Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.” Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Yahweh didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today. Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire,
(I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to show you Yahweh’s word; for you were afraid because of the fire, and didn’t go up onto the mountain) saying,
“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me; and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.
“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. You shall labor six days, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, in which you shall not do any work— neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
“Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me. When you heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and you said, “Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear Yahweh our God’s voice any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go near, and hear all that Yahweh our God shall say, and tell us all that Yahweh our God tells you; and we will hear it, and do it.”
Yahweh heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me; and Yahweh said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken. Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
“Go tell them, ‘Return to your tents.’ But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.”
You shall observe to do therefore as Yahweh your God has commanded you. You shall not turn away to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which Yahweh your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 16, 21, 22, 26, 29, 32, 33 Hebrew, I speak in your ears.
Hebrew, I speak in your ears.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 15, 18, 22, 23, 25, 27 Deu 5:1 And Moses called all Israel, and said…
Deu 5:1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
Ver. l. And keep, and do them.] The difference between divinity and other sciences, is, that it is not enough to learn, but we must keep and do it; as lessons of music must be practised, and a copy not read only, but acted. "Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening." {Psa 104:23} He must arise from the bed of sin, and go forth out of himself, as out of his house to his work and to his labour; "working out his salvation with fear and trembling," {Php 2:12} until the evening, till the sun of his llfe be set.
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, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 15, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 32 Moses called all Israel, to wit, by their elders,…
Moses called all Israel, to wit, by their elders, who were to impart it to the rest.
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 vv1, 6, 23 Here, 1. Moses summons the assembly. He called all…
Here, 1. Moses summons the assembly. He called all Israel; not only the elders, but, it is likely, as many of the people as could come within hearing, Deu 5:1. The greatest of them were not above God's command, nor the meanest of them below his cognizance; but they were all bound to do. 2. He demands attention: "Hear, O Israel; hear and heed, hear and remember, hear, that you may learn, and keep, and do; else your hearing is to no purpose." When we hear the word of God we must set ourselves to learn it, that we may have it ready to us upon all occasions, and what we have learned we must put in practice, for that is the end of hearing and learning; not to fill our heads with notions, or our mouths with talk, but to rectify and direct our affections and conversations. 3. He refers them to the covenant made with them in Horeb, as that which they must govern themselves by. See the wonderful condescension of divine grace in turning the command into a covenant, that we might be the more strongly bound to obedience by our own consent and the more encouraged in it by the divine promise, both which are supposed in the covenant. The promises and threatenings annexed to some of the precepts, as to the second, third, and fifth, make them amount to a covenant. Observe, (1.) The parties to this covenant. God made it, not with our fathers, not with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to them God gave the covenant of circumcision (Act 7:8), but not that of the ten commandments. The light of divine revelation shone gradually, and the children were made to know more of God's mind than their fathers had done. "The covenant was made with us, or our immediate parents that represented us, before Mount Sinai, and transacted for us." (2.) The publication of this covenant. God himself did, as it were, read the articles to them (Deu 5:4): He talked with you face to face; word to word, so the Chaldee. Not in dark visions, as of old he spoke to the fathers (Job 4:12, Job 4:13), but openly and clearly, and so that all the thousands of Israel might hear and understand. He spoke to them, and then received the answer they returned to him: thus was it transacted face to face. (3.) The mediator of the covenant: Moses stood between God and them, at the foot of the mount (Deu 5:5), and carried messages between them both for the settling of the preliminaries (Ex. 19) and for the changing of the ratifications, Ex. 24. Herein Moses was a type of Christ, who stands between God and man, to show us the word of the Lord, a blessed days-man, that has laid his hand upon us both, so that we may both hear from God and speak to him without trembling.
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, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 And Moses called all Israel,.... The heads of the…
And Moses called all Israel,.... The heads of the various tribes, and elders of the people, as he had on occasion been used to do; unless it can be thought that at different times he repeated the following laws to separate parties and bodies of them, until they had all heard them:
and said unto them, hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day; the laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which he was about to repeat, and afresh declare unto them, being what they had all a concern in, and under obligation to regard.
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, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29 The general intent of the Ten Commandments as a…
The general intent of the Ten Commandments as a covenant between God and Israel, ver. 1-5. The Commandments, ver. 6-21. God writes them, and grants the people's request, that he would speak by Moses, ver. 22-28. Exhortations to obedience, ver. 29- 33.
All Israel - Namely by their elders, who were to impart it to the rest.
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, 3, 6, 15, 21, 23, 29, 32, 33 God's covenant with the people in Horeb, 1-4.
CHAPTER V
God's covenant with the people in Horeb, 1-4.
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Moses the mediator of it, 5.
A repetition of the ten commandments, 6-21;
which God wrote on two tables of stone, 22.
The people are filled with dread at the terrible majesty of God,
23-26;
and beseech Moses to be their mediator, 27.
The Lord admits of their request, 28;
and deplores their ungodliness, 29.
They are exhorted to obedience, that they may be preserved in
the possession of the promised land, 30-33.
NOTES ON CHAP. V
Verse 1. And Moses called all Israel, and said - Hear, &c.]
1. God speaks to the people.
2. The people are called to hear what God speaks.
3. To learn what they heard, that they may be thoroughly instructed in the will of God.
4. To keep God's testimonies ever in mind, and to treasure them up in a believing and upright heart.
5. That they might do them - obey the whole will of God, taking his word for the invariable rule of their conduct. Should not all these points be kept in view by every Christian assembly?
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, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29 Deu 5:1. Moses called all Israel — Moses having…
Deu 5:1. Moses called all Israel — Moses having in his first discourse, by a general recapitulation of the mercies and providences which had attended them, prepared the minds of the Israelites for further impressions, summons them by their elders and representatives to a second meeting, in which, after repeating to the new generation the several laws which God had enjoined, he earnestly exhorts them to lay them to heart, and make them the rule of their spirit and conduct.
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 vv3, 6, 22, 23 The “fathers” are, as in Deu 4:37, the patriarchs,…
The “fathers” are, as in Deu 4:37, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. With them God did indeed make a covenant, but not the particular covenant now in question. The responsibilites of this later covenant, made at Sinai by the nation as a nation, attached in their day and generation to those whom Moses was addressing.
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, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 32 All Israel: not one was wanting, chap. xxix. 10.…
All Israel: not one was wanting, chap. xxix. 10. God enabled all to hear the words of their lawgiver, (Menochius) by an evident miracle. (Jansenius) (Calmet)
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 Deuteronomy 5-26
II. THE SECOND DISCOURSE
Deuteronomy 5-26
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The text-the decalogue, the foundation of the covenant, the kernel of the whole law, and the fundamental condition of all salvation
Deu_5:1 to Deu_6:3
1And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in [before] your ears this day, that ye may learn 2[and learn] them, and keep,1 and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive [living] this day. 4The Lord talked with 5you face to face in the mount, out of the midst of the fire. (I stood [was standing] between the Lord and you at that time, to shew [announce to] you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of [before]2 the fire, and went not up into the 6mount,) saying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of3 bondage. 7Thou shalt have none other gods before me. 8Thou shalt not make thee any graven [idol] image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: 9Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto [and upon] the third and [upon] fourth generation of them that hate me, 10And shewing mercy unto thousands [the thousandth] of them that love [loving] me, and keep [and keeping] my commandments. 11Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain4 [to a nonentity, falsehood]: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 12Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. 13Six days thou shalt labour, and do 14all thy work; But [and] the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor [and] thy son, nor [and] thy daughter, nor [and] thy man-servant, nor [and] thy maid-servant, nor [and] thine ox, nor [and] thine ass, nor [and] any of thy cattle, nor [and] thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. 15And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that [om. that] the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through [with] a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day. 16Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, 17, 18in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Neither 19shalt thou commit adultery. 20Neither shalt thou steal. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. 21Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or [and] his man-servant, or [and] his maid-servant, his ox, or [and] his ass, or [and] any thing that is thy neighbour’s. 22These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more5 and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. 23And it came to pass, when [as] ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for [and] the mountain did burn [was burning] with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory, and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth. 25Now [And now] therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: 26if we6 hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee;7 and we will hear it [thee], and do it. 28And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. 29O that there were [who will give] such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their [sons] children for ever! 30Go say to them, Get you into your tents again. 31But as for thee [and thou] stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. 32Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days [live a long time] in the land which ye shall possess.
