulgent, careless son: such a son may occupy much of his thoughts; he may spend many a sleepless night thinking about him, and praying for him; he would gladly spend and be spent for him: but he is not agreeable to him; does not possess his confidence; cannot be the depository of his thoughts.
All this demands the serious consideration of those who really desire to be acceptable or agreeable to the heart of our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We may rest assured of this, that obedience is grateful to God; and " His commandments are not grievous;" nay, they are the sweet and precious expression of His love, and the fruit and evidence of the relationship, in which He stands to us. And not only so, but He graciously rewards our obedience by a fuller manifestation of Himself to our souls, and His dwelling with us. This comes out, with great fullness and beauty, in our Lord’s reply to Judas not Iscariot, for whose question we may be thankful, "Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." (John 14.)
Here we are taught that it is not a question of the difference between "the world" and "us," inasmuch as the world knows nothing either of relationship or obedience, and is therefore, in no way, contemplated in our Lord’s words. The world hates Christ, because it does not know Him. Its language is, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." "We will not have this man to reign over us."
Such is the world, even when polished by civilization, and gilded with the profession of Christianity. There is, underneath all the gilding, all the polish, a deep-seated hatred of the Person and authority of Christ. His sacred, peerless Name is tacked on to the world’s religion, at least throughout baptised Christendom; but behind the drapery of religious profession, there lurks a heart at enmity with God and His Christ.
But our Lord is not speaking of the world in John 14. He is shut in with "his own," and it is of them He is speaking Were He to manifest Himself to the world, it could only be for judgement and eternal destruction. But, blessed be His Name, He does manifest Himself to His own obedient children, to those who have His commandments, and keep them, to those who love Him and keep His words.
And, let the reader thoroughly understand that when our Lord speaks of His commandments, His words, and His sayings, He does not mean the ten commandments, or law of Moses. No doubt, those ten commandments form a part of the whole canon of scripture, the inspired word of God; but, to confound the law of Moses with the commandments of Christ, would be simply turning things upside down; it would be to confound Judaism with Christianity, law and grace. The two things are as distinct as any two things can be; and must be so maintained by all who would be found in the current of the mind of God.
We are sometimes led astray by the mere sound of words; and hence, when we meet with the word "commandments," we instantly conclude that it must needs refer to the law of Moses. But this is a very great and mischievous mistake. If the reader is not clear and established as to this, let him close this volume, and turn to the first eight chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, and the whole of the Epistle to the Galatians, and read them calmly and prayerfully, as in the very presence of God, with a mind freed from all theological bias and the influence of all previous religious training There he will learn, in the fullest and clearest manner, that the Christian is not under law in any way, or for any object whatsoever, either for life, for righteousness, for holiness, for walk, or for anything else. In short, the teaching of the entire New Testament goes to establish, beyond all question, that the Christian is not under law, not of the world, not in the flesh, not in his sins. The solid ground of all this is the accomplished redemption which we have in Christ Jesus, in virtue of which we are sealed by the Holy Ghost, and thus indissolubly united to, and inseparably identified with a risen and glorified Christ; so that the apostle John can say of all believers, all God’s dear children, "As he [Christ] is so are we in this world" This settles the whole question, for all who are content to be governed by holy scripture. And as to all beside, discussion is worse than useless.
We have digressed from our immediate subject, in order to meet any difficulty arising from a misunderstanding of the word "commandments." The reader cannot too carefully guard against the tendency to confound the commandments spoken of in John 14 with the commandments of Moses, given in Exodus 20. And yet we reverently believe that Exodus 20 is as truly inspired as John 14. And now, ere we finally turn from the subject which has been engaging us, we would ask the reader to refer, for a few moments, to a piece of inspired history which illustrates, in a very striking way, the difference between an obedient and disobedient child of God. He will find it in Genesis 18, 19. It is a profoundly interesting study, presenting a contrast instructive, suggestive and practical, beyond expression. We are not going to dwell upon it, having, in some measure, done so, in our "Notes on the Book of Genesis:" but we would merely remind the reader that he has before him, in these two chapters, the history of two saints of God. Lot was just as much a child of God as Abraham. We have no more doubt that Lot is amongst "the spirits of just men made perfect," than that Abraham is there. This, we think, cannot be called in question, inasmuch as the inspired apostle Peter tells us that Lot’s "righteous soul was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked."
But mark the grave difference between the two men! The Lord Himself visited Abraham, sat with him, and partook, readily, of his hospitality. This was a high honour indeed, a rare privilege - a privilege which Lot never knew, an honour to which he never attained. The Lord never visited him in Sodom. He merely sent His angels, His ministers of power, the agents of His government. And even they, at first, sternly refused to enter Lot’s house or to partake of his proffered hospitality. Their withering reply was, "Nay, but we will abide in the street all night." And, when they did enter his house, it was only to protect him from the lawless violence with which he was surrounded, and to drag him out of the wretched circumstances into which, for worldly gain and position, he had plunged himself. Could contrast be more vivid?
But, further, The Lord delighted in Abraham, manifested Himself to him; opened His mind to him; told him of his plans and purposes; what He was about to do with Sodom. "Shall I," said He, "hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."
We could hardly have a more telling illustration of John 14: 21, 23, although the scene occurred two thousand years before the words were uttered. Have we ought like this in the history of Lot? Alas! no. It could not be. He had no nearness to God, no knowledge of His mind, no insight into His plans and Purposes. How could he? Sunk, as he was in the low moral depths of Sodom, how could he know the mind of God? Blinded by the murky atmosphere which enwrapped the guilty cities of the plain, how could he see into the future? Utterly impossible. If a man is mixed up with the world, he can only see things from the world’s standpoint; he can only measure things by the world’s standard, and think of them with the world’s thoughts. Hence it is that the church, in its Sardis condition, is threatened with the coming of the Lord as a thief, instead of being cheered with the hope of His coming as the bright and morning star. If the professing church has sunk to the world’s level - as alas! she has - she can only contemplate the future from the world’s point of view. This accounts for the feeling of dread with which the great majority of professing Christians look at the subject of the Lord’s coming. They are looking for Him, as a thief, instead of the blessed Bridegroom of their hearts. How few there are, comparatively, who love His appearing. The great majority of professors - we grieve to have to pen the words - find their type in Lot rather than in Abraham. The church has departed from her proper ground; she has gone down from her true moral elevation, and mingled herself with that world which hates and despises her absent Lord.
Still, thank God, there are "a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments" - a few living stones, amid the smouldering ashes of lifeless profession - a few lights twinkling amid the moral gloom of cold, nominal, heartless, worldly Christianity. And not only so, but in the Laodicean phase of the church’s history, which presents a still lower and more hopeless condition of things, when the whole professing body is about to be spued out of the mouth of "the faithful and true witness" - even at this advanced stage of failure and departure, those gracious words fall, with soul-stirring power, on the attentive ear, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with him."* Thus, in the days of professing Christianity, as in the days of the Patriarchs, in the times of the New Testament, as in those of the Old, we see the same value and importance attached to a hearing ear and an obedient heart. Abraham, in the plains of Mamre, the pilgrim and the stranger, the faithful and obedient child of God, tasted the rare privilege of entertaining the Lord of glory - a privilege which could not be known by one who had chosen his place and his portion in a sphere doomed to destruction. So also, in the days of Laodicean indifference and boastful pretension, the truly obedient heart is cheered with the sweet promise of sitting down to sup with Him who is "the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." In a word, let the condition of things be what it may, there is no limit to the blessing of the individual soul who will only hearken to the voice of Christ, and keep His commandments.
{*To apply the solemn address of Christ to the church of Laodicea, as we sometimes find it done in modern evangelical preaching, to the case of the sinner, is a great mistake. No doubt, what the preacher means is right enough; but it is not presented here. It is not Christ knocking at the door of a sinner’s heart, but knocking at the door of the professing church. What a fact is this! How full of deep and, awful solemnity, as regards the church! What an end to come to! Christ outside! But what grace, as regards Christ, for He is knocking! He wants to come in! He is still lingering, in patient grace and changeless love, ready to come in to any faithful individual heart that will only open to Him. "If any man" - even one! In Sardis He could speak positively of "a few" in Laodicea He can only speak doubtfully as to finding one. But Should there be even one, He will come into him, and sup with him. Precious Saviour! Faithful Lover of our souls! "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever.
Reader, need we wonder that the enemy should seek to mutilate and misapply the solemn and searching address to the church of Laodicea - the professing body in the last dreary stage of its history? We have no hesitation in saying that to apply it MERELY to the case of an unconverted soul is to deprive the professing church of one of the most pertinent, pungent and powerful appeals within the covers of the New Testament.}
Let us remember this. Let it sink down into the very deepest depths of our moral being. Nothing can rob us of the blessings and privileges flowing from obedience. The truth of this shines out before our eyes, in every section and on every page of the volume of God. At all times, in all places, and under all circumstances, the obedient soul was happy in God, and God was happy in him. It always holds good, whatever be the character of the dispensation, that, "To this man will I look, even to him who is of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word." Nothing can ever alter or touch this. It meets us in the fourth chapter of our blessed Book of Deuteronomy, in the words with which this section opens, "Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgements which I teach you, for to do, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you" It meets us in those precious words of our Lord, in John 14., on which we have been dwelling: "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me," &c. And again, "If a man love me, he will keep my sayings."* It shines with peculiar brightness, in the words of the inspired apostle John, "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him." (1 John 3: 21-24.)
{*There is an interesting difference between the Lord’s "commandments" and "sayings." The former set forth, distinctly and definitely, what we ought to do; the latter are the expression of His mind. If I give my child a command, it is the statement of his duty; and if he loves me, he will delight to do it. But if he has heard me say I like to see such a, thing done, although I have not actually told him to do it, it will touch my heart much more deeply to see him go and do that thing, in order to gratify me, than if I had given him a positive command. Now, ought we not to try and please the heart of Christ? Should we not "labour to be agreeable to him?" He has made us accepted; surely we ought to seek, in every possible way, to be acceptable to Him. He delights in a loving obedience; it was what He Himself rendered to the Father. "I delight to do thy will; yes, thy law is within my heart." "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love." Oh! that we may drink more deeply into the spirit of Jesus, walk in His blessed footsteps, and render him a more loving, devoted and whole-hearted obedience, in all things. Let us earnestly seek after these things, beloved Christian reader, that His heart may be gratified, and His Name glorified in us, and in our entire practical career from day to day.}
Passages might easily be multiplied, but there is no need. Those which we have quoted set before us, in the clearest and fullest way possible, the very highest motive for obedience, namely, its being agreeable to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ - well pleasing to God. True, we owe a hearty obedience on every ground. "We are not our own; we are bought with a price." We owe our life, our peace, our righteousness, our salvation, our everlasting felicity and glory, all to Him; so that nothing can exceed the moral weight of His claims upon us for a life of whole-hearted obedience. But, above and beyond His moral claims stands the marvellous fact that His heart is gratified, His spirit refreshed by our keeping His commandments, and doing those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Beloved Christian reader, can anything exceed the moral power of such a motive as this? Only think of our being privileged to give pleasure to the heart of our beloved Lord! What sweetness, what interest, what preciousness, what holy dignity it imparts to every little act of obedience, to know that it is grateful to the heart of our Father! How far beyond the legal system is this! It is a most perfect contrast, in its every phase and every feature. The difference between the legal system and Christianity is the difference between death and life, bondage and liberty, condemnation and righteousness, distance and nearness, doubt and certainty. How monstrous the attempt to amalgamate these two things - to work them up into one system, as though they were but two branches from the one stem! What hopeless confusion must be the result of any such effort! How terrible the effect of seeking to place souls under the influence of the two things! As well might we attempt to combine the sun’s meridian beams with the profound darkness of midnight. Looked at from a divine and heavenly standpoint, judged in the light of the New Testament, measured by the standard of the heart of God, the mind of Christ, there could not be a more hideous anomaly than that which presents itself to our view in Christendom’s effort to combine law and grace. And as to the dishonour done to God; the wound inflicted on the heart of Christ, the grief and despite offered to the Holy Ghost, the damage done to the truth of God, the grievous wrong perpetrated upon the beloved lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ, the terrible stumbling-block thrown in the way of both Jew and Gentile, and, in short, the serious injury done to the entire testimony of God, during the last eighteen centuries, the judgement-seat of Christ can alone declare it; and oh! what an awful declaration that will be! It is too tremendous to contemplate.
But there are many pious souls, throughout the length and breadth of the professing church, who conscientiously believe that the only possible way to produce obedience, to attain to practical holiness, to secure a godly walk, to keep our evil nature in order, is to put people under the law. They seem to fear that if souls are taken from under the schoolmaster, with his rod and rudiments, there is an end to all moral order. In the absence of the authority of law, they look for nothing but hopeless confusion. To take away the ten commandments, as a rule of life, is, in their judgement, to remove those grand moral embankments which the hand of God has erected to stem the tide of human lawlessness.
We can fully understand their difficulty. Most of us have had to encounter it, in one shape or another. But we must seek to meet it in God’s way. It is of no possible use to cling, with fond tenacity, to our own notions, in the face of the plainest and most direct teaching of holy scripture. We must, sooner or later, give up all such notions. Nothing will-nothing can stand but the word of our God - the voice of the Holy Ghost the authority of scripture - the imperishable teachings of that peerless Revelation which our Father has, in His infinite grace, put into our hands. To that we must listen, with profound and reverent attention; to it we must bow down, with unquestioning and unqualified obedience. We must not presume to hold a single opinion of our own. God’s opinion must be ours. We must clear out all the rubbish which, by the influence of mere human teaching, has accumulated in our minds, and have every chamber thoroughly cleansed by the action of the word and Spirit of God, and thoroughly ventilated by the pure and bracing air of the new creation.
Furthermore, we must learn to confide implicitly in every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We must not reason; we must not judge; we must not discuss; we must simply believe. If man speaks, if it be a mere question of human authority, then indeed we must judge, because man has no right to command. We must judge what he says, not by our own opinions, or by any human standard, creed, or confession of faith, but by the word of God. But when scripture speaks, all discussion is closed.
This is an unspeakable consolation. It is not within the compass of human language to set forth, adequately, the value or the moral importance of this great fact. It delivers the soul completely from the blinding power of self-will on the one hand, and of mere subjection to human authority, on the other. It brings us into direct, personal, living contact with the authority of God, and this is life, peace, liberty, moral power, true elevation, divine certainty, and holy stability. It puts an end to doubts and fears, to all the fluctuations of mere human opinion so perplexing to the mind, so torturing to the heart. We are no longer tossed about with every wind of doctrine, every wave of human thought. God has spoken. This is quite enough. Here the heart finds its deep and settled repose. It has made its escape from the stormy ocean of theological controversy, and cast anchor in the blessed haven of divine revelation.
Hence, therefore, we would say to the pious reader of these lines, if you would know the mind of God on the subject before us - if you would know the ground, character and object of Christian obedience, you must simply listen to the voice of holy scripture.. And what does it say? Does it send as back to Moses to teach us how to live? Does it send us back "to the palpable mount in order to secure holy living Does it put us under the law to keep the flesh in order? Hear what it says. Yes; hearken and ponder. Take the following words from Romans 6 - words of emancipating, holy power. "For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace."
Now, we most earnestly entreat the reader to let these words enter into the very depths of his soul. The Holy Ghost declares, in the simplest and most emphatic manner, that Christians are not under law. If we were under lam, sin would have dominion over us. Indeed we invariably find, in scripture, that "sin," "law," and "flesh" are linked together. A soul under law cannot possibly enjoy full deliverance from the dominion of sin; and in this we can see, at a glance, the fallacy of the whole legal system; and the utter delusion of seeking to produce holy living by putting souls under the law. It is simply putting them into the very place where sin can lord it over them, and rule them with absolute sway. How is it possible, then, to produce holiness by law? It is absolutely hopeless.
But let us turn, for a moment to Romans 7 "wherefore, my brethren, ye also" - and all true believers, all God’s people - "are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Now it is Perfectly plain that we cannot be "dead to the Law" and "under the law" at the same time. It may, perhaps, be argued that the expression, "dead to the law is merely a figure. Well, supposing it be so, we ask, "A figure of what?" Surely it cannot be a figure of persons under the law. Nay, it is a figure of the very opposite.
And let us mark particularly, the apostle does not say, the law is dead. Nothing of the kind. The law is not dead, but we are dead to it. We have passed, by the death of Christ, out of the sphere to which the law belongs. Christ took our place; He was made under the law; and, on the cross, He was made sin for us. But He died for us, and we died in Him; and He has thus taken us clean out of the position in which we were under the dominion of sin, and under law, and introduced us into an entirely new position, in living association and union with Himself, so that it can be said, "As he is, so are we, in this world." Is He under law? Assuredly not. Well, neither are we. Has sin any claim upon Him? None whatever. Neither has it any upon us. We are, as to our standing, as He is in the presence of God; and therefore to put us back under law would be a complete overturning of the entire Christian position, and a most positive and flagrant contradiction of the very plainest statements of holy scripture.
Now, we would, in all simplicity and godly sincerity ask, how could holy living be promoted by removing the very foundation of Christianity How could indwelling sin be subdued by putting us under the very system that gave sin power over us? How could true Christian obedience ever be produced by flying in the face of holy scripture? We confess we cannot conceive anything more thoroughly preposterous. Surely a divine end can only be gained by pursuing a divine way. Now God’s way of giving us deliverance from the dominion of sin is by delivering us from under law; and hence all those who teach that Christians are under law are plainly at issue with God. Tremendous consideration for all who desire to be teachers of the law!
But let us hear further words from Romans 7. The apostle goes on to say, "For when we were in the Flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, being dead [or having died] to that wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."*
{*The rendering of Romans 7.6 in our Authorised Version is manifestly erroneous, inasmuch as it teaches that the law is dead, which is not true. "The law is good, if a man use it lawfully." (1 Tim. 1.) And again, "The law is holy." (Rom. 7) Scripture never teaches that the law is dead, but it teaches that the believer is dead to the law - a totally different thing. But, further, [apothanontes] cannot possibly apply to the law, as any well-taught school boy can see at a glance; it applies to us - believers. Were it the law, the word would be [apothanontos]}
Here, again, all is as clear as a sunbeam. What means the expression, "When we were in the flesh?" Does it, can it mean that we are still in that condition? Clearly not. If I were to say, "When I was in London," would any one understand that I am in London still! The thought is absurd.
But what does the apostle mean by the expression, "When we were in the flesh?" He simply refers to a thing of the past - to a condition that no longer obtains. Are believers, then, not in the flesh? So scripture emphatically declares. But does this mean that they are not in the body? Assuredly not. They are in the body, as to the fact of their existence; but not in the flesh, as to the ground of their standing before God.
In Romans 8 we have the most distinct statement of this point. "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Here we have the statement of a most solemn fact; and the setting forth of a most precious, glorious privilege. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." They may be very moral, very admirable, very religious, very benevolent; but they cannot please God. Their entire position is false. The source whence all the streams flow is corrupt; the root and stem whence all the branches emanate are rotten - hopelessly bad. They cannot produce a single atom of good fruit - fruit that God can accept. "They cannot please God." They must get into an entirely new position; they must have a new life, new motives, new objects; in a word, they must be a new creation. How solemn is all this! Let us weigh it thoroughly, and see if we understand the apostle’s words.
But, on the other hand, mark the glorious privilege of all true believers. "Ye are not in the flesh." Believers are no longer in a position in which they cannot please God. They have a new nature, a new life, every movement, every outflow of which is agreeable to God. The very feeblest breathing of the divine life is precious to God. Of this life, the Holy Ghost is the power, Christ the object, glory the goal, heaven the home. All is divine, and therefore perfect. True, the believer is liable to err, prone in himself to wander, capable of sinning. In him, that is in his flesh, dwelleth no good thing. But his standing is based on the eternal stability of the grace of God, and his state is met by the divine provision which that grace has made for him, in the precious atonement and all-prevailing advocacy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus he is for ever delivered from that terrible system in which the prominent figures are, "Flesh" - "Law" - "Sin" - "Death" - melancholy group! most surely. And he is brought into that glorious scene in which the prominent figures are, "Life" - "Liberty" - ’’Grace" - "Peace" - "Righteousness" - "Holiness" - "Glory" - "Christ." "For ye are not come to the mount that might be touched" - that is the palpable mount - "and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. (For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly, the church of the firstborn [ones] which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than Abel." (Heb. 12.)
Thus we have endeavoured to meet the difficulty of any conscientious reader who, up to the moment in which he opened this volume, had cherished the conviction that it is only by putting believers under the law that practical holiness and true obedience can be attained. We trust he has followed us through the line of scripture evidence which we have laid before him. If so, he will see that to place believers in such a position is to do away with the very foundations of Christianity - to abandon grace - to give up Christ - to go back to the flesh, in which we cannot please God, and to place ourselves under the curse. In short, the legal system of men is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the entire New Testament. It was against this system and its upholders that the blessed apostle Paul, during his whole life, ever testified. He absolutely abhorred it, and continually denounced it. The law teachers were ever seeking to sap and undermine his blessed labours, and subvert the souls of his beloved children in the faith. It is impossible to read his burning sentences in the epistle to the Galatians, his withering references, in his epistle to the Philippians, or his solemn warnings in the epistle to the Hebrews, and not see how intense was His abhorrence of the whole legal system of the law-teachers, and how bitterly he wept over the ruins of the testimony so dear to his large, loving, devoted heart.
But it is possible that, after all we have written, and notwithstanding the full tide of scripture evidence to which we have called the readers attention, he may still feel disposed to ask, "Is there not a danger of unholy laxity and levity if the restraining power of the law be removed?" To this we reply, God is wiser than we are. He knows best how to cure laxity and levity, and how to produce the right sort of obedience. He tried the law, and what did it do? It worked wrath. It caused the offence to abound. It developed "the motions of sins." It brought in death. It was the strength of sin. It deprived the sinner of all power. It slew him. It was condemnation. It cursed all who had to do with it. "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." And all this, not because of any defect in the law, but because of man’s total inability to keep it.
Is it not plain to the reader that neither life, nor righteousness, nor holiness, nor true Christian obedience could ever be attained under law? Is it possible, after all that has passed in review before us, that he can have a single question, a single doubt, a single difficulty We trust not. No one who is willing to bow down to the teaching and authority of the New Testament can adhere to the legal system, for an hour.
However, ere we turn from this weighty and all important subject, we shall place before the reader a passage or two of scripture in which the moral glories of Christianity shine forth with peculiar lustre, in vivid contrast to the entire Mosaic economy.
First of all, let us take that familiar passage at the opening of the eighth of Romans, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness [dikaioma] of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Vv. 1-4.)
Now, we must bear in mind that verse 1 sets forth the standing of every Christian - his position before God. He is "in Christ Jesus." This settles everything. He is not in the flesh; he is not under law; he is absolutely and eternally " in Christ Jesus." there is - there can be, no condemnation. The apostle is not speaking of, or referring to, our walk: or our state. If he were, he could not possibly speak of "no condemnation." The most perfect Christian walk that ever was exhibited, the most perfect Christian state that ever was attained, would afford some ground for judgement and condemnation. There is not a Christian on the face of the earth who has not, daily, to judge his state and his walk - -his moral condition and his practical ways. How then could "no condemnation" ever stand connected with, or be based upon, Christian walk? Utterly impossible. In order to be free from all condemnation, we must have what is divinely perfect, and no Christian walk is, or ever was that. Even a Paul had to withdraw his words. (Acts 23: 5.) He repented of having written a letter. (2 Cor. 7: 8.) A perfect walk and a perfect state were only found in One. In all beside - even the holiest and best, failure is found. Hence, therefore, the second clause of Romans 8. must be rejected. It is not scripture. This, we think, would be seen by any one really taught of God, apart from all question of mere criticism. Any spiritual mind would detect the incongruity between the words " no condemnation" and "walk" The two things cannot be made to harmonise. And here, we doubt not, is just where thousands of pious souls have been plunged into difficulty as to this really magnificent and emancipating passage. The joyful sound, "No condemnation" has been robbed of its deep full, and blessed significance, by a clause introduced by some scribe or copyist whose feeble vision was, doubtless, dazzled by the brightness of that free, absolute, sovereign grace which shines in the opening statement of the chapter. How often have we heard such words as these, "Oh! yes; I know there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. But that is if they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now I cannot say that I walk thus. I long to do so; and I mourn over my failure. I would give worlds to be able to walk more perfectly; but alas! alas! I have to judge myself - my state, my walk, my ways, each day, each hour. This being so, I dare not apply to myself the precious words, ’no condemnation.’ I hope to be able to do so, some day, when I have made more progress in personal holiness; but, in my present state, I should deem it the very height of presumption to appropriate to myself the precious truth contained in the first clause of Romans 8."
Such thoughts as these have passed through the minds of most of us, if they have not been clothed in words. But the simple and conclusive answer to all such legal reasonings is found in the fact that the second clause of Romans 8: 1 is not scripture at all; but a very misleading interpolation, foreign to the spirit and genius of Christianity; opposed to the whole line of argument in the context where it occurs; and utterly subversive of the solid peace of the Christian. It is a fact well known to all who are conversant with Biblical criticism, that all the leading authorities are agreed in rejecting the second clause of Romans 8: 1.* And, in this it is simply a matter of criticism confirming, as all sound criticism must do, the conclusion at which a really spiritual mind would arrive, without any knowledge of criticism at all.
{*It may be that the reader feels a little jealous of any interference with our excellent English Bible. He may, like many others, feel disposed to say, "How is an uneducated man to know what is scripture and what is not? Must he depend upon scholars and critics to give him certainty on so grave and important a question? If so, is it not the same old story of looking to human authority to confirm the word of God?" By no means. It is a totally different thing. We all know that all copies and translations must be, in some points, imperfect, as being human; but we believe that the same grace which gave the word in the original Hebrew and Greek languages, has, most marvellously, watched over our English translation, so that a poor man, at the back of a mountain, may rest assured that he possesses in his common English Bible, the revelation of the mind of God. It is wonderful, after all the labours of scholars and critics, how few passages, comparatively have had to be touched; and not one affecting any foundation doctrine of Christianity. God who graciously gave us the holy scriptures, at the first, has watched over them and preserved them to His church in the most wonderful manner. Moreover, He has seen fit to make use of the labours of scholars and critics, from age to age, to clear the sacred text of errors which, through the infirmity attaching to all human agency, had crept into it. Should these corrections shake our confidence in the integrity of scripture as a whole, or lead us to doubt that we possess, in very deed, the word of God? Nay, rather should they lead us to bless God for His goodness in watching over His word in order to preserve it in its integrity for His church.}
But, in addition to all that has been advanced, in reference to this question, we cannot but think that the occurrence of the clause, "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, in verse 4, affords abundant evidence of its misplacement in verse 1. We cannot, for a moment, admit the thought of redundancy in holy scripture. Now, in verse 4, it is a question of walk - a question of our fulfilling "the righteousness [mark the word - dikaioma] of the law, and hence the clause is in its right, because divinely fitted place. A person who walks in the Spirit - as every Christian ought - fulfils the righteousness of the law. Love is the fulfilling of the law; and love will lead us to do what the ten commandments could never effect, namely, to love our enemies. No lover of holiness, no advocate of practical righteousness, need ever be the least afraid of losing ought by abandoning the legal ground, and taking his place on the elevated platform of true Christianity - by turning from mount Sinai to mount Zion - by passing from Moses to Christ. No; he only reaches a higher source, a deeper spring, a wider sphere of holiness, righteousness and practical obedience.
And then, if any one should feel disposed to ask, "Does not the line of argument which we have been pursuing tend to rob the law of its characteristic glory?" We reply, most assuredly not. So far from this, the law was never so magnified, never so vindicated, never so established, never so glorified, as by that precious work which forms the imperishable foundation of all the privileges, the blessings, the dignities and the glories of Christianity. The blessed apostle anticipates, and answers this very question, in the earlier part of his epistle to the Romans. "Do we then," he says, "make void the law through faith. Far be the thought; yea, we establish the law. How could the law be more gloriously vindicated, honoured and magnified than in the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Will any one seek, for a moment, to maintain the extravagant notion that it is magnifying the law to put Christians under it? We fondly trust the reader will not. Ah! no; all this line of things must be completely abandoned by those whose privilege it is to walk in the light of the new creation; who know Christ as their life, and Christ as their righteousness - Christ, their sanctification, Christ, their great Exemplar, Christ, their model, Christ their all and in all; who find their motive for obedience not in the fear of the curses of a broken law, but in the love of Christ, according to those exquisitely beautiful words, "The love of Christ" - not the law of Moses - "constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. And he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." (2 Cor. 5.)
Could the law ever produce ought like this? Impossible. But, blessed for ever he the God of all grace, "What the law could not do" - not because it was not holy, just and good, but "in that it was weak through the flesh" - the workman was all right, but the material was rotten and nothing could be made of it; but - "God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who - as risen with Christ, linked with Him by the Holy Ghost, in the power of a new and everlasting life - "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit"
This, and only this, is true, practical Christianity; and if the reader will turn to the second of Galatians, he will find another of those fine, glowing utterances of the blessed apostle, setting forth, with divine force and fullness, the special glory of Christian life and walk. It is in connection with his faithful rebuke of the apostle Peter, at Antioch, when that beloved and honoured servant of Christ, through his characteristic weakness, had been led to step down, for a moment, from the elevated moral ground on which the gospel of the grace of God places the soul. We cannot do better than quote the entire paragraph for the reader. Every sentence of it is pregnant with spiritual power.
"But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face" - He did not go behind his back to disparage and depreciate him in the view of others, even though - "He was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law; for by works of law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid [or far be the thought, [me genoito] For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor" - For, if the things were right, why destroy them? And, if they were wrong, why build them again? - "For I, through law, am dead to law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live" not by the law, as a rule of life, but - "by the faith of the Son, of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by law, then Christ is dead in vain" - or has died for nothing, [dorean] (Gal. 2: 11-21)
Here, then, we have one of the very finest statements of the truth as to practical Christianity, anywhere to be found. But, what specially claims our attention, just now, is the very marked and beautiful way in which the gospel of God opens up the path of the true believer between the two fatal errors of legality, on the one side, and carnal laxity, on the other. Ver. 19 in the passage just quoted, contains the divine remedy for both these deadly evils. To all - whoever, or wherever they be who would seek to put the Christian under the law, in any shape, or for any object whatsoever, our apostle exclaims in the ears of dissembling Jews with Peter at their head, and as an answer to all the law-teachers of every age - "I am dead to law."