Deu_6:1 Now these are the commandments, [And this is the commandment]8 the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go [pass over] to possess it: 2That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it maybe well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised [spake to] thee, in [om. in] the [a] land that floweth with milk and honey.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Deu_5:1-5. In distinction from spake, Deu_1:1, קרא here not to show the “public nature of his discourses” (Schultz) for that was already sufficiently clear, through all Israel, but the loud voice, with which Moses sought to reach all as far as possible. Gen_49:1; Joh_7:37. Comp. upon Deu_4:1. There שׁמע אֶל, because as yet introductory, but here שׁמע אֶת where the substance of the law is to be repeated, and accordingly instead of מְלַמֵּד here דּבֵר, in both cases the participle indicating the condition: as ye see and hear. שמר, to keep, is necessary both for its own conduct, and for the office of Israel among the nations (Deu_4:2; Deu_4:6). [Bib. Com. “The recapitulation of the law upon which Moses now enters was suggested by the fact that the generation to which it was originally given was now dead, by the change about to take place in the circumstances of Israel, through their actual settlement in the land of promise, and by the approaching decease of the great law-giver.”—A. G.]. Deu_5:2. The peculiar character of the covenant as of God with Israel, has appeared already in a similar connection, Deu_4:1 (Doct. and Eth. 13). The law as an intermediate step in the development of the covenant, does not essentially modify the latter (Gal_3:17) since the law is at the same time pedagogically a promise (Gal_3:24 sq.). The time of the promise also is not without law, the Noachic and Abrahamic preformations of the law being simply overshadowed by the promise. Deu_5:3. That which is new and peculiar in this covenant, not with the fathers (i.e., the patriarchs) but with Israel, the characteristic of the historical development is merely the greater prominence of the law, and indeed as a national code, and as a preparatory step toward the salvation of all nations. Israel now has the same significance for the whole race which the fathers had for Israel (Deu_4:37). But although the negative statement throws light upon the character of the covenant, it contains much more, which the positive statement expresses, as to its direct relation to the present generation, who are thus distinguished from the fathers. There may be a reference also to the fathers in Egypt, (Calvin) in so far as they represent the first step in the development of Israel to a nation, whose actual existence as a nation is here prominent. And since the present Israel has escaped the judgments which overwhelmed the former Israel in death, so we seem to see the forms of the fathers, whose bones lie bleaching in the wilderness. But Moses intends to say, not the fathers, whoever they may be, but we are the people, whom it concerns, whose faith and obedience come into view (Deu_4:4). [But with us.—The original is very emphatic: with us, even us, all of us living.—A. G.] This direct relation of the covenant unto them is further shown by the manner of its conclusion: face to face (כּ instead of אל). If it is not indicated in the words used, there is in fact a great difference between the manner in which the revelation spoken of here, and that made to Moses (Deu_34:10; Exo_33:11) was effected, and Deu_5:5 states concisely the mediatory position which Moses in forming the covenant occupied (Exo_19:19 sq.) on account of the fear of the people. [Moses was in the mount while the ten commandments were spoken. Although they were not addressed to him in distinction from the people, yet he even then occupied a mediatory position, which became more conspicuous after the terror and request of the people.—A. G.]—Upon the word of the Lord (not the ten commandments), comp. Deu_5:24 sq.; Exo_19:21 sq.; Deu_20:19 sq.—לאמר refers remotely to דִבֵּר, Deu_5:4, and more nearly to דְבַּר יהוה, Deu_5:5, which takes up again the thought of דבר.
2. Deu_5:6-21. After the parenthesis, Deu_5:5, follows the decalogue as the foundation of the covenant, Exodus 20. The law, the determination for man, can only come from Him who alone and over all is self-determined, i.e. from God, and from God as Jehovah, Deu_5:6 (“the entire moral code of the decalogue roots itself in the name of Jehovah.” Baumgarten). The eternally unchangeable, because He demands the obedience of faith (not simply the moral imperative), must not merely reveal Himself, but in His revelation to Israel must show Himself as the true and faithful God.—Thy God.—With this initiatory statement, which concentrates within itself the life-thought of the Israelitish nation, is closely connected the historical statement of the redemptive work already accomplished: which brought thee out, sq.—All that follows naturally addresses itself to Israel. Deu_5:7. The form of a prohibition, because with the allusion to Egypt, the apostate heathen world comes into view over against Israel, and Israel must say in its heart, not, sq., to which my heart is all too much inclined. [As the law is not alone for Israel, but universal, the prohibitory form has a deeper ground than any enactments growing out of the relations of Israel to the heathen world—a ground in the perverse inclinations of the heart as fallen, to go wrong.—A. G.] Since יִהוָה denotes the only or self-existent being, and this being is the God of Israel, there cannot be (לֹא יִהְיֶה לךָ) for Israel any other God, either in His stead (substitution in the gross forms of idolatry), or even (על) in addition to, by the side of, or over and above Him (the co-ordination in the more refined systems of idolatry), Isa_42:8; 1Co_8:4-5. Heidel. Catechism, Question 95. It is ever another than the only true God in His revelation (פני), Deu_5:4. אַחֵר denotes a second one, following, whence in the plural form, thus polytheistically (אֶלֹהִים אַחֵרִים), contradicts the unity and exclusiveness of Jehovah; but then also as implying a being other than the being, namely, a not-being, a nonentity. Heathenism is thus pointed out as an apostacy from the primitive monotheism, or as a sickly form of the God-consciousness, Romans 1. Comp. J. Grimm, German Myth. I.: “All mythologies show this relation.” Upon Deu_5:8 (εἵδωλον) comp. Deu_4:16; Deu_4:15; Deu_4:12.—In the heavens (Deu_4:17), i.e. of birds, although also (Deu_4:19) of the stars. The way to idolatry is marked out and enclosed instructively in the ever-deepening shades of heathenism, i.e. of the human heart left to itself. First comes the falling away from the true God; then the falling into the service of false gods. If Jehovah in the first relation is the only living God, He is also in this second reference the one who is only and purely spirit. Idolatry in one aspect is an improper multiplication of, or addition to, the idea of God, and in another an equally improper division or subtraction from it. We pass in Deu_5:9 from the idol-makers to the idol-worshippers; προσκύνησις (the believing reverence and worship), λατρεία (the practical obedience of the cultus), Deu_4:19; Deu_4:28. The transition to Deu_5:11 is thus, as becomes the living Spirit or God, from the innermost spiritual life of men to its closest and most natural expṙession in words through language. And the reason also: For I the Lord, sq., is spiritual and moral in its nature. So likewise the introductory representation of Jehovah (comp. upon Deu_4:24) which precludes all nature-necessity, fate, and the like. And so also, although the iniquity of the fathers is said to come upon the children of the third, and even the fourth generation, still physical relations are perhaps mainly thought of in the iniquity in which they became sharers through the personal sins, and the punishment cleaves to the iniquity. Comp. Deu_24:16.—To visit upon is to punish. לְשׂנְאִי, “those hating me, by which this feeling is designated as the adhering quality, the enduring condition of those in question. The לְ resumes again certainly the genitive אָבות; but at the same time the repeated על binds the different generations with the fathers into one organic form in their hatred against Jehovah. Indeed the parallel, לאחבי (1Jn_5:3), will not admit any other interpretation (comp. Lev_26:39-40). As this regard to the subjective character of men does not veil the righteousness, in the holy energy of God (Gen_18:25), so Deu_5:10 unveils the abundant, overflowing richness of the love-energy of God (Exo_34:6 sq.). Jeremiah and Ezekiel simply correct the heathenish interpretation of the truth. Jer_32:18 sq.; Ezekiel 18. The word of the mouth to which we now pass is the most spiritual expression of the man; and thus the name of the Lord, Deu_5:11, is moreover the true self-revelation of the divine life (Joh_20:31), as this is for man, and offered to him, the word of God with respect to Himself, by which He legitimates Himself (Exo_3:13 sq.: Isa_52:6), and through which He will be sought and found (Deu_4:7; Joe_2:32). נָשָׂא, to take, to raise up, with אֶל or לְ, the direction whither, to lift up, to aim at, desire, used of the purpose of the soul, Psa_24:4, here of the tendency of the tongue, thus to take upon the lips, to bear in the mouth, in order to utter the name to שָוְא, nothingness, vanity, thus useless, thoughtless, then morally evil, wickedness, and thus shamefully, falsely. If the acknowledgment of Jehovah is here indicated, the sanctification of the Sabbath is the actual acknowledgment. שמר, Deu_5:12 is not more specific than זכר, Exo_20:8 (as Schultz holds), but rather the reverse, since the latter points out specifically how the former may be secured. While in Deu_5:8, compared with Exo_20:4, the וְ is wanting before כָּל, and is found in Deu_5:9 before עַל, though not occurring in Exo_20:5, changes of little importance, the change here from זכור to שמור, bringing out the keeping in opposition to the profaning and secularizing of the name of Jehovah, corresponds significantly to the national character of Israel, and to the design of Deuteronomy. The sanctification of the Sabbath is indeed a national confession. Over against the several nonentities with which the name of Jehovah might be mingled, Israel was bound to the time (אֶת־יוֹם), which precisely points out this manifoldness as a nothingness, because temporary and fleeting. הַשַּׁבָּת, the one who rests, keeps festival. The day is what Israel should be at the day. Thus the day is sanctified, i.e. set apart, separated from the other days.—As the Lord thy God commanded thee refers to the institution, as it is recorded Exodus 20, for as to the rest Deu_5:13 sq. accords with Exo_20:9 sq.: so that the farther carrying out of the command does not come into view here. But since Exo_20:11 is here presupposed, Deu_5:15 still once more emphasizes has commanded thee. Deu_5:13. מְלָאכָה from לָאַךְ (Gen_2:2), whatever one undertakes and completes. Deu_5:14. לַיהוָֹה, to whom it is separated and sanctified.—And thy son, sq.—The state grows out of the household, the people from the family, and thus the national confession of Israel is laid open at its very roots and sources.—Nor thy ox, sq.—Particularizing, and then at last, summing up that which is generally referred to in nor thy cattle, Exo_20:10. For גֵר comp. Deu_1:16 and Doct. and Eth. 3. As to the connection of master and man-servant and maid-servant under the idea of rest: that they may rest as well as thou, this similar position in reference to the enjoyment of the Sabbath already intimated, Exo_23:11, is still more expressly stated in Deu_5:15, since the remember, Exo_20:8 (which does not call for a recollection of the Sabbath-rest of God (Genesis 2), but an inward keeping of the Sabbath-day to the very end of its sanctification, so that it shall be sanctified as commanded whenever it returns), gives at the same time a coloring and completion to the thought. The redemption of Israel from Egypt is brought to consciousness again just as in Exo_13:3; Deu_4:34. This demand here does not entirely coincide with Exo_20:11, for there the עַל־כֵּן declares why Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it, because He rested on the seventh day, while here on the contrary it teaches why Israel, is commanded to keep the Sabbath day instituted by God upon this ground, and rest, the man and maid-servant with their master. To the reason for the institution on the part of God there is added now a special reason for its observance on the part of the people, who therein confess that they are redeemed, and thus distinguished above all nations (Deu_4:34; Deu_4:37 sq., 20). A genuine deuteronomic application of the more objective command in Exodus 20.—[So far from there being any inconsistency in the sacred writer here, the variety in the statements, confirms the genuine Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy. No later writer, designing to palm off his work as that of Moses, would have ventured upon this freedom. The appropriateness of these references to the previous condition of Israel, as motives to the observance of the Sabbath, is obvious, since the exodus was really one entrance into rest.—A. G.]—If the acknowledgment to Jehovah in fact appears here to be limited to the solemnity of a single day, Deu_5:16 removes any such limitation, and makes the whole life of the Israelite from the first father and mother down to the last, an actual and real acknowledgment of Jehovah. If כָּבוֹד designates the brightness of the divine majesty (δόξα), כַּבֵּד (Piel) puts this glory upon parents, and this is to honor them, “and this with an express extension of the command to the ‘mother’ usually elsewhere included in the personal service of the house” (Beck). Parents stand nearest to us (without considering them here merely as men by our side, our neighbors, although in this sense they are truly nearest to us among men, and hence the transition from the first to the second table), and represent the glory of God the Creator, Preserver and Ruler, with which last idea all the remaining representations of the divine glory through men are connected, e.g.Exo_22:27.—Hath commanded thee, as in Deu_5:12, and thus calls attention to its connection with the Sabbath commandment. They are two aspects of the actual sanctification, as Jehovah is holy, and thus a confession to Him in act or deed, Lev_19:2-3. That it may go well with thee.—An addition of Moses, who, since he has so repeatedly referred to the first lawgiving, here allows himself this freedom. Long life, without well-being, would be a long calamity, and hence this filling up of the word of promise. “אֲדָמָח is the earth as fruitful; (אֶרֶץ, the earth in distinction from water), perhaps in reference to the individual, as ארץ in reference to the people as a whole.” After the structure of human society is thus presented not only as “leaning” (Baumgarten) upon the divine sanctuary, but through that is raised to the heights of honor, even to a Sabbath state, that Israel may lead a quiet life in all propriety and honesty, Deu_5:17, now turns “against those things which in worldly policy and irreligion have been partly and by degrees endured, and partly in a certain way held as privileged destroyers of the social life, murder, adultery, theft” (Baumgarten). The thought “that the divine image in man introduces the transition” (Keil), cannot be drawn from the text. It says simply: Thou shalt not, sq., with the energetic brevity and sharpness of the commanding law-giver, judge, and avenger of every assault upon the personal life, wedded life, and property. The first, roots or plants itself in the second, and has its individual well-being in the third, so that the common thought of these three prohibitions is the personal life, as is also the idea of deeds, from which we now pass to words. The וְ is rhetorical. Exo_20:16; a false witness, through a deceitful testimony (עֵד, the testimony or the witness), here as Deu_5:11. Correspondence between the tongue commands in the two tables! רֵעַ, according to the primary sense of the word, is the “ally, associate,” “companion, friend.” “The command directs itself against the fretting poison of falsehood in report and witness-bearing, in public fame and courts of justice, so destructive of any quiet possession and enjoyment of those goods, (i.e., those of the foregoing commands); and not content with crossing the serpent path of falsehood, as it in the affairs of life worms itself even into the halls of justice, the divine law goes still further, enters the secret workshop of the heart, and aims its blows at that selfish enjoyment and greed of gain (πλεονεξία), which in it are ever weaving their plots against other persons and interests, in which indeed not only every outrage against our neighbor, but even the ungodliness and idolatry, standing at the beginning of the decalogue, have their ground and existence (Col_3:5; Eph_5:3).” (Baumgarten). The twice-repeated חַמַד, Exo_20:14, expresses the more comprehensive idea, in connection with the delight in the attractive features of the object, and hence Deu_5:18, used only in reference to the wife, rhetorically interchanged with אָיָה in hithpael: more subjective desire. The personal life of our neighbor is passed over, since it offers nothing to the sinful lust, but rather the contrary, while on the other hand the wife (Exo_20:17) comes before house, as the prohibition of adultery follows that of murder. To the house, especially in its reference to Canaan, is added in a fitting way, the field, as a parenthesis. What follows is here, as in Exodus 20, the specifying of the household state. [The diversities in the form of this command here, from that in Exo_20:17, are all due to the “peculiar character of this passage,” or to the special object in view in Deuteronomy, when Israel was about to enter upon its possession.—A. G.].
3. Deu_5:22-33. Deu_5:22 sq. as Exo_20:19 sq. Comp. upon Deu_4:11-12. קוֹל גָּדוֹלּ “accusative of the instrument, or member through which the act in performed.” Gesenius. Eze_11:13. וְלֹא יסָף (Num_11:25) and he added no more, i.e., not to speak in this way, he did it this once and not again. The decalogue is spoken directly to Israel, all the rest through Moses.—[Wordsworth: “The perpetuity, universality, and supremacy of the law, were marked by the circumstances of the delivery of the decalogue.”—A. G.]. Comp. Deu_4:13; Exo_31:18
Deu_5:24 : Comp. Exo_20:19; Deu_3:24; Deu_4:33; Deu_4:42. We have lived to see that which has never been heard of, but not again! Thus the “no more” on the part of Jehovah, Deu_5:22, receives its explanation, though the desire for a mediator on the part of the people. Deu_5:25, Exo_20:19; Deu_4:24, (Heb_10:31). For if we hear [lit. add to hear] see upon Deu_5:22. אֲנַחְנוּ: The people, in distinction from Moses, set forth the necessity for a mediator. The עוֹד serves to strengthen the declaration that the one occurrence was enough. Deu_5:26 : בָשָר designates man as on account of his sinful nature, weak and frail, all his lifetime subject to fear, ever apprehending the execution of the sentence of death. On the contrary, אֱלֹהִים חַיּים God as the eternal, and His everlasting life that of the righteous and holy. As Israel is conscious that He is flesh, so God comes before him in this aspect as the living God, and thus Israel knows himself in opposition to Him. In order to hold fast hereafter this once experienced, which they recognize, Deu_5:24, truly (“with gratitude” Knobel?) but with fear, with anxiety for the future, with wonder, and indeed that they remained alive, they needed a mediation of this uttered opposition between themselves and God, which they found in the person of Moses; one through whom the living God becomes to them the source of life, and is still hidden from their sight (Heb_12:18 sq.). The love, mercy, and grace of God, is included for the time in Moses. Deu_5:27. They bind themselves to obedience to that mediated revelation of God, with even “greater zeal and devotion wrought by their fear” (Schultz). Exo_19:8; Exo_24:3; Exo_20:19. Since now, Deu_5:28, the desire of the people meets the divine approval, in which the utterance of the desire is made prominent (the voice of your words), which they at the very least had so uttered, Deuteronomy in which Moses so speaks the law of God to the people in his name, wins the special sanction of God. Moses had already, Deu_1:18; Deu_4:13, intimated the same, but now, as the mediator so solemnly demanded by the people, he first becomes truly and legally the speaker of the divine laws. All that follows, although not spoken as the decalogue directly by God to Israel, has still the same authority, as the people indeed expressly recognized the words of Moses as binding. To fix and settle this position beyond any doubt, is the special object and import of this paragraph. [Bib. Com.: “The reply of God to the request of the people, Deu_5:28-31, is omitted altogether in the historical summary of Exodus. Here it is important to the speaker’s purpose to call attention to the fact that it was on their own entreaty that he had taken on him to be the channel of communication between God and them. The terrors of Sinai had done their work. They had awakened the consciousness of sin.”—A. G.].—They have well said [lit. done good] all that, sq. For the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and Moses as mediator is the forerunner of the Messiah. In Heb_12:21 the mediator himself shares in the fear of the people. Deu_5:29. Emphasizes the fear of God in the people, in connection with the promise of obedience. O that, who will give, sq., may your heart, (your innermost life) be such as your words, viz., that you will have, sq. Or as Jer_17:9, they have it not, and no one but I the Lord can give it to them, Jer_32:39. It belongs to uprightness that the words and heart should agree; they speak right who have also right hearts.—The voice of the words (Deu_4:12) is there a form also behind the words? i.e., a habitus, (Schultz). Yes, but it does not first obtain a place in this connection. Comp. Deu_4:10; Deu_4:40 (Luk_1:75). Deu_5:30. How different from Deu_1:40! Deu_5:31. Moses’ authorization as a mediator הַמִּצְוָה singular, all that is commanded. Comp. Deu_4:1; Deu_4:5. Deu_5:32 sq. Corresponding to the following transitional exhortation. The figure of a path or way lies at the basis (Deu_2:27). The law a way of life, Deu_6:2.
4. Deu_6:1-3. Since now according to Deu_5:31 Moses is to teach, he makes known at once (Deu_5:1) that he has in mind and will hold fast the whole, whatever he may dwell upon singly, and by itself hereafter. Thus the method of his exhortation connects itself with what precedes, and Deu_5:4 is without question the beginning of a new paragraph. Deu_5:1. Now these are the commandments, lit., and this is the commandment, just as the law, (Deu_4:44), and then also as Deu_4:1. Deu_5:2. Comp. Deu_5:29. The fear of the Lord is the higher inward life of Israel, and long life and prosperity follow faithfulness to the law, and thus the law is both as to heart and conduct the way of life, Deu_5:32 sq. Deu_5:3 makes clear already the new section, through the Hear therefore O Israel, thou and thy son, and thy son’s sons. Deu_5:2 intimates the great increase of the people, just as all the days of thy life intimates the lengthening of their days, so that the grandfather is regarded not only as living in the grandchild, but at the same time as with him. Comp. Deu_1:11. The land sq. Either in the land (Keil) where they should multiply, or what is more probable, connected with—as He hath promised, i.e., as Schultz holds as Jehovah hath promised thee, when He promised a land, or as we may say now simply, as Jehovah has promised thee a land sq., [so essentially the Bib. Com.,—A. G.], in which all shall come to pass, since it is fitted to secure such prosperity through its own happy condition. The proverbial description of Canaan (Exo_3:8; Exo_3:17) in its fruitfulness and beauty, rests upon its rich, broad pastures, and its blooming gardens for the bees, combining the utile with the dulce: Milk and honey (Son_4:11).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The distinction between the covenant of God with the fathers, and at Sinai with Israel, is evident even in the signs of the covenant; there circumcision, here the passover. As the revelation to the fathers, Exo_6:3, is described as that of El-Shaddai, so circumcision has its fundamental genetic character. The sign touches the origin of natural life; and it is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, who has laid the elements, sources of Israel in the fathers. The legal character or element in circumcision is evident, Genesis 17, but not only is it closely connected with the promise, but the sign of the covenant itself is pre-eminently full of promise. On the other hand, the passover has the character of development, the historical character of Jehovah. As a meal, truly, it belongs to the continuance, the recruitings of life. The praises of the redeemer-God were therein celebrated out of the past, for every present time of Israel. There was, therefore, a continuous promise in the passover. But this element of promise recedes behind the preponderating element of the law, and the law in its practical result, working the knowledge of sin, comes out prominently both in the sacrificial transaction in the passover, and still more in the fact that the lintel and door-posts must be sprinkled with its blood. Sin is thus in various ways presented or set forth and at the same time Israel’s need of reconciliation in the judgment. Thus circumcision still holds its prevailing tone of promise in Christian baptism, Mar_16:16, while the predominant legal tone of the passover appears in the Lord’s Supper, since the law reaches its end, is fulfilled in His sacrifice, and we have to remember it in an uninterrupted appropriation. Luk_22:19; 1Co_11:26.