What can the law have to say to a dead man: Nothing. The law applies to a living man, to curse him and kill him, because he has not kept it. It is a very grave mistake indeed to teach that the law is dead or abolished. It is nothing of the sort. It is alive in all its force, in all its stringency, in all its majesty, in all its; unbending dignity. It would be a very serious mistake to say that the Law of England, against murder, is dead. But if a man is dead, the law no longer applies to him, inasmuch as he has passed entirely out of its range.
But how is the believer dead to law? the apostle replies, "I through law am dead to law. The law had brought the sentence of death into his conscience; as we read in Romans 7. "I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
But there is more than this. The apostle goes on to say, "I am Crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." And, here is the triumphant answer of the Christian to those who say that, inasmuch as the Mosaic law is abrogated, there is no longer any demand for the legal restraint under which the Jews were called to live. To all who would seek liberty for self-indulgence, the answer is, "I am dead to law," not that I might give a loose rein to the flesh, but " that I might live unto God."
Thus nothing can be more complete, nothing more morally beautiful than the answer of true Christianity to legality on the one hand, and licentiousness on the other. Self crucified; sin condemned; new life in Christ; a life to be lived to God; a life of faith in the Son of God; the motive spring of that life, the constraining love of Christ. What can exceed this? Will any one, in view of the moral glories of Christianity contend for putting believers under the law, putting them back into the flesh - back into the old creation - back to the sentence of death in the conscience - back to bondage, darkness, distance, fear of death, condemnation?
Is it possible that any one who has ever tasted, even in the very feeblest measure, the heavenly sweetness of God’s most blessed gospel, can accept the wretched mongrel system, composed of half law and half grace, which Christendom offers to the soul? How terrible to find the children of God, members of the body of Christ, temples of the Holy Ghost, robbed of their glorious privileges and burdened with a heavy yoke which, as Peter says, "Neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." We earnestly entreat the Christian reader to consider what has been placed before him. Search the scriptures; and if you find these things to be so, then fling aside for ever the grave clothes in which Christendom enwraps its deluded votaries, and walk in the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free; tear off the bandage with which it covers the eyes of men, and gaze on the moral glories which shine with such heavenly brilliancy, in the gospel of the grace of God.
And then let us prove, by a holy, happy, gracious walk and conversation, that grace can do what law never could. Let our practical ways from day to day, in the midst of the scenes, circumstances, relationships and associations in which we are called to live, be the most convincing reply to all who contend for the law as a rule of life.
Finally, let it be our earnest, loving desire and aim to seek, in so far as in us lies, to lead all the dear children of God into a clearer knowledge of their standing and privileges in a risen and glorified Christ. May the Lord send out His light and His truth, in the power of the Holy Ghost, and gather His beloved people round Himself to walk in the joy of His salvation, in the purity and light of His presence, and to wait for His coming!
We do not attempt to offer any apology for what may, perhaps, appear to some of our readers to be a very lengthened digression from the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. The fact is we have been led into what we judge to be a very needed line of practical truth by the very first verse of the chapter, as quoted at the opening of this section. We felt it absolutely necessary, in speaking of the weighty question of obedience, to seek to place it on its true basis. If Israel was called to "hearken and do," how much more are we who are so richly blessed - yea "blessed with all spiritual blessings, in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus." We are called to obedience, even to the obedience of Jesus Christ, as we have it in? Peter 1 "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." We are called to the very same character of obedience as that which marked the life of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Of course, in Him, there was no hindering influence, as alas! there is in us. But as to the character of the obedience it is the same.
This is an immense privilege. We are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked." Now, in pondering the path of our Lord, in considering His marvellous life, there is one point which demands our profound and reverent attention - a point which connects itself, in a very special manner, with the book of Deuteronomy; and that is the way in which He ever used the word of God - the place which He ever gave to the holy scriptures. This we consider to be a subject of the last possible importance, at the present moment. It holds a prominent place throughout the lovely book with which we are at present engaged. Indeed, as we have already remarked, it characterises the book, and marks it off from the three books which precede it in the divine canon. We shall find proofs and illustrations of this, in abundance, as we pass along. Everywhere, the word of God gets its own paramount Place, as the only rule, the only standard, the only authority for man. It meets him in every position, in every relationship, in every sphere of action, and in every stage of his moral and spiritual history. It tells him what he ought to do, and what he ought not. It furnishes him with ample guidance in every difficulty. It descends, as we shall see, to the most minute details - such details, indeed, as fill as with amazement to think that the High and Mighty One that inhabiteth eternity could occupy Himself with them - to think that the Omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of the vast universe could stoop to legislate about a bird’s nest. (Deut. 22: 6.)
Such is the word of God, that peerless Revelation, that perfect and inimitable volume which stands alone in the history of literature. And, we may say that one special charm of the book of Deuteronomy, one peculiar feature of interest is the way in which it exalts the word of God, and enforces upon us the holy and happy duty of unqualified and unhesitating obedience.
Yes; we repeat, and would fervently emphasise the words - unqualified and unhesitating obedience. We would have these wholesome words sounded in the ears of Christian professors throughout the length and breadth of the earth. We live in a day specially marked by the setting up of man’s reason, man’s judgement, man’s will. In short, we live in what the inspired apostle calls, "man’s day." On all hands we are encountered by lofty and boastful words about human reason, and the right of every man to judge and reason and think for himself. The thought of being absolutely and completely governed by the authority of holy scripture is treated with sovereign contempt by thousands of men who are the religious guides and teachers of the professing church. For any one to assert his reverent belief in the plenary inspiration, the all-sufficiency, and the absolute authority of scripture, is quite sufficient to stamp him as an ignorant, narrow-minded man, if not a semi-lunatic, in the judgement of some who occupy the very highest position in the professing church. In our universities, our colleges and our schools, the moral glory of the Divine Volume is fast fading away, and instead thereof our young people are led and taught to walk in the light of science, the light of human reason. The word of God itself is impiously placed at the bar of man’s judgement, and reduced to the level of the human understanding. Everything is rejected which soars beyond man’s feeble vision.
Thus the word of God is virtually set aside. For, clearly if scripture is to be submitted to human judgement, it ceases to be the word of God. It is the very height of folly to think of submitting a divine and therefore perfect revelation to any tribunal whatsoever. Either God has given us a revelation, or He has not. If He has, that revelation must be paramount, supreme, above and beyond all question, absolutely unquestionable, unerring, divine. To its authority all must bow down, without a single question. To suppose, for a moment, that man is competent to judge the word of God, able to pronounce upon what is, or what is not worthy of God to say, or to write, is simply to put man in God’s place. And this is precisely what the devil is aiming at, although many of his instruments are not aware that they are helping on his designs.
But the question is continually cropping up before us, "How can we be sure that we have, in our English Bible, the bona fide revelation of God?" We reply, God can make us sure of it. If He does not, no one can. If He does, no one need. This is our ground; and we deem it unassailable. We should like to ask all those who start this infidel question - for such we must honestly call it - supposing that God cannot give us the absolute certainty that, in our common English Bible, we do actually possess His own most precious, priceless revelation, then whither are we to turn? Of course in such a weighty matter, on which momentous and eternal consequences hang, a single doubt is torture and misery. If I am not sure of possessing a revelation from God, I am left without a single ray of light for my path. I am plunged in darkness, gloom and mental misery. What am I to do? Can man help me by his learning, his wisdom or his reason? Can he satisfy my soul by his decision? Can he solve my difficulty, answer my question, remove my doubt, dissipate my fear? Is man better able than God to Give me the assurance that God has spoken?
The idea is absolutely monstrous - monstrous in the very highest degree. The plain fact is this, reader, if God cannot give us the certainty that He has spoken, we are left without His word altogether. If we must turn to human authority, call it what you please, in order to guarantee the word of God to our souls, then that authority is higher and greater, safer and more trustworthy than the word which it guarantees. Blessed be God, it is not so. He has spoken to our hearts. He has given us His word, and that word carries its own credentials with it. It stands in no need of letters of commendation from a human hand. What! Turn to man to accredit the word of the living God! apply to a worm to give us the assurance that our God has spoken to us in His word! Away for ever with the blasphemous notion, and let our whole moral being - all our ransomed powers adore the matchless grace, the sovereign mercy that has not left us to grope in the darkness of our own minds, or to be bewildered by the conflicting opinions of men; but has given us His own perfect and most precious revelation, the divine light of His word to guide our feet into the path of certainty and peace; to enlighten our understandings and comfort our hearts, to preserve us from every form of doctrinal error and moral pravity, and finally, to conduct us into the rest, blessedness and glory of His own heavenly kingdom. All praise to His Name, throughout the everlasting ages!
But we must bear in mind that the marvellous privilege of which we have spoken - and truly it is most marvellous - is the basis of a most solemn responsibility. If it be true that God has, in His infinite goodness, given us a perfect revelation of His mind, then what should be our attitude in reference to it? Are we to sit in judgement upon it? Are we to discuss, argue or reason? Alas! for all who do so. They will find themselves on terribly dangerous ground. The only true, the only proper, the only safe attitude for man in the presence of God’s revelation is obedience - simple, unqualified, hearty obedience. This is the only right thing for us; and this is the thing which is pleasing to God. The path of obedience is the path of sweetest privilege, rest and blessing This path can be trodden by the merest babe in Christ, as well as by the " young men and the "fathers." There is the one straight and blessed path for all. Narrow it is, no doubt; but oh! it is safe, bright and elevated. The light of our Fathers approving countenance ever shines upon it; and in this blessed light the obedient soul finds the most triumphant answer to all the reproaches of those who talk, in high sounding words, about breadth of mind, liberality of thought, freedom of opinion, progress, development, and such-like. The obedient child of God can afford to put up with all this, because he feels and knows, he believes and is sure that he is treading a path indicated for him by the precious word of God. He is not careful to explain or apologise, feeling assured that those who object, oppose, and reproach are utterly incapable of understanding or appreciating his explanation. And, moreover, he feels that it is no part of his duty to explain or defend. He has but to obey; and as for objectors and opposers, he has but to refer them to his Master.
This makes it all so simple, so plain, so certain. It delivers the heart from a thousand difficulties and perplexities. If we were to set about replying to all who undertake to raise questions or start difficulties, our whole life would be spent in the profitless task. We may rest assured the best possible answer to all infidel objectors, is the steady, earnest, onward path of unqualified obedience. Let us leave infidels, sceptics and rationalists to their own worthless theories, while we, with unswerving purpose, and firm step, pursue that blessed path of childlike obedience which, like the shining light, shineth more and more, unto the perfect day. Thus shall our minds be kept tranquil, for the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall garrison our hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus. When the word of God which is settled for ever in heaven is hidden deep down in our hearts, there will be a calm certainty, a holy stability, and a marked progress in our Christian career which will afford the best possible answer to the gainsayer, the most effectual testimony to the truth of God; and the most convincing evidence and solid confirmation to every wavering heart.
The chapter before us abounds in the most solemn exhortation to Israel, grounded upon the fact of their having heard the word of God. Thus in the second verse, we have a sentence or two which should be deeply engraved on the tablets of every Christian’s heart. "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it."
These words involve two grand facts with regard to the word of God. It is not to be added to, for the simplest of all reasons, because there is nothing lacking. It is not to be diminished, because there is nothing superfluous. Everything we want is there; and nothing that is there can be done without. "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." To suppose that ought can be added to God’s word is, upon the very face of it, to deny that it is God’s word; and, on the other hand, if we admit that it is the word of God, then it follows of necessity - blessed necessity, that we could not afford to do without a single sentence of it. There would be a blank in the volume which no human hand could fill up, if a single clause were dropped from its place in the canon. We have all we want; and hence, we must not add. We want it all; and, must not diminish.
How deeply important is all this, in this day of human tampering with the word of God! How blessed to know that we have in our possession a book so divinely perfect that not a sentence, not a clause, not a word can be added to it. We speak not, of course, of translations or versions, but of the scriptures as originally given of God - His own perfect revelation. To this not a touch can be given As well might a human finger have dared to touch the creation of God, on the morning when all the sons of God sang together, as to add a jot or a tittle to the inspired word of God. And, on the other hand, to take away a jot or a tittle from it, is to say that the Holy Ghost has penned what was unnecessary. Thus the holy volume is divinely guarded at both ends. It is securely fenced round about so that no rude hand should touch its sacred contents.
"What!" It may be said in reply, "Do you mean to say that every sentence from the opening lines of Genesis, to the close of Revelation, is divinely inspired" Yes; that is, precisely, the ground we take. We claim, for every line between the covers of the volume, a divine origin. To question this is to attack the very pillars of the Christian faith. A single flaw in the canon would be sufficient to prove it not of God. To touch a single stone in the arch is to bring down the whole fabric in ruins around us. "All scripture is divinely inspired; and" - being so, must be - "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect [artios], throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Tim. 3.)
This stronghold must, on no account, be surrendered. Nay, it must be tenaciously held, in the face of every infidel assault. If it be given up, all is hopelessly lost. We have nothing to lean upon. Either the word of God is perfect, or we are left without any divine foundation for our faith. If there be a word too much or a word too little in the revelation which God has given us, then verily we are left like a ship without compass, rudder or chart, to be drifted about on the wild, tumultuous ocean of infidel thought. In short, if we have not an absolutely perfect revelation, we are of all men most miserable.
But, we may still be challenged with such a question as this, "Do you believe that the long string of names, in the opening Chapters of 1 Chronicles - those genealogical tables are divinely inspired? were they written for our learning? and, if so, what are we to learn from them?" We unhesitatingly declare our reverent belief in the divine inspiration of all these; and we have no doubt whatever but that their value, interest and importance will be fully proved, by-and by, in the history of that people to whom they specially apply.
And, then, as to what we are to learn from those genealogical records, we believe they teach us a most precious lesson as to Jehovah’s faithful care of His people Israel, and His loving interest in them and in all that concerns them. He watches over them, from generation to generation, even though they are scattered and lost to human view. He knows all about "the twelve tribes," and He will manifest them in due time, and plant them in their destined inheritance, in the land of Canaan, according to His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Now, is not all this full of blessed instruction for us? Is it not full of comfort for our souls? Is it not most confirmatory of our faith to mark the gracious pains-taking of our God, His minute care and vigilance, in reference to His earthly people? Most assuredly it is. And ought not our hearts to be interested in all that interests the heart of our Father? Are we not to take an interest in anything save what directly concerns ourselves? Where is there a loving child who would not take an interest in all his father’s concerns, and delight to read every line that drops from his father’s pen?
Let us not be misunderstood. We do not, by any means, attempt to imply that all portions of the word of God are of like interest and importance to us. We do not presume to assert that we are to hang with equal interest over the first chapter of First Chronicles and the seventeenth chapter of John or the eighth chapter of Romans. It seems hardly necessary to make such a statement, inasmuch as no such question is raised. But what we assert is that each of the above scriptures is divinely inspired, one just as much as another. And not only so, but we further assert, that? 1 Chronicles 1 and such-like passages fill a niche which John 17 cannot fill; and do a work which Romans 8 cannot do.
And, finally, above and beyond all, we must remember that we are not competent to judge what is, and what is not worthy of a place in the inspired canon We are ignorant and short-sighted; and the very portion which we might deem beneath the dignity of inspiration may have some very important bearing upon the history of God’s ways with the world at large, or with His people in particular.
In short, it simply resolves itself into this, with every truly pious soul, every really spiritual mind, we reverently believe in the divine inspiration of every line in our precious Bible, from beginning to end. And we believe this not on the ground of any human authority whatsoever. To believe in holy scripture because it comes to us accredited by any authority upon earth, would be to set that authority above holy scripture, inasmuch as that which guarantees has more weight, more value than the thing guaranteed. Hence, we should no more think of looking to human authority to confirm the word of God, than we should of bringing out a rush-light to prove that the sun was shining.
No, reader, we must be clear and decided as to this. It must be, in the judgement of our souls, s great cardinal truth which we hold dearer than life itself - the plenary inspiration of holy scripture. Thus shall we have wherewithal to answer the cool audacity of modern scepticism, rationalism and infidelity. We do not mean to say that we shall be able to convince infidels. God will deal with them in His own way, and convince them with His own unanswerable arguments, in His own time. It is labour and time lost to argue with such men. But we feel persuaded that the most dignified and effective answer to infidelity, in its every phase, will be found in the calm repose of the heart that rests in the blessed assurance that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" And again, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." The former of these precious quotations proves that scripture has come from God; the latter, that it has come to us. both together. So to prove that we must neither add to nor take from the word of God. There is nothing lacking, and nothing superfluous. The Lord be praised for this solid foundation truth, and for all the comfort and consolation that flows from it to every true believer!
We shall now proceed to quote for the reader a few of the passages in this fourth chapter of Deuteronomy which so emphatically set forth the value, importance and authority of the word of God. In them, as in the whole of this book, we shall see that it is not so much a question of any particular ordinance, rite or ceremony, but of the weight, solemnity and dignity of the word of God itself, whatever that word may set before us.
"Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgements, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it." - Their conduct was to be ruled and formed, in all things, by the divine commandments. Immense principle for them, for us, for all! - "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."
Let us specially weigh these words. Their wisdom and their understanding were to consist in their simply keeping and doing the divine statutes and judgements. It was not by learned discussion or arguments that their wisdom was to be displayed; but by child-like unquestioning obedience. All the wisdom was in the statutes and judgements, not in their thoughts and reasonings respecting them. The profound and marvellous wisdom of God was seen in His word, and this was what the nations were to see and admire. The light of the divine judgements shining in the conduct and character of the people of God was to draw forth the admiring testimony of the nations around.
Alas! alas! how differently it turned out! How little did the nations of the earth learn, from the actings of Israel, about God and His word! Yea, His Name was blasphemed continually through their ways. Instead of occupying the high and holy and happy ground of loving obedience to the divine commandments, they descended to the level of the nations around them, adopted their habits, worshipped their gods, and walked in their ways; so that those nations instead of seeing the lofty wisdom, purity, and moral glory of the divine statutes, saw only the weakness, folly, and moral degradation of a people who made their boast in being the depository of those oracles which condemned themselves.(Rom. 2: 3)
Still, blessed be God, His word must stand for ever, however His people may fail to carry it out. His standard is perfect, and therefore must never be lowered; and if the power of His word be not seen in the ways of His people, it will shine in the condemnation of those ways, and ever abide for the guidance, comfort, strength and blessing of any who desire, however feebly or falteringly to tread the path of obedience.
However, in the chapter with which we are at present occupied, the lawgiver seeks to set the divine standard faithfully before the people, in all its dignity and moral glory. He fails not to unfold to them the true effect of obedience; while he solemnly warns them against the danger of turning away from the holy commandments of God. Hear his powerful pleadings with their hearts. "What nation is there so great," he says, "who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgements so righteous, as all this law, which I set before you this day?"
Here is true moral greatness, at all times and in all places, for a nation, for a people, for a household, or for an individual. To have the living God nigh unto us; to have the sweet privilege of calling upon Him, in all things; to have His power and His mercy ever exercised toward us; to have the light of His blessed countenance shining approvingly upon us, in all our ways; to have the moral effect of His righteous statutes and holy commandments seen in our practical career, from day to day; to have Him manifesting Himself to us, and making His abode with us.
What human language can adequately set forth the deep blessedness of such privileges as these? And yet they are placed by infinite grace, within the reach of every child of God on the face of the earth. We do not mean to assert that every child of God enjoys them. Far from it. They are reserved, as we have already seen, for those who, through grace, are enabled to render a loving, hearty, reverent obedience to the divine word. Here lies the precious secret of the whole matter. It was true for Israel of old; and it is true for the church now; it was true for the individual soul then; and it is true for the individual soul now that divine complacency is the priceless reward of human obedience. And, we may further add that obedience is the bounden duty and high privilege of all God’s people, and of each in particular. Come what may, implicit obedience is our privilege and our duty, divine complacency our present sweet reward.
But the poor human heart is prone to wander; and manifold influences are at work around us to draw us off from the narrow path of obedience. We need not marvel, therefore, at the solemn and oft-repeated admonitions addressed by Moses, to the hearts and consciences of his hearers. He pours his large loving heart out to the congregation so dear to him, in glowing, earnest, soul-stirring accents. "Only take heed to thyself," he says, "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."
These are weighty words for all of us. They set before us two things of unspeakable importance, namely, individual and domestic responsibility - personal and household testimony. God’s people of old were responsible to keep the heart with all diligence, lest it should let slip the precious word of God. And not only so, but they were solemnly responsible to instruct their children and their grandchildren in the same. Are we, with all our light and privilege, less responsible than Israel of old? Surely not. We are imperatively called upon to give ourselves to the careful study of the word of God. To apply our hearts to it. It is not enough that we hurry over a few verses or a chapter, as a piece of daily religious routine. This will not meet the case at all. We want to make the Bible our supreme and absorbing study; that in which we delight, in which we find our refreshment and recreation.
It is to be feared that some of us read the Bible as a matter of duty, while we find our delight and refreshment in the newspaper and light literature. Need we wonder at our shallow knowledge of scripture? How could we know ought of the living depths or the moral glories of a volume which we merely take up as a cold matter of duty, and read a few verses with a yawning indifference, while, at the same time, the newspaper or the sensational novel is literally devoured?
It will, perhaps, be said in reply, "We cannot be always reading the Bible." Would those who thus speak say, "We cannot be always reading the newspaper or the novel"? And, we would further inquire, what must be the actual state of a person who can say, "We cannot be always reading the Bible"? Can he be in a healthy condition of soul? Can he really love the word of God? Can he have any just sense of its preciousness, its excellence, its moral glories? Impossible.
What mean the following words to Israel, "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes!" The "heart" - the "soul" - the" hand" - the "eyes" - all engaged about the precious word of God. This was real work. It was to be no empty formality, no barren routine. The whole man was to be given up, in holy devotion, to the statutes and judgements of God.
"And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates" Do we, Christians, enter into such words as these? Has the word of God such a place, in our hearts, in our homes, and in our habits? Do those who enter our houses, or come in contact with us in daily life, see that the word of God is paramount with us? Do those with; whom we do business see that we are governed by the precepts of holy scripture? Do our servants and our children see that we live in the very atmosphere of scripture, and that our whole character is formed and our conduct governed by it?
These are searching questions for our hearts, beloved Christian reader. Let us not put them away from us. We may rest assured there is no more correct indicator of our moral and spiritual condition than that afforded by our treatment of the word of God. If we do not love it - love to study it - thirst after it - delight in - long for the quiet hour in the which we can hang over its sacred page, and drink in its most precious teaching - meditate upon it, in the closet, in the family, in the street; in short, if we do not breathe its holy atmosphere - if we could ever give utterance to such a sentiment as that Given above, that "We cannot be always reading the Bible," then, verily, we have urgent need to look well to our spiritual state, for we are sadly out of health The new nature loves the word of God - earnestly desires it; as we read in? Peter 2. "As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."
This is the true idea. If the sincere milk of the word be not sought after, diligently used and eagerly fed upon, we must be in a low, unhealthy, dangerous condition of soul. There may not be anything outwardly wrong in our conduct; we may not be publicly dishonouring the Lord, in our ways; but we are grieving His loving heart by our gross neglect of His word, which is but another term for the neglect of Himself. It is the very height of folly to talk of loving Christ, if we do not love, and live upon His word. It is a delusion to imagine that the new life can be in a healthy prosperous condition where the word of God is habitually neglected in the closet and the family.
We do not, of course, mean that no other book but the Bible should be read - or we should not pen these "Notes" - but nothing demands greater watchfulness than the matter of reading. All things are to be done, in the Name of Jesus, and to the glory of God; and this is amongst the "all things." We should read no book that we cannot read to the glory of God, and on which we cannot ask God’s blessing.
We feel that this entire subject demands the most serious consideration of all God’s people; and we trust that the Spirit of God may use our meditation on the chapter before us to stir up our hearts and consciences in reference to what is due to the word of God, both in our hearts and in our houses.
No doubt, if it has its right place in the heart, it will have its right place also in the house. But if there be no acknowledgment of the word of God in the bosom of the family, it is hard to believe that it has its right place in the heart. Heads of houses should ponder this matter seriously. We are most fully persuaded that there ought to be, in every Christian household, a daily acknowledgment of God and His word. Some may, perhaps, look upon it as bondage, as legality, as religious routine to have regular family worship. We would ask such objectors, is it bondage for the family to assemble at meals? Are the family reunions round the social board ever regarded as a wearisome duty - a piece of dull routine? Certainly not, if the family be a well ordered and happy one. Why then should it be regarded as a burdensome thing for the head of a Christian household to gather his children and his servants around him and read a few verses of the precious word of God, and breathe a few words of prayer before the throne of grace? We believe it to be a habit in perfect accordance with the teaching of both the Old and the New Testaments - a habit grateful to the heart of God - a holy, blessed, edifying habit.
What should we think of a professing Christian who never prayed, never read the word of God, in private? Could we possibly regard him as a happy, healthy, true Christian? Assuredly not. Indeed we should seriously question the existence of divine life in such a soul. Prayer and the word of God are absolutely essential to healthy vigorous Christian life: so that a man who habitually neglects these must be in an utterly dead state.
Now, if it be thus, in reference to an individual, how can a family be regarded as in a right state where there is no family reading, no family prayer, no family acknowledgment of God or His word? Can we conceive a God-fearing household going on from Lord’s day morning to Saturday night, without any collective recognition of the One to whom they owe everything? Day after day rolls on - domestic duties are attended to - the family assemble regularly at meals, but there is no thought of summoning the household round the word of God, or round the mercy-seat. We ask where is the difference between such a family and any poor heathen household? Is it not most sad, most deplorable to find those who make the very highest profession, and who take their places at the Lord’s Table, yet living in the gross neglect of family reading, family worship?
Reader, are you the head of a household If so, what are your thoughts on this subject? And what is your line of action? Have you family reading and family prayer, daily in your house? If not bear with us when we ask you - why not? Search and see what is the real root of this matter. Has your heart declined from God, from His word and His ways? Do you read and pray in private? Do you love the word and prayer? Do you find delight in them? If so, how is it you neglect them in your household? Perhaps you seek to excuse yourself on the ground of nervousness and timidity. If so, look to the Lord to enable you to overcome the weakness. Just cast yourself on His unfailing grace, and gather your household around you, at a certain hour, each day, read a few verses of scripture and breathe half-a-dozen words of prayer; or if you cannot do this at first, just let the family kneel for a few moments, in silence, before the throne.
Anything, in short, like a family acknowledgment a family testimony - anything but a godless, careless, prayerless life in your household. Do, dear friend, suffer the word of exhortation in this matter. Let us entreat you to begin at once, looking to God to help you, as He most assuredly will, for He never fails a really trusting, dependent heart. Do not, any longer, go on neglecting God and His word in your family circle. It is really terrible. Let no arguments about bondage, legality, or formalism weigh with you, for a moment. We almost feel disposed to exclaim, "Blessed bondage!" If indeed it be bondage to read the word, we cordially welcome it, and fearlessly glory in it.
But, no; we cannot for a moment, regard it in any such light. We believe it to be a most delightful privilege for every one whom God has set at the head of a household to gather all the members of that household around him and read a portion of the blessed book, and pour out his heart in prayer to God. We believe it is specially the duty of the head so to do. It is by no means necessary to make it a long wearisome service. As a rule, both in our houses and in our public assemblies, short, fresh, fervent exercises are by far the most edifying.
But this, of course, is an open question as to which we merely give our judgement which must go for what it is worth. The length and character of the service must, in every case, be left to the person who conducts it. But we do, most earnestly, trust that if these lines should be scanned by any one who is the head of a household, and if he has hitherto neglected the holy privilege of family worship-family reading, he will, henceforth, do so no more. May he be enabled to say, with Joshua, "Let others do as they will, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" It is not, surely, that we would lead any to imagine that the mere act of family reading takes in all that is comprehended in that weighty sentence, "We will serve the Lord." Far from it. That blessed service takes in everything belonging to our private and domestic history. It takes in the most minute details of practical daily life. All this is most true and invaluable. But we are most thoroughly persuaded that nothing can go right in any household in which family reading and family prayer are habitually neglected.
It may be said that there are many families who seem very particular about their morning and evening reading and prayer, and yet their whole domestic history, from morning till night, is a flagrant contradiction of their so-called religious service. It may be that the head of the house, instead of shedding sunlight upon the family circle, is morose in his temper, rude and coarse in his manners, rough and contradictory to his wife, arbitrary and severe to his children, unreasonable and exacting to his servants, finding fault with what is laid on the table, after having asked God’s blessing upon it; and, in short, in every way giving the lie to his reading and his prayer in the family. So also as to the wife and the mother; and the children and the servants. The whole domestic economy is out of order. There is disorder and confusion; meals are unpunctual; there is a want of kindly consideration one of another; the children are rude, selfish and wilful; the servants are thoughtless, wasteful and disobedient, if not much worse. The tone, atmosphere, and style of the entire establishment are unchristian, ungodly, utterly unbecoming.
And then when you travel outside the domestic circle, and mark the conduct of the heads and members of the family toward those outside - mark their business, if they be in business; hear the testimony of those who deal with them, as to the quality of their goods, the style and character of their work; the spirit and temper in which they carry on their business; such grasping and griping, such covetousness, such commercial trickery; nothing of God, nothing of Christ, nothing to distinguish them from the most thorough worldling around; yea, the conduct of those very worldlings, of those who would never think of such a thing as family worship, would put them to shame.
Under such painful and humiliating circumstances, what of the family worship-the family reading - the family altar? Alas! it is an empty formality, a powerless, worthless, unseemly proceeding - in place of being a morning and evening sacrifice, it is a morning and evening lie - a solemn mockery - an insult to God.