2. For the division of the commandments in the decalogue, and the progress in the thought, see Exodus 20. Here we remark only, 1) that the symbolical form, and the words of our Lord, Mat_22:27 sq., are both in favor of the arrangement of five commands in one table; 2) that the division of the reformed church has in its favor not only that it is the oldest (Josephus, Philo, the Greek Church) that it is the New Testament division (Schultz, p. 252), but also that in it the history of Israel, and the spirit and letter of the text receive their rights (Schultz, p. 273); 3) and this division is in accordance with the progress in the thought, both from within outward, and then from without inward, (comp. Exeget. and Crit.) by which the beginning and the end of the whole, and the central command also form an unquestionable parallelism. (Hengstenberg, Beit. III., 604). [Also Fairbairn’s Typology, which has a full discussion of this question.—A. G.].
3. As to the deviations in the deuteronomic text of the decalogue, V. Gerlach says: “It is remarkable that in the repetition of the ten commandments, especially of the fourth and second, we find some alterations and additions, as a proof that as in similar repetitions of the words in the word of God itself, the Spirit of the Lord works with new creative energy.” Baumgarten: “That Moses does not feel himself strictly hampered, in the setting of the decalogue, engraved upon stone by the finger of God, shows clearly the great freedom of his spirit, and puts shame upon all mere honoring of the sacred letter, which is still under the new covenant, burdened with somewhat of constraint.” Ranke: “The introductory words, Deu_5:1-5, show that the law is not first given in this passage, but that it is the repetition of an earlier given, to which however a very great importance is attributed. Was not the author of Deuteronomy, who, it is conceded, had the earlier books before him, in a condition to re-issue the ten commandments, which he places at the beginning of his lawgiving, correctly, or would he not take the pains to do so? We observe in the command in regard to the Sabbath, great freedom of treatment. But from this command the manner of the discourse changes, Jehovah no longer speaks, but Moses exhorts and refers to the commands of Jehovah.” (Exo_20:7 sq. may have given encouragement to this mode of statement). Thus he turns himself to that aspect of the command which is directed to man, to the very least among the people. The Sabbath law includes in itself good for those serving (Exo_23:12) and this is still further unfolded in the law for the Sabbatic and jubilee year, and this element Moses raises into prominence. As he thus demands rest for the very least, he secures this result, that the Sabbath solemnity should be a copy of the creative Sabbath. The recollection of the bondage in Egypt only serves to impress the foregoing statutes which demand rest for the servant, male and female. So also in the fifth command Moses is the speaker, and at the close the speaker makes prominent that which is the more important.
4. The pre-supposed monotheism of the first table points to “that glory of God which rests upon the cradle of humanity” (Naville, the heavenly Father). Polytheism is not the point of departure of a continuous progressive culture, but an apostasy which makes a restoration necessary. But the Grecian philosophy, nobly as it has served humanity, has not restored in itself the idea of God. God remains to the masses, after all the toil of the philosophic spirit an unknown God; even the salvation of monotheism, the only light in the night-shadows of the old world, is of the Jews.
5. “The Sabbath solemnity (Schultz) is peculiar among the nations of antiquity to the Hebrews, who are called precisely Sabbatarii (Martial), which is all the more remarkable in the universality of the reckoning by weeks.” The monument of the completed creation becomes in Deuteronomy the monument of redemption begun, as further the Sabbath remains the sign (Exo_31:13) of the eternal saving purpose of Jehovah with respect to His people (comp. upon Deu_4:30 and Deu_5:19 sq.), Heb_4:9. By so much more is it fitted to be the confession of the people of God among the nations.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Deu_5:1-4. The covenant with the fathers, and that at Sinai (Deu_5:2. Calvin: “He commends in these words the law of God to them, because it is the greatest benefit and the highest honor to be taken into covenant by God”).—What Moses demands for the law of the Lord: 1) a universal hearing (each one by all); 2) not barely hearing, but obedience, learn, keep and do (Deu_5:1).—The Covenant at Horeb: the persons (Deu_5:2-3), the way in which it is closed (Deu_5:4), the Mediator of this covenant (Deu_5:5). Deu_5:4. Calvin: “The certainty of the law, from its divine origin.” Richter: “Moses as a type and counterpart of Christ was a Mediator (Deu_5:5; Deu_5:23 sq.), but a mediator of the law for a few (Gal_3:19 sq), while Christ is the mediator of a better, more general and eternal Covenant of Grace, Heb_8:6; Heb_9:15; Heb_12:24; 1Ti_2:5.”
Deu_5:6-21. The ten commands in their form and contents. Deu_5:6. Schultz: “Faith, which is the basis of the life, cannot be required, but only awakened. Before God commands He gives; before He demands faith, He discloses or reveals Himself to it.” J. d’Espagne: “The cornerstone of the law of God, the fundamental position upon which it is reared, the soul of the first command, without which it cannot be understood, is this: Thy Saviour, the gospel at the entrance of the law.” Starke: “Is God thine? then also all, whatever He is and possesses, all His blessedness. Thus must thou also be for God, present to Him body, soul, and all that thou art and hast, for His service and possession.” Deu_5:12 sq. Tub. Bib: “Yes, every day, hour, minute and second thou shouldst with pure heart-devotion sacrifice to thy God, raise thy heart to Him without intermission, and especially guard thyself against every work of sin.”
Deu_5:22. Wurth Bib.: “The law is perfect, and embraces all that man should do and leave undone in the service of God and of his neighbor. Jam_1:25; 2Ti_3:17.” Deu_5:25. Cramer: “Through the law comes the knowledge of sin, Rom_3:20; it works wrath, Deu_4:15; Deu_7:11 sq., and has the office of the letter Which killeth, 2Co_3:6.” Deu_5:27. Osiander: “When the heart of man is terrified by the wrath of God, he promises him much more than he can perform in his life-time.” Starke: “See here the nature and effect of the law. It drives us from the face of God. We look around us for the true Mediator, and find refuge in Him, Deu_18:15-16.” Calvin: “This history shows how well God has cared for His Church through the preaching of the word, that it might be divinely ruled by it. We also should hear Moses and the prophets, especially the only Son of God” (Joh_5:45-46). Deu_5:28. Berl. Bib.: “It were better to do as had been said. The tongue promises largely; but the heart is reluctant to perform.” Deu_5:29. Berl. Bib.: “God looks upon the heart and all the depths of the soul. Hence we are never to satisfy ourselves with rendering to Him acts of devotion, prayers, songs or attendance at church.” Deu_5:32. Calvin: “It is only half obedience to receive what God has commanded, unless we go further, and see that we add nothing. We shall not desire to be righteous, unless we are taught in the law.”
Deu_6:1. Starke: “So is it with our sluggish nature; we need ever to be warned and urged. The motives which Moses used are more evangelical than legal.” Deu_5:2. Berl. Bib.: “God commands nothing more than what is useful to man, and tends to his blessedness.” Fear connecting itself so closely with danger pre-supposes the higher and more mighty, whom we have to fear; and thus the knowledge of God and our own weakness, the two factors in our spiritual life. Deu_5:3. Berl. Bib.: “Observe that thou do! Who wonders not that although this runs through the whole Scripture upon every page, there is still no truth more spoken against by all sects of Christians.” Moses grieves not to repeat the same command again and again. Comp. Php_3:1 (Act_20:20; Act_20:31). Berl. Bib.: “In truth it is never well with any one who does not stand well with God.” [Bib. Com.: “Thus the glory of God and the welfare of men are seen to be the grand ends he has in view. They are the ends in the law and of all obedience to it.”—A. G.]
Footnotes:
[1][Deu_5:1. Mar. more lit., keep to do them.—A. G.].
[2][Deu_5:5. Lit., from the face of.—A. G.].
[3][Deu_5:6. Margin and lit., servants.—A. G.].
[4][Deu_5:11. Thou shalt not lift up (take) the name of Jehovah thy God to a falsehood.—A. G.].
[5][Deu_5:22. Lit., did not add.—A. G.].
[6][Deu_5:15. Lit., margin, and so Schroeder, we are adding to hear—hear further.—A. G.].
[7][Deu_5:27. Our version here observes carefully and properly the distinction between אמר and דבר.—A. G.].
[8][Deu_6:1. המִּצְוָה is singular. The commandment is a whole and includes statutes and judgments.—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 vv3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 16, 21, 22, 23, 29 The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers,…
The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us--The meaning is, "not with our fathers" only, "but with us" also, assuming it to be "a covenant" of grace. It may mean "not with our fathers" at all, if the reference is to the peculiar establishment of the covenant of Sinai; a law was not given to them as to us, nor was the covenant ratified in the same public manner and by the same solemn sanctions. Or, finally, the meaning may be "not with our fathers" who died in the wilderness, in consequence of their rebellion, and to whom God did not give the rewards promised only to the faithful; but "with us," who alone, strictly speaking, shall enjoy the benefits of this covenant by entering on the possession of the promised land.
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, 4, 5, 6, 12, 16, 18, 22, 23, 29, 31 1. Moses called all Israel — The nation is…
REPETITION AND EXPOSITION OF THE LAW.
1. Moses called all Israel — The nation is addressed as present, it being represented by its tribal chieftains.
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Hear, O Israel — An impressive commencement, more emphatic than the usual way of beginning a discourse.
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, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32 1. called unto] i.e. summoned together. So rightly LXX.
1. called unto] i.e. summoned together. So rightly LXX.
all Israel] D’s characteristic phrase for the people: see Deu_4:44.
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Hear, O Israel] The verb is the only Sg. in this Pl. passage. So in the same association in other Pl. passages: Deu_4:1, Deu_20:3 (cp. Deu_1:8):
the statutes and the judgements] also characteristic of D.
observe to do] also characteristic of D; occurring some 20 times both with Sg. and Pl.; but many of the instances are editorial.
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, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 28 (1) And Moses called all Israel, and said.—What follows…
(1) And Moses called all Israel, and said.—What follows is thus presented to us as an actual exhortation, not merely a portion of a book.
The statutes and judgments.—The religious ordinances and institutions, and the general requirements. The mention of these is prefixed to the Decalogue, of which they are only the application—to a special people under special circumstances. More precisely, the words apply rather to what follows the Decalogue than to the Ten Commandments themselves. (See Deu_6:1.)
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 5
Deuteronomy 5
"And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgements which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them."
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Let us carefully note these four words, so specially characteristic of the book of Deuteronomy, and so seasonable for the Lord’s people, at all times and in all places - "Hear’’ - "Learn" - "Keep" - "Do." These are words of unspeakable preciousness to every truly pious soul - to every one who honestly desires to walk in that narrow path of practical righteousness so pleasing to God, and so safe and so happy for us.
The first of these word’s places the soul in the most blessed attitude in which any one can be found, namely, that of hearing. "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." "I will hear what God the Lord will speak." "Hear; and your soul shall live." The hearing ear lies at the very foundation of all true, practical Christian life. It places the soul in the only true and proper attitude for the creature. It is the real secret of all peace and blessedness.
It can scarcely be needful to remind the reader that, when we speak of the soul in the attitude of hearing, it is assumed that what is heard is simply the word of God. Israel had to hearken to "the statutes and judgements" of Jehovah, and to nothing else. It was not to the commandments, traditions, and doctrines of men they were to give ear; but to the very words of the living God who had redeemed and delivered them from the land of Egypt, the place of bondage, darkness and death.
It is well to bear this in mind. It will preserve the soul from many a snare, many a difficulty. We hear a good deal, in certain quarters, about obedience; and about the moral fitness of surrendering our own will, and submitting ourselves to authority. All this sounds very well; and has great weight with a large class of very religious and morally excellent people. But when men speak to us about obedience, we must ask The question, "Obedience to what?" When they speak to us about surrendering our own will, we must inquire of them, "To whom are we to surrender it?" When they speak to us about submitting to authority, we must insist upon their telling us the source or foundation of the authority.
This is of the deepest possible moment to every member of the household of faith. There are many very sincere and very earnest, people who deem it very delightful to be saved the trouble of thinking for themselves, and to have their sphere of action and line of service laid out for them by wiser heads than their own. It seems a very restful and very pleasing thing to have each day’s work laid out for us by some master hand. It relieves the heart of a great load of responsibility, and it looks like humility and self-distrust to submit ourselves to some authority.
But we are bound, before God, to look well to the basis of the authority to which we surrender ourselves, else we may find ourselves in an utterly false position. Take for example, a monk, or a nun, or a member of a sisterhood. A monk obeys his abbot; a nun obeys her mother abbess; "a sister" obeys her "lady superior." But the position and relationship of each is utterly false. There is not a shadow of authority in the New Testament for monasteries, convents, or sisterhoods; on the contrary, the teaching of holy scripture, as well as the voice of nature, is utterly opposed to every one of them, inasmuch as they take men and women out of the place and out of the relationship in which God has set them, and in which they are designed and fitted to move, and form them into societies which are utterly destructive of natural affection, and subversive of all true Christian obedience.
We feel it right to call the attention of the Christian reader to this subject just now, seeing that the enemy is making a vigorous effort to revive the monastic system, in our midst, under various forms. Indeed some have had the temerity to tell us, that monastic life is the only true form of Christianity. Surely, when such monstrous statements are made and listened to, it becomes us to look at the whole subject in the light of scripture, and to call upon the advocates and adherents of monasticism to show us the foundations of the system in the word of God. Where, within the covers of the New Testament, is there anything, in the most remote degree, like a monastery, a convent, or a sisterhood? where can we find an authority for any such office as that of an abbot, an abbess, or a lady superior? There is absolutely no such thing, nor a shadow of it; and hence, we have no hesitation in pronouncing the whole system, from foundation to topstone, a fabric of superstition, alike opposed to the voice of nature and the voice of God; nor can we understand how any one, in his sober senses, could presume to tell us that a monk or a nun is the only true exponent of Christian life. Yet there are those who thus speak, and there are those who listen to them, and that, too, in this day when the full, clear light of our glorious Christianity is shining upon us from the pages of the New Testament.*
{*We must accurately distinguish between "nature" and "flesh." The former is recognised in scripture; the latter is condemned and set aside. "Doth not even nature itself teach you?" says the apostle. (1 Cor. 11: 14.) Jesus beholding the young ruler, in Mark 10, "loved him" although there was nothing but nature. To be without natural affection, is one of the marks of the apostasy. Scripture teaches that we are dead to sin; not to nature, else what becomes of our natural relationships?}
But, blessed be God, we are called to obedience. We are called to "hear" - called to bow down, in holy and reverent submission, to authority. And here we join issue with infidelity and its lofty pretensions. The path of the devout and lowly Christian is alike removed from superstition on the one hand, and from infidelity on the other. Peter’s noble reply to the council, in Acts 5, embodies, in its brief compass, a complete answer to both. "We ought to obey God rather than men." We meet infidelity, in all its phases, in all its stages, and in its very deepest roots, with this one weighty sentence, "We ought to obey" And we meet superstition, in every garb in which it clothes itself, with the all-important clause, "We ought to obey God."
Here we have set forth, in the most simple form, the duty of every true Christian. He is to obey God. The infidel may smile, contemptuously, at a monk or a nun, and marvel how any rational being can so completely surrender his reason and his understanding to the authority of a fellow mortal, or submit himself to rules and practices so absurd, so degrading and so contrary to nature. The infidel glories in his fancied intellectual freedom, and imagines that his own reason is quite a sufficient guide for him. He does not see that he is further from God than the poor monk or nun whom he so despises. He does not know that, while priding himself in his self-will, he is really led captive by Satan, the prince and God of this world. Man is formed to obey - formed to look up to some one above him. The Christian is sanctified unto the obedience of Jesus Christ that is, to the very same character of obedience as that which was rendered by our adorable Lord and Saviour Himself.
This is of the deepest possible moment to every one who really desires to know what true Christian obedience is. To understand this is the real secret of deliverance from the self-will of the infidel, and the false obedience of superstition. It can never be right to do our own will. It may be quite wrong to do the will of our fellow. It must always be right to do the will of God. This was what Jesus came to do; and what He always did. " Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart."
Now, we are called and set apart to this blessed character of obedience, as we learn from the inspired apostle Peter, in the opening of his first epistle, where he speaks of believers as "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."
This is an immense privilege; and, at the same time, a most holy and solemn responsibility. We must never forget, for a moment, that God has elected us, and the Holy Spirit has set us apart, not only to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, but also to His obedience. Such is the obvious meaning and moral force of the words just quoted - words of unspeakable preciousness to every lover of holiness - words which effectually deliver us from self-will, from legality, and from superstition. Blessed deliverance!
But it may be the pious reader feels disposed to call our attention to the exhortation in Hebrews 13. "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account; that they may do it with joy and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you."
A deeply important word, most surely, with which we should also connect a passage in 1 Thessalonians, "And we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake." (1 Thess. 5: 12, 13) And again, in 1 Cor 16: 15, 16, "I beseech you, Brethren - ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry [or service] of the saints - that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us and laboureth." To all these we must add another very lovely passage from the first epistle of Peter. "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of Glory that fadeth not away." (1 Thess. 5: 1-4.)
We may be asked, "Do not the above passages set forth the principle of obedience to certain men? And, if so, why object to human authority?" The answer is very simple. Wherever Christ imparts a spiritual gift, whether it be the gift of teaching, the gift of rule, or the gift of pastorship, it is the bounden duty and privilege of Christians to recognise and appreciate such gifts. Not to do so, would be to forsake our own mercies. But then we must bear in mind that, in all such cases, the gift must be a reality - a Plain, palpable, bona fide, divinely given thing. It is not a man assuming a certain place or position, or being appointed by his fellow to any so-called ministry. All this is perfectly worthless and worse than worthless; it is a daring intrusion upon a sacred domain which must, sooner or later, bring down the judgement of God.
All true ministry is of God, and is based upon the possession of a positive gift from the Head of the church; so that we may truly say, No gift, no ministry. In all the passages quoted above, we see positive gift possessed, and actual work done. Moreover, we see a true heart for the lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ; we see divine grace and power. The word in Hebrews 13 is "Obey them that guide you" (hegoumenois). Now, it is essential to a true guide that he should go before you in the way. It would be the height of folly for any one to assume the title of guide, if he were ignorant of the way, and neither able nor willing to go in it. Who would think of obeying such?
So also when the apostle exhorts the Thessalonians to "know" and "esteem" certain persons, on what does he found his exhortation? Is it upon the mere assumption of a title, an office or a position Nothing of the kind. He grounds his appeal upon the actual, well-known fact that these persons were "over them, in the Lord," and that they admonished them. And why were they to "esteem them very highly in love"? Was it for their office or their title? No; but "for their work’s sake." And why were the Corinthians exhorted to submit themselves to the household of Stephanas? Was it because of an empty title or assumed office? By no means; but because "They addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints." They were actually in the work. They had received gift and grace from Christ, and they had a heart for His people. They were not boasting of their office or insisting upon their title, but giving themselves devotedly to the service of Christ, in the persons of His dear people.