All this is sadly true. There is a terrible lack of household testimony - of common practical righteousness in our families and in the entire economy of our houses. There is but little of the white raiment-the fine linen, which is the righteousness of saints. We seem to forget those weighty words of the inspired apostle, in Romans 14. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Some of us seem to think that, whenever we meet with the word "righteousness," it must needs mean the righteousness of God in which we stand, or righteousness imputed to us. This is a very great mistake indeed. We must remember there is a practical and human side of this question. There is the subjective as well as the objective - the walk as well as the standing - the condition as well as the position.
These things must never be separated. It is of little use to set up, or seek to maintain a family altar amid the ruins of family testimony. It is nothing short of a hideous caricature to begin and end with so-called family worship a day characterised throughout by ungodliness and unrighteousness, levity, folly and vanity. Can ought be more unsightly or more miserably inconsistent than an evening spent in song singing, charades and other light games, closed up with a contemptible bit of religion in the shape of reading and prayer?
All this line of things is most deplorable. It ought not to be found in connection with the Holy Name of Christ, with His assembly, or the holy exercises of His Table. We must measure everything in our private life, in our domestic economy, in our daily history, in all our intercourse, and in all our business transactions, with that one standard, namely, the glory of Christ. Our one grand question, in reference to everything that comes before us, or solicits our attention must be, "Is this worthy of the Holy Name which is called upon me?" If not, let us not touch it; yea, let us turn our back upon it with stern decision, and flee from it with holy energy Let us not listen, for a moment, to the contemptible question, "What harm is there in it?" Nothing but harm, if Christ be not in it. No truly devoted heart would ever entertain - much less put such a question. Whenever you hear any one speaking thus, you may, at once, conclude that Christ is not the governing object of the heart.
We trust the reader is not weary of all this homely, practical truth. We believe it is loudly called for in this day of high profession. We have all of us much need to consider our ways, to look well to the real state of our hearts as to Christ; for here lies the true secret of the whole matter. If the heart be not true to Him, nothing can be right - nothing in the private life, nothing in the family, nothing in the business, nothing in the assembly, nothing anywhere. But if the heart be true to Him all will be - must be right.
No marvel, therefore, if the blessed apostle, when he reaches the close of that wonderful epistle to the Corinthians, sums all up with this solemn declaration, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha" In the course of his letter he deals with various forms of doctrinal error and moral pravity; but when he comes to the close, instead of pronouncing his solemn sentence upon any particular error or evil, he hurls it with holy indignation against any one, no matter who or what, who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Love to Christ is the grand safe-guard against every form of error and evil. A heart filled with Christ has no room for ought beside; but if there be no love to Him, there is no security against the wildest error, or the worst form of moral evil.
We must now return to our chapter.
The attention of the people is specially called to the solemn scenes at Mount Horeb - scenes which should surely have deeply and abidingly impressed their hearts. "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" - the grand and all important point for Israel of old, for the church now - for each, for all, at all times and in all places, is to be brought into direct, living contact with the eternal word of the living God, to the end - "that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children"
It is very beautiful to note the intimate connection between hearing God’s word and fearing His Name. It is one of those great root principles which never change, never lose their power or their intrinsic value. The word and the Name go together; and the heart that loves the one will reverence the other, and bow down to its holy authority, in all things. "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings." "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected." (John 14; 1 John 2.) Every true lover of God will treasure up His word in the heart, and where the word is thus lovingly treasured in the heart, its hallowed influence will be seen in the whole life, character and conduct. God’s object in giving His word is that it may govern our conduct, form our character and shape our way; and if His word has not this practical effect upon us it is utterly vain for us to speak of loving Him; yea, it is nothing short of positive mockery which He must, sooner or later, resent.
And let us note particularly the solemn responsibility of Israel as to their children. They were not only to "hear" and "learn" for themselves; but they were also to teach their children. This is a universal and abiding duty which cannot be neglected with impunity. God attaches very great importance to this matter. We hear Him saying as to Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." (Gen. 18)
These words are most important, as setting before us the divine estimate of domestic training, and family piety. In all ages, and under all dispensations, God has been pleased to give expression to His approbation of the proper education of the children of His people - their faithful training according to His holy word. We find no such thing sanctioned in scripture, as children being allowed to grow up in ignorance, and carelessness, and wilfulness. Some professing Christians, under the baneful influence of a certain school of theology, seem to think that it is, in some way, an interference with the sovereignty of God, with His purposes and counsels, to instruct their children in the truth of the gospel and the letter of holy scripture. They Consider that the children ought to be left to the action of the Holy Ghost which they are sure to experience in God’s own time, if indeed they are of God’s elect; and, if not, all human effort is perfectly useless.
Now, we must, in all faithfulness to the truth of God, and to the souls of our readers, bear the clearest and strongest testimony against this one-sided view of the great practical subject before us. There is nothing more mischievous, nothing more pernicious in its effect upon the conscience, the heart, the life, the whole practical career and moral character, than one-sided theology. It does not matter what side you take, so long as you only take one. It is sure to produce what we must term a spiritual malformation. We feel we cannot too strongly and earnestly warn the reader against this sore evil. It can only lead to the most disastrous results; and, as to its effect in reference to the training of our children, and the management of our households - the subject now before us - it is mischievous in the extreme. Indeed we have seen the most deplorable consequences follow the carrying out of this line of thought. We have known the children of Christian parents to grow up in utter ignorance of divine things, in carelessness, recklessness, and open infidelity. And if a word of admonition were offered, it has been met by arguments based upon the dogmas of a one-sided divinity - and the one side turned the wrong way. It has been said, "We cannot make Christians of our children, and we must not make them formalists or hypocrites. It must be a divine work or nothing. When God’s time comes, He will effectually call them, if indeed they are among the number of His elect. If not, all our efforts are perfectly useless."
To all this we reply that this line of argument, if carried to its fullest extent, would prevent the farmer from ploughing his ground or sowing his seed. It is very plain that he cannot make the seed to germinate or fructify. He could no more cause a solitary grain of wheat to grow, than he could create the universe. Does this prevent his ploughing and sowing? Does it cause him to fold his arms and say, "I can do nothing. I cannot, by any effort of mine, make corn grow. It is a divine operation; and therefore I must wait God’s time" Does any farmer reason and act like this? Surely not, unless he be a lunatic. Every sound-minded person knows that ploughing and sowing must go before the reaping; and if the former be neglected, it is the height of extravagant folly to look for the latter.
Nor is it otherwise in the matter of training our children We know God is sovereign. We believe in His eternal counsels and purposes. We fully recognise the grand doctrines of election and predestination; yea, we are as thoroughly persuaded of them, as of the truth that God is, or that Christ died and rose again. Moreover, we believe that the new birth must take place, in every instance - in the case of our children as of all beside; we are convinced that this new birth is entirely a divine operation, effected by the Holy Ghost, through the word, as we are distinctly taught in our Lord’s discourse with Nicodemus, in John 3, and also in James 1: 18; and 1 Peter 1: 23.
But does all this touch, in the most remote way, the solemn responsibility of Christian parents to teach and train their children, diligently and faithfully, from their earliest moments? Most certainly not. Woe be to the parents who, on any plea or on any ground whatsoever, be it one-sided theology, misapplied scripture, or anything else, deny their responsibility, or neglect their plain, bounden duty, in this holy business. True, we cannot make our children Christians; and we ought not to make them formalists or hypocrites. But we are not called to make them anything We are simply called to do our duty by them, and leave results to God. We are instructed and commanded to bring up our children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." When is this "bringing up" to commence? When are we to begin the sacred work of training our little ones? Surely at the beginning. The very moment we enter upon a relationship, we enter also upon the responsibility which that relationship entails. We cannot deny this. We cannot shake it off. We may neglect it, and have to reap the sad consequences of our neglect, in various ways. It is a very serious thing to stand in the sacred relationship of a parent - very interesting and very delightful, no doubt; but most serious because of the responsibility involved. True it is, blessed be God, His grace is sufficient for us, in this, as in all beside; and "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." "We are not sufficient of ourselves," in this weighty matter, to think or to do anything, as ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; and He will meet our every need. We have simply to draw upon Him, for exigency of every hour.
But we must do our duty. Some do not like the homely word "duty." They think it has a legal ring about it. We trust the reader does not think so, for it is a very great mistake indeed. We look upon the word as a very sound and morally wholesome one; and we believe that every true Christian loves it. One thing is certain, it is only in the path of duty we can count on God. To talk of trusting God, when out of the path of duty, is a miserable conceit, and a delusion. And, in the matter of our relationship, as parents, to neglect our duty is to bring down upon us the most disastrous consequences.
We believe the whole business of Christian education is summed up in two brief sentences, namely, count on God for your children; and train your children for God. To take the first without the second, is antinomianism; to take the second without the first is legality; to take both together is sound practical Christianity - true religion in the sight of God and man.
It is the sweet privilege of every Christian parent to count, with all possible confidence, upon God, for his children. But, then, we must remember that there is, in the government of God, an inseparable link connecting this privilege with the most solemn responsibility as to training For a Christian parent to speak of counting on God for the salvation of his children, and for the moral integrity of their future career, in this world, while the duty of training is neglected, is simply a miserable delusion.
We press this, most solemnly, upon all Christian parents, but especially upon those who have just entered upon the relationship. There is great danger of shirking our duty to our children, of shifting it over upon others, or neglecting it altogether. We do not like the trouble of it; we shrink from the constant worry as it seems to us. But we shall find that the trouble, and the worry, and the sorrow, and the heart-scalding arising from the neglect of our duty will be a thousand times worse than all that can be involved in the discharge of it. To every true lover of God there is deep delight in treading the path of duty. Every step taken in that path strengthens our confidence to go on. And then we can always count upon the infinite resources that we have in God, when we are keeping His commandments. We have simply to betake ourselves, morning by morning, yea, hour by hour, to our Father’s exhaustless treasury, and there get all we want, in the way of grace and wisdom, and moral power to enable us to discharge aright the holy functions of our relationship. "He giveth more grace." This always holds good. But if we, instead of seeking grace to discharge our duty, seek ease in neglecting it, we are simply laying up a store of sorrow which will accumulate rapidly and fall upon us heavily at a future day. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." (Gal. 6.)
This is the condensed statement of a great principle of God’s moral government - a principle of universal application, and one which applies, with singular force to the subject before us. As we sow, in the matter of the education of our children, so we shall, most assuredly, reap: There is no getting out of this.
But let not any dear Christian parent whose eye may scan these lines, be at all discouraged or fainthearted. There is no reason whatever for this; but, on the contrary, every reason for the most joyful confidence in God. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. Let us tread, with a firm step, the path of duty; and then we can count, with unwavering confidence, upon our ever faithful and gracious God, for the need of each day, as it rolls along. and, in due time, we shall reap the precious fruit of our labour, according to the appointment of God, and in pursuance of the enactments of His moral government.
We do not attempt to lay down any rules or regulations for the training. We do not believe in such. Children cannot be trained by dry rules. Who could attempt to embody in rules all that is wrapped up in that one sentence, "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"!
Here we have, indeed, a golden rule which takes in everything from the cradle to matured manhood. Yes, we repeat, "from the cradle;" for we are most fully persuaded that all true Christian training begins at the very beginning. Some of us have little idea of how soon and how sharply children begin to observe; and how much they take in as they gaze at us through their dear expressive eyes.
And then how marvellously susceptible they are of the word atmosphere which surrounds them! Yes; and it is this very moral atmosphere that constitutes the grand secret of training our families. Our children should be permitted to breathe, from day to day, the atmosphere of love and peace, purity, holiness and true practical righteousness. This has an amazing effect in forming the character. It is a great thing for our children to see their parents walking in love, in harmony, in tender care one for the other; in kind consideration for the servants; in love and sympathy for the poor. Who can measure the moral effect upon a child of the very first angry look, or unkind word between father and mother And in cases where the daily history is one of unsightly strife and contention, the father contradicting the mother, and the mother disparaging the father; how are children to grow in such an atmosphere as this?
The fact is, it is not within the compass of human language to set forth all that is involved in the moral tone of the entire family circle - the spirit, style, and atmosphere of the whole household, the drawing room, the dining-room, the nursery, the kitchen, where circumstances admit of such distinctions, or where the family have to confine themselves to two rooms. It is not a question of rank, position or wealth, but of the beauteous grace of God shining out in all. There may be the stalled ox, or the dinner of herbs; these are not, at present, in question But what we press on all fathers and mothers, all heads of households, high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, is the necessity of training their children in an atmosphere of love and peace, truth and holiness, purity and kindness. Thus will their households be the practical exhibition of the character of God; and all who come in contact with them will, a least, have before their eyes a practical witness to the truth of Christianity.
But, ere we turn from the subject of domestic government, there is one special point to which we desire to call the attention of Christian parents - a point of the utmost possible moment, yet too much neglected amongst us, and that is the need of inculcating upon our children the duty of implicit obedience. This cannot be too strongly insisted upon, inasmuch as it not only affects the order and comfort of our households; but, what is infinitely more important, it concerns the glory of God, and the practical carrying out of His truth. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right." And again, "Children, obey your parents in all Things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." (Eph. 6; Col. 3.)
This is absolutely essential, and must be firmly insisted upon, from the very outset. The child must be taught to obey, from his earliest moments. He must be trained to submit himself to divinely appointed authority, and that, as the apostle puts it, "in all things." If this be not attended to from the very first, it will be found almost impossible to attend to it afterwards. If the will be allowed to act, it grows, with terrible rapidity, and each day’s growth increases the difficulty of bringing it under control. Hence, the parent should begin at once, to establish his authority, on a basis of moral strength and firmness; and, when this is done, he may be as gentle and tender as the most loving heart could desire. We do not believe in sternness, harshness or severity. They are, by no means, necessary, and are generally the accompaniments of bad training and the proofs of bad temper. God has put into the parent’s hand the reins of government, and the rod of authority; but it is not needful - if we may so express it - to be continually chucking the reins and brandishing the rod, which are the sure proofs of moral weakness. Whenever you hear a man continually talking about his authority, you may be sure his authority is not properly established. There is a quiet dignity about true moral power which is perfectly unmistakable.
Furthermore, we judge it to be a mistake for a parent to be perpetually crossing a child’s will, in matters of no moment. Such a line of action tends to break the child’s spirit, whereas the object of all sound training is to break the will. The child should ever be impressed with the idea that the parent seeks only his real good; and that if he has to refuse or prohibit anything, it is not for the purpose of curtailing the child’s enjoyment, but simply for the promotion of his true interests.
One grand object of domestic government is to protect each member of the household in the enjoyment of his privileges, and in the proper discharge of his relative duties. Now, inasmuch as it is the divinely appointed duty of a child to obey, the parent is responsible to see this duty discharged, for if it be neglected, some other members of the domestic circle must suffer.
There can be no greater nuisance in a house than a naughty wilful child; and, as a general rule, wherever you find such, it is to be traced to bad training. We are aware, of course, that children differ in temper and disposition; that some children have peculiarly strong wills and sturdy tempers, and are therefore specially hard to manage.
All this we quite understand; but it leaves wholly untouched the question of the parent’s responsibility to insist upon implicit obedience. He can always count on God for the needed grace and power to carry out this point. Even in the case of a widowed mother, we believe, most assuredly, she can look to God to enable her to command her children and her household. In no case, therefore, should parental authority be surrendered, for a moment.
It sometimes happens that, through injudicious fondness, the parent is tempted to pamper the will of the child; but it is sowing to the flesh, and must yield corruption. It is not true love, at all, to indulge a child’s will; neither can it possibly minister to his true happiness or legitimate enjoyment. An overindulged, self-willed child is miserable himself, and a grievous infliction on all who have to do with him. Children should be taught to think of others; and to seek to promote their comfort and happiness in every way. How very unseemly it is, for example, for a child to enter the house and ascend the stairs whistling, singing and shouting, in total disregard of other members of the household who may be seriously disturbed and annoyed by such conduct! No properly trained child would think of acting in such a way; and where such unsubdued, unruly, inconsiderate conduct is allowed, there is a serious defect in the domestic government.
It is essential to family peace, harmony and comfort, that all the members should "consider one another." We are responsible to seek the good and the happiness of those around us, and not our own. If all would but remember this, what different households we should have; and what a different tale would families have to tell! Every Christian household should be the reflection of the divine character. The atmosphere should just be the very atmosphere of heaven. How is this to be? Simply by each one, parent, child, master and servant seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, and manifest His Spirit. He never pleased Himself; never sought His own interest, in anything. He did always the thing that pleased the Father. He came to serve and to give. He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Thus it was ever with that most blessed One - the gracious, loving, sympathising Friend of all the sons and daughters of want, weakness and sorrow; and if only the various members of each Christian family were formed on this perfect model, we should, at least, realise something of the power and efficacy of personal and domestic Christianity, which, blessed be God, can ever be maintained and exhibited, notwithstanding the hopeless ruin of the professing church. "Thou and thy house" suggests a great golden principle which runs through the volume of God, from beginning to end. In every age, under every dispensation, in the days of the Patriarchs, in the days of the Law, and in the days of Christianity, we find, to our exceeding comfort and encouragement, that personal and domestic godliness has its place as something grateful to the heart of God and to the glory of His holy Name.
This we consider to be most consolatory, at all times, but more particularly at a time, like the Present, when the professing church seems so rapidly sinking into gross worldliness and open infidelity; and not this only, but when those who most earnestly desire to walk in obedience to the word of God, and to act on the grand foundation truth of the unity of the body, find it so difficult to maintain a corporate testimony. In view of all this, we may well bless God, with overflowing hearts, that personal and family piety can always be maintained, and that from the heart and the home of every Christian a constant stream of praise may ascend to the throne of God, and a stream of active benevolence flow out to a needy, sorrowful, sin-stricken world. May it be so, more and more, through the mighty ministry of God the Holy Ghost, that God, in all things, may be glorified, in the hearts and homes of His beloved people!
We have now to consider the very solemn warning addressed to the congregation of Israel, against the terrible sin of idolatry - a sin to which alas! the poor human heart is ever prone in one way or another. It is quite possible to be guilty of the sin of idolatry without bowing down before a graven image; wherefore it behoves us to weigh well the words of warning which fell from the lips of Israel’s venerable lawgiver. They are, most assuredly, written for our learning.
"And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness" - solemn and suited accompaniments of the occasion! - "And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire" - Oh, how differently He speaks in the gospel of His grace! - "Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude" - important fact for them to ponder! - "only a voice" - And "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." - "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me, at that time, to teach you statutes and judgements" - not that they might discuss them, sit in judgement upon them, or argue about them, but - "that ye might do them" - the grand old story, the Deuteronomic theme of obedience, most precious! whether out of or - "in the land whither ye go over to possess it."
Here lies the solid ground of the appeal against idolatry. They saw nothing. God did not show Himself to them. He did not assume any bodily shape of which they might form an image. He gave them His word, His holy commandments, so plain that a child could understand them, and the wayfaring men though fools need not err therein. There was no need for them therefore to set about imagining what God was like; nay, this was the very sin against which they were so faithfully warned. They were called to hear God’s voice, not to see His shape - to obey His commandments, not to make an image of Him. Superstition vainly seeks to do honour to God by forming and worshipping an image. Faith, on the contrary, lovingly receives and reverently obeys His holy commandments. "If a man love me," says our blessed Lord, "he will" - what? make an image of me, and worship it? Nay, but "he will keep my words." This makes it so simple, so safe, so certain. We are not called to work up our minds to form any conception of God. We have simply to hear His word and keep His commandments. We can have no idea whatever of God, but as He has been pleased to reveal Himself. ’No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Jesus is declared to be the brightness of God’s Glory and the exact impression of His substance. He could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Thus the Son reveals the Father; and it is by the word, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that we know anything of the Son; and therefore for any one to attempt, by any efforts of his mind or workings of his imagination to conceive an image of God, or of Christ, is simply idolatry. To endeavour to arrive at any knowledge of God or of Christ, save by scripture, is simply mysticism and confusion; nay more, it is to put ourselves directly into the hands of the devil, to be led by him into the wildest, darkest, and deadliest delusion.
Hence, therefore, as Israel, at mount Horeb, was shut up to the "voice" of God, and warned against any similitude; so we are shut up to holy scripture, and warned against everything which would draw us away, the breadth of a hair, from that holy and all-sufficient standard. We must not listen to the suggestions of our own minds, nor to those of any other human mind. We must absolutely and sternly refuse to listen to anything but the voice of God - the voice of holy scripture. Here is true security, true rest. Here we have absolute certainty, so that we can say, "I know whom" - not merely what - "I have believed; and am persuaded that he," &c.
"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,) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth; 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 divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 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.
There is a very weighty truth set before us here. The people are expressly taught that in making any image and bowing down thereto, they, in reality, lowered and corrupted themselves. Hence, when they made the golden calf, the Lord said unto Moses, "Go, get thee down; for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves." It could not be otherwise. The worshipper must be inferior to the object of his worship; and therefore, in worshipping a calf, they actually put themselves below the level of the beasts that perish. Well, therefore, might He say, They "have corrupted themselves; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."
What a spectacle! A whole congregation, led by Aaron the high priest, bowing in worship before a thing formed by a graving tool out of the ear-rings which had just been taken from the ears of their wives and daughters! Only conceive a number of intelligent beings, people endowed with reason, understanding and conscience, saying of a molten calf, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!" They actually displaced Jehovah by an image graven by art and man’s device! And these were the people who had seen the mighty works of Jehovah, in the land of Egypt. They had seen plague after plague falling upon Egypt and its obdurate king. They had seen the land, as it were, shaken to its very centre, by the successive strokes of Jehovah’s governmental rod. They had seen Egypt’s first-born laid in death by the sword of the-destroying angel. They had seen the Red Sea divided by one stroke of Jehovah’s rod, and they had passed through upon dry ground between those crystal walls which afterwards fell, in crushing power, upon their enemies.
All these things had passed before their eyes; and yet they could, so soon, forget all, and say, of a molten calf, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Did they really believe that a molten image had made the land of Egypt to tremble, humbled its proud monarch, and brought them forth victoriously? Had a calf divided the sea for them, and led them majestically through its depths? So, at least, they said; for what will people not say when the eye and the heart are turned away from God and His word?
But, we may, perhaps, be asked, "Has all this a voice for us? Are Christians to learn anything from Israel’s molten calf? And do the warnings addressed to Israel against idolatry convey any voice to the ear of the church? Are we in danger of bowing down to a graven image? Is it possible, that we, whose high privilege it is to walk in the full-orbed light of New Testament Christianity, could ever worship a molten calf? "
To all this we reply, first of all, in the language of Romans 15: 4, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime" - Exodus 32 and Deuteronomy 4 included - "were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." This brief passage contains our chartered right to range through the wide field of Old Testament scripture and gather up and appropriate its golden lessons, to feed upon its "exceeding great and precious promises;" to drink in its deep and varied consolation; and to profit by its solemn warnings, and wholesome admonitions.
And then, as to our being capable of, or liable to, the gross sin of idolatry, we have a striking answer in? 1 Corinthians 10 where the inspired apostle uses the very scene at mount Horeb, as a warning to the church of God. We cannot do better than quote the entire passage for the reader. There is nothing like the word of God May we love, prize and reverence it more and more, each day!
"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud," - those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, as well as those who reached the land of promise - "and all passed through the sea; and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ" - how strong, how solemn, and how searching is this for all professors! - "But with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our ensamples" - let us carefully mark this - "to the intent we should not lust after evil things" - things in any way contrary to the mind of Christ - "as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters" - so that professing Christians may be idolaters - "as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are met. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Here we learn, in the plainest manner, that there is no depth of sin and folly, no form of moral pravity into which we are not capable of plunging, at any moment, if not kept by the mighty power of God. There is no security for us save in the moral shelter of the divine presence. We know that the Spirit of God does not warn us against things to which we are not liable. He would not say to us, "Neither be ye idolaters," if we were not capable of being such. Idolatry takes various shapes. It is not therefore a question of the shape of the thing, but of the thing itself; not the outward form, but the root or principle of the thing. We read that, "covetousness is idolatry;" and that a covetous man is an idolater. That is, a man desiring to possess himself of more than God has given him is an idolater - is actually guilty of the sin of Israel when they made the golden calf and worshipped it. Well might the blessed apostle say to the Corinthians - say to us, "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." Why be warned to flee from a thing to which we are not liable? Are there any idle words in the volume of God ? What mean those closing words of the first epistle of John, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols"? Do they not tell us that we are in danger of worshipping idols? Assuredly they do. Our treacherous hearts are capable of departing from the living God, and setting up, some other object beside Him; and what is this but idolatry? whatever commands the heart is the heart’s idol, be it what it may, money, pleasure, power or ought else; so that we may well see the urgent need for the many warnings given us by the Holy Ghost against the sin of idolatry.
But we have, in Galatians 4, a very remarkable passage, and one which speaks, in most impressive accents, to the professing church. The Galatians had, like all other Gentiles, worshipped idols; but, on the reception of the gospel, had turned from idols to serve the living and true God. The Judaising teachers, however, had come among them, and taught them that unless they were circumcised and kept the law, they could not be saved.
Now this the blessed apostle unhesitatingly pronounces to be idolatry - a going back to the grossness and moral degradation of their former days, and all this after having professed to receive the glorious gospel of Christ. Hence the moral force of the apostle’s inquiry, "Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God [or rather are known of God], how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."
This is peculiarly striking. The Galatians were not outwardly going back to the worship of idols. Is it not improbable that they would have indignantly repudiated any such idea. But, for all that, the inspired apostle asks them, "How turn ye again?" What does this inquiry mean, if they were not going back to idolatry? And what are we, now, to learn from the whole passage? Simply this, that circumcision, and getting under the law, and observing days, and months, and times, and years - that all this, though apparently so different, was nothing, more or less, than going back to their old idolatry. The observance of days and the worship of false gods were both a turning away from the living and true God; from His Son Jesus Christ; from the Holy Ghost; from that brilliant cluster of dignities and glories which belong to Christianity.
All this is peculiarly solemn for professing Christians. We question if the full import of Galatians 4: 8-10 is really apprehended by the great majority of those who profess to believe the Bible. We solemnly press this whole subject upon the attention of all whom it may concern. We pray God to use it for the purpose of stirring up the hearts and consciences of His people everywhere to consider their position, their habits, ways, and associations; and to inquire how far they are really following the example of the assemblies of Galatia; in the observance of saints’ days and such-like, which can only lead away from Christ and His glorious salvation. There is a day coming which will open the eyes of thousands to the reality of these things; and then they will see what they now refuse to see, that the very darkest and grossest forms of paganism may be reproduced under the name of Christianity, and in connection with the very highest truths that ever shone on the human understanding.
But, however slow we may be to admit our tendency to fall into the sin of idolatry, it is very plain, in Israel’s case, that Moses, as taught and inspired of God, felt the deep need of warning them against it, in the most solemn and affecting terms. He appeals to them on every possible ground, and reiterates his counsels and admonitions in a manner so impressive as to leave them, assuredly, without any excuse. They never could say that they fell into idolatry from want of warning, or of the most gracious and affectionate entreaty. Take such words as the following, "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." (Ver. 20.)
Could anything be more affecting than this? Jehovah, in His rich and sovereign grace, and by His mighty hand brought them forth from the land of death and darkness, a redeemed and delivered people. He had brought them to Himself, that they might be to Him a peculiar treasure, above all the people upon earth. How then could they turn away from Him, from His holy covenant, and from His precious commandments?
Alas! alas! they could and did. They made a calf; and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Think of this! A calf, made by their own hands - an image, graven by art and man’s device, had brought them up out of Egypt! A thing made out of the women’s earrings, had redeemed and delivered them! And this has been written for our admonition. But why should it be written for us, if we are not capable of, and liable to, the very same sin! We must either admit that God the Holy Ghost has penned an unnecessary sentence, or admit our need of an admonition against the sin of idolatry; and, assuredly, our needing the admonition proves our tendency to the sin
Are we Better than Israel? In no wise. We have brighter light and higher privileges; but, so far as we are concerned, we are made of the same material, have the same capabilities, and the same tendencies as they. Our idolatry may take a different shape from theirs; but idolatry is idolatry, be the shape what it may; and the higher our privileges, the greater our sin. We may, perhaps, feel disposed to wonder how a rational people could be guilty of such egregious folly as to make a calf and bow down to it, and this, too, after having had such a display of the majesty, power and glory of God. Let us remember that their folly is recorded for our admonition; and that we, with all our light, all our knowledge, all our privileges, are warned to "flee from idolatry."
Let us deeply ponder all this and seek to profit by it. May every chamber of our hearts be filled with Christ, and then we shall have no room for idols. This is our only safeguard. If we slip away, the breadth of a hair, from our precious Saviour and Shepherd, we are capable of plunging into the darkest forms of error and moral evil. Light, knowledge, spiritual privileges, church position, sacramental benefits are no security for the soul. They are very good, in their right place, and if rightly used; but, in themselves, they only increase our moral danger.
Nothing can keep us safe, right and happy, but having Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith. Abiding in Him and He in us, the wicked one toucheth us not. But if personal communion he not diligently maintained, the higher our position, the greater our danger and the more disastrous our fall. There was not a nation beneath the canopy of heaven more favoured and exalted than Israel, when they gathered round mount Horeb to hear the word of God. There was not a nation on the face of the earth more degraded or more guilty than they when they bowed before the golden calf, an image of their own formation.
We must now give our attention to a fact of very deep interest, presented at verse 21 of our chapter, and that is that Moses, for the third time, reminds the congregation of God’s judicial dealing with himself. He had spoken of it, as we have seen, in Deut. 1: 37; and again at Deut. 3: 26; and here, again, he says to them, "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; but I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan; but ye shall go over and possess that good land."