Now this is the true principle of ministry. It is not human authority at all, but divine gift and spiritual power communicated by Christ to His servants; exercised by them, in responsibility to Him; and thankfully recognised by His saints. A man may set up to be a teacher or a pastor, or he may be appointed by his fellows to the office or title of a pastor; but unless he possessed a positive gift from the Head of the church, it is all the merest sham, a hollow assumption, an empty conceit; and his voice will be the voice of a stranger which the true sheep of Christ do not know and ought not to recognise.*
{*The reader will do well to ponder the fact that there is no such thing in the New Testament as human appointment to preach the gospel, teach in the assembly of God, or feed the flock of Christ. Elders and deacons were ordained by the apostles or their delegates Timothy and Titus; but evangelists, pastors and teachers were never so ordained. We must distinguish between gift and local charge. Elders and deacons might possess a special gift or not; it had nothing to do with their local charge. If the reader would understand the subject of ministry, let him study 1 Corinthians 12-14. and Ephesians 4: 8-13. In the former we have first, the base of all true ministry in the church of God, namely, divine appointment: "God hath set the members," &c. Secondly, the motive spring, "love." Thirdly, The object, "that the church may receive edifying." In Ephesians 4 we have the source of all ministry, a risen and ascended Lord. The design, "To perfect the saints for the work of the ministry." The duration "Till we all come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." In a word, ministry, in all its departments, is entirely a divine institution. It is not of man or by man, but of God. The Master must, in every case, fit, fill and appoint the vessel. There is no authority in scripture for the notion that every man has a right to minister in the church of God. Liberty for men is radicalism and not scripture. Liberty for the Holy Ghost to minister by whom He will is what we are taught in the New Testament. May we learn it!}
But, on the other hand, where there is the divinely gifted teacher, the true, loving, wise, faithful, laborious pastor, watching for souls, weeping over them waiting upon them, like a gentle, tender nurse, able to say to them, "Now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord" - where these things are found, there will not be much difficulty in recognising and appreciating them. How do we know a good dentist? Is it by seeing his name on a brass plate? No; but by his work. A man may call himself a dentist ten thousand times over, but if he be only an unskilful operator who would think of employing him?
Thus it is in all human affairs, and thus it is in the matter of ministry. If a man has a gift, he is a minister; if he has not, all the appointment, authority and ordination in the world could not make him a minister of Christ. It may make him a minister of religion; but a minister of religion and a minister of Christ - a minister in Christendom and a minister in the church of God, are two totally different things. All true ministry has its source in God; it rests on divine authority, and its object is to bring the soul into His presence, and link it on to Him. False ministry, on the contrary, has its source in man; it rests on human authority, and its object is to link the soul on to itself. This marks the immense difference between the two. The former leads to God; the latter leads away from Him; that feeds, nourishes and strengthens the new life; this hinders its progress, in every way, and plunges it in doubt and darkness. In a word, we may say, true ministry is of God, through Him, and to Him. False ministry is of man, through him and to him. The former we prize more than we can say; the latter we reject with all the energy of our moral being. We trust sufficient has been said to satisfy the mind of the reader in reference to the matter of obedience to those whom the Lord may see fit to call to the work of the ministry. We are bound, in every case, to judge by the word of God, and to be assured that it is a divine reality and not a human sham - a positive gift from the Head of the church, and not an empty title conferred by men. In all cases where there is real gift and grace, it is a sweet privilege to obey and submit ourselves, inasmuch as we discern Christ in the person and ministry of His beloved servants.
There is no difficulty, to a spiritual mind, in owning real grace and power. We can easily tell whether a man is seeking, in true love, to feed our souls with the bread of life, and lead us on in the ways of God; or whether he is seeking to exalt himself, and promote his own interests. Those who are living near the Lord can readily discern between true power and hollow assumption. Moreover, we never find Christ’s true ministers parading their authority, or vaunting themselves of their office; they do the work and leave it to speak for itself. In the case of the blessed apostle Paul, we and him referring, again and again, to the plain proofs of his ministry - the unquestionable evidence afforded in the conversion and blessing of souls. He could say to the poor misguided Corinthians when, under the influence of some self-exalting pretender, they foolishly called in question his apostleship, "Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me....examine yourselves."
This was close, pointed dealing with them. They themselves were the living proofs of his ministry. If his ministry was not of God, what and where were they? But it was of God, and this was his joy, his comfort and his strength. He was "an apostle, not of man, nor by men; but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised him from the dead." He gloried in the source of his ministry; and, as to its character, he had but to appeal to a body of evidence quite sufficient to carry conviction to any right mind. In his case, it could be truly said, it was not the speech, but the power.
Thus it must be, in measure, in every case. We must look for the power. We must have reality. Mere titles are nothing. Men may undertake to confer titles and appoint to offices; but they have no more authority to do so than they have to appoint; admirals in her Majesty’s fleet, or generals in her army. If we were to see a man assuming the style and title of an admiral or a general, without her Majesty’s commission, we should pronounce him an idiot or a lunatic. This is but a feeble illustration to set forth the folly of men taking upon them the title of ministers of Christ without one atom of spiritual gift, or divine authority.
Shall we be told, we must not judge! We are bound to judge. "Beware of false prophets." How can we beware if we are not to judge? But how are we to judge "By their fruits ye shall know them." Can the Lord’s people not tell the difference between a man who comes to them, in the power of the Spirit, gifted by the Head of the church, full of love to their souls, earnestly desiring their true blessing seeking not theirs but them, a holy, gracious, humble, self emptied servant of Christ; and a man who comes with a self-assumed or a humanly conferred title, without a single trace of anything divine or heavenly, either in his ministry or in his life? Of course they can; no one in his senses would think of calling in question a fact so obvious.
But, further, we may ask, what mean those words of the venerable apostle John? "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." How are we to try the spirits, or how are we to discern between the true and the false, if we are not to judge? Again, the same apostle writing to "the elect lady," gives her the following most solemn admonition, "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." Was she not responsible to act on this admonition Assuredly. But how could she, if we are not to judge And what had she to judge! Was it as to whether those who came to her house were ordained, authorised, or licensed by any man or body of men? Nothing of the kind. The one great and all-important question for her was as to the doctrine. If they brought the true, the divine doctrine of Christ the doctrine of Jesus Christ come in the flesh, she was to receive them; if not, she was to shut her door, with a firm hand, against them, no matter who they were, or where they came from. If they had all the credentials that man could bestow upon them, yet if they brought not the truth, she was to reject them with stern decision. This might seem very harsh, very narrow minded, very bigoted; but with this she had nothing whatever to do. She had just to be as broad and as narrow as the truth. Her door and her heart were to be wide enough to admit all who brought Christ, and no wider. Was she to pay compliments at the expense of her Lord? Was she to seek a name for largeness of heart or breadth of mind by receiving to her house and to her table the teachers of a false Christ? The very thought is absolutely horrible.
But, finally, in the second chapter of Revelation, we find the church at Ephesus commended for having tried those who said they were apostles and were not. How could this be if we are not to judge? Is it not most evident to the reader that an utterly false use is made of our Lord’s words in Matthew 7: 1, "Judge not that ye be not judged;" and also of the apostle’s words in? Corinthians 4: 5, "Therefore judge nothing before the time"! It is impossible that scripture can contradict itself; and, hence, whatever be the true meaning of our Lord’s "judge not," or the apostle’s "judge nothing," it is perfectly certain that they do not, in the most remote way, interfere with the solemn responsibility of all Christians, to judge the gift, the doctrine, and the life of all who take the place of preachers, teachers and pastors in the church of God.
And, then, if we be asked, as to the meaning of "judge not," and "judge nothing," we believe the words simply forbid our judging motives, or hidden springs of action. With these we have nothing whatever to do. We cannot penetrate below the surface; and, thanks be to God, we are not asked to do so; yea, we are positively forbidden. We cannot read the counsels of the heart; it is the province and prerogative of God alone to do this. But to say that we are not to judge the doctrine, the gift or the manner of life of those who take the place of preachers, teachers and pastors in the church of God, is simply to fly in the face of holy scripture, and to ignore the very instincts of the divine nature implanted in us by the Holy Ghost.
Hence, therefore, we can return, with increased clearness and decision, to our thesis of Christian obedience. It seems perfectly plain that the fullest recognition of all true ministry in the church, and the most gracious submission of ourselves to all those whom our Lord Christ may see fit to raise up as pastors, teachers and guides, in our midst, can never, in the smallest degree, interfere with the grand fundamental principle set forth in Peter’s magnificent reply to the council, "We ought to obey God, rather than men."
It will ever be the aim and object of all true ministers of Christ to lead those, to whom they minister, in the true path of obedience to the word of God. The chapter which lies open before us, as indeed the entire book of Deuteronomy, shows us, very plainly, how Moses, that eminent servant of God, ever sought and diligently laboured to press upon the congregation of Israel, the urgent necessity of the most implicit obedience to all the statutes and judgements of God. He did not seek any place of authority for himself. He never lorded it over God’s heritage. His one grand theme, from first to last, was obedience. This was the burden of all his discourses - obedience, not to him, but to his and their Lord. He rightly judged that this was the true secret of their happiness, their moral security, their dignity and their strength. He knew that an obedient people must also, of necessity, be an invincible and innumerable people. No weapon formed against them could prosper, so long as they were governed by the word of God. In a word, he knew and believed that Israel’s province was to obey Jehovah; as it was Jehovah’s province to bless Israel. It was their one simple business to "hear" - "learn" "keep" - and "do" the revealed will of God; and, so doing, they might count on Him, with all possible confidence, to be their shield, their strength, their safeguard, their refuge, their resource, their all in all. The only true and proper path for the Israel of God, is that narrow path of obedience on which the light of God’s approving countenance ever shines; and all who, through grace, tread that path will find Him "a guide, a glory, a defence, to save from every fear."
This, surely, is quite enough. We have nothing to do with consequences. These we may, in simple confidence, leave to Him whose we are and whom we are responsible to serve. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." If we are doing His will, we shall ever find His Name a strong tower. But, on the other hand, if we are not walking in a path of practical righteousness; if we are doing our own will; if we are living in the habitual neglect of the plain word of God, then verily it is utterly vain for us to think that the Name of the Lord will be a strong tower to us; rather would His Name be a reproof to us, leading us to judge our ways, and to return to the path of righteousness from which we have wandered.
Blessed be His Name, His grace will ever meet us, in all its precious fullness and freeness, in the place of self-judgement and confession, however we may have failed and wandered; but this is a totally different thin. We may have to say, with the psalmist, "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." But then, a soul crying to God from the depths, and getting forgiveness, is one thing; and a soul looking to Him in the path of practical righteousness is quite another. We must carefully distinguish between these two things. Confessing our sins and finding pardon must never be confounded with walking uprightly and counting on God. Both are blessedly true; but they are not the same thing.
We shall now proceed with our chapter.
At the second verse, Moses reminds the people of their covenant relationship with Jehovah; He says, "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face, in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the word of the Lord; for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount) saying," &c.
The reader must distinguish, and thoroughly understand the difference between the covenant made at Horeb, and the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are essentially different. The former was a covenant of works, in which the people undertook to do all that the Lord had spoken. The latter was a covenant of pure grace, in which God pledged Himself with an oath to do all which He promised. Human language would utterly fail us to set forth the immense difference, in every respect, between these two covenants. In their basis, in their character, in their accompaniments, and in their practical result, they are as different as any two things could possibly be. The Horeb covenant rested upon human competency for the fulfilment of its terms; and this one fact is quite sufficient to account for the total failure of the whole thing. The Abrahamic covenant rested upon divine competency for the fulfilment of its terms, and hence the utter impossibility of its failure in a single jot or tittle.
Having, in our "Notes on the Book of Exodus," gone, somewhat fully, into the subject of the law, and endeavoured to set forth the divine object in giving it; and, further, the utter impossibility of any one Setting life or righteousness by keeping it, we must refer the reader to what we have there advanced on this profoundly interesting subject.
It seems strange to one taught exclusively by scripture, that such confusion of thought should prevail amongst professing Christians, in reference to a question so distinctly and definitively settled by the Holy Ghost. Were it merely a question of the divine authority of Exodus 20. or Deuteronomy 5 as inspired portions of the Bible, we should not have a Word to say. We most fully believe that these chapters are as much inspired as John 17 or Romans 8.
But this is not the point. All true Christians receive, with devout thankfulness, the precious statement that, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." And, further, they rejoice in the assurance that "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." And, finally, they believe that the morality of the law is of abiding and universal application. Murder, adultery, theft, false witness, covetousness, are wrong - always wrong - everywhere wrong. To honour our parents is right, always and everywhere right. We read, in Ephesians 4, "Let him that stole, steal no more." and, again, in Eph. 6, we read, "Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."
All this is so divinely plain and settled that discussion is definitively closed. But when we come to look at the law as a ground of relationship with God, we get into an entirely different region of thought. Scripture, in manifold places, and in the clearest Possible manner, teaches as that, as Christians, as children of God, we are not on that ground at all. The Jew was on that ground, but he could not stand there with God. It was death and condemnation. 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." The Jew found the law to be a bed on which he could not stretch himself, and a covering in which he could not wrap himself.
As to the Gentile, he was never, by any one branch of the divine economy, placed under law. His condition is expressly declared, in the opening of the epistle to the Romans, to be "without law" (anomos). "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law," etc. had, "As many as have sinned without law shall perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law."
Here the two classes are brought into sharp and vivid contrast, in the matter of their dispensational position. The Jew, under law; the Gentile, without law. Nothing can be more distinct. The Gentile was placed under government, in the person of Noah; but never under law. Should any one feel disposed to call this in question, let him produce a single line of scripture to prove that God ever placed the Gentiles under the law. Let him search and see. It is of no possible use to argue and reason and object. It is utterly vain to say, "We think" this or that. The question is, "What saith the scripture?" If it says that the Gentiles were put under the law, let the passage be produced. We solemnly declare it says nothing of the kind, but the very reverse. It describes the condition and the position of the Gentile as "without law" - " having not the law"
In Acts 10, we see God opening the kingdom of heaven to the Gentile. In Acts 14: 27, we see Him opening "the door of faith" to the Gentile. In Acts 28: 28, we see Him sending His salvation to the Gentile. But we search in vain, from cover to cover of the blessed Book, for a passage in which He places the Gentile under the law.
We would, very earnestly, entreat the Christian reader to give this deeply interesting and important question his calm attention. Let him lay aside all his pre-conceived thoughts, and examine the matter simply in the light of holy scripture. We are quite aware that our statements on this subject will be regarded by thousands as novel, if not actually heretical; but this does not move us, in the smallest degree. It is our one grand desire to be taught absolutely and exclusively by scripture. The opinions, commandments, and doctrines of men have no weight whatever with us. The dogmas of the various schools of divinity must just go for what they are worth. We demand scripture. A single line of inspiration is amply sufficient to settle this question, and close all discussion, for ever. Let us be shown, from the word of God, that the Gentiles were ever put under the law, and we shall, at once, bow; but, inasmuch as we cannot find it there, we reject the notion altogether, and we would have the reader to do the same. The invariable language of scripture, in describing the position of the Jew, is, "under law;" and, in describing the position of the Gentile, is, "without law." This is so obvious that we cannot but marvel how any reader of the Bible can fail to see it.*
{*The reader may perhaps feel disposed to inquire, on what ground will the Gentile be judged, if he is not under the law? Romans 1: 20 teaches us distinctly that the testimony of creation leaves him without excuse. Then, in Rom. 2: 15, he is taken up on the ground of conscience. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness," &c. Finally, as regards those nations that have become professedly Christian, they will be judged on the ground of their profession.}
If the reader will turn, for a few moments, to Acts 15, he will see how the first attempt to put Gentile converts under the law was met by the apostles and the whole church at Jerusalem. The question was raised at Antioch; and God, in His infinite goodness and wisdom, so ordered that it should not be settled there, but that Paul and Barnabas should go up to Jerusalem and have the matter fully and freely discussed, and definitively settled by the unanimous voice of the twelve apostles, and the whole church.
How we can bless our God for this! We can, at once, see that the decision of a local assembly such as Antioch, even though approved by Paul and Barnabas, would not carry the same weight as that of the twelve apostles assembled in council, at Jerusalem. But the Lord, blessed be His Name, took care that the enemy should be completely confounded; and that the law-teachers of that day, and of every other day, should be distinctly and authoritatively taught that it was not according to His mind that Christians should be put under law, for any object whatsoever.
The subject is so deeply important that we cannot forbear quoting a few passages for the reader. We believe it will refresh both the reader and the writer to refer to the soul-stirring addresses delivered at the most remarkable and interesting council that ever sat.
"And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" How awful! How terribly chilling! What a death knell to ring in the ears of those who had been converted under Paul’s splendid address in the synagogue at Antioch! "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man" - without circumcision or works of law of any kind whatsoever - "is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe" - irrespective altogether of circumcision - "are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses..... And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be Preached to them the next Sabbath."
Such was the glorious message sent to the Gentiles, by the lips of the Apostle Paul - a message of free, full, immediate and perfect salvation - full remission of sins and perfect justification, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But, according to the teaching of the "certain men which came down from Judea," all this was insufficient. Christ was not enough, without circumcision and the law of Moses. Poor Gentiles who had never heard of circumcision or the law of Moses, must add to Christ and His glorious salvation the keeping of the whole law.
How must Paul’s heart have burned within him to have the beloved Gentile converts brought under such monstrous teaching as this! He saw in it nothing short of the complete surrender of Christianity. If circumcision must be added to the cross of Christ - if the law of Moses must supplement the grace of God, then verily all was gone.
But, blessed for ever be the God of all grace, He caused a noble stand to be made against such deadly teaching. When the enemy came in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord raised up a standard against him (When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem, unto the apostles and elders, about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring" - not the circumcision but - "the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy unto all the brethren."
The brethren were in the current of the mind of Christ, and in sweet communion with the heart of God; and hence they rejoiced to hear of the conversion and salvation of the Gentiles. We may rest assured it would have afforded them no joy to hear of the heavy yoke of circumcision and the law of Moses being put upon the necks of those beloved disciples who had just been brought into the glorious liberty of the Gospel. But to hear of their conversion to God, their salvation by Christ, their being sealed by the Holy Ghost, filled their hearts with a joy which was in lovely harmony with the mind of heaven.
"And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it; was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses."
Who made it "needful"? Not God, surely, inasmuch as He had, in His infinite grace, opened the door of faith to them, without circumcision, or any command to keep the law of Moses. No; it was "certain men" who presumed to speak of such things as needful - men who have troubled the church of God, from that day to the present - men "desiring to be teachers of the law; knowing neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." Law teachers never know what is involved in their dark and dismal teaching. They have not the most distant idea of how thoroughly hateful their teaching is to the God of all grace, the Father of mercies.
But thanks be to God, the chapter from which we are now quoting affords the very clearest and most forcible evidence that could be given as to the divine mind on the subject. It proved, beyond all question, that it was not of God to put Gentile believers under the law.
"And the apostles and elders came together, for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing" - alas! how soon it began! - "Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear" - not the law of Moses or circumcision, but "the word of the gospel, and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as unto us. And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?"
Mark this, reader. The law had proved an intolerable yoke to those who were under it, that is the Jews; and, further, it was nothing short of tempting God to put that yoke upon the neck of Gentile Christians. Would that all the law-teachers, throughout the length and breadth of Christendom, would but open their eyes to this grand fact! And not only so, but that all the Lord’s beloved people everywhere were given to see that it is in positive opposition to the will of God that they should be put under the law, for any object whatsoever. "But," adds the blessed apostle of the circumcision, "we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" - and not by law in any shape or form - "we shall be saved, even as they."