Now, we may ask, why this threefold reference to the same fact? And why the special mention, in each instance, of the circumstance that Jehovah was angry with him on their account? One thing is certain, it was not for the purpose of throwing the blame over upon the people, or of exculpating himself. No one but an infidel could think this. We believe the simple object was to give increased word force to his appeal, more solemnity to his warning voice. If Jehovah was angry with such a one as Moses; if he, for his unadvised speaking at the waters of Meribah, was forbidden to enter the promised land - much as he desired it - how needful for them to take heed! It is a serious thing to have to do with God - blessed, no doubt, beyond all human expression or thought; but most serious, as the lawgiver himself was called to prove in his own person.
That this is the correct view of this interesting question seems evident from the following words, "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 anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."
This is peculiarly solemn. We must allow this statement to have its full moral weight with our souls. We must not attempt to turn aside its sharp edge by any false notions about grace. We sometimes hear it said that " God is a consuming fire to the world." By-and-by He will be so, no doubt; but now He is dealing in grace, patience, and long-suffering mercy with the world. He is not dealing in judgement with the world now. But, as the apostle Peter tells us, "The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God" So also, in Hebrews 12. we read, "For our God is a consuming fire." He is not speaking of what God will be to the world, but of what He is to us. Neither is it, as some put it, "God is a consuming fire out of Christ." We know nothing of God out of Christ. He could not be "our God" out of Christ.
No, reader; scripture does not need such twistings and turnings. It must be taken as it stands. It is clear and distinct; and all we have to do is to hearken and obey. "Our God is a consuming fire," "a jealous God," not to consume us, blessed be His holy Name; but to consume the evil in us and in our ways. He is intolerant of everything in us that is contrary to Himself - contrary to His holiness; and, therefore contrary to our true happiness, our real, solid blessing. As the "Holy Father" He keeps us, in a way worthy of Himself; and He chastens us, in order to make us partakers of His holiness. He allows the world to go on its way for the present, not interfering publicly with it. But He judges His house, and He chastens His children in order that they may more fully answer to His mind, and be the expression of His moral image.
And is not this an immense privilege? Yes, verily, it is a privilege of the very highest order - a privilege flowing from the infinite grace of our God who condescends to interest Himself in us, and occupy Himself even with Our infirmities, our failures and our sins, in order to deliver us from them, and to make us partakers of His holiness.
There is a very fine passage bearing upon this subject, in the opening of Hebrews 12 which, because of its immense practical importance, we must quote for the reader. "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees."
There are three ways of meeting divine chastening: we may "despise" it, as something common-place, something that may happen to any one. We do not see the hand of God in it; Again, we may "faint" under it, as something too heavy for us to bear, something entirely beyond endurance. We do not see the Father’s heart in it, or recognise His gracious object in it, namely, to make us partakers of His holiness. Lastly, we may be "exercised by it." This is the way to reap "the peaceable fruit of righteousness, afterward;" We dare not "despise" a thing in which we trace the hand of God. We need not "faint" under a trial in which we plainly discern the heart of a loving Father who will not suffer us to be tried above what we are able; but will with the trial make an issue, that we may be able to bear it; and who also graciously explains to us His object in the discipline, and assures us that every stroke of His rod is a proof of His love, and a direct response to the prayer of Christ, in John 17: 11, wherein He commends us to the care of the "Holy Father," to be kept according to that name and all that name involves.
Furthermore, there are three distinct attitudes of heart in reference to divine chastening, namely, subjection, acquiescence and rejoicing. When the will is broken, there is subjection when the understanding is enlightened as to the object of the chastening, there is calm acquiescence. And when the affections are engaged with the Father’s heart, there is rejoicing, and we can go forth with glad hearts to reap a golden harvest of the peaceable fruit of righteousness to the praise of Him who, in His painstaking love, undertakes to care for us and to deal with us in holy government, and concentrate His care upon each one as though there were but that one to attend to.
How wonderful is all this! Grand how the thought of it should help us in all our trials and exercises! we are in the hands of One whose love is infinite, whose wisdom is unerring, whose power is omnipotent, whose resources are inexhaustible. Why then should we ever be cast down If He chastens us, it is because He loves us and seeks our real good. We may think the chastening grievous. We may feel disposed to wonder, at times, how love can inflict pain and sickness upon us; but we must remember that divine love is wise and faithful, and only inflicts the pain, the sickness or the sorrow for our profit and blessing. We must not always judge of love by the form in which it clothes itself. Look at that fond and tender mother applying a blister to her child whom she loves as her own soul. She knows full well that the blister will cause her child real pain and suffering; and yet she unhesitatingly applies it, though her heart feels keenly at having to do it. But she knows it is absolutely necessary; she believes that, humanly and medically speaking, the child’s life depends upon it. She feels that a few moments’ pain may, with the blessing of God, restore the health of her precious child. Thus, while the child is only occupied with the transient suffering, the mother is thinking of the permanent good; and if the child could but think with the mother, the blister would not seem so hard to bear.
Now it is just thus in the matter of our Father’s disciplinary dealings with us; and the remembrance of this would greatly help us to endure whatever His chastening hand may lay upon us. It may perhaps be said that there is a very wide difference between a blister laid on for a few minutes, and years of intense bodily suffering. No doubt there is; but there is also a very wide difference between the result reached in each case. It is only with the principle of the thing we have to do. When we see a beloved child of God, or servant of Christ, called to pass through years of intense suffering, we may feel disposed to wonder why it is; and perhaps the beloved sufferer may also feel disposed to wonder; and, as times, be ready to faint under the weight of his long protracted affliction He may feel led to cry out "Why am I thus? Can this be love? Can this be the expression of a Father’s tender care?" "Yes, verily," is faith’s bright and decided reply. "It is all love - all divinely right. I would not have it otherwise for worlds. I know this transient suffering is working out eternal blessing. I know my loving Father has put me into this furnace to purge away my dross, and bring out in me the expression of His own image. I know that divine love will always do the very best for its object, and therefore this intense suffering is the very best thing for me. Of course, I feel it, for I am not a stick or a stone. My Father means me to feel it, just as the mother means the blister to rise, for it would do no good otherwise. But I bless Him, with my whole heart, for the grace that shines in the wondrous fact of His occupying Himself with me, in this way, to correct what He sees to be wrong in me. I praise Him for putting me into the furnace; and how can I but praise Him, when I see Himself, in infinite grace and patience, sitting over the furnace to watch the process, and lift me out the moment the work is done!"
This, beloved Christian reader, is the true way, and this the right spirit in which to pass through chastening of any kind, be it bodily affliction, sore bereavement, loss of property, or pressure of circumstances. We have to trace the hand of God, to read a Father’s heart, to recognise the divine object in it all. This will enable us to vindicate, justify and glorify God, in the furnace of affliction. It will correct every murmuring thought, and hush every fretful utterance. It will fill our hearts with sweetest peace and our mouths with praise.
We must now turn, for a few moments, to the remaining verses of our chapter, in which we shall find some most touching and powerful appeals to the heart and conscience of the congregation. The lawgiver, in the deep, true and fervent love of his heart, makes use of the most solemn warnings, the most earnest admonition, and the most tender entreaties, in order to move the people to the one grand and all-important point of obedience. If he speaks to them of the iron furnace of Egypt, out of which Jehovah, in His sovereign grace, had delivered them; if he dwells upon the mighty signs and wonders wrought on their behalf; if he holds up to their view the glories of that land on which they were about to plant their foot; or if he recounts the marvellous dealings of God with them in the wilderness - it is all for the purpose of strengthening the moral basis of Jehovah’s claim upon their loving and reverent obedience. The past, the present, and the future are all brought to bear upon them - all made to furnish powerful arguments in favour of their whole-hearted consecration of themselves to the service of their gracious and Almighty Deliverer. In short, there was every reason why they should obey; and no possible excuse for disobedience. All the facts of their history, from first to last, were eminently calculated to give moral force to the exhortation and warning of the following passage.
"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 anything, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. 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 anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger; 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. 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. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell."
How solemn is all this! What faithful warnings are here! Heaven and earth are summoned to witness. Alas! how soon and how completely all this was forgotten! And how literally all those heavy denunciations have been fulfilled in the history of the nation!
But, thank God, there is a bright side of the picture. There is mercy as well as judgement; and our God, blessed for ever be His holy Name, is something more than "a consuming fire and a jealous God." True, He is a consuming fire, because He is holy. He is intolerant of evil, and must consume our dross. Moreover, He is jealous because He cannot suffer any rival to have a place in the hearts of those He loves. He must have the whole heart, because He alone is worthy of it, as He alone can fill and satisfy it for ever. And if His people turn away from Him, and go after idols of their own making, they must be left to reap the bitter fruit of their own doings, and to prove, by sad and terrible experience, the truth of these words, "their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another."
But mark how touchingly Moses presents to the people the bright side of things - a brightness springing from the eternal stability of the grace of God, and the perfect provision which that grace has made for all His people’s need, from first to last. "But," he says - and oh! how lovely are some of the "buts" of holy scripture! - "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" - exquisite grace! - "when thou art in tribulation" - that is the time to find what our God is - "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." - What then? "A consuming fire?" Nay; but "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."
Here we have a remarkable onlook into Israel’s future, their departure from God, and consequent dispersion among the nations; the complete breaking up of their polity, and the passing away of their national glory. But, blessed for ever be the God of all grace, there is something beyond all this failure, and sin, and ruin and judgement. When we get to the far end of Israel’s melancholy history - a history which my truly be summed up in that one brief but comprehensive sentence, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself," we are met by the magnificent display of the grace, mercy and faithfulness of Jehovah, the God of their fathers whose heart of love tells itself out in that added sentence, "In me is thy help." Yes; the whole matter is wrapped up in these two vigorous sentences, "Thou hast destroyed thyself" - "But in me is thy help." In the former, we have the sharp arrow for Israel’s conscience; in the latter, the soothing balm for Israel’s broken heart.
In thinking of the nation of Israel, there are two pages which we have to study, namely, the historic and the prophetic. The page of history records, with unerring faithfulness, their utter ruin. The page of prophecy unfolds in accents of matchless grace, God’s remedy. Israel’s past has been dark and gloomy. Israel’s future will be bright and glorious. In the former, we see the miserable actings of man; in the latter, the blessed ways of God. That gives the forcible illustration of what man is; this, the bright display of what God is. We must look at both, if we would understand aright the history of this remarkable people - "a people terrible from their beginning hitherto" - and we may truly add, a people wonderful to the end of time.
We do not, of course, attempt to adduce, in this place, proofs of our statement as to Israel’s past and Israel’s future. To do so would, we may say, without any exaggeration, demand a volume, inasmuch as it would simply be to quote a very large portion of the historical books of the Bible, on the one hand; and of the prophetic books, on the other. This, we need hardly say, is out of the question; but we feel bound to press upon the reader’s attention the precious teaching contained in the quotation given above. It embodies, in its brief compass, the whole truth as to Israel’s past, present and future. Mark how their past is vividly portrayed in these few words, "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 anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger.
Is not this precisely what they have done? Is it not here, as it were, in a nutshell? They have done evil in the sight of Jehovah their God, to provoke Him to anger. That one word, "evil" takes all in, from the calf at Horeb to the cross at Calvary. Such is Israel’s past.
And, now, what of their present. Are they not a standing monument of the imperishable truth of God? Has a single jot or tittle failed of all that God has spoken Hearken to these glowing words: "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. 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."
Has not all this been fulfilled to the letter? Who can question it! Israel’s past and Israel’s present alike attest the truth of God’s word. And, are we not justified in declaring that, inasmuch as the past and present are a literal accomplishment of the truth of God, so shall the future assuredly. The page of history and the page of prophecy were both indited by the same Spirit; and therefore they are both alike true; and as the history records Israel’s sin and Israel’s dispersion, so doth the prophecy predict Israel’s repentance and Israel’s restoration. The one is as true to faith as the other. As surely as Israel sinned in the past, and are scattered at the present, so surely shall they repent and be restored in the future.
This, we conceive, is beyond all question; and we rejoice to think of it. There is not one of the prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi, that does not, most distinctly, set forth, in accents of sweetest grace and most tender mercy, the future blessing, pre-eminence and glory of the seed of Abraham.* It would be simply delightful to quote some of the sublime passages bearing upon this most interesting subject; but we must leave the reader to search them out for himself, specially commending to his notice the precious passages contained in the closing chapters of Isaiah, in which he will find a perfect feast, as well as the fullest confirmation of the apostle’s statement that "All Israel shall be saved." All the prophets, "from Samuel and those that follow after" agree as to this. The teachings of the New Testament harmonise with the voices of the prophets; and hence to call in question the truth of Israel’s restoration to their own land, and final blessing there, under the rule of their own Messiah, is simply to ignore or deny the testimony of Prophets and apostles, speaking and writing by the direct inspiration of God the Holy Ghost; it is to set aside a body of scripture evidence perfectly overwhelming.
{*Jonah, of course, is an exception, his mission was to Nineveh. He is the only prophet whose commission had exclusive reference to the Gentiles.}
It seems passing strange that any true lover of Christ should seek to do this; yet so it is, and so it has been, through religious prejudice, theological bias, and various other causes. But, notwithstanding all this, the glorious truth of Israel’s restoration and pre-eminence in the earth shines with undimmed lustre on the prophetic page, and all who seek to set it aside, or interfere with it, in any way, are not only flying in the face of holy scripture-contradicting the unanimous voice of apostles and prophets, but also seeking to tamper - ignorantly and unwittingly, no doubt-with the counsel, purpose and promise of the Lord God of Israel, and to nullify His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
This is serious work for any one to engage in; and we believe many are doing it without being aware of it; for we must understand that any one who applies the promises made to the Old Testament fathers to the New Testament church is, in reality, doing the serious work of which we speak. We maintain that no one has the slightest warrant to alienate the promises made to the fathers. We may learn from those promises; delight in them; draw comfort and encouragement from their eternal stability and direct literal application. All this is blessedly true; but it is another thing altogether for men, under the influence of a system of interpretation falsely called "spiritualism," to apply to the church or to believers of New Testament times, prophecies which, as simply and plainly as words can indicate, apply to Israel - to the literal seed of Abraham.
This is what we consider so very serious. We believe we have very little idea of how thoroughly opposed all this is to the mind and heart of God. He loves Israel - loves them for the fathers’ sake; and we may rest assured He will not sanction our interference with their place, their portion, or their prospect. We are all familiar with the words of the inspired apostle, in Romans 11, however we may have missed or forgotten their true import and moral force.
Speaking of Israel, in connection with the olive tree of promise, he says, " And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in; for" - the most simple, solid and blessed of all reasons - "God is able" - as He is most surely willing - "to graff them in again. For if thou were cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.* And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed in your mercy (or mercy to you. See Greek] that they also may obtain mercy." That is, that instead of coming in on the ground of law, or fleshly descent, they should come in simply on the ground of sovereign mercy, just as the Gentiles-"For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."
{*The reader must seize the difference between "The fullness of the Gentiles" in Romans 11, and "The times of the Gentiles" in Luke 21. The former refers to those who are now being gathered into the church. The latter, on the contrary, refers to the times of Gentile supremacy which began with Nebuchadnezzar, and runs on to the time when "the stone cut out without hands" shall fall, in crushing power, upon the great image of Daniel 2.}
Here ends the section bearing upon our immediate subject; but we cannot refrain from quoting the splendid doxology which bursts forth from the overflowing heart of the inspired apostle as he closes the grand dispensational division of his epistle: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who hath know the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, - as the source - "and through him" - as the channel - "and to him" - as the object - "are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."
The foregoing splendid passage, as indeed all scripture, is in perfect keeping with the teaching of the fourth chapter of our book. Israel’s present condition is the fruit of their dark unbelief. Israel’s future glory will be the fruit of God’s rich sovereign mercy. "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. 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" - The utmost bounds of time and space were to be appealed to, to see - "whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and lived 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? Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee, and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire."
Here we have set forth, with singular moral power, the grand object of all the divine actings on Israel’s behalf. It was that they might know that Jehovah was the one true and living God; and that there was, and could be none beside Him. In a word, it was the purpose of God that Israel should be a witness for Him on the earth; and so they, most assuredly, shall; though hitherto they have signally failed, and caused His great and holy Name to be blasphemed among the nations. Nothing can hinder the purpose of God. His covenant shall stand for ever. Israel shall yet be a blessed and effective witness for God on the earth, and a channel of rich and everlasting blessing to all nations. Jehovah has pledged His word as to this; and not all the powers of earth and hell, men and devils combined, can hinder the full accomplishment of all that He has spoken. His glory is involved in Israel’s future; and if a single jot or tittle of His word were to fail, it would be a dishonour cast upon His great Name, and an occasion for the enemy, which is utterly impossible. Israel’s future blessing and Jehovah’s glory are bound together by a link which can never be snapped. If this be not clearly seen, we can neither understand Israel’s past nor Israel’s future. Nay more, we may assert, with all possible confidence, that unless this blessed fact be fully grasped, our system of prophetic interpretation must be utterly false.
But there is another truth set forth in our chapter - a truth of peculiar interest and preciousness. It is not merely that the glory of Jehovah is involved in Israel’s future restoration and blessedness; the love of His heart is also engaged. This comes out with touching sweetness, in the following words: "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; 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."
Thus the truth of God’s word, the glory of His great Name, and the love of His heart are all involved in His dealings with the seed of Abraham His friend; and albeit they have broken the law, dishonoured His Name, despised His mercy, rejected His prophets, crucified His Son, and resisted His Spirit - although they have done all this, and, in consequence thereof, are scattered and peeled and broken, and shall yet pass through unexampled tribulation - yet will the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob glorify His Name, make good His word, and manifest the changeless love of His heart, in the future history of His earthly people. "Nothing changeth God’s affection." Whom He loves, and as He loves, He loves unto the end.
If we deny this, in reference to Israel, we have not so much as a single inch of solid standing ground for ourselves, If we touch the truth of God in one department, we have no security as to anything. "Scripture cannot be broken." "All the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen, unto the glory of God." God has pledged Himself to the seed of Abraham. He has promised to give them the land of Canaan, for ever: "His gifts and calling are without repentance." He never repents of His gift or His call; and therefore for any one to attempt to alienate His promises and His gifts, or to interfere, in any way, with their application to their true and proper object, must be a grievous offence to Him. It mars the integrity of divine truth, deprives us of all certainty in the interpretation of holy scripture, and plunges the soul in darkness, doubt and perplexity.
The teaching of scripture is clear, definite and distinct. The Holy Ghost who indited the sacred Volume, means what He says, and says what He means. If He speaks of Israel, He means Israel - of Zion, He means Zion - of Jerusalem, He means Jerusalem. To apply any one of these names to the New Testament church, is to confound things that differ, and introduce a method of interpreting scripture which, from its vagueness and looseness, can only lead to the most disastrous consequences. If we handle the word of God in such a loose and careless manner, it is utterly impossible to realise its divine authority over our conscience, or exhibit its formative power, in our course, conduct and character.
We must now look, for a moment, at the powerful appeal with which Moses sums up his address in our chapter. It demands our profound and reverent attention. "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. 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." (Vers. 39, 40.)
Here we see that the moral claim upon their hearty obedience is grounded upon the revealed character of God, and His marvellous actings on their behalf. In a word, they were bound to obey-bound by every argument that could possibly act on the heart, the conscience, and the understanding. The One who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; who had made that land to tremble to its very centre, by stroke after stroke of His judicial rod; who had opened up a pathway for them through the sea; who had sent them bread from heaven, and brought forth water for them out of the flinty rock; and all this for the glory of His great Name, and because He loved their fathers - surely He was entitled to their whole-hearted obedience.
This is the grand argument, so eminently characteristic of this blessed book of Deuteronomy. And, surely, this is full of instruction for Christians now. If Israel were morally bound to obey, how much more are we! If their motives and objects were powerful, how much more so are ours! Do we feel their power? Do we consider them in our hearts? Do we ponder the claims of Christ upon us? Do we remember that we are not our own, but bought with a price, even the infinitely precious price of the blood of Christ? Do we realise this? Are we seeking: to live for Him. Is His glory our ruling object, His love our constraining motive? Or, are we living for ourselves? Are we seeking to get on in the world-that world that crucified our blessed Lord and Saviour? Are we seeking to make money? Do we love it in our hearts, either for its own sake or for the sake of what it can procure? Does money govern us? Are we seeking a place in the world, either for ourselves or for our children? Let us honestly challenge our hearts, as in the divine presence, in the light of God’s truth, what is our object - our real, governing, cherished, heart-sought object?
Reader, these are searching questions. Let us not put them aside. Let us really weigh them in the very light of the judgement-seat of Christ. We believe they are wholesome, much needed questions. We live in very solemn times. There is a fearful amount of sham on every side; and in nothing is this sham so awfully apparent as in so-called religion. The very days in which our lot is cast have been sketched by a pen that never colours, never exaggerates, but always presents men and things precisely as they are. "This know also, that in the last days" - quite distinct from "The latter times" of 1 Timothy 4, - far in advance, more pronounced, more closely defined, more strongly marked, these last days in which - "perilous [or difficult] times shall come. For men shall be lovers of there own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection truce-breakers, false accusers incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more [or rather] than lovers of God." And, then, mark the crown which the inspired apostle puts upon this appalling superstructure! - "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."(2 Tim. 3: 1-5)
What a terrible picture! We have here, in a few glowing, weighty sentences, infidel Christendom; just as in 1 Timothy 4, we have superstitious Christendom. In the latter, we see popery; in the former, infidelity. Both elements are at work around us; but the latter will yet rise into prominence; indeed, even now, it is advancing with rapid strides. The very leaders and teachers of Christendom are not ashamed or afraid to attack the foundations of Christianity. A so-called Christian bishop is not ashamed or afraid to call in question the integrity of the five books of Moses, and, with them, of the whole Bible; for, most assuredly, if Moses was not the inspired writer of the Pentateuch, the entire edifice of holy scripture is swept from beneath our feet. The writings of Moses are so intimately bound up with all the other grand divisions of the divine Volume, that, if they are touched, all is gone. We boldly affirm, that if the Holy Ghost did not inspire Moses, the servant of God, to write the first five books of our English Bible, we have not an inch of solid ground to stand upon. We are positively left without a single atom of divine authority on which to rest our souls. The very pillars of our glorious Christianity are swept away, and we are left to grope our way, in hopeless perplexity, amid the conflicting opinions and theories of infidel doctors, without so much as a single ray from inspiration’s heavenly lamp.
Does this appear too strong for the reader? Does he believe that we can listen, for a moment, to the infidel denier of Moses, and yet believe in the inspiration of the Psalms, the Prophets, and the New Testament? If he does, let him be well assured he is under the power of a fatal delusion. Let him take such passages as the following, and ask himself, what do they mean, and what is wrapped up in them? Our Lord, in speaking to the Jews - who, by the way, would not have agreed with a Christian bishop in denying the authenticity of Moses - says, "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John 5: 45-47.)
Think of this. The man that does not believe in the writings of Moses - does not receive every line of his, as divinely inspired, does not believe in Christ’s words, and therefore cannot have any divinely wrought faith in Christ Himself, cannot be a Christian at all. This makes it a very serious matter for any one to deny the divine inspiration of the Pentateuch; and equally serious for any one to listen to him, or sympathise with him. It is all very well to talk of Christian charity and liberality of spirit. But we have yet to learn that it is charity or liberality to sanction, in any way, a man who has the audacity to sweep from beneath our feet the very foundations of our faith. To speak of him as a Christian bishop or a Christian minister of any kind, is only to make the matter a thousand times worse. We can understand a Voltaire or a Paine attacking the Bible. We do not look for anything else from them; but when those who assume to be the recognised and ordained ministers of religion, and the guardians of the faith of God’s elect, those who consider themselves alone entitled to teach and preach Jesus Christ, and feed and tend the church of God - when they actually call in question the inspiration of the five books of Moses, may we not well ask, where are we? What has the professing church come to?
But let us take another passage. It is the powerful appeal of the risen Saviour to the two bewildered disciples on their way to Emmaus: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." And, again, to the eleven and others with them, He says, "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me." (Luke 24: 25-27, 44.)
Here we find that our Lord, in the most distinct and positive manner, recognises the law of Moses as an integral part of the canon of inspiration, and binds it up with all the other grand divisions of the divine Volume, in such a way that it is utterly impossible to touch one without destroying the integrity of the whole. If Moses is not to be trusted, neither are the prophets nor the Psalms. They stand or fall together. And not only so; but we must either admit the divine authenticity of the Pentateuch or draw the blasphemous inference that our adorable Lord and Saviour gave the sanction of His authority to a set of spurious documents, by quoting as the writings of Moses what Moses never wrote at all! There is, positively, not a single inch of consistent standing ground between these two conclusions.
Again, take the following most weighty and important passage at the close of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: "Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16: 29-31.)
Finally, if we add to all this the fact that our Lord, in His conflict with Satan in the wilderness, quotes only from the writings of Moses, we have a body of evidence quite sufficient, not only to establish, beyond all question, the divine inspiration of Moses, but also to prove that the man who calls in question the authenticity of the first five books of the Bible, can really have no Bible, no divine revelation, no authority, no solid foundation for his faith. He may call himself, or be called by others, a Christian bishop or a Christian minister; but in solemn fact, he is a sceptic, and should be treated as such by all who believe and know the truth. We cannot understand how any one with a spark of divine life in his soul could be guilty of the awful sin of denying the inspiration of a large portion of the word of God, or asserting that our Lord Christ could quote from spurious documents.
We may be deemed severe in thus writing. It seems the fashion, now-a-days, to own as Christians those who deny the very foundations of Christianity. It is a very popular notion that, provided people are moral, amiable, benevolent, charitable and philanthropic, it is of very small consequence what they believe. Life is better than creed or dogma, we are told. All this sounds very plausible; but the reader may rest assured that the direct tendency of all this manner of speech and line of argument is to get rid of the Bible - rid of the Holy Ghost rid of Christ - rid of God - rid of all that the Bible reveals to our souls. Let him bear this in mind, and seek to keep close to the precious word of God. Let him treasure that word in his heart; and give himself, more and more, to the prayerful study of it. Thus he will be preserved from the withering influence of scepticism and infidelity, in every shape and form; his soul will be fed and nourished by the sincere milk of the word, and his whole moral being be kept in the shelter of the divine presence continually. This is what is needed. Nothing else will do.
We must now close our meditation on this marvellous chapter which has been engaging our attention; but, ere doing so, we would glance, for a moment, at the remarkable notice of the three cities of refuge. It might, to a cursory reader, seem abrupt; but, so far from that, it is, as we might expect, in Perfect and beautiful moral order. Scripture is always divinely perfect; and, if we do not see and appreciate its beauties and moral glories, it is simply owing to our blindness and insensibility.
"Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sun rising; that the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of those cities he might live. Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites."
Here we have a lovely display of the grace of God rising, as it ever does, above human weakness and failure. The two tribes and a half, in choosing their inheritance on this side Jordan, were manifestly stopping short of the proper portion of the Israel of God which lay on the other side of the river of death. But, notwithstanding this failure, God, in His abounding grace, would not leave the poor slayer without a refuge, in the day of his distress. If man cannot come up to the height of God’s thoughts, God can come down to the depths of man’s need; and so blessedly does He do so, in this case, that the two tribes and a half were to have as many cities of refuge, on this side Jordan, as the nine tribes and a half had in the land of Canaan.
This truly was grace abounding. How unlike the manner of man! How far above mere law or legal righteousness! It might, in a legal way, have been said to the two tribes and a half, "If you are going to choose your inheritance short of the divine mark, if you are content with less than Canaan, the land of promise, you must not expect to enjoy the privileges and blessings of that land. The institutions of Canaan must be confined to Canaan; and hence your manslayer must try and make his way across the Jordan and find refuge there."
Law might speak thus, but grace spoke differently God’s thoughts are not ours, nor His ways as ours. We might deem it marvellous grace to provide even one city for the two tribes and a half. But our God does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think; and hence the comparatively small district on this side Jordan was furnished with as full a provision of grace as the entire land of Canaan.
Does this prove that the two and a half tribes were right? Nay; but it proves that God was good; and that He must ever act like Himself, spite of all our weakness and folly. Could he leave a poor slayer without a place of refuge in the land of Gilead, though Gilead was not Canaan? Surely not. This would not be worthy of the One who says, "I bring near my righteousness." He took care to bring the city of refuge "near" to the slayer. He would cause His rich and precious grace to flow over and meet the needy one just where he was. Such is the way of our God, blessed be His holy Name, for evermore!
"And this is the law which Moses see before the children of Israel. These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt, on this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt: and they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sun rising; from Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon; even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, and all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah."
Here closes this marvellous discourse. The Spirit of God delights to trace the boundaries of the people, and to dwell on the most minute details connected with their history. He takes a lively and loving interest in all that concerns them - their conflicts, their victories, their possessions, all their landmarks, everything about them is dwelt upon with a minuteness which, by its touching grace and condescension, fills the heart with wonder, love and praise. Man, in his contemptible self-importance, thinks it beneath his dignity to enter upon minute details; but our God counts the hairs of our heads; puts our tears into His bottle; takes knowledge of our every care, our every sorrow, our every need. There is nothing too small for His love, as there is nothing too great for His power. He concentrates His loving care upon each one of His people as though He had only that one to attend to; and there is not a single circumstance in our private history, from day to day, however trivial, in which He does not take a loving interest.
Let us ever remember this, for our comfort; and may we learn to trust Him better, and use, with a more artless faith, His fatherly love and care. He tells us to cast all our care upon Him, in the assurance that He careth for us. He would have our hearts as free from care as our conscience is free from guilt. "Be careful for nothing; but, in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4: 6, 7.)
It is to be feared that the great majority of us know but little of the real depth, meaning and power of such words as these. We read them, and hear them; but we do not take them in, and make our own of them. We do not digest them and reduce them to practice. How little do we really enter into the blessed truth that our Father is interested in all our little cares and sorrows; and that we may go to Him with all our little wants and difficulties. We imagine that such things are beneath the notice of the High and Mighty One who inhabiteth eternity, and sitteth upon the circle of the earth. This is a, serious mistake, and one that robs us of incalculable blessing, in our daily history. We should ever remember that there is nothing great or small with our God. All things are alike to Him who sustains the vast universe by the word of His power, and takes notice of a falling sparrow. It is quite as easy to Him to create a world as to provide a breakfast for some poor widow. The greatness of His power, the moral grandeur of His government, and the minuteness of His tender care do, all alike, command the wonder and the worship of our hearts.