This is uncommonly fine, coming from the lips of the apostle of the circumcision. He does not say, " They shall be saved even as we;" but, "We shall be saved even as they." The Jew is well content to come down from his lofty dispensational position, and be saved after the pattern of the poor uncircumcised Gentile. Surely those noble utterances must have fallen, in stunning force, upon the ears of the law party. They left them, as we say, not a leg to stand upon.
"Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." The inspiring Spirit has not thought good to tell us what Paul and Barnabas said, on this memorable occasion; and we can see His wisdom in this. It is evidently His object to give prominence to Peter and James as men whose words would, of necessity, have more weight with the law teachers than those of the apostle to the Gentiles and his companion.
"And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles" - not to convert them all, but to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets;" - here he brings an overwhelming tide of evidence from the Old Testament to bear down upon the Judaisers - "as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord. and all the Gentiles" - without the slightest reference to circumcision, or the law of Moses, but - "upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God."
Here, then, we have this great question definitively settled, by the Holy Ghost, the twelve apostles, and the whole church; and we cannot but be struck with the fact that, at this most important council, none spoke more emphatically, more distinctly, or more decidedly, than Peter and James - the former, the apostle of the circumcision; and the latter, the one who specially addressed the twelve tribes, and whose position and ministry were calculated to give great weight to his words, in the judgement of all who were still, in any measure, occupying Jewish or legal ground. Both these eminent apostles were clear and decided in their judgement that the Gentile converts were not to be "troubled" or burdened with the law. They proved, in their powerful addresses, that, to place the Gentile Christians under the law, was directly contrary to the word, the will, and the ways of God.
Who can fail to see the marvellous wisdom of God in this? The words of Paul and Barnabas are not recorded. We are simply told that they rehearsed what things God had wrought among the Gentiles. That they should be utterly opposed to putting the Gentiles under the law was only what might be expected. But, to find Peter and James so decided, would carry great weight with all parties. But if the reader would have a clear view of Paul’s thoughts on the question of the law, he should study the epistle to the Galatians. There this blessed apostle, under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, pours out his heart, to the Gentile converts, in words of glowing earnestness and commanding power. It is perfectly amazing how any one can read this wonderful epistle, and yet maintain that Christians are under the law, in any way, or for any purpose. Hardly has the apostle got through his brief opening address, when he plunges, with his characteristic energy, into the subject with which his large, loving, though grieved and troubled heart is full to overflowing. "I marvel," he says - and well he might - "that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into" - what The law of Moses! Nay, but "the grace of Christ into a different gospel which is not another;" - (heteron euaggelion ho ouk estin allo) - "but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
Let all law-teachers ponder these burning words. Do they seem strong and severe? Let us remember that they are the very words of God the Holy Ghost. Yes, reader, God the Holy Ghost hurls His awful anathema at any one who presumes to add the law of Moses to the Gospel of Christ - any one who attempts to place Christians under the law. How is it that men are not afraid, in the face of such words, to contend for the law ? Are they not afraid of coming under the solemn curse of God the Holy Ghost?
Some, however, seek to meet this question by telling us that they do not take the law for justification, but as a rule of life. But this is neither reasonable nor intelligent, inasmuch as we may very lawfully inquire who gave us authority to decide as to the use we are to make of the law? We are either under the law or we are not. If we are under it at all, it is not a question of how we take it, but how it takes us.
This makes all the difference. The law knows no such distinctions as those which some theologians contend for. If we are under it, for any object whatsoever, we are under the curse, for it is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." To say that I am born again, I am a Christian, will not meet the case at all; for what has the law to do with the question of New Birth, or of Christianity? Nothing whatever. The law is addressed to man, as a responsible being. It demands perfect obedience, and pronounces its curse upon every one who fails to render it.
Moreover, it will not do to say that, though we have failed to keep the law, yet Christ has fulfilled it in our room and stead. The law knows nothing of obedience by proxy. Its language is, "The man that doeth them shall live in them." Nor is it merely on the man who fails to keep the law that the curse is pronounced; but, as if to put the principle in the clearest possible light before us, we read that "as many as are of works of law are under the curse." (See Gr.) That is, as many as take their stand on legal ground - as many as are on that principle - in a word, as many as have to do with works of law, are, of necessity, under the curse. Hence, we may see at a glance, the terrible inconsistency of a Christian’s maintaining the idea of being under the law as a rule of life, and yet not being under the curse. It is simply flying in the face of the very plainest statements of holy scripture. Blessed be the God of all grace, the Christian is not under the curse. But why? Is it because the law has lost its power, its majesty, its dignity, its holy stringency? By no means. To say so were to blaspheme the law. To say that any "man" - call him what you please, Christian, Jew, or Heathen - can be under the law, can stand on that ground, and yet not be under the curse, is to say that he perfectly fulfils the law or that the law is abrogated - it is to make it null and void. Who will dare to say this? Woe be to all who do so.
But how comes it to pass that the Christian is not under the curse? Because he is not under the law. And how has he passed from under the law? Is it by another having fulfilled it in his stead? Nay; we repeat the statement, there is no such idea, throughout the entire legal economy, as obedience by proxy. How is it then? Here it is, in all its moral force, fullness and beauty. "I through law, am dead to law, that I might live to God."
{*The omission of the article adds immensely to the force, fullness and clearness of the message. It is dia nomou nomo apethanon. A wonderful clause, surely. Would that it were better understood! It demolishes a vast mass of human theology. It leaves the law in its own proper sphere; but takes the believer completely from under its power, and out of its range, by death. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also 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" - which we never could do, if under the law - "For when we were in the flesh," - a correlative term with being under the law - "the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death." Mark the melancholy combination! "Under the law" "In the flesh" - "motions of sins" "Fruit unto death!" Can anything be more strongly marked? But there is another side, thank God, to this question; His own bright and blessed side. Here it is. "But now are we delivered from the law." How? Is it by another having fulfilled it for us? Nay; but, "having died to that [apothanontes en ho] wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." How perfect and how lovely is the harmony of Romans 7 and Galatians 2. "I through law am dead to law, that I might live unto God."}
Now, if it be true, and the apostle says it is, that we are dead to law, how can the law, by any possibility, be a rule of life to us? It proved only a rule of death, curse and condemnation to those who were under it those who had received it by the disposition of angels. Can it prove to be ought else to us? Did the law ever produce a single cluster of living fruit, or of the fruits of righteousness, in the history of any son or daughter of Adam? Hear the apostle’s reply. "when we were in the flesh" - that is, when we were viewed as men in our fallen nature - "the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death." It is very important for the reader to understand the real force of the expression, "in the flesh." It does not, in this passage, mean, "in the body." It simply sets forth the condition of unconverted men and women responsible to keep the law. Now, in this condition, all that was or ever could be produced was "fruit unto death" - "motions of sins." No life, no righteousness, no holiness, nothing for God, nothing right at all.*
{*It is needful to bear in mind that, although the Gentile was never, by the dispensational dealings of God, put under the law, yet, in point of fact, all baptised professors take that ground. Hence there is a vast difference between Christendom and the heathen, in reference to the question of the law. Thousands of unconverted people, every week, ask God to incline their hearts to keep the law. Surely, such persons stand on very different ground from the heathen who never heard of the law, and never heard of the Bible.}
But, where are we now as Christians? Hear the reply, "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" - here it means in the body - "I live" - How? By the law, as a rule of life? Not a hint at such a thing, but "by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
This, and nothing else, is Christianity. Do we understand it? Do we enter into it? Are we in the power of it? There are two distinct evils from which we are completely delivered by the precious death of Christ, namely, legality, on the one hand, and licentiousness, on the other. Instead of those terrible evils, it introduces us into the holy liberty of grace-liberty to serve God - liberty to "mortify our members which are upon the earth" - liberty to deny (ungodliness and worldly lusts" - liberty to "live soberly, righteously and godly" - liberty to "keep under the body and bring it into subjection."
Yes, beloved Christian reader, let us remember this. Let us deeply ponder the words. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." The old "I" dead - crucified, buried. The new "I," alive in Christ. Let us not mistake this. We know of nothing more awful, nothing more dangerous, than for the old "I" to assume the new ground; or, in other words, the glorious doctrines of Christianity taken up in the flesh, unconverted people talking of being free from the law, and turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. We must confess we would rather, a thousand times, have legality than licentiousness. It is this latter that many of us have to watch against, with all possible earnestness. It is growing around us, with appalling rapidity, and paving the way for that dark and desolating tide of infidelity which shall, ere long roll over the length and breadth of Christendom.
To talk of being free from the law in any way save by being dead to it, and alive to God, is not Christianity, at all, but licentiousness, from which every Pious soul must shrink with holy horror If we are dead to the law, we are dead to sin also; and hence we are not to do our Own Will, which is only another name for sin; but the will of God, which is true practical holiness.
Further, let us ever bear in mind that if we are dead to the law, we are dead to this present evil world also, and linked with a risen, ascended and glorified Christ, Hence, we are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world. To contend for position in the world is to deny that we are dead to the law; for we cannot be alive to the one and dead to the other. The death of Christ has delivered as from the law, from the power of sin, from this present evil world, and from the fear of death. But then all these things hang together, and we cannot go delivered from one without being delivered from all. To assert our freedom from the law, while pursuing a course of carnality, self-indulgence and worldliness, is one of the darkest and deadliest evils of the last days.
The Christian is called to prove, in his daily life, that grace can produce results that law could never reach. It is one of the moral glories of Christianity to enable a man to surrender self and live for others. Law never could do this. It occupied a man with himself. Under its rule, every man had to do the best he could for himself. If he tried to love his neighbour, it was to work out a righteousness for himself. Under grace, all is blessedly and gloriously reversed. Self is set aside as a thing crucified, dead and buried. The old "I" is gone, and the new "I" is before God in all the acceptability