Christian reader, see that you make your own of all these things. Seek to live nearer to God in your daily walk. Lean more upon Him. Use Him more. Go to Him in all your need, and you will never have to tell your need to a poor fellow mortal. "My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." What a source! - "God." What a standard! - "His riches in glory." What a channel! - "Christ Jesus." It is your sweet privilege to place all your need over against His riches, and lose sight of the former in the presence of the latter. His exhaustless treasury is thrown open to you, in all the love of His heart; go and draw upon it, in the artless simplicity of faith, and you will never have occasion to look to a creature stream, or lean on a creature prop.
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 Vers. 1-40. ADMONITIONS AND EXHORTATIONS. Moses, having presented to…
Vers. 1-40. ADMONITIONS AND EXHORTATIONS. Moses, having presented to the people certain facts in their recent history which had in them a specially animating and encouraging tendency, proceeds to direct his discourse to the inculcation of duties and exhortations to obedience to the Divine enactments. This portion also of his address is of an introductory character as well as what precedes.
Vers. 1-8. Exhortation to the observance of the Law generally. The Law was to be kept as a complete whole; nothing was to be taken from it or added to it; it comprised the commandments of Jehovah, and therefore they were not only to do it as what Moses, their leader and lawgiver, had enjoined, bat to keep it as a sacred deposit, not to be altered or tampered with, and to observe it as what God their Sovereign had enacted for them. The dignity and worth of the Law are here asserted, and also its completeness as given by Moses. Any addition to it, no less than any subtraction from it, would mar its integrity and affect its perfection. Altered circumstances in process of time might, indeed, lead to the desuetude of some parts of the Mosaic enactments, and new institutions or laws might be required to meet a new condition of things, or even in that new condition to fence and sustain the primitive code; but that cede was to remain intact in the Statute-Book, and no alterations were to be made upon it that should affect its substance or nullify any of its principles. New laws and institutions appointed by God would, of course, have the same authority as those originally ordained by Moses; and such, it can hardly be doubted, were in point of fact under the Hebrew monarchy introduced by the prophets speaking in the name of God. The Law, nevertheless, was kept substantially entire. Even under the new dispensation, the Law has not been abolished. Christ, as he himself declared, came not to destroy the Law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. (Mat_5:17) The sin of the Pharisees, for which they were censured by our Lord, lay in this, that they taught for doctrines the commandments of men, (Mat_15:9) and had "made the commandments of God of none effect by their traditions". (Mat_15:6)
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Vers. 1, 2. Now therefore; rather And now. With this Moses passes from referring to what God had done for Israel to admonish Israel as to what they had to do as the subjects of God and the recipients of his favor. They were to give heed to all the statutes and judgments which Moses, as the servant of God, had taught them, in order that they might do them. Statutes ( the things prescribed or enacted by law, whether moral, ritual, or civil; judgments ( rights, whether public or private, all that each could claim as his due, and all he was bound to render to God or to his fellow-men as their due. These two comprehend the whole Law as binding on Israel. On the doing of these by the people depended life; these had been made known to them, not merely for their information, but specifically that they might do them, and thereby have life; not long life in the Promised Land alone, though this also is included; (ver. 40 Deu_5:33 Deu_6:2, etc.) but that higher life, that life which man lives "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord" (Deu_8:3; cf. Lev_18:5; Eze_20:11; Mat_4:4) that spiritual life which is in God"s favor. (Psa_30:5) Enjoying this life as the fruit of obedience, they should also possess as their inheritance the laud promised to their fathers.
HOMILETICS.
Vers. 1-4. Life and prosperity dependent on obedience to God.
In this paragraph Moses indicates, by the word "therefore," the purpose he has had in the review in which he had been indulging. It was not for the mere rehearsal"s sake that the varied incidents in Israel"s career were thus recalled to memory, but to stimulate the people anew to obedience, by reminding them how strong was the reason for it, and how great would be the blessedness of it. It was then, as it is now, "godliness is profitable for all things;" and though that would be a low standard of virtue attained by a man who served God merely for what he could get by it, yet, on the other hand, if no good came of it, the reason for it would certainly be seriously affected in the influence it had on a man. There is a mean and selfish form of utilitarianism. But if, when a man contends for utility as the foundation of virtue, he means by utility "a tendency to promote the highest good, on the largest scale, for the longest period," there is nothing selfish or mean about the theory then, whether we accept it as sound philosophy or no. And it is certain that our Lord Jesus Christ meant considerations of profit to weigh with men. (see Mat_16:25, Mat_16:26) Observe
I GOD"S STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS ARE THE BEST MORAL AND SPIRITUAL FURNITURE WITH WHICH A PEOPLE CAN BE ENRICHED. The word "statutes" includes "the moral commandments and statutory covenant laws." "Judgments" are precepts enjoining what is due from men to man or to God. Sometimes we get the word "commandments," including both the former; at other times we have the word "testimonies; in which duty is looked at as that concerning which God bears testimony to man Now, men will rise or fall according as the moral nature is cultured or neglected. And it is because the Divine precepts constitute a directory for our highest selves, that they are so invaluable to us. Doubtless, to some extent, the Law of God is still graven in the hearts and consciences of men; and if men were perfect, the Law written on the heart would be clear enough. But as men neglect God"s Law, they come to fail in discerning it. The characters written inwardly are more and more faint, and, lest it should cease from among men, our God has had his will graciously recorded in a Book, our constant standard of appeal, our unvarying directory of right!
II THESE STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS ARE TO BE PRESERVED INTACT. "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it." The manifestation of the tendency of men to do one or the other, yea both, is one of the saddest chapters in human history. (see Homily on Deu_12:32) (cf. Jer_26:2; Pro_30:6 Rev_22:18, Rev_22:19; Mat_5:19 Mat_15:1-13) Skepticism violates God"s Law by subtracting from it; superstition, by adding to it. Our appeal must ever be "to the Law and to the testimony," and the appeal will only be valid, nay, will only be possible, as both are preserved intact and kept free from the tampering of men.
III THEY ARE TO BE PRESERVED IN THEIR ENTIRETY, IN ORDER THAT THEY MAY BE OBEYED IS THEIR ENTIRETY. Hearken, for to do them. (see Joh_13:17; Jam_1:22) A mere reverence for the letter, without obedience to the spirit, is displeasing to God. Jesus Christ complained of this among the Jews. (Joh_5:38-40) A written law, honored as to its preservation, but yet neglected in life, is a silent witness against us. (Joh_5:45) Men may rest in having the oracles of God, and may cherish even up to the last, vain hopes of acceptance on the ground of privilege, but they will be undeceived. (Mat_7:21-27) Obedience to the Law of God includes the two great duties of trust in a great salvation and loyalty to moral precepts. No man was allowed to trifle with the sacrificial code any more than with the ethical: both formed parts of the Law; both were to be observed with equal exactitude.
IV OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW WOULD BE FOR ISRAEL"S WEAL, AND WAS THE CONDITION OF THEIR CONTINUANCE IN THE LAND.
"That ye may live," etc. The word "life" is very far from being a mere synonym for "existence." It is equivalent to "healthful existence," a state of being in which all his powers and functions are in harmonious exercise, and directed to their proper objects and ends. Nor can any one doubt that obedience to the laws of God has a tendency to promote true comfort and success in this life, while it is certainly the truest, yea, the only, preparation for the next. Besides, the blessing of God is promised to the obedient. If a man"s life accords with the laws of God, he will find out how conducive obedience is to good. But if he "strives with his Maker," his life-course will bristle up with prickles everywhere.
V AS WE LOOK ROUND, WE MAY SEE SAD EXAMPLES OF THE REVERSE, FROM WHICH WE MAY TAKE WARMING. (See the sad history of Baal-peor, referred to in ver. 3.) Surely we should take warning from that, and from too many similar instances. The prevalence of lust will be destructive of life"s beauty, peace, power, and hope.
VI THE EXPERIENCE OF THE PEACE AND JOY, ATTENDANT UPON A LIFE OF LOYALTY TO GOD, IS A STRONG ARGUMENT FOR CONTINUANCE THEREIN.
HOMILIES BY D. DAVIES.
Vers. 1-13. The sacredness of the Divine Law.
Law, being the utterance of righteousness, is unalterable as righteousness itself, permanent amid all the mutations of human affairs. Its requirements are statutes, stable as the everlasting hills.
I LAW IS THE VERITABLE VOICE OF GOD; the manifestation of his thought; the mirror of his mind. "The Lord spake unto you." "Out of the midst of the fire" the flame of holiness and zeal issues every command. If man"s moral nature has an open ear, it may often detect the imperial voice of Heaven. "Tis not to sight God reveals himself, but to the ear. His messengers are emphatically "a voice." "Faith comes by hearing.
II LAW, IN ITS SPHERE, IS PERFECT. Over every work of his hands God pronounces the verdict "Very good;" and Law, being the instrument with which he works, is "holy, just, and good." For unrighteous man there may be something more precious than Law; but when restored to God, Law is his delight. In the domain of belief we cannot augment or diminish God"s Law without self-injury. Perfection cannot be improved upon. In the sphere of practice, to halt short of the line of duty, or to go beyond the line, is alike an offence. Self-mutilation, or blemish, is the effect.
III THE VERACITY OF LAW ATTESTED BY ACTUAL EXPERIENCE. Every honest minded man may discover whether or not the written Word embodies a Divine Law. If a genuine Law, its authority is ratified by an honest conscience; as sanctions, whether of commendation or curse, are witnessed by every clear-sighted eye. Every truthful man is a witness that God"s laws (whether written in external nature, in man"s constitution, or in Scripture) bring life to the obedient, death to the transgressor. Not a Law is revealed in the Scriptures, but it tends to righteousness, happiness, life!
IV DIVINE LAW ASSERTS ITS AUTHORITY OVER THE WHOLE MAN.
1. Over the intellect, for it demands attention, investigation, comparison, and discrimination.
2. Authority over the affections, for it demands reverence, esteem, choice, and love.
3. Authority over the moral faculty; for it demands assent, response, and loyalty.
4. Over the active powers, for it requires watchfulness, self-restraint, uninterrupted deference, and uncompromising service.
V LAW IS THE PATHWAY TO TRUE EMINENCE. Every successful application of science to practical life is simply a treading of the pathway of law. So long as man finds the footprints of God"s Law, he moves onward. There is no real progress in any department of human life, except along the line of God"s Law. To find that, and to follow it, is success. This is equally true in the spiritual province. This is the quintessence of wisdom the stepping-stone to eminence! What men what nation have ever reached to permanent greatness, save they who have trodden the path of Divine Law?
VI LOYALTY TO GOD"S LAW BRINGS US NEAR TO GOD. As when we follow up the footprints of a man rapidly enough, we at length come up with the man himself; so, as we pursue the pathway of Law, we come soon without the hallowed precincts of God"s presence. We see the working of the heavenly machinery, the movements of God"s thought and purpose. We move with it, and ever come nearer to the central light and love. It is a narrow path, and few they are who find it.
VII A SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE IS SELF-PROPAGATING. Like plants in the garden, every righteous man bears seed after his own kind. Without formal teaching, the beauty of his life will be a living lesson the fragrance of his deeds will be contagious. They who love God"s Law will be zealous to teach God"s Law, and to commend it to others. A fine trait in Abraham"s character comes into view when God said, "I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him." Every man bequeaths to posterity a large legacy of blessing or of bane.
VIII THE LAW OF GOD B DESTINED TO HAVE PERMANENCE IN HUMAN LIFE. There was high significance in the fact that the Decalogue was written, not in rays of light upon the sapphire firmament, nor in legible characters upon parchment, but on stone. The stone of Sinai is said to belong to one of the oldest formations the granite period. The forms and modes of law may undergo change to meet the growing necessities of men; but the inner sense the kernel of every law still abides. "Heaven and earth may pass away," all material stricture may undergo radical change but the words of God can undergo no change. What is true once is true always! What was right a myriad of ages since, retains all its authority today, and will be obligatory world without end. The sum and substance of moral law is writ by the finger of God, and graven on the solid rock! D.
Vers. 1-28. The curse of idolatry.
Idolatry is the general bias of fallen humanity, the perversion of an innate principle, the misgrowth of the religious instinct. Men everywhere "feel after God, if haply they may find him." Absolute atheism cannot long endure anywhere. If men reject a personal Deity, they invent an inferior God, and practically worship that. The wildest atheist which the world has seen, must admit that there is some power or force in the world superior to himself. There is no resting-place for reason, short of a spiritual God.
I IDOLATRY WAS THE PREVALENT DANGER OF THE PATRIARCHAL AGE. During the childhood of men, they are under the domination of the bodily senses. They demand a god whom they can see and handle and hear. The kindred of Abraham were addicted to idolatry. The wife of Jacob furtively abstracted the teraphim of her father, and held them in a measure of reverence. Even Moses yearned for a visible Deity. "I beseech thee, show me thy glory!" The absence of Moses from the camp for forty days sufficed for the people to relapse into idolatry. Throughout their history, every decline in relic, ions feeling showed itself in a fresh lapse towards idolatry.
II IDOLATRY GROSSLY CORRUPTS ITS VOTARIES. The object which is at first selected to be a symbol of the Deity, soon detains on itself the homage of the worshipper, and becomes his Deity. Matter is at the antipodes from spirit. The laws and forces working in material nature may help us to understand the Divine Being, but matter itself never. Apart from a written revelation, we best rise to the knowledge of God through the contemplation of our own minds and consciences. The object of our worship molds us after itself. The worshipper of beasts becomes bestial. "They that make them become like unto them." This is God"s law.
III MATERIAL IMAGES DEGRADE THE GODHEAD. For God is a Spirit, and cannot be represented by material images. For matter can convey no impressions of omnipresence, or of eternity, or of moral qualities, or of emotions, affections, or joys! Representation by material images strips our God of all that is noblest in his nature, cf. all that is distinctive in the Godhead. It cloaks his perfections and eclipses his glory.
IV IDOLATRY ANNULLED THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL. That gracious compact required upon the part of the Israelites the honest recognition and worship of the One Jehovah. Unfaithfulness on this vital point invalidated the entire covenant; God had pledged himself specially to be their God, on condition that they were his loyal people. All the resources of God"s kingdom were pledged to Israel in that covenant. It was an act of mercy that God should bind himself in any form to his creatures, and this superabundant grace ought to have held their homage by closest and tenderest ties. His part of the covenant, God had conspicuously observed in the release of his people from the "iron furnace." Was not every sign and wonder wrought in Egypt a fresh seal upon the heavenly bond? This covenant, between a gracious God and undeserving men, idolatry destroyed.
V OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS DESIGNED AS A REGULATIVE FORCE. There are limitations to our knowledge of God imposed by our constitution, and further limitations imposed by our sin. These latter can be removed at once by the redemptive power of Christ; and the first named shall gradually be relaxed in the resurrection state. Fire does not represent God, except so far as it consumes, and this illustration is meant to check our presumption; "tis not for the satisfaction of a curious intellect, but to restrain a wayward life. Knowledge of God, which is honestly reduced to practice, becomes larger and clearer knowledge. "Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord.
VI INIQUITY BECOMES ITS OWN PUNISHMENT. Throughout the Scriptures this doctrine is taught, that sin ripens and culminates in punishment. The penalty threatened upon the idolatry of the Jews was this, that they should be driven into a heathen land, and be compelled to serve the senseless blocks of wood and stone. The punishment of avarice is this, that the sensibilities become as hard as gold. The penalty of drunkenness is this, that the morbid appetite grows into an uncontrollable passion! The voice of doom says, He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.
VII PRESENT PUNISHMENTS ARE THE TYPE OF FUTURE PUNISHMENTS. The penalty to be imposed on the Jews for disloyalty, was banishment from Canaan defeat, scattering, death. So the final penalties revealed for reprobate men are exclusion from the heavenly Canaan; banishment to the darkness they have preferred; utter destruction. Each man "goes to his own place.
VIII SUFFERING FOR OTHERS, A PATHWAY TO HUMAN HEARTS. In connection with these fatherly counsels, Moses again reminds the people of his privation on account of their sins. The blame of his exclusion from Canaan he attributes to them. He who aforetime had prayed that, for the sake of Israel, his own name might be blotted out of God"s book, now submits to this chastisement for the people"s good. But Moses would not throw away the advantage which this fact might bring. In his desire for the people"s good, he converts it into a persuasive argument, by which to confirm their loyalty to God. As if, should every other appeal fail, this appeal to their sensibility might succeed. It is as if he had said, "Remember what I am called to endure for you! Let your requital be unswerving obedience to my God." Here he serves as a feeble type of Jesus. D.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR Vers. 1, 2. Acceptable obedience.
I ITS BASIS the Divine command. "Statutes and judgments." Action originating in self-will, however correct in moral form, is not obedience. It is God"s command which is the rule and starting-point. Recognition of his authority is essential. Kant distinguishes religion from morality thus" Religion is the doing of all duties as if they were Divine commandments." The objective rule is found in the inspired Scriptures.
II ITS CHARACTER. It must be:
1. Entire, not partial. Having respect to all that God reveals.
2. Honest, neither altering, mutilating, adding to, nor subtracting from. (cf. Mat_5:19 Mat_15:6, Mat_15:9)
3. Persevering.
III ITS REWARD. "Life," possession of blessings. This reward not legal, but of grace through Christ, as on the legal basis no one can attain to it. (Rom_3:20) But though, as sinful, we cannot have life through obedience, we still have it in obedience. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven". J.O. (Mat_7:21; Rom_2:7)
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 1-14. Obedience the secret of success.
Moses here reminds Israel of the privilege it possesses as a nation in having the oracles of God committed unto it. (Rom_3:2) He urges obedience upon them as the one purpose for which they are to be introduced into the Promised Land. National prosperity depends upon this. And here we have to notice
I DISOBEDIENCE HAS ALREADY PROVED FATAL. He recalls the terrible experience in connection with Dual-peer how the people in large numbers became lewd idolaters with the Israelites, (Nu 25) and how fierce anger from the Lord visited the people. In Canaan they shall be exposed to similar temptations, but the chastisement at Baal-peor must not be lost upon them. Past judgments are to secure more complete obedience.
II GOD"S NEARNESS TO THEM SHOULD PROVE A HALLOWING PRIVILEGE. How gracious is God to dwell among them, always near at hand to be inquired of, a most serviceable King! He dwelt in their midst as a Pilgrim with his people. Upon his accessibility and wisdom they could always calculate. This distinguished Israel from the other nations. Such a privilege should of itself hallow them, and make them to abide under his shadow. Equally near is God still to all of us who seek him.
III HIS LAW IS WISER THAN ALL MAN"S DEVELOPED LEGISLATION. The surrounding nations had their laws and customs, but the superiority of the Mosaic code was admitted by all acquainted with it. It was an immense moral advance for Israel, as great an advance as in that rude age they could take in. Similarly, the morality of the gospel is ahead of all jurisprudence. Indeed, enlightened legislation and reform tend towards the scriptural ideal. God is wiser than man, and the Bible better than all acts of parliament.
IV THE LAW WAS GIVEN AS A RULE OF LIFE FOR A COVENANT PEOPLE. They were redeemed from bondage, and then received the Law at Sinai to guide their redeemed lives. Obedience should be a matter of gratitude for deliverance, and would prove the secret of success. It is so still. "Christ redeems us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us." But as grateful and saved people, we feel that we are "under the Law to Christ". (1Co_9:21) And this grateful obedience proves the secret of comfort and success. It is the meat of life to do the wilt of him who hath sent us, and to finish his work. (Joh_4:34) Palestine becomes "paradise regained" to the grateful and obedient souls. We find a Promised Land where God"s precepts are gratefully observed by redeemed souls. It is the attitude within, rather than the circumstances without, which constitutes life a blessed country and an antepast of heaven. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 14, 20, 21, 24, 29, 32, 35, 39, 40 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and…
Deu_4:1-40
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.
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Moses discourse
1. In general it is the use and application of the foregoing history. It comes in by way of inference from it (Deu_4:1). This use we should make of the review of Gods providences, we should by them be quickened to duty and obedience. The histories of ancient times should, in like manner, be improved by us.
2. The scope of his discourse is to persuade them to keep close to God, and to His service, and not to forsake Him for any other god, nor in any instance to decline from their duty to Him. Now, observe what he saith to them with a great deal of Divine rhetoric: First, by way of exhortation and direction; secondly, by way of motive and argument, to enforce his exhortations.
I. See here how he charges and commands them, and shows them what is good, and what the Lord required of them.
1. He demands their diligent attention to the Word of God, and to the statutes and judgments that were taught them. Hearken, O Israel. He means not only that they must now give him the hearing, but that whenever the book of the law was read to them, or read by them, they should be attentive to it.
2. He charges them to preserve the Divine law pure and entire among them (Deu_4:2). Keep it pure, and do not add to it; keep it entire, and do not diminish from it. Not in practice; so some: Ye shall not add, by committing the evil which the law forbids; nor diminish, by omitting the good which the law requires. Not in opinion; so others: Ye shall not add your own inventions, as if the Divine institution were defective; nor introduce, much less impose, any rites of religious worship other than what God has appointed; nor shall ye diminish, or set aside, anything that is appointed as needless or superfluous Gods work is perfect; nothing can be put to it, or taken from it, but it makes it the worse (Ecc_3:14).
3. He charges them to keep Gods commandments (Deu_4:2), to do them (verss 5, 14), to keep and do them (Deu_4:16), to perform the covenant (Deu_4:13). Hearing must be in order to doing; knowing in order to practice. Gods commandments were the way they must walk in, the rule they must keep to. What are laws made for but to be observed and obeyed?
4. He charges them to be very strict and careful in their observance of the law (Deu_4:9; Deu_4:15; Deu_4:23). Those that would be religious must be very cautious, and walk circumspectly. Consider how many temptations we are compassed about with, and what corrupt inclinations we have in our own bosoms.
5. He charges them particularly to take heed of the sin of idolatry, which of all other they would be most tempted to by the customs of the nations, were most addicted to by the corruption of their hearts, and would be most provoking to God, and of most pernicious consequence to themselves (Deu_4:15-16). Two sorts of idolatry he cautions them against.
(1) The worship of images, however by them they might intend to worship the true God, as they had done in the golden calf; so changing the truth of God into a lie, and His glory into shame. Let this be a caution to us to take heed of making images of God in our fancy and imagination when we are worshipping Him, lest thereby we corrupt ourselves. There may be idols in the heart where there are none in the sanctuary.
(2) The worship of the sun, moon, and stars is another sort of idolatry they are here cautioned against (Deu_4:14). This was the first and most ancient idolatry of all other, and the most plausible, drawing the adoration to those creatures that not only are in a situation above us, but are most sensibly glorious in themselves, and most generally serviceable to the world. It is intimated hero how strong the temptation is to sense; for the caution is. Lest thou shouldst be driven to worship them by the strong impulse of a vain imagination, and the impetuous torrent of the customs of the nations. Yet he shows how weak the temptation would be to those that would use their reason; for these pretended deities, the sun, the moon, and stars, were only blessings which the Lord their God, whom they were obliged to worship, had imparted to all nations. It is absurd to worship them, for--They are mans servants, were ordained to give light on the earth; and shall we serve those that were made to serve us? They are Gods gifts; He has imparted them. Whatever benefit we have by them we owe it to Him. It is therefore highly injurious to Him to give that honour to them which is due to Him only.
6. He charges them to teach their children to observe the law of God (Deu_4:9-10).
(1) Care must be taken in general to preserve the entail of religion among them, and to transmit the knowledge and worship of God to posterity; for the kingdom of God in Israel was designed to be perpetual, if they did not forfeit the privilege of it.
(2) Parents must, in order hereunto, particularly take care to teach their own children the fear of God, and to train them up in an observance of all His commandments.
7. He charges them never to forget their duty (Deu_4:23). Though God is ever mindful of the covenant, we are apt to forget it; and that is at the bottom of all our departures from God. Care and holy watchfulness are the best helps against a bad memory. These are the directions and commands he gives them.
II. Let us see now what are motives or arguments with which he backs these exhortations. How doth he order the cause before them, and fill his mouth with arguments? And a great deal he has to say on Gods behalf. Some of his topics are indeed peculiar to that people, yet applicable to us. But upon the whole it is evident that religion has reason on its side, the powerful charms of which all that are irreligious wilfully stop their ears to.
1. He urges the greatness, glory, and goodness of God. Did we consider what a God He is with whom we have to do, we would surely make conscience of our duty to Him, and would not dare to sin against Him. He reminds them here that the Lord Jehovah is the one only living and true God. That He is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Deu_4:24). That yet He is a merciful God (Deu_4:31). It comes in here as an encouragement to repentance, but might serve as an inducement to obedience, and a consideration proper to prevent their apostasy. Shall we forsake a merciful God who will never forsake us, as it follows here, if we be faithful unto Him? Whither can we go to mend ourselves?
2. He urges their relation to this God, His authority over them, and their obligations to Him. The commandments you are to keep and do are not mine, saith Moses, not my inventions, not my injunctions, but they are the commandments of the Lord, framed by infinite wisdom, enacted by sovereign power.
3. He urges the wisdom of being religious (Deu_4:6). For this is your wisdom in the sight of the nations. In keeping Gods commandments they would act wisely for themselves. This is your wisdom. It is not only agreeable to right reason, but highly conducive to our true interest (Job_28:28). They would answer the expectations of their neighbours, who, upon reading or hearing the precepts of the law that was given them, would conclude that certainly the people that were governed by this law were a wise and understanding people.
4. He urges the singular advantages they enjoyed by virtue of the happy establishment they were under (Deu_4:7-8).
(1) Never was any people so privileged in speaking to God (Deu_4:7). It is the character of Gods Israel, that on all occasions they call upon Him, in everything they make their requests known to God. They do nothing but what they consult Him in; they desire nothing but what they come to Him for. Those that call upon God shall certainly find Him within call, and ready to give an answer of peace to every prayer of faith (Isa_58:9). This is a privilege which makes the Israel of God truly great and honourable. What can go further than this to magnify a people or person?
(2) Never was any people so privileged in hearing from God by the statutes and judgments which were set before them (Deu_4:8). Observe that all the statutes and judgments of the Divine law are infinitely just and righteous, above the statutes and judgments of any of the nations. The having of these statutes and judgments set before them is the true and transcendent greatness of any nation or people (Psa_147:19-20). It is an honour to us that we have the Bible in reputation and power among us; it is an evidence of a peoples being high in the favour of God, and a means of making them high among the nations. They that magnify the law shall be magnified by it.
5. He urges Gods glorious appearances to them at Mount Sinai when He gave them this law.
(1) What they saw at Mount Sinai (Deu_4:11). They saw a strange composition of fire and darkness, both dreadful and very awful. He tells them again (Deu_4:36) what they saw, for he would have them never to forget it. He showed thee His great fire. It gave an earnest of the day of judgment, in which the Lord Jesus shall be revealed in flaming fire. As he reminds them of what they saw, so he tells them what they saw not; no manner of similitude from which they might form either an idea of God in their fancies, or an image of God in their high places.
(2) What they heard at Mount Sinai (Deu_4:12). The Lord spake unto you with an intelligible voice, in your own language, and you heard it. This he enlargeth upon towards the close of his discourse (Deu_4:32-33; Deu_4:36). They heard the voice of God speaking from heaven. God manifests Himself to all the world in the works of creation, without speech or language, and yet their voice is heard (Psa_19:2). But to Israel He made Himself known by speech and language, condescending to the weakness of the Churchs infant state. They heard it out of the midst of the fire, which showed that it was God Himself that spoke to them; for who else could dwell with devouring fire? They heard it, and yet lived (Deu_4:33). It was a wonder of mercy that the fire did not devour them, or that they did not die for fear, when Moses himself trembled.
(3) Never any people heard the like. He bids them inquire of former days, and distant places, and they will find this favour of God to Israel without precedent or parallel (Deu_4:32). This singular honour done them called for singular obedience.
6. He urges Gods gracious appearances for them in bringing them out of Egypt, from the iron furnace, where they laboured in the fire, forming them into a people, and then taking them to be His own people, a people of inheritance (Deu_4:20). This he mentions again (verses 84, 37, 38). Never did God do such a thing for any people.
(1) They were thus dignified and distinguished; not for anything in them that was deserving or inviting, but because God had a kindness for their fathers, He chose them.
7. He urges Gods righteous appearance against them, sometimes for their sins. He instanceth particularly in the matter of Peor (Deu_4:34). He also takes notice again of Gods displeasure against himself (Deu_4:12; Deu_4:22). The Lord was angry with me for your sakes. Others suffering for our sakes should grieve us more than our own.
8. He urges the certain benefit and advantage of obedience. This argument he begins with, That ye may live, and go in and possess the land (Deu_4:1). And this he concludes with, That it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee (Deu_4:40). He reminds them that they were upon their good behaviour, their prosperity would depend upon their piety. If they kept Gods precepts He would undoubtedly fulfil His promises.
9. He urges the fatal consequences of their apostasy from God, that it would undoubtedly be the ruin of their nation. This he enlarges upon (Deu_4:25-31), where Gods faithfulness to His covenant encourageth us to hope that He will not reject us though we are driven to Him by affliction. If we at length remember the covenant, we shall find that He has not forgotten it. Now let all these arguments be laid together, and then say whether religion has not reason on its side. None cast off the government of their God but those that have first abandoned the understanding of a man. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
Gods dealings with His people
I. In reviewing the gracious dealings of God towards us, the great difficulty is to know at what point to begin. As a people, and as individuals, to God alone are we indebted for the multiplied sources of hope and enjoyment. We live under a mild and well-balanced constitution, and under the shadow of equitable laws. We possess a fruitful soil and temperate seasons. We enjoy an open Bible, and therefore have the full light of Divine revelation. We are favoured likewise with a pure faith and the reformed religion.
II. Hearken therefore, O Israel, was the inference of Moses on a review of the dealings of God towards the Jews: Hearken, therefore, to His statutes and judgments so as to do them. The Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, contain the records of Gods will, and His statutes for us. To hearken to these precepts we are bound both by duty and by gratitude. These are the strongest forces which can be applied to the mind of man.
III. By obedience only can we secure mercies yet to come. Of this Moses warned the Israelites: 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. The promises vouchsafed to them had reference to temporal things. These could only be secured by obedience. The promises granted to us in the Gospel relate both to time and to eternity, for Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. (H. J. Hastings, M. A.)
Hearken
Moses called upon Israel to hearken. Who can hear? Who has ever met a man, in any congregation, that could listen? What is wanted today may be described as good hearers. It is not given to man to rush away from his business, place himself down suddenly in the sanctuary, and call for revelations that he can appreciate. Men must be prepared to hear as well as prepared to preach. To hearken is not a mechanical exercise. The word hearken is charged with profound meaning; it represents the act of acute, ritual, profound, fervent attention. He who hearkens is in an attitude of eagerness--as if he would complete the speech, anticipate it, or elicit from the speaker a broader eloquence by the gratitude and expectancy of his own attention. Would that they who say much about speaking would learn the elements of good listening!--so learned, they would be dispossessed of themselves, their ears would be purged of all noises and tumults and rival competitions; and importunity being dismissed, anxiety being suspended, and the soul set in a posture of expectation, would receive even from slow-speaking Moses statutes and precepts ,solemn as eternity, and rich as the thought of God. He that hath ears to hear,--not for noises to please,--let him hear. Such hearing is almost equal to praying; such listening never was disappointed. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Bible the wisdom of nation
Consider--
I. That the Bible brings greatness to a nation; because--
1. When received and obeyed, it brings Gods blessing with it.
2. It elevates the national character.
II. That it is the duty of all to have a personal acquaintance with the Scriptures, and to instruct the young in them. (S. Hayman, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Deu_4:1-40, Deuteronomy 27-30.
MOSES FAREWELL SPEECHES
Deu_4:1-40, Deuteronomy 27-30.
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WITH the twenty-sixth chapter the entirely homogeneous central portion of the Book of Deuteronomy ends, and it concludes it most worthily. It prescribes two ceremonies which are meant to give solemn expression to the feeling of thankfulness which the love of God, manifested in so many laws and precepts, covering the commonest details of life, should have made the predominant feeling. The first is the utterance of what we have called the "liturgy of gratitude" at the time of the feast of first fruits; and the second is the solemn dedication of the third years tithe to the poor and the fatherless, and the disclaimer of any misuse of it. Further notice of either after what has already been said in reference to them would be superfluous. The closing verses (Deu_26:16-19) of the chapter are a solemn reminder that all these transactions with God had bound the people to Yahweh in a covenant. "Thou hast avouched Yahweh this day to be thy God" and, "Yahweh hath avouched thee this day to be a peculiar people (am segullah) unto Himself." By this they were bound to keep Yahwehs statutes and judgments, and do them with all their heart and with all their soul, while He, on His part, undertakes on these terms to set them "high above all nations which He hath made in praise, and in name, and in honor," and to make them a holy people unto Himself.
But the original Deuteronomy as read to King Josiah cannot have ended with chapter 26, for the thing that awed him most was the threat of evil and desolation which were to follow the non-observance of this covenant. Now though there are indications of such dangers in the first twenty-six chapters of Deuteronomy, yet threats are not, so far, a prominent part of this book. The book as read must consequently have contained some additional chapters, which, in part at least, must have contained threats. Now this is what we have in our Biblical Deuteronomy. But in chapters 27 and 28 there are reduplications which can hardly have formed part of the original authors work. An examination of these has led every one who admits composite authorship in the Pentateuch to see that from chapter 27 onwards the original work has been broken up and dovetailed again with the works of JE and P; so that component parts of the first four books of the Hexateuch appear along with elements which the author of Deuteronomy has supplied. We have, in fact, before us, from this point, the work of the editor who fitted Deuteronomy into the framework of the Pentateuch; and it is of importance, from an expository point of view even, to endeavor to restore Deuteronomy to its original form, and to follow out the traces of it that are left.
As we have said, we must look for the threats and promises which undoubtedly formed part of it. These are contained in chapters 27 and 28. But a careful reader will feel at once that chapter 27 disturbs the connection, and that 28 should follow 26. In Deu_27:9-10 alone seem necessary to give a transition to chapter 28; and if all the rest were omitted we should have exactly what the narrative in Kings would lead us to expect, a coherent, natural sequence of blessings and curses, which should follow faithfulness to the covenant, or unfaithfulness. The rest of chapter 27 is not consistent either with itself or with Jos_8:30, where the accomplishment of that which is commanded here is recorded. In Deu_27:1-3 Moses and the elders command the people to set up great stones and plaster them with plaster and write upon them all the words of this law, on the day when they shall pass over Jordan, that they may go in unto the land. In Deu_27:4 it is said that these stones are to be set up in Mount Ebal, and there an altar of unhewn stones is to be built, and sacrifices offered, "and thou shalt write upon the stones very plainly." From the position of this last clause and the mention of Mount Ebal, the course of events would be quite different from that which Deu_27:1-3 suggest. The stones were, according to Deu_27:4 ff., to be set up in Mount Ebal; out of these an altar of unhewn stones was to be built; and on them the law was to be inscribed, and this is what Joshua says was done. But if we take all the verses, Deu_27:1-8, together, we can reconcile them only by the hypothesis that the stones were set up as soon as Jordan was crossed, plastered, and inscribed with the law; that afterwards they were removed to Mount Ebal and built into an altar "of unhewn stone," upon which sacrifices were offered. But that surely is in the highest degree improbable; and since we know that in other cases two narratives have been combined in the sacred text, that would seem the most probable solution here. Deu_27:4-8 will in that case be a later insertion, probably from J. In the same connection Deu_27:15-26 contain a list of crimes which are visited with a curse and no blessings; this cannot be the proclamation of blessing and cursing which is here required. Further, this list must be by a different author, for it affixes curses to some crimes which are not mentioned in Deuteronomy, and omits such sins as idolatry, which are continually mentioned there. This section must consequently have been inserted here by some later hand. It must probably have been later even than the time of the writer of Jos_8:33 ff., since the arrangement as reported there differs from what is prescribed here. Moreover, as there is nothing new in these sections, and all they say is repeated substantially in chapter 28, we may give our attention wholly to Deu_28:1-68, as being the original proclamation of blessing and curse.
But other entanglements follow. Chapters 29 and 30 manifestly contained an adieu on the part of Moses, who turns finally to the people with an affecting and solemn speech of farewell. That appears m chapters 29 and 30. But for many reasons it is impossible to believe that these chapters as they stand are the original speech of Deuteronomy. The language is in large part different, and there are references to the Book of the Law as being already written out. {Deu_29:19 f. 26, and Deu_30:10} It is probably therefore an editors rewriting of the original speech, and from the fact that "it contains many points of contact with Jeremiah in thoughts and words," it is probably to be dated in the Exile. But there is another noticeable thing in connection with it. It has a remarkable resemblance in these and other respects to Deu_4:1-40. That passage can hardly have originally followed chapters 1-3, if as is most probable these were at first a historic introduction to Deuteronomy. The hortative character of Deu_4:1-40 shows that it must have been placed where it is by a reviser. But the language, though not altogether that of Deuteronomy, is like it, and the thought is also Deuteronomic. Probably the passage must have been transferred from some other part of Deuteronomy and adapted by the editor. A clue to its true place may perhaps be found in Deu_4:8, where "all this law" is spoken of as if it were already given, and in Deu_4:5, where we read, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments." These passages imply that the law of Deuteronomy had been given, and in that case chapter 4 must belong to a closing speech. We probably shall not be in error, therefore, in thinking Deu_4:1-40 ; Deu_29:29 are all founded on an original farewell speech which stood in Deuteronomy after the blessing and the curse.
But it may be asked, if that be so, why did an editor make these changes? The answer is to be found in two passages in chapters 31 and 32 which cannot be harmonized as they stand. In Deu_31:19 we are told that Yahweh commanded Moses to write "this song" and teach it to the children of Israel, "that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel," and Deu_31:22, "So Moses wrote this song." But in Deu_31:28 f. we read That"moses said, Assemble unto me all the elders of the tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them." Obviously "these words" are different from "this song," and are meant for a different purpose. The same ambiguity occurs at the end of the song in Deu_32:44 ff., where we first read of Moses ending "this song," and in the next verse we read, "And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel." Now what has become of "these words"? In all probability they were the substance of chapters 4 and 29 and 30, and were separated and amplified, because the editor who fitted Deuteronomy into the Pentateuch took over the song in chapter 32, as well as those passages of 31 and 32, that speak of this song, from JE. He accepted them as a fitting conclusion for the career of Moses, and transferred the original speech, which we suppose to have been the last great utterance of the original Deuteronomy, putting the main part of it immediately before the song, but taking parts out of it to form a hortatory ending (such as the other Moses speeches have) to that first one which he had formed out of the historic introduction. This may seem a very complicated process and an unlikely one; but after the foundation had been built by Dillmann, Westphal has elaborated the whole matter with such luminous force that it seems hardly possible to doubt that the facts can be accounted for only in this way. By piecing together 4, 30, and 31 he produces a speech so thoroughly coherent and consistent that the mere reading of it becomes the most cogent proof of the substantial truth of his argument.
An analysis of it will show this.
(1) There is the introduction; up till now the people have understood neither the commands nor the love of Yahweh. {Deu_29:1-9}
(2) There is the explanation of the Covenant; {Deu_29:10-15}
(3) A command to observe the Covenant; {Deu_4:1-2}
(4) Warning against individual transgression, which will be punished by the destruction of the rebel; {Deu_29:16-21; Deu_4:3-4}
(5) Warning against collective transgression, which will be punished by the ruin of the people. {Deu_4:5-26} The author, from this point regarding the transgression as an accomplished fact, announces:
(6) The dispersion and exile of the people; {Deu_4:27-28}
(7) The impression produced on future generations by the horror of this dispersion Deuteronomy (Deu_29:22-28);
(8) The conversion of the exiles to God; {Deu_4:30-31}
(9) Their return to the land of their fathers. {Deu_30:1-10}
(10) In conclusion, it is stated that the power of Yahweh to sustain the faith of His people and to save them is guaranteed by the past; {Deu_4:32-40} and there is no reason therefore that the people should shrink from obeying the commandment prescribed.to them. It is a matter of will. Life and death are before them; let them choose. {Deu_30:11-20}
The analysis of the remaining chapters is not difficult. Deu_31:14-23; Deu_31:30, form the introduction to the song, Deu_32:1-43, just as Deu_32:44 is the conclusion of it. Both introduction and song are extracted probably from J and E. Deu_32:48-52 are after P. Then follows the blessing of Moses, chapter 33. Finally, chapter 34 contains an account of Moses death and a final eulogy of him, in which all the sources JE, P, and D have been called into requisition. The threefold cord which runs through the other books of the Pentateuch was untwisted to receive Deuteronomy, and has been re-twisted so as to bind the Pentateuch into one coherent whole. That is the result of the microscopic examination which the text as it stands has undergone, and we may pretty certainly accept it as correct. But we should not lose sight of the fact that, as the book is now arranged, it has a notable coherence of its own, and the impression of unity which it conveys is in itself a result of great literary skill. Not only has the editor combined Deuteronomy into the other narratives most successfully, but he has done so not only without falsifying, but so as to confirm and enhance the impression which the original book was meant to convey.
We turn now to the substance of the two speeches-the proclamation of the blessing and the curse, and the great farewell address. As we have seen, the first is contained in chapter 28. If any evidence were now needed that this chapter was written later than the Mosaic time, it might be found in the space given to the curses, and the much heavier emphasis laid upon them than upon the blessings. Not that Moses might not have prophetically foretold Israels disregard of warnings. But if the heights to which Israel was actually to rise had been before the authors mind as still future, instead of being wrapped in the mists of the past, he could not but have dwelt more equally upon both sides of the picture. Whatever supernatural gifts a prophet might have, he was still and in all things a man. He was subject to moods like others, and the determination of these depended upon his surroundings. He was not kept by the power of God beyond the shadows which the clouds in his sky might cast; and we may safely say that if the curses which are to follow disobedience are elaborated and dwelt upon much more than the blessings which are to reward obedience, it is because the author lived at a time of unfaithfulness and revolt. Obviously his contemporaries were going far in the evil way, and he warns them with intense and eager earnestness against the dangers they are so recklessly incurring.
But after all we have seen of the spirituality of the Deuteronomic teaching, and its insistence upon love as the true bond between men and God and the true motive to all right action, it is perhaps disappointing to some to find how entirely these promises and threats have their center in the material world. Probably nowhere else will the truth of Bacons famous saying that "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament" be more conspicuously seen than here. If Israel be faithful she is promised productivity, riches, success in war. Even when it is promised that she shall be established by Yahweh as a holy people unto Himself, the meaning seems to be that the people shall be separated from others by these earthly favors, rather than that they shall have the moral and spiritual qualities which the word "holy" now connotes. Other nations shall fear Israel because of the Divine favor. Israel shall be raised above them all. If it become unfaithful, on the other hand, it is to be visited with pestilence, consumption, fever, inflammation, sword, blasting, mildew. The earth is to be iron beneath them, and the heaven above them brass. Instead of rain they are to have dust; they are to be visited with more than Egyptian plagues. Their minds are to refuse to serve them; they are to be defeated in war; their country is to be overrun by marauders; their wives and children, their cattle and their crops, are to fall into the enemys hands. Locusts and all known pests are to fall upon their fields; and they themselves are to be carried away captive, after having endured the worst horrors of siege, and been compelled by hunger to devour their own children. And in exile they shall be an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, and shall be ruled by oppressive aliens. Worst of all, they shall there lose hope in God and "shall serve other gods, even wood and stone." Their lives shall hang in doubt before them. In the morning they shall say, "Would God it were evening," and at even they shall say, "Would God it were morning." All the deliverance Yahweh had wrought for them by bringing them out of Egypt would be undone, and once more they should go back into Egyptian bondage.
All that is materialistic enough; but there is no need to make apology for Deuteronomy, nevertheless. The prophet has taught the higher law; he has rooted all human duty, both to God and man, in love to God, and now he tries to enlist mans natural fear and hope as allies of his highest principle. How justifiable that is we have already seen in chapter 12.
But a more serious question is raised when it is asked, does Nature, in definite sober truth, lend itself, in the manner implied throughout this chapter, to the support of religious and moral fidelity? At a time when imaginative literature is largely devoting itself to an angry or querulous denial Of any righteous force working for the unfortunate and the faithful, there can be no question what the popular answer to such a question would be. But from the ranks of literature itself we may summon testimony on the other side. Mr. Hall Caine, in his address at the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, maintains in a wider and more general way the essence of the Deuteronomic thesis when he says, "I count him the greatest genius who touches the magnetic and Divine chord in humanity which is always waiting to vibrate to the sublime hope of recompense; I count him the greatest man who teaches men that the world is ruled in righteousness." And his justification of that position is too admirable not to be quoted: "Life is made up of a multitude of fragments, a sea of many currents, often coming into collision and throwing up breakers: We look around and see wrong-doing victorious, and right-doing in the dust; the evil man growing rich and dying in his bed, the good man becoming poor and dying in the street; and our hearts sink and we say, What is God doing after all in this world of His children? But our days are few, our view is limited, we cannot watch the event long enough to see the end which Providence sees." "It is the very province of imaginative genius," he goes on to say, "to see that which the common mind cannot see, to offer to it at least suggestions of how these triumphs of unrighteousness may be accounted for in accordance with the law that righteousness rules in the world." We would go further. It is one of the main purposes of inspiration to go beyond even imaginative genius, to point out in history not only how right may perhaps ultimately triumph, but how it has been in reality and must be victorious. For it will not do to shut off the world of material things from the working of this great and universal law. Owing to the narrow fanaticism of science, modern men have become skeptical, not only of miracle, but even of the fundamental truth that righteousness is profitable for the life that now is, that in following righteousness men are co-operating with the deepest law of the universe. But it remains a truth for all that. It is written deep in the heart of man; and in more wavering lines perhaps, but still most legibly, it is written on the face of things. With the limitations of his time and place, this is what the Deuteronomist preaches. Doubtless he has not faced, as Job does, the whole of the problem; still less has he attained to the final insight exhibited in the New Testament, that temporal gifts may be curses in disguise, that the highest region of recompense Is in the eternal life, in the domain of things which are invisible but eternal. He does not yet know, though he has perhaps a presentiment of it, that being completely stripped of all earthly good may be the path to the highest victory-the victory which makes men more than conquerors through Christ. Nevertheless he is, making these allowances, right, and the moderns are wrong. In many ways obedience to spiritual inspirations does bring worldly prosperity. The absence of moral and spiritual faithfulness does affect even the fruitfulness of the soil, the fecundity of animals, the prevalence of disease, the stability of ordered life, and success in war. This was visible to the ancient world generally in a dim way; but by the inspired men of the Old Covenant it was clearly seen, for they were enlightened for the very purpose of seeing the hand of God where others saw it not. But they never thought of tracing out the chain of intermediate causes by which such results were connected with mens spiritual state. They saw the facts, they recognized the truth, and they threw themselves back at once upon the will of God as the sufficient explanation.
We, on the other hand, have been so diligent in tracing out the immediately preceding links of natural causation that, for the most part, we have been fatigued before we reached God. We consequently have lost view of Him; and it is wholesome for us to be brought sharply into contact with the ancient Oriental mind as we are here, in order that we may be forced to go the whole way back to Him. For the fact is that much of that very process of decay and destruction from moral causes is going on before us in countries like Turkey and Morocco, where social righteousness is all but unknown, and private morality is low. A truly modern mind scorns the idea that the fertility of the soil can be affected by immorality. Yet there is the whole of Mesopotamia to show that misgovernment can make a garden into a desert. Where teeming populations once covered the country with fruitful gardens and luxurious cities, there are now in the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates a few handfuls of people, and all the fertility of the country has disappeared. Irrigation channels which made all things live have been choked up and have been gradually filled with drifting sand, and one of the most populous and fertile countries of the world has become a desert. In Palestine the same thing may be seen. Under Turkish domination the character of the soil has been entirely changed. In many places where in ancient days the hills were terraced to the top the sweeping rains have had their way, and the very soil has been carried off, leaving only rocks to blister in the pitiless sun. Even in the less likely sphere of animal fecundity modern science shows that peace and good government and righteous order are causes of extraordinary power. And the movements which are going on around us at this day in the elevation and depression of nations and races have a visible connection with fidelity or lack of fidelity to known principles of order and justice. This can be said without concealing how scanty and partial in most cases such attainments are. Prevailing principles can be discerned in the providence which rules the world. And these are of such a kind that the connection which obedience to the highest known rules of life has with fertility, success, and prosperity, is constant and intimate. It is, too, far wider reaching than at first sight would seem possible. To this extent, even modern knowledge justifies these blessings and curses of Deuteronomy.
But it may be asked, is this all the Old Testament means by such threats and promises? Does it recognize any even self-imposed limitations to the direct action of Divine power? Most probably it does not. Though always keeping clear of Pantheism, the Old Testament is so filled and possessed by the Divine Presence that all second causes are ignored, and the action of God upon nature was conceived, as it could not fail to be, on the analogy of a workman using tools. Now that the methods of Divine action in nature have been studied in the light of science, they have been found to be more fixed and regular than was supposed. The extent of their operation, too, has been found to be immeasurably wider, and the purposes which have to be cared for at every moment are now seen to be infinitely various. As a result, human thought has fallen back discouraged, and takes refuge more and more in a conception of nature which practically deifies it, or at least entirely separates it from any intimate relation to the will of God. It is even denied that there is any purpose in the world at all, or any goal, and to chance or fate all the vicissitudes of life and the mechanical changes of nature are attributed. But though we must recognize, as the Old Testament does not, that ordinary Divine action flows out in perfectly well-defined channels, and is so stable in its movement that results in the sphere of physical nature may be predicted with certainty; and though we see, as was not seen in ancient days, that even God does not always approach His ends by direct and short-cut paths, -these considerations only make the Old Testament view more inspiring and more healthful for us. We may gather from it the inference that if the fertility of a land, the frequency of disease, and success in war are so powerfully affected by the moral and spiritual quality of a people, it is very likely that in subtler and less palpable ways the same influences produce similar effects, even in regions where they cannot be traced. If so, whatever allowance may be required for the inevitable simplicity of Old Testament conceptions on this subject, however much we miss the limitations we have learned to regard as necessary, the Deuteronomic view as to the effects of moral and spiritual declension upon the material fortunes of a people is much nearer the truth than our timorous and hesitating half-belief. To find these effects emphasized and affirmed as they are here, therefore, acts as a much needed tonic in our spiritual life. Coming too from a man who possessed, if ever man did, Divinely inspired insight into the process of the world and the ideal of human life, these promises and warnings bring God near. They dissipate the mists which obscure the workings of Gods Providence, and keep before us aspects of truth which it is the present tendency of thought to ignore too much. They declare in accents which carry conviction that, even in material things, the Lord reigneth; and for that the world has reason to be supremely glad.
Certainly Christians now know that prosperity in material things is by no means Gods best gift. That great principle must be held to firmly, as well as the legitimacy of the vivid hopes and fears of Old Testament times regarding the material rewards of right-doing. In many ways the new principle must overrule and modify for us those hopes and fears. But with this limitation we are justified in occupying the Deuteronomic standpoint and in repeating the Deuteronomic warnings. For to its very core the world is Gods; and those who find His working everywhere are those whose eyes have been opened to the inmost truth of things.
With regard to the farewell speech contained in chapters 29 and 30 and the related parts of chapter 4 and chapter 31 there is not much to be said. Taken as a whole, it develops the promises and threats of the previous chapters, and repeats again with affectionate hortatory purpose much of the history. But there is not a great deal that is new; most of the underlying principles of the address have been already dealt with. Taken according to the reconstruction of the speech and its reinsertion in its original framework, the course of things would seem to have been this. After the threats and promises had been concluded, Moses, carrying on the injunction of Deu_3:28, addressed {Deu_32:8} all the people and appointed Joshua to be his successor; then he wrote out "this law," and produced it before the priests and elders of the people, with the instruction that at the end of every seven years, at the feast of release, in the feast of tabernacles, it should be read before all Israel, men, women, and children. {Deu_31:9-13} Then he gave the book to the Levites, that they might "lay it up" by the side of the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh their God, that it might be there for a witness against them when they became unfaithful, as he foresaw they would. He next summons all Israel to him, and delivers the farewell address contained in chapters 4, 29, and 30, an outline of which has already been given, according to Westphals recombination. This would seem to indicate that Moses himself inaugurated the custom of reading the law and giving instruction to all the people, which he prescribed for the feast of tabernacles in the year of release. After the law had been given he addressed the whole people in this farewell speech.
But though on the whole there is no need for detailed exposition here, there are one or two things which ought to be noticed, things which express the spirit of Deuteronomy so directly and so sincerely that they can be identified as forming part of the original Deuteronomic speech. One of these is unquestionably Deu_30:11-20. At the end of the farewell address a return is made to the core of the whole Deuteronomic teaching: "Thou shalt love Yahweh thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." This was announced with unique emphasis at the beginning; it has lain behind all the special commands which have been insisted upon since; and now it emerges again into view as the conclusion of the whole matter. For beyond doubt this, and not the whole series of legal precepts, is what is meant by "this commandment" in Deu_30:2. Both before it, in the sixth and tenth verses {Deu_30:6, Deu_30:10}, and after it, in the sixteenth and twentieth verses {Deu_30:16, Deu_30:20}, this precept is repeated and insisted on as the Divine command. Had the individual commands or the whole mass of them together been meant, the phrase used would have been different. It would have been that in Deu_30:10, where they are called "His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law," or something analogous. No, it is the central command of love to God, without which all external obedience is vain, which is the theme of this last great paragraph; and a clear perception of this will carry us through both the obscurities of it, and the difficulties of St. Pauls application of it in the Romans.
Of this then the author of Deuteronomy says: "It is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." That is to say, there is no mystery or difficulty about this commandment of love. Neither have you to go to the uttermost parts of the sea to hear it, nor need you search into the mysteries of heaven. It has been brought near to you by all the mercy and forgiveness and kindness of Yahweh; it has been made known to you now by my mouth, even in its pettiest applications. But that is not all; it is graven on your own heart, which leaps up in glad response to this demand, and in answer to the manifestation of Gods love for you. It is really the fundamental principle of your own nature that is appealed to. You should clearly feel that life in the love of God and man is the only fit life for you who are made in the image of God. If you do, then the fulfillment of all the Divine precepts will be easy, and your lives will lighten more and more unto the perfect day.
Now, for an Oriental of the pre-Christian era such teaching is most marvelous. How marvelous it is Christians perhaps find it difficult to see. In point of fact, many have denied that Old Testament teaching ever had this character. Misled by the doctrines of Islam, the great Semitic religion of today, many assert that the religion of ancient Israel called upon men to submit to mere power in submitting to God. But the appeal of our text to the heart of man shows that this is an error. No such appeal has ever been made to Mohammedans. Their state of mind in regard to God is represented by the remark of a recent traveler in Persia. Speaking of the Persian Babis, who may be described roughly as a heretical sect whose minds have been formed by Mohammedanism, he says: "They seemed to have no conception of absolute good, or absolute truth; to them good was merely what God chose to ordain, and truth what He chose to reveal, so that they could not understand how any one could attempt to test the truth of a religion by an ethical and moral standard." Now that is precisely the opposite of the Deuteronomic attitude. Israel is encouraged and incited to right action by having it pointed out that not only experience, not only Divinely given statutes and judgments, but the very nature of man itself guarantees the truth of this supreme law of love. The law laid upon men is nothing strange to, or incongruous with, their own better selves. It is the very thing which their hearts have cried out for; when it is proclaimed the higher nature in man recognizes it and bows before it. It is not received because of fear, nor is it bowed before because it is backed by power which can smite men to the dust. No; even in its ruins human nature is nobler than that; and Deuteronomy everywhere teaches with burning conviction that God is too ethical and spiritual in nature to accept the submission of a slave.
This reading of our passage is plainly that which St. Paul takes in Rom_10:5-6. He perceives, what so many fail to do, that the spirit and scope of the Deuteronomic teaching are different from that of the purely legal sections of the Pentateuch. Paul therefore quotes the Pentateuch as having already made the distinction between works and faith which he wishes to emphasize, and as having distinctly given preference to the latter. Leviticus keeps men at the level of the worker for wages, while Deuteronomy in this passage, by making love to God the essence of all true observance of the law, raises them almost to the level of sons. And just as in those ancient days the highest manifestations of God had not to be labored for and sought by impotent strivings, but had plainly been made known to them and had found an echo in their hearts, so now the highest revelation had been brought near to men in Christ, and had found a similar response. They did not need to seek it in heaven, for it had been brought to earth in the Incarnation. They did not need to descend into the abyss, for all that was needed had been brought thence by Christ at His resurrection. And in the New Testament as in the Old, the simplicity of the entrance into true relations with God is emphasized. Love and faith are the fundamental conditions. From them obedience will naturally issue, since "to faith all things are possible, and to love all things are easy."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.—From the mention of what God had done…
CRITICAL NOTES.—From the mention of what God had done for Israel, Moses passes to the obedience of the law. They were under deep obligation to keep it, and in doing so, consisted their wisdom, greatness, and destiny.
Deu_4:1. Statutes—rules concerning religion and Divine worship. Judgments—civil enactments, public and private. The two denote the whole law in its leading features (Lev_19:37).
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Deu_4:2. This law must not be altered; but kept as God’s unchangeable word.
Deu_4:3-4. The results of obedience or disobedience had just been seen at Baal-Peor (Num_25:3; Num_25:9; idolators were destroyed, faithful men remained alive. Followed—a common expression for religious walk and life, cf. Jer_8:2; Jer_9:14. Cleave hold fast to one; intimate communion and attachment.
Deu_4:5-6. Observance would be their life, enjoyment, and influence upon other nations. Their wisdom would attract as in the case of the Queen of Sheba, the enquiring earnest heathens.
Deu_4:7-8. This attractive force consisted in possessing superior privileges and serving God. “True right has its roots in God, and with the obscuration of the knowledge of God, law, and right, with their divinely established foundations, are also shaken and obscured.” cf. Rom_1:26-32).—Keil.
Deu_4:9. Heed. Forget not what has been seen. Keep thy soul, i.e., defend thy life from danger or injury (Pro_13:3; Pro_19:16).
Deu_4:10. The day, the delivery of the law, an era most memorable and never to be forgotten. The leading facts are given.
Deu_4:11. Burned unto the midst, lit., “to the heart of heaven, i.e., quite into the sky, a rhetorical description of the awful majesty of the pillar of fire, in which the glory of the Lord appeared upon Sinai” (Keil). Moses seeks to renew the impressions then produced.
Deu_4:12. Voice, utterance of words, but no shape or form was seen.
Deu_4:15. Since no figure of God was seen, beware of making one and acting corruptly.
Deu_4:16. Graven, carved or sculptured in wood, metal, or stone. Similitude, form, idol (2Ch_33:7; 2Ch_33:15). Likeness, pattern, model (Exo_25:9; Exo_25:40).
Deu_4:17-18. Beast. A warning against animal worship of Egypt, of which they had seen so much.
Deu_4:19. Worship of heavenly bodies was not to beguile them. Driven, constrained or urged (cf. Deu_13:13). Divided, not allotted the heathen, or permitted them to worship; but “whose light God has distributed to the nations for their use and benefit, and which therefore, being creatures ministering to man’s conscience, must not be worshipped as man’s lords.”—Speak. Com.
Deu_4:20. Iron furnace, an image of the bondage and intense affliction in Egypt.
Deu_4:21-24. Moses again refers to his exclusion from Canaan, and renews the warning not to forget the Covenant, or make graven images. God is a jealous God, and consuming fire, applied with special reference to manifestations in His glory (Exo_24:17).
Deu_4:25-28. Warnings against idolatry enforced by distinct predictions of punishment. Future generations who had not known what they knew would utterly perish. Prolong, (26), to have long life; here to occupy the land long severed from God they would lose their inheritance. They would be scattered, become few in number compared with those around them (27), and be compelled to serve idols which could neither see nor smell (28).
Deu_4:29. Seek. Israel would then be sensible of sin, would seek and find God (Luk_15:17).
Deu_4:30. These threatenings and sufferings, Latter, lit., at the end of the days; the end of captivity, or far distant future.
Deu_4:31. Not forsake, lit., not withdraw his hand (Jos_10:6) or let loose; nor cast off (Rom_11:1)
Deu_4:32-40. To secure obedience, Moses again reminds them of their choice, instruction, deliverance, and guidance.
Deu_4:32. For a reason given, because merciful, Jehovah delivered them. Days past, from earliest times, from the records of all places we read not of such an event.
Deu_4:34. A reference to miracles of deliverance. Assayed, attempted. Temptations, testings, trials, to Pharaoh especially. Signs and wonders, plagues of Egypt (Exo_7:3), extraordinary events with a moral design. War, conflict at Red Sea (Exo_14:14; Exo_15:3.) Terrors, effects on Egyptians, cf. Psa_105:27; Psa_105:38; Psa_106:21.
Deu_4:36. Supernatural revelations and method in which they were given emphasized. Instruct, tame, or, bind a bullock (Jer_31:18), then to discipline; generally to chastise, correct, instruct (Pro_9:7).
Deu_4:37. All this from love to their fathers. Seed. Abraham’s sight, lit., by his face, his presence with them. “My presence (lit., my face) shall go with thee” Exo_33:14).
Deu_4:41-43. Many regard these verses as an interpolation. “There is, however, no reason to depart from the view suggested alike by their contents and context. The vv. preceding are clearly the conclusion, as those succeeding are the exordium, of a distinct and complete discourse. These vv. then are inserted between the two simply for the reason to which they themselves call attention (“Then Moses severed three cities, etc.”), i.e., the fact narrated took place historically after Moses spoke the one discourse and before he delivered the other. In thus severing the three cities of refuge, Moses carried out a previous command of God (Num_35:14), and so followed up his exhortations to obedience, by setting a punctual example of it as far as opportunity was given him.” (Speak. Com.)
Deu_4:44. This the law, a preface to the following rehearsal and” explanations of the law—” including in fact the central part and substance of the book, which now follows in twenty-two chapters”—with a notice of time and place.
HEARING AND OBSERVING THE LAW.—Deu_4:1-4
Moses now proceeds to urge practical obedience. The events in their recent history were motives and encouragements to keep the law. These events were related to quicken attention, remind them of their duty, and the benefits of performing it. “Now therefore hearken,” etc.
I. The law in its nature. “The statutes and judgments” represent the law in its leading features.
1. It is Divine in its authority. “The commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” The voice of God is heard in the words. A revelation of God’s will is needful. Man may discover natural laws and reach perfection in science, but God alone can reveal moral duty and teach us to perform it. “Which I teach you.”
2. It is unchangeable in its demands. It is law, that which is laid down as a permanent rule of life. Human systems are set up and pulled down, altered and violated, but God’s commandments remain the same for all ages and for all nations, firm as the everlasting hills, right as the mind of God, and perfect in their requirements. “Ye shall not add unto, nor diminish.”
3. It is adapted to man’s moral condition. In perplexity and restlessness these statutes bind in their authority and purpose. These judgments teach what is right—what is due to God and our fellow-men. In all circumstances, in all relationships, we have a Divine unerring rule of life.
II. The law in its design. “Hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes for to do them, that ye may live.”
1. To give life. “That ye may live.” Life and prosperity depended upon their obedience. Not merely natural life in its measure and enjoyment (Deu_5:33; Deu_6:2), but spiritual life, that higher life “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.” When our conduct accords with the law of God, we find “the highest good, on the largest scale, for the longest period.” But life spiritual and eternal are not secured by the law which we have broken. Jesus Christ only gives life and salvation.
2. To confirm the inheritance. Obedience was the condition of possessing and continually enjoying the inheritance. Not in numbers and valour, not in the wisdom of their priests nor the wealth of their princes, but in observing the law of God did their security and prosperity consist. “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.”
III. The law in its observance. To give life and secure their possessions the law must be observed in its completeness. “Ye shall not add unto the word, neither shall ye diminish ought.” We add by superstition and tradition, we diminish by ritual and creed at our peril. “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar.” God’s law is perfect, and must be entirety. “Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it” (Ecc_3:14).
IV. The law enforced by examples. In their history they had experience of the danger of disobedience and the blessings of obedience. Baal-peor witnessed to the truth and authority of the law and ought to be a warning against apostasy.
1. Idolators were destroyed. “All the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed” (cf. Num_25:3-9).
2. Faithful followers were preserved alive. “Ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive, every one of you this day.” Thus Divine law is attested by human experience and history. “Your eyes have seen” these things. Take warning and do not provoke God to anger.
NATIONAL PRE-EMINENCE.—Deu_4:5-8
Israel’s relation to God and possession of his laws exalted them above other nations. Loyalty to God would not only give them life, but reputation for wisdom and understanding. Only through God’s teaching and blessing had they become a great nation. If they lost a sense of duty and dependence upon Him they would lose their pre-eminence. “Keep, therefore, and do them.” We learn how national pre-eminence is attained—
I. A nation is pre-eminent by enlightening the people through the word of God. Unto Israel were committed “the oracles of God” and this gave them advantage (Rom_3:1-2). Their national glory and attraction rested on obedience to the “statutes and judgments” which they possessed. If they meditated upon these, practised and taught these, they would be wise, retain their greatness, and exercise moral influence upon surrounding nations. The possession of the Bible and the means of grace; the erection of schools and religious institutions, will not make a nation great. Just laws, true science, and noble institutions to speed them are a great responsibility and privilege. But in reverence for God and His word, in the earnest endeavour to practice its commands, in domestic, social, and political life will be our eminence and prosperity. “For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations.”
II. A nation is pre-eminent by valuing and improving its religious privileges. “What nation so great, who hath God so nigh unto them” (Deu_4:7). Moses reminds them of their privileges. But present greatness must not lead them to forget God and their duty. Future prosperity depends upon right use of what they now enjoy. God’s nearness should prompt them to worship and obedience. God’s righteous judgments should be the ground of their stability and the secret of success. If England disregards the Sabbath, neglects her duty and improves not her religious advantages, no science or legislation can preserve her superiority. Her glory will decay, and it may be more tolerable for rude nations, for Sodom and Gomorrah, at the day of judgment than for her.
III. A nation is pre-eminent by cherishing a spirit of obedience to God, from whom religious privileges come. We must not trust to the splendour of our fleet and the valour of our soldiers, nor to the extent of our commerce and the greatness of our empire. Infidelity denies God, and false science ignores Him, but no nation can succeed without God. Robespierre declared “the world cannot be worked without God; and rather than try to work it without God we had better invent a god.” God comes near us to be trusted and loved—reveals His spirituality and power to satisfy our need and restrain idolatry, and exalts a nation to dignity and power, that He may be obeyed and honoured. “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_4:1-2. The dignity of moral law.
1. Divine in its origin, “which I teach you.”
2. Complete in its nature, “not add to, nor diminish from.”
3. Practical in its design, nothing speculative or temporary, “for to do them.” “There is no greater evidence that Israel had a communication from heaven than this fact—that their morality is so pure, their apprehension of God so sublime, their definition of His nature so august, their whole intercourse with heaven so pure, so holy, so different from anything before or around them, that it seems scarcely possible to escape the conclusion that the Greeks were taught by themselves, that the Jews were the pupils of God.”—Cumming.
Deu_4:2. Divine guardianship of the Bible. God defends it from alteration according to the tastes and systems of men. Learn—
1. The need of preserving its purity and integrity.
2. The danger of tampering with it. “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Look of life.”
Deu_4:3. Baal-peor. The facts of history according with human experience in vindicating God’s law. “Your eyes have seen what the Lord did.” Learn—
1. The anger of God in its cause, manifestations, and results. The mercy of God an encouragement to His people. “The allusion to that recent and appalling judgment was seasonably made as a powerful dissuasive against idolatry; and the fact mentioned was calculated to make a deep impression on the people who knew and felt the truth of it.”
Deu_4:4. Cleave unto Jehovah.
1. Personal attachment. “Ruth clave (adhered to, to be close behind), Rth_1:14.
2. Constant fellowship.
3. Faithful service.
Deu_4:5; Deu_4:8. The Bible the wisdom of a nation. Consider—I. That the Bible brings greatness to a nation; because—
1. When received and obeyed, it brings God’s blessing with it.
2. It elevates the national character. II. That it is the duty of all to have a personal acquaintance with the Scriptures, and to instruct the young in them.—Rev. S. Hayman, B.A.
Deu_4:7-8. Here he represents their privileges and their duty in such significant and comprehensive terms as were peculiarly calculated to arrest their attention and engage their interest. The former—their national advantages—are described, and they are twofold:—
1. God’s readiness to hear and aid them at all times; and
2. The excellence of that religion in which they were instructed, set forth in the “statutes and judgments so righteous” which the law of Moses contained. Their duty corresponding to these pre-eminent advantages as a people was also twofold:—
1. Their own faithful obedience to that law, and
2. Their obligation to imbue the minds of the young and rising generation with similar sentiments of reverence and respect for it.—Jamieson’s Com. in loco.
FORGETFULNESS OF GOD’S LAW.—Deu_4:9-14
God’s judgments would benefit Israel only when remembered and reverently obeyed. To aid their obedience they must beware of forgetting the method and the circumstances in which the law was received. They must give personal heed to it and teach it to their children, that generations to come might fear the Lord.
I. The law of God is given to impress the mind and lead to obedience. “He commanded you to perform” (Deu_4:13). God is not indifferent, and we should not be, to the observance of his law. It demands attention, reverence and love. It should be supreme in our thoughts and life. Obedience should not be accidental, superficial work, but an intelligent, constant, direction of the heart and life. If the heart be gained, the whole man is governed—the affections, desires, and powers given up—but if God is forgotten, departs from the heart, he will soon be forsaken and disobeyed. “My son, forget not the law; but let thine heart keep my commandments.”
II. There is a tendency in man to forget and disobey this law We should not blame infirmity of memory—a special help is provided for that (Joh_14:26)—but wilful forgetfulness of heart. “The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God, and after conversion to keep it with Him,” says Flavel. “What is there that will not entice and allure so fickle a thing as the heart from God?” asks Mede.
1. To forget, notwithstanding the evidence of the senses. “Thine eyes have seen” (Deu_4:9). No length of time should efface such events from the memory.
2. To forget in the immediate presence of God. “Thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb” (Deu_4:10). This presence should check from sin, and prompt to obedience. “That his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not” (Exo_20:20).
3. To forget amid most terrible displays of God’s majesty.
1. Fire. “The mountain burned with fire.”
2. Darkness. “Darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.”
3. Divine voice. “The Lord spake unto you, ye heard the voice,” Deu_4:12 (cf. Exo_19:16-18; Exo_20:18; Exo_20:22). Such manifestations were intended to impress and benefit the people. This special favour, this awful display, should help them ever to remember and obey.
III. The means of helping memory and prompting obedience given. God gives direction, and provides against the dangers of His people.
1. Personal attention. “Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently” (Deu_4:9). Religion requires caution, circumspection (Eph_5:15), and personal care. Those cannot walk safely who walk carelessly. Such are the assaults without and the evils within, that we have to take care lest personal obedience should be forgotten. “Keep thy heart with all diligence, lit., above all keeping (Pro_4:23).
2. Teaching the children. “That they may teach their children” (Deu_4:10). Parents are depositors of the knowledge and law of God, and must teach and transmit them to their sons. The truth of God must mould the hearts of the rising generations, and be handed down to future ages. “That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.”
THE DANGERS OF IDOLATRY.—Deu_4:15-19
Israel were to take heed, and neither to forget the covenant of God, nor offend Him by image worship. He had not been manifested to them in any form or representation. They were therefore to worship Him without any graven image or likeness, in a method corresponding to His spiritual nature.
I. Idolatry in its forms. Man has always felt his separation from, and craved for friendship with God. Failing to discover Him, human nature in its distress has made a desperate effort to realise God in gold and silver, in forms and ideas. But God has revealed Himself to man in His word and in His Son. Yet, strange to say, such is the perversity of our hearts, that we carve our own images, set up our own idols and cry, “These be thy gods.” Three forms of idolatry are given.
1. Man worship. “The likeness of male or female.” Ancestors and national leaders have been deified. Men have practised, and do now practice hero-worship, and set up their household gods (Penates). All superstitious reverence for any of our race is here forbidden. Worship God and not man.
2. Animal worship. This was common in Egypt. Birds, like the ibis and hawk; four-footed beasts, like the ox, dog, and cat; and creeping things, like the serpent, crocodile, and beetle (cf. Rom_1:23), were prevalent forms of idolatry.
3. Nature worship. The light of sun and moon was distributed to the nations for their benefit, ministered to their convenience, and were therefore not to be reverenced. The heavenly bodies were regarded as symbols of deities, and Israel was in danger of being seduced by their worship. “In a word,” says Dean Goulborn, “idolatry (or the surrounding the creature with the attributes of the Creator) is the original fundamental sin of man—the point of departure from which man started on the downward course, until he reached the lowest depths of wickedness”—Who changed (exchanged) the truth of (i.e., concerning) God into a lie (an idol, or falsehood) and worshipped (adored) and served (in rites and ceremonies) the creature (in various forms) more than (often along with, and without) the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” Rom_1:25.
II. Idolatry in its consequences. Men ever possessed a knowledge of the existence and attributes of God, but the affections have prevented the mind from discerning and preserving the truth taught by nature and “manifest in them” (Rom_1:20). God was not recognised and glorified. Darkness and idolatry followed the rejection of light, and terrible were the consequences.
1. Idolatry degrades the Divine nature. God is invisible, and cannot be represented by images; spiritual, and should not be materialised; omnipresent, and must not be localised. An infinite spiritual and Divine nature can never become finite, material and human. To make any image of God is to lower and degrade Him. “We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device (sculptured by art and ingenuity of man), Act_17:29.
2. Idolatry corrupts human nature. “Lest ye corrupt yourselves” (Deu_4:16). We are children of God, and our filial relation protests against idolatry. What is spiritual in us can never be pencilled or carved. Spirituality is lost by representing it in sense; and since man is corrupt, cannot make a god superior to himself, and ever becomes like the object he worships; how foolish, how degrading is idolatry! “They that make them are like unto them; so is everyone that trusteth in them” (Psa_115:8).
3. Idolatry perils human life. This truth is confirmed in the life of Moses (Deu_4:21), the history of Israel and heathen nations. God is the source of natural life, but if forsaken, this life is cut off from its source and centre and shortened by vice. Spiritual life can never be sustained in power and beauty away from God. “Take ye, therefore, good heed unto yourselves” (Deu_4:15).
“Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone
To rev’rence what is ancient, and can plead
A course of long observance for its use,
That even servitude, the worst of ills,
Because deliver’d down from sire to son,
Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing.”—Cowper.
THE IRON FURNACE.—Deu_4:20
A furnace for smelting iron was round in shape, often thirty feet deep, requiring heat most intense. In this figure we have a type of—
I. Intense Affliction. Israel in Egypt were grievously afflicted, had to serve in bondage and under cruel taskmasters. “They made their lives bitter,” and all “their service, wherein they made them serve, was with vigour” (Exo_1:11-14). God often sends affliction deep and most severe. Deliverance is like rescue from the fire. “I brought them forth out of the laud of Egypt, from the iron furnace” (Jer_11:4).
II. Benevolent Design. This furnace is kindled and tempered for some merciful purpose.
1. Real discipline. “What need,” asks Philip Henry, “have the people of God of afflictions? The same that our bodies have of physic; that trees have of pruning; that gold and silver have of the furnace.” God thus purifies our character and fits us for his service.
2. Preparation for usefulness. “To be unto Him a people of inheritance.” A people holy, honourable, and useful. “Suppose, Christian, the furnace to be seven times hotter, it is but to make you seven times better; fiery trials make golden Christians.”—Dyer.
Eminent usefulness on earth, and heaven with its glory, are gained through chastened sufferings. Richard Boyle, earl of Cork, rose from the humblest station to the highest rank in life. After passing through strange and most trying circumstances he adopted as his motto, and had engraved upon his tomb the words, “God’s providence is my inheritance.” “We went through fire and through water (greatest trials); but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place (lit., well-watered place; abundance of blessings)” (Psa_66:12).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_4:15. Take heed. These many cautions note our proneness to this evil above others. This appeareth somewhat in children so delighted with pictures, and in that idolomania of these Jews, of the eastern churches, and of the synagogue of Rome.—Trapp.
Deu_4:19. Sun, moon, and stars. Note
1. The use and design in the heavenly bodies, given for the benefit of all mankind (Gen_1:14-18; Psa_104:19). Hence cannot be appropriated to one people, and absurd to worship as God’s what are intended to be servants to man.
2. The proneness of man to put the creature in the place of the Creator. “Lest thou shouldest be driven,” i.e., drawn or constrained; by sense, “when thou seest the sun;” by customs of other nations, and by natural tendency. Objects of nature should be viewed with admiration, gratitude, and love. Nature should lead up to Nature’s God. But what proneness in man to abuse these gifts; to ignore God and degrade ourselves!
“The landscape has His praise, but not its author.”
Deu_4:20. A people of inheritance. This special relationship is—
1. A protest against idolatry.
2. An argument for gratitude and obedience. To abandon God’s worship for gross and debasing idolatry would be greatest folly and shameless ingratitude.
3. A reason for purity and spirituality of worship. People of inheritance.
1. Purchased or acquired by God. Israel is viewed as God’s own by a long series of mighty deeds performed for their deliverance. Hence said to be “redeemed” (Exo_6:6) or “purchased” (Exo_15:16).
2. Owned by God. A possession which God has gained specially for Himself.
3. Should therefore be devoted to God alone. “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure (segullah—valuable property—1Ch_29:3; Ecc_2:8) unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine,” Exo_19:5; (cf. Mal_3:17; 1Pe_2:9).”
WARNINGS IN PERSONAL HISTORY.—Deu_4:21-22
Deliverance from Egypt reminds Moses that God did not permit him to enter Canaan. His punishment ought to be a warning to them. “The Lord was angry with me for your sakes.” Learn—
I. Impressive events occur in Personal History. Every life is filled with such events. Our sins, overruled by God’s sovereign mercy or displeasure, deprive us of gaining honours and possessions. Times and seasons are fixed, made impressive by special displays from God. With sorrow we “remember the days of darkness,” and looking back exclaim in submission “I must die in this land.”
II. These impressive events in Personal History a warning to others. Our personal sufferings are not only profitable to ourelves but may be to others. “I have sinned and have been punished” says Moses “for your sake.” “You are privileged to enter Canaan and I am not. Beware, therefore, and provoke not God as I did through unbelief.” “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant.”
WARNINGS AGAINST IDOLATRY.—Deu_4:23-24
The people are warned anew against forsaking God, who is jealous for his glory, and making and worshipping graven images. “Take heed,” etc.—
I. Idolatry shows base ingratitude to God. God had done wonderful things for Israel. They had resolved not to forget Him, yet how ungrateful and prone to go astray! No miraculous displays without can eradicate evils within. How great has God’s goodness been to us, yet how thoughtless and ungrateful have we been! Forgetful of His presence, precepts, and providence! “How unsuitable is it for us who live only by kindness (Tit_3:4-7) to be unthankful,” says Edwards.
II. Idolatry violates God’s commands. “Which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.” God’s law demands our love, dethrones our lusts, and requires constant and unswerving obedience. To forget is to ignore God, and to live as if He did not exist. Thus men refuse submission, throw off allegiance to God, and choose idols. “How oft did they rebel against Him.”
III. Idolatry rouses God’s anger. “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire,” etc. Anger is not the natural feeling of God towards man. “God is love.” What then causes the wrath of God? It is God’s righteous opposition to sin. He is jealous for His honour, and will not spare those guilty of idolatry. “For the wrath of God is revealed (in the moral government of the world) from heaven against all ungodliness (sin against God), and unrighteousness (sin against man) of men, who hold (keep down) the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom_1:18)
PUNISHMENTS OF APOSTACY.—Deu_4:25-28
Warnings against idolatry are enforced by predicted punishments upon future generations who should turn from Jehovah and corrupt themselves by idolatry. Canaan was granted on condition of constant obedience. If they forsook God their title to the land would be forfeited. They would be diminished in number, dispersed among the heathen and compelled to serve dumb idols, so that their choice would become their punishment.
I. Evils would be entailed upon future generations. Nature, like a Nemesis, follows transgressors afar. The sources of life cannot be poisoned without the stream being affected. “Children’s children” might remain long in the land, but they would inherit the tendencies and suffer for the sins of their progenitors. The family of Saul suffered for his great malice against David. Achan perished not alone in his iniquity (Jos_22:20). Thus God visits “the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”
II. National life would be destroyed. Severed from God they would lose their inheritance, and cease to be a chosen people.
1. They would be reduced in number. “Ye shall be left few in number.”
2. They would be scattered among other nations. “The Lord shall scatter you among the nations”—as in the captivity of Babylon. The author had in view, says Keil, “all the dispersions which would come upon the rebellious nation in future times, even down to the dispersion under the Romans, which continues still; so that Moses contemplated the punishment in its fullest extent.”
3. They would be rejected as a people. “Ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.” This has been fulfilled in the uprooting of all the tribes of Israel, in their dispersion through all nations, and in the miseries they have endured. What a solemn warning to those who forsake God.
III. Retributive consequences would follow. They would become perfect slaves to other peoples, and forced to render homage to senseless idols. As their sin, so their punishment. They had dishonoured God by graven images, so they would be degraded by service to abominable idols. Evils which we esteem pleasures at first, often become our tyrants, and drag us down to misery. If we make indulgences our gods, they will become our degradation. “They that make them are like unto them; so is everyone that trusteth in them.”
“Oh, blind to truth, and God’s whole scheme below,
Who fancy bliss to vice; to virtue, woe.”—Pope.
THE BLESSINGS OF TRIBULATION.—Deu_4:27-30
If Israel in their dispersion and trouble turn with all their hearts to God he will deliver them and not utterly cast them off. He is merciful as well as jealous, and mindful of the covenant which he sware unto their fathers (cf. Lev_26:40-42; Neh_9:31).
I. Afflictions are corrective in their design. “Whither the Lord shall lead you.” God not only permitted Israel to be carried off, but lead them into other lands, gently and kindly led them with special design (Deu_4:27). It is a mercy to be corrected when we might have been destroyed. Afflictions, exile and disappointment are intended to check our sins and preserve our souls. “None is more unhappy,” says Seneca, “than he who never felt adversity.”
II. Afflictions are tempered with mercy in their character. Fallen angels were left to their eternal doom; but sinful man is kept from destruction, corrected, and brought back to God. Backsliders may be punished, but God will forgive. “Mercy rejoiceth (glorieth, triumphs over) against judgments” (Jas_2:13).
III. Afflictions are blessed in their results. “If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him.” They often lead to repentance, removal of sin, and return to God. From the deepest distress and the most distant apostacy God brings His children. David went astray before he was afflicted. Manasseh long forsook God, but sought His face when put in sore distress, and the prodigal returned to his father’s house when he felt his helpless, lost condition. King Alfred prayed that (God would often send him sickness to keep him obedient and devout. “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_4:24. God a consuming fire. There are stern aspects of God as well as mild. The figure of fire sets forth the anger of God against sin.
1. How kindled.
2. Material to keep it alive.
3. The difficulty of extinguishing it; and
4. The fearful consumption it makes—swift and overwhelming destruction. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb_12:29).
God a jealous God. Jealousy applied to God does not mean suspicion, but readiness to vindicate His glory and law. “Not in the sense in which He was regarded as ‘jealous’ by some of the Greeks, who supposed that success or eminence of any kind provoked Him (Herod 3:40, 125), but jealous of His own honour,” one who will not see “His glory given to another (Isa_42:8; Isa_48:11), or allow rivals to dispute His sole and absolute sovereignty” (cf. Exo_24:14; Deu_5:9; Deu_6:15; Jos_24:19). Hence jealous.
1. For His glory.
2. For the purity of His worship; and
3. For His people. Jealous. And should therefore be served truly, that there be no halting; and totally that there be no halving (Heb_12:28-29).—Trapp.
Deu_4:25; Deu_4:28. Remained long in the land.
1. The condition of possessing it.
2. The danger of forgetting this condition. Carnally secure and forsaking God, and growing old in the land.
3. The punishment that would follow from this forgetfulness. (a) Forewarned. Heaven and earth witness. (b) Severe dispersion and degradation.
Deu_4:26. Heaven and earth—
1. Witness for God’s existence.
2. Warning against sin.
3. Testify to His righteousness in punishing transgression.
Deu_4:29-31. Israel’s sin, misery repentance, and restoration.
Deu_4:29. I. Seeking God.
1. Faruestly; with all thy heart.
2. Intelligently; with all thy soul. II. Inducements to seek God.
1. Merciful in Himself.
2. Mindful of His promise; and
3. Able to help in translation. “Sweet and sour make the best sauce. Promises and menaces mixed soonest operate upon the heart. The sun of righteousness loves not to be set in a cloud, nor the God of consolation to have his children comfortless.”—Trapp.
DAYS THAT ARE PAST.—Deu_4:32-34
Moses reminds Israel of God’s goodness and miraculous dealings in their choice, deliverance, and instruction. Remembrance of days past should prompt them to obedience and love.
I. Days past reveal the special goodness of God. God has not left the world to chance and inflexible laws. Nothing can surprise or thwart Him. He rules all creatures and events, showing mercy to those that love Him, and punishing those who rebel against Him.
1. In creating them. Our natural birth and regeneration are the acts of Divine mercy. “The Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee (fashioned into shape) O Israel” (Isa_43:1).
2. In delivering them from danger. As Israel were rescued from Egypt, God’s people now are redeemed from enemies by wonderful and extraordinary ways, “with an outstretched arm, and with great judgment” (Exo_6:6).
3. In teaching them by various ways. Each age has its own special revelations. In the Bible we have a record “of days that are past” in patriarchal, prophetical, and apostolic truth. God’s faithfulness and mercy are written unmistakably and should be read most devoutly in those wondrous days.
II. Days past are filled with warnings and examples. “History is philosophy teaching by examples.” Jewish history is full of instructive lessons. They enjoyed mercies never given to any other nation, or grace never heard of since the creation of the world. These deeds brighten days of old and make them powerful now. They are the gifts of God to the present age, and the lives of good men and bad men are for all time.
“There is a history in all men’s lives
Figuring the nature of the times deceased.”—Shakespeare.
III. Days past should be remembered for future instruction. Human experience should not be forgotten. We should be more virtuous and obedient as days roll on. Every age should be an advance upon the past, and should be more powerful for good. It is sad when in the life of a nation, or the life of a man, God is forsaken, and former days lamented for as better than the present. In former days men lived long, were specially trained, and have handed down their treasures to posterity. “Enquire I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of (the records) their fathers. For (the reason given) we are but of yesterday and know nothing, (compared to them) because our days upon earth are a shadow. Shall not they teach thee and tell thee (how God deals with men in this world) and utter words out of their heart (wise sayings result of careful observation) Job_8:8.
There is something very solemn in the thought of “days that are past”—past, never to return; while their moral results remain for ever as subjects of future responsibility. We have to reckon on days past; for time, like tide, stays for no man.
“Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours,
And ask them what report they bore to heaven;
And how they might have borne more welcome news.”
Let us then summon our past days, and ask what they have to say. First, concerning the world. Mrs. Savage remarks, “I never knew any of the people of the world praise it at parting.” No wonder at this. They have been too much in it, seen too much of it, and been too much deceived by it to recommend to others. Solomon’s verdict is, “Vanity of vanities”—“vanity” if they succeed, and “vexation of spirit” if disappointed. What a miserable painted cheat is the world! Enough to induce us to forsake it, and comply with the admonition. “Forsake the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding.” Secondly, ask what they have to say concerning ourselves. Have they not shown us many things with which we were formerly unacquainted, and filled us with surprise and regret. How many convictions violated, how many resolutions broken! Life has been very unlike the picture our early imagination drew—our dependences often proved broken reeds, not only unable to sustain hopes, but have “pierced us through with many sorrows.” Will days not tell us that life has been a chequered scene? Review them again under a sense of unworthiness of the least mercy, and of all the truth which God has shown us. If we have been in the wilderness, have we not found grace in the sanctuary? Have we not had the fiery cloudy pillar to guide us, manna to sustain us, and waters to refresh us? Can we refuse to say, “Goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life?”—Jay.
INDUCEMENTS TO OBEDIENCE.—Deu_4:32-38
If God has performed such wonderful things for His people, they were put under obligations of gratitude and love. They should ever obey Him for mercies and privileges unknown to other people.
I. They were remarkable in their history. Their calling, deliverance, and whole history was full of the supernatural.
1. They had been delivered from bondage most terrible. Egypt is a type of sin in its misery and power. But God’s power is greater than Satan and sin. When God “assayed to go,” deliverance was sure.
2. Delivered in a way most striking. By temptations—judgments inflicted upon Pharaoh and his people to test or try them; by signs—tokens of the supernatural in their nature and design; by wonders—the objective side of miracle, the extraordinary and marvellous; by war—conflict at the Red Sea (cf. Exo_14:14; Exo_15:3); by a mighty hand and stretched out arm (Exo_6:6; Exo_14:8; Deu_26:8); and by great terrors in the minds of Egyptians through Divine operations (Psa_105:27-28; Psa_106:21).
3. Hence deliverance unsurpassed. Such had never been heard of from the beginning of the world (Deu_4:32). It was unexampled in method and purpose. All to prove the sovereign love and grace of God. The experience and history of God’s people outstrip the discipline of ancient Israel. “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.”
II. They were wonderful in their training. They were inspired with salutary fear, impressed with the awful signs of God’s presence which shadow forth the majesty of His nature.
1. Trained supernaturally. They heard a voice direct from heaven in condescension to their moral condition and mental capacity.
2. Trained with awful symbols. God spoke to His children by sensible signs to impress their minds. What more terrible than thunder and lightning, smoke and flames of fire! Surely we should love Him “whose terror should not make us afraid.”
3. Trained with a special design. “Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord He is God” (Deu_4:35).
III. They were providential in their settlement. They were dearer to God than any other people. Nations were driven out from their lands; Egyptians and Canaanites were given for their ransom, and people “greater and mightier” than they were, had to prepare them a settlement. God locates his people, prepares their possessions, and Israel’s foes must contribute to Israel’s welfare. “Thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them,” etc. (Psa_44:2-3).
JEHOVAH GOD ALONE.—Deu_4:39-40
Because God had loved their fathers, and had chosen, redeemed, and settled them in Canaan, Israel were to “consider,” never to forget this, and acknowledge that Jehovah alone is God and that there is no other in the universe beside Him.
I. Jehovah alone is the self-existant personal God. This great truth was revealed to the Jews by the destruction of heathen deities, the punishment of their worshippers, and the wonderful events in their history. God is one supreme intelligent being.
1. Alone in His supremacy in heaven and earth. “God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath.” When the might of worldly power was strongest, and idolatry as a system was prevalent, “all the gods of the nations” were declared “idols” (lit., vanities or nullities) Psa_96:5. They were denied superiority and even existence. “For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods” (Psa_95:3).
2. Alone in His government of the world. Not a petty God inferior to heathen gods; but without rival and companion. His government is supreme, not divided among “gods many and lords many;” universal, over all agencies and all spheres; and sole in its authority and design.
3. Alone in His claims upon men. He demands and deserves universal obedience. We are to love Him with all our hearts. But how could we love God if He were not a person? He is not a set of principles nor code of laws; but the true and living God, infinitely distant from finite creatures, yet definitely related to us as law-giver and father. Hence spring His claims upon us, and our duty towards Him. We should render to Him gratitude, praise, and loyal obedience, “for the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.”
II. The practical recognition of this truth. “Know therefore this day.” Know not simply intellectually or theoretically, but practically. “Consider it in thine heart.” Speculation abounds, science puts forth its “laws” and “natural forces,” and men talk about abstract principles as “infinite wisdom” and “almighty power.” Take away a personal God, a loving father; then we are left like children in the orphan asylum—clothed, fed, and governed, perhaps, but objects of pity rather than of love and mercy. We have no resting-place for our affections, no object of worship, and no hope of purity and peace. How needful then, in “this day” of infidelity and irreligion to receive and defend this truth.
1. In its influence upon the heart. “In thine heart,” the centre and regulative power of life.
2. In its influence upon the life. “Thou shalt keep His statutes” (Deu_4:40). Our obedience must spring from love, and be voluntary, absolute, and universal. The preacher sums up the whole of man; not duty only, but happiness and all that concerns him “in fearing God and keeping His commandments” (Ecc_12:13).
THE CITIES OF REFUGE.—Deu_4:41-43
Israel were yet on the east side of Jordan, and after the conclusion of one discourse (Deu_4:1-40) Moses inserts these verses before the other (Deu_4:1, etc.) “In thus severing the three cities of refuge be carried out a previous command of God (Num_35:14), and so followed up his exhortations to obedience by setting a punctual example of it, as far as opportunity was given him.” Consider—
I. The design of these cities. “That the slayer might flee thither, who should kill his neighbour unawares.” They were not to shelter the guilty from punishment, but to secure a fair trial and respite from death. The accidental homicide was protected from the avenger of blood. They set forth—
1. God’s regard for human life. Life was not to be cut down at random. Private revenge was to be checked, and feelings of humanity were to be cultivated.
2. God’s legislative wisdom. In the rude unsettled state of the nation, rights were restricted to certain persons, opportunities were given of establishing innocence, and grievances were removed by the vindication of law. Men were taught to discriminate between one crime and another, and justice was administered with mercy.
3. They typify refuge in Jesus Christ. In these sanctuaries fugitives were safe; certain decrees confirmed their security. To these cities manslayers were directed to run. Often they had to flee for life with not a moment to spare. Men are guilty, exposed to justice, and can find no safety from the terrors of broken law, except in Christ Jesus. Here is safety and perfect redemption for all “who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”
II. The influence of these cities. They would consecrate the land, and prevent its stain from innocent blood. They would confirm and strengthen the possessions taken from the Canaanites, and lay the foundation for just government. They proved the goodness of God, and helped to cultivate a mild and forgiving spirit towards man.
THE REPETITION OF DIVINE LAW.—Deu_4:44-47
These verses begin an address which embraces “the central part and substance of the book, which now follows in twenty-two chapters.” They contain a fuller description of the law, with a notice of time and place in which the address was given.
I. Law clearly explained. “In Deu_4:45, this ‘law’ (thôrah) is summarily described as consisting of ‘testimonies, statutes, and judgments;’ i.e., commandments considered first as manifestations or attestations (eydôth) of the will of God; next, as duties of moral obligation (khŭkim), and thirdly, as precepts securing the mutual rights of men (mishpâtim).”—Sp. Com. The law is repeated and explained that we may know what is due to God and our fellow-creatures, and that obedience tends to happiness and life.
II. Law enforced by reasonable claims. In urging the people to obey the statutes of God, Moses had powerful motives.
1. They were in better circumstances.—Not at the foot of Sinai, amidst thunder, fire, and smoke, but on the borders of the promised land.
2. God’s goodness had been displayed to them. (a) Their enemies had been slain. Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of the Amorites “whom Moses and the children of Israel smote.” (b) “They had already received the first fruits of those promises, the full fruition of which was to be consequent on their fulfilment of that covenant now again about to be rehearsed to them in its leading features.” (c) Hence their surroundings were comfortable, bright and merciful “under the springs of Pisgah.” Such experience, history, and privileges, put them under the deepest obligation! God’s claims are great upon us. But “one great cause of our insensibility to the goodness of our Creator,” says Paley, “is the very extensiveness of his bounty.”
THE AMORITES DISPOSSESSED.—Deu_4:44-49
The importance of the defeat of the two kings of the Amorites leads Moses again to mention it. Israel must never forget that God had given them this possession, not through their own merits, but in fulfilment of His promise. We may learn from this oft-repeated reference—
I. That the continued existence and prosperity of a nation depend upon its virtue and obedience to God. Not upon its wealth, population or defences; cities, fleets and armies can be swept away when God is forsaken.
II. That when virtue and obedience are wanting God often dispossesses a nation. Splendid dynasties have fled into exile; thrones most powerful have been overturned, and God has extirpated one people to prepare for another. This is—
1. A natural law.
2. A fact in history; and
3. A warning to us. “The Lord will rend the kingdom from us, and give it to a neighbour of ours that is better than we are” (1Sa_15:28).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_4:39. Consider it, etc.
1. God’s law has little influence upon the heart and life. Its precepts apt to glide from our memory.
2. Meditation is needful to remind us. “Consider it (lit. bring back) into thine heart.” “Meditation is the bellows of the affections; ‘while I was musing the fire burned’ (Psa_39:3). “The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is, because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.” (Watson).
3. God gives help in this meditation—(a) By special times “This day.” (b) By special subjects “Know that the Lord is God.” (c) By special requests “I command thee.”
Deu_4:40. With thy children. The benefit of obedience.
1. To the present generation—“It may go well with thee.”
2. To the future generation—“Thy children after thee.”
Deu_4:41-43. The cities of refuge in their names, purpose and situation.
Deu_4:44-45. The law.
1. In its minute description.
2. In the peculiar circumstances or place of its repetition. (a) “Over against Beth-peor.”—In dangerous proximity to the idol temple of Moab. (b) In new territories.—In the land of Sihon.”
Deu_4:49. The Springs of Pisgah, fertilizing the land may suggest a discourse on the joys and various advantages that flow from heavenly prospects. How much the present life is benefitted and beautified by thoughts and purposes that flow from views of the heavenly life. Every true Pisgah in our life, i.e., every point of exalted meditation, should be a fountain-head of holy thoughts and action.—Bib. Museum.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
Deu_4:1-4. Hearken. How much more doth it concern us to be hearers ere we offer to be teachers of others. He gathers that hears, he spends that teacheth. If we spend before we gather we shall soon prove bankrupts.—(Bp. Hall). “That it may please thee to give to all thy people increase of grace to hear meekly thy word, to receive it with pure affection, and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit.”
Deu_4:5-6.—Statutes. Look not for another Master, thou hast the oracles of God. No one teaches like them. Ignorance of the Scriptures is the cause of all evils.—(Chrysostom). There is no book on which we can rest in a dying moment but the bible.—Selden.
Deu_4:7-8. So great. The Jews were more than the capsarii nostri and librarians; they had anticipative advantages, and were to be the first to enjoy the gospel privileges, as well as to be the almoners of Messianic blessings to the world (Rom_3:2). They were like trustees of an estate who were themselves to receive the ground-rents till such time as the leases fill in and then they were both to participate in the increased rent roll and to be the channel through which the other heirs were to share the inheritance with themselves.—Neil.
Deu_4:8. When the African prince enquired from our gracious queen the secrets of England’s glory, she handed him a copy of the Scriptures, and said, “That is the secret of England’s greatness.”
Deu_4:9. Teach them. “A pious education is the best way of providing for a family and the surest foundation for its prosperity.”
Deu_4:9-14. Lest thou forget. ’Tis a general fault, that the most common and frequent, the most obvious and conspicuous favours of God, the constant rising of the sun upon us, the descent of fruitful showers, the recourse of temperate seasons, the continuance of our life, the helps of obtaining virtue and becoming happy, we commonly little mind or regard, and consequently seldom return thanks for them.—Dr. Barrow.
Deu_4:15-18. Similitude. It was not until the days of Hebrew decline that a narrow literalism pressed the words into an absolute prohibition of the arts of painting and sculpture. Moses himself sanctioned the cherubic forms above the mercy-seat; the brazen serpent, and the lillies and pomegranates of the golden candlestick. Solomon had lions on the steps of his throne, oxen under his “molten sea,” and palm trees, flowers, and cherubims on the walls of the temple, “within and without” (1Ki_6:29). What this commandment forbade was the worship of God under a material form. It asserted the spirituality of Jehovah. While in the rest of the world there was scarcely a single nation or tribe which did not “make to itself” images of the gods, and regard the images themselves with superstitious veneration. In Judaism alone was this seductive practice disallowed. God would have no likeness made of Him, no representation that might cloud the conception of his entire separation from matter, his purely spiritual essence.—Com. for Eng. Readers.
Deu_4:19. Heaven. Instead of stretching our thoughts to the mystery of creation, and soaring above the stars, when we think of God, which for the most part, is setting Him at a distance from us, it may be of great use to consider Him, as present in the room or little spot where we are, and as it were circumscribed within it, in all His glory, majesty, and purity.—Adam.
Deu_4:23. Forbidden. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious.—Bacon.
Deu_4:24. Jealous. Many attempts have been made to show that jealousy is unworthy of the Divine nature; but that the one only God, if there be but one only God, should claim and exact under some penalties an undivided allegiance is natural, reasonable, and in harmony with the most exalted conceptions of the Divine essence. If God looked with indifference upon idolatry, it would imply that He cared little for His human creatures; that like the Deity of Epicurius having once created man and the world, He thenceforth paid no attention to them.—Com. for Eng. Readers).
Deu_4:25. Corrupt. The heathen corruptions were produced and sanctioned by the heathen mythology and idolatry; while Christian nations are corrupt in spite of and in direct opposition to Christianity, which raises the highest standard of virtue and acts continually on the world as a purifying and sanctifying power.—P. Schaff.
“God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.”—Shakespeare.
Deu_4:26. Witness. There was never miracle wrought by God to convert an atheist because the light of nature might have led him to confess a God. Bacon.
Deu_4:27-30. Tribulation. Afflictions are God’s furnace, by which He cleanses His people from their dross. As gold and silver are refined, so men are purified. The process is never complete so long as any dross remains. As Tennyson suggestively says—
“Life is not like idle ore;
But iron dug from central gloom,
And heated not with burning fears,
And dipt in baths of hissing tears,
And battered with the shocks of doom,
To shape and use.”
Deu_4:33; Deu_4:36. The phenomena accumulated to impress the people seem to have been loud thunder, fierce flashes of lightning, a fire that streamed up from the mountain to the middle of the sky, dense volumes of smoke producing an awful and weird darkness, a trembling of the mountain as by a continuous earthquake, a sound like the blast of a trumpet loud and prolonged, and then, finally, a clear, penetrating voice (cf. Exo_19:16-20). So awful a manifestation has never been made at any other place or time (Deu_4:32), nor will be until the consummation of all things.—Com. for Eng. Readers.
Deu_4:39. Lord. He is not only “God,” but “the Lord” or Governor. We know Him only by His properties, by the wise and admirable structure of things around us, and by their final causes; we admire Him on account of His perfections; we venerate and worship Him on account of His government.—Sir Isaac Newton.
Deu_4:41-43. Cities of refuge were appointed—three on each side of Jordan—with straight and good roads leading to them from every direction, to any of which the murderer might fly; and if he got into it before the avenger overtook him, he was safe from his rage until he had a fair trial. If it was found that he was guilty of wilful murder, he was delivered up to the avenger to be destroyed, and not even the altar was allowed to protect him; but if it was found that the murder had not been intentional, he was allowed to remain in the city of refuge, where none might come to do him evil; and on the death of the high priest he might return in security to his own home.—Dr. Cox.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 In the business of life there are three parties…
Deu 4:9
In the business of life there are three parties concerned, three parties of whose existence it behoves us to be equally and intensely conscious. These three are God on the one hand, and our own individual souls on the other, and the one Mediator, Jesus Christ; who alone can join the two into one.
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I. There is all the difference in the world between saying, Bear yourselves in mind, and saying, Bear in mind always the three, God and Christ and yourselves, whom Christ unites to God. For then there is no risk of selfishness, nor of idolatry, whether of ourselves or of anything else; we do but desire to keep alive and vigorous, not any false or evil life in us, but our true and most precious life, the life of God in and through His Son. But what we see happen very often is just the opposite to this. The life in ourselves, of which we are keenly conscious, never for an instant forgetting it, is but the life of our appetites and passions, and this life is quite distinct from God and from Christ. But while this life is very vigorous, our better life slumbers; we have our own desires, and they are evil, but we take our neighbour’s knowledge and faith and call them our own, and we live and believe according to our neighbour’s notions; so our nobler life shrinks up to nothing, and our sense of truth perishes from want of exercise.
II. In combining a keen sense of our own soul’s life with the sense of God and of Christ, there is no room for pride or presumption, but the very contrary. We hold our knowledge and our faith but as God’s gifts, and are sure of them only so far as His power, and wisdom, and goodness are our warrant. Our knowledge, in fact, is but faith; we have no grounds for knowing as of ourselves, but great grounds for believing that God’s appointed evidence is true, and that in believing it we are trusting Him.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. v., p. 297.
References: Deu 4:12, Deu 4:13.—S. Leathes, Foundations of Morality, p. 26. Deu 4:20.—Parker, vol. v., p. 4.
Deu 4:21-22
We cannot consider this solemn, mysterious close of the great prophet’s life without feeling that there are lessons of instruction the most manifold which are presented by it.
Notice:—
I. A life may appear in some leading point of it to have been a failure, to have been defeated of that crowning success which in our short-sighted vision it had almost a right to claim, and may for all this have been a life most acceptable to God, and consummated with a death very precious in His sight. The lives of few men are rounded and complete; there is something wanting, something fragmentary, in almost all, and this quite as much in the lives of God’s saints as in the lives of other men. God writes His sentence of vanity upon all things here.
II. We see here an example of the strictness with which God will call even His own to account, and while His judgments are in all the world, will cause them to begin at His own house. Moses’ sin seems to us to have been a comparatively small one, a momentary outbreak of impatience or unbelief, and yet it entailed this penalty upon him, this baffling of the dearest hopes of his life.
III. We are wont to regard the death of Moses as something unlike the deaths of other men, and so in a sense it was. Yet look at it in another point of view, and what was it but the solitude of every deathbed? "Je mourrai seul," said the great Pascal, and the words are true of every man. We may live with others, but we must die by ourselves.
IV. Observe and admire the way in which God so often overrules the lives of the saints of the elder covenant that by them He may, in type and shadow, set forth to us the eternal verities of the Gospel. Think not of Moses that he can ever be more than a schoolmaster to Christ; that he can bring thee a foot further than to the borders of the land of thine inheritance. Another must lead thee in if ever that good land shall be thine. Jesus, our Joshua, our Saviour—He must do this.
R. C. Trench, Sermons Preached in Ireland, p. 238 (see also Sermons New and Old, p. 152).
References: Deu 4:21, Deu 4:22.—J. A. Sellar, Church Doctrine and Practice, p. 287. Deu 4:22.—Parker, vol. v., p. 5. Deu 4:29.—Old Testament Outlines, p. 43; Parker, Christian Chronicle, May 7th, 1885. Deu 4:29-31.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1283. Deu 4:36.—Parker, Fountain, March 8th, 1877.
Deu 4:39-40
Moses promised the Jews that if they trusted in God, they would be a strong, happy, and prosperous people. On the other hand, he warned them that if they forgot the Lord their God, poverty, misery, and ruin would surely fall upon them.
That this last was no empty threat is proved by the plain facts of the sacred history. For they did forget God, and worshipped Baalim, the sun, moon, and stars; and ruin of every kind did come upon them, till they were carried away captive to Babylon.
I. The thought that the God whom they worshipped was the one true God must have made His worship a very different, a much holier and deeper, matter to the Jews than the miserable, selfish thing which is miscalled religion by too many people nowadays, by which a man hopes to creep out of this world into heaven all by himself, without any real care or love for his fellow-creatures or those he leaves behind him.
An old Jew’s faith in God and obedience to God was part of his family life, part of his politics, part of his patriotism. The duty he owed to God was not merely a duty which he owed his own conscience or his own soul; it was a duty which he owed to his family, to his kindred, to his country. It was not merely an opinion that there was one God, and not two; it was a belief that the one and only true God was protecting him, teaching him, inspiring him and all his nation.
II. God’s purpose has come to pass. The little nation of the Jews, without seaport towns and commerce, without colonies or conquests, has taught the whole civilised world, has influenced all the good and all the wise unto this day so enormously, that the world has actually gone beyond them and become Christian by fully understanding their teaching and their Bible, while they have remained mere Jews by not understanding it. God’s revelation to the Jews was His boundless message, and not any narrow message of man’s invention.
C. Kingsley, Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 184.
References: Deu 4:32-40.—Parker, vol. iv., p. 118. Deu 4:39.—Ibid., p. 126; C. Kingsley, Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 222. Deu 4:40.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. viii., p. 220. Deu 4:41, Deu 4:42.—E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons, 2nd series, p. 305. Deut 4—Parker, vol. iv., pp. 97, 104. Deu 5:1-21.—J. Hamilton, Works, vol. v., p. 214. Deu 5:3.—Parker, vol. v., p. 5. Deu 5:6, Deu 5:7.—J. Oswald Dykes, The Law of the Ten Words, p. 19. Deu 5:8-10.—Ibid., p. 53. Deu 5:11.—Ibid., p. 71. Deu 5:12.—Ibid.: Old Testament Outlines, p. 45. Deu 5:12-15.—R. Lee, Sermons, pp. 399, 411, 421; J. Oswald Dykes, The Law of the Ten Words, p. 87; S. Leathes, Foundations of Morality, p. 128. Deu 5:13, Deu 5:14.—A. C. Tait, Lessons for School Life, p. 258.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Exhortations To Obedience
Exhortations To Obedience
This chapter contains the practical part of the discourse. Having briefly rehearsed the experiences of the Israelites in the wilderness up to the present point, Moses closes with an eloquent appeal not to forget what they had seen and learned, but to keep the commandments of the Lord. The argument is quite evangelical. Jehovah of His own free grace has chosen and redeemed this people, they ought, therefore, to love and serve Him alone: cp. Joshua's exhortation in Joshua 24.
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3. Because of Baal-peor] see Num_25:1-9.
10. See Exodus 19, 20, Exo_24:3-8. At Mt. Sinai the people entered into a national covenant with Jehovah their Redeemer, promising to keep the Law delivered unto them there.
15. The foundation of true religion and morals is a right conception of the nature of God. In the first and second commandments of the Decalogue Israel had been taught the truths of the unity and spirituality of God. They are specially exhorted here to keep themselves from idolatry.
16-18. This prohibition probably refers to the animal worship of the Egyptians with which their fathers had been familiar in their bondage.
19. There may be allusion here to the worship of the Persians and Chaldeans. The Israelites fell into this form of idolatry: see e.g. 2Ki_17:16; 2Ki_21:3.
24. Cp. Deu_9:3; Heb_12:29. On the nature of the divine jealousy see on Exo_20:5.
25. Remained long in the land] lit. 'slumbered in the land.' The word expresses not only long continuance but a loss of vigour, a gradual weakening of first impressions due to unbroken peace and prosperity. Those who have no changes are apt to forget God (Psa_55:19). Prosperity sometimes acts like a narcotic and sends the soul to sleep: cp. Deu_6:10-13; Deu_8:10-20; Deu_32:15 see also 2Ch_12:1; 2Ch_26:16; 2Ch_32:25.
28. Bodily subjection to their heathen conquerors would lead to spiritual bondage. They would be 'given over to a reprobate mind': see Rom_1:24-28.
29-31. These vv. indicate the nature of true repentance. It is not merely sorrow for past sins and their consequences, but a seeking God with all the heart, and obedience to His voice. Such repentance procures the divine mercy, for God does not forget His part of the covenant, however His people forget theirs. 'The gifts and calling of God are without repentance,' i.e. they are irrevocable: see Rom_11:29; Heb_6:17.
32-38. These vv. state the ground of Jehovah's choice of Israel. It is purely an election of grace and love. Hence Israel ought to cleave to Him. No other nation has been so highly favoured by Jehovah. 38. The Israelites did not take possession of the land of their enemies by their own might. Jehovah went before them into battle: cp. Deu_8:17, Deu_8:18.
41-43. The appendix to the First Discourse.
On the Cities of Refuge see Num_35:9-34 and notes there, and cp. also Deuteronomy 19 Jos_20:1-9. The cities appointed here are those E. of the Jordan. In Deuteronomy 19 those in Canaan are referred to. On the phrase on this side Jordan see on Deu_1:1. Bezer was the southernmost of the three. It is mentioned on the Moabite Stone as having being rebuilt by Mesha: see on Num_21:29. Its site has not been identified. It is probably the same as the Bozrah mentioned in Jer_48:24. Ramoth in Gilead played an important part in the wars between the kings of Damascus Israel. It was the scene of the death of Ahab (1 Kings 22) and the anointing of Jehu (2 Kings 9). Golan gave its name to the district E. of the Sea of Galilee, still known as the Jaulan. The precise locality of the city is unknown.
Second Discourse (Deu_4:44; Deuteronomy 28)
This is the longest of the three discourses, and fills over twenty-five chapters The opening vv (Deu_4:44-49) are in the form of an introduction: Deuteronomy 5-11 are mainly hortatory: the following chapters (12-28), which form the nucleus of the book of Deuteronomy, are taken up with a special code of laws.
45. After they came forth] RV 'when they came forth.' It was really in the fortieth year of the exodus.
46. See on Deu_1:1.
48. On Mount Sion, see on Deu_3:9.
49. Springs of Pisgah] RV 'slopes of Pisgah': see on Deu_3:17.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv10, 15 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
fear
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 3. Hearken, O Israel!
3. Hearken, O Israel!
CHAPTER 4
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1. Obedience demanded (Deu 4:1-8)
2. The covenant to be observed (Deu 4:9-14)
3. Take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget (Deu 4:15-24)
4. The warning (Deu 4:25-31)
5. Israel, the chosen nation (Deu 4:32-40)
“Now therefore hearken, O Israel” marks the beginning of the exhortation to keep the law of the Lord. First he had shown the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord and upon that Moses admonishes them to be true to Jehovah and to the covenant. The same order is followed in our great New Testament Epistles. What the Lord has done for us, His grace and faithfulness, always occupies the first place; this is followed by our responsibilities to walk worthy of the Lord. The first great discourse of Moses in its two main features, the retrospect of what Jehovah had done and Israel’s obligation to keep the law to enjoy the blessings of the covenant, is the key to the entire book.
They were to hearken and to do. Hearing and doing stand in the foreground of this section. The result of obedience is life and possession of the land. “That ye may live” does not mean the possession of eternal life, but a long earthly life in the promised land. See chapters 5:33; 6:2; 8:1; 11:21; 16:20; 25:15; 30:6, 16; 32:47. Nothing was to be added to the law and nothing to be taken from it. Alas! this warning has not been heeded. The elders with their traditions and commandments of men, added to the law and put the word of man above the Word of God, while later the Sadducees took away from the law and reduced the Word of God to the level of the word of man. The same is done today in ritualistic and rationalistic Christendom.
His voice had spoken to them; they had heard His words. They were privileged above all other nations. “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? 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?” Therefore, they had great responsibility. Three times Moses told them to take heed (verses 9, 15 and 23). He warned them to beware of idolatry. They were to serve only Jehovah for He had brought them forth out of the iron furnace, to be unto Him a people of inheritance. He had delivered them and made them His own people, therefore, they were to obey Him. Solemnly Moses said, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day,1 that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.” Moses in speaking these words had the first prophetic glimpse of their coming history of idolatry, followed by national ruin. This vision widens and he beheld them scattered among the nations.
Verses 30 and 31 refer not only to past history, but they are yet to find a fulfilment in the latter days. It is the first prophetic note we hear in Deuteronomy from the lips of Moses. More fully he speaks of it towards the end of his farewell message to the people he loved so well.
Especially beautiful are the closing verses of this section (verses 33-40). What a display of what Jehovah had done for them, how He had revealed Himself and His power in their behalf! Therefore, He was entitled to a wholehearted obedience from His people. “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.” And what greater works He has made unto us His people, that great salvation in His blessed Son, our Lord! He has the right to claim our full obedience. May we consider constantly, who He is and what He has done for us and we shall yield to Him the obedience He looks for in His people.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 14, 25 Moses Reminds the People of the Law-Giving. —
Moses Reminds the People of the Law-Giving. —
v. 1. Now, therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, they were to heed carefully both the moral precepts which fixed their covenant relation toward Jehovah and the special obligations which rested upon them with regard to both God and men, for to do them, that ye may live, namely, in the enjoyment of a long and happy life, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.
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v. 2. Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, for in either case the force of the commandment would be weakened and the Word of God changed into the precepts of men, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I command you. This does not merely mean keeping the wording intact and handing it down unchanged to posterity, but observing and doing what they enjoined. Cf Mat 5:7.
v. 3. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor, when the Midianites succeeded in introducing whoredom and idolatry into the ranks of Israel, Numbers 25; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord, thy God, hath destroyed them from among you.
v. 4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord, your God, are alive, every one of you, this day. The reward of faithfulness and the punishment of unfaithfulness were thus plainly before their eyes.
v. 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.
v. 6. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, a matter of ordinary sound common sense, which shall hear all these statutes, the precepts as they governed the covenant relations of Israel, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. It is an Old Testament form of the New Testament injunction that believers should let their light shine before men, Mat 5:16, These facts cause Moses to exclaim in a fervent, ecstatic appeal.
v. 7. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, in whose midst God has revealed Himself in so open and definite a manner, as the Lord, our God, is in all things that we call upon Him for? Israel was the only nation with which Jehovah had entered into such a covenant relation, which was sure at all times of His almighty assistance, Psa 34:19; Psa 145:18.
v. 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? All true righteousness of life has its roots in God, and the more the knowledge of the true God is darkened, the more is the foundation of all true law and order shaken to its very depths.
v. 9. Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, the miracles and the many evidences of God’s presence during the years of the wilderness journey, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, that is, for so much as one minute; but teach them thy sons, thy children, and thy sons’ sons, thy grandchildren, the command thus including three points: to remember, to observe, and to transmit in its integrity;
v. 10. specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord, thy God, in Horeb, when the Law was given from Mount Sinai, 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.
v. 11. And ye came near and stood under the mountain, at its foot; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, so that the fire and the smoke rose up into the sky as far as the eye could reach, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness, for the happenings on the mountain were screened from the eyes of the people by a heavy screen of dark clouds.
v. 12. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice, the sound, of the words, but saw no similitude, no form of God; only ye heard a voice. God did not manifest Himself in any outline or shape which was visible to human eyes.
v. 13. And he declared unto you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments, Exo 20:1-17; Exo 34:28; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone. The covenant consisted essentially in this, that the doing on the part of the people corresponded to the command on the part of the Lord. As the memory of God’s goodness and of the covenant was to induce Israel to be faithful to Him, so we Christians should ever keep His kindness and His mercy before our eyes as a spur to a life of sanctification.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39 I am about to teach you
I am about to teach you
Moses is telling the people of Israel what God wants them to do.
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to do them
"and obey them"
You will not add to the words ... neither will you diminish them
Yahweh does not want his people to create new laws, or to ignore those he has already given them.
translationWords
Israel
law, laws
decree
life
possess
Yahweh
God
ancestor
word
command
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 24, 26, 27, 30, 34, 36, 39, 40 4:1-40 Moses’ lengthy exhortation to the Israelite community was…
4:1-40 Moses’ lengthy exhortation to the Israelite community was based on the people’s recent failures and his anticipation of what lay ahead in Canaan.
4:1 The pairing of the terms decrees and regulations in Deuteronomy (e.g., 4:5, 8, 14, 45; 5:1, 31) is a way of referring to the covenant stipulations and the detailed application of the great principles of the Law (see study note on 4:44).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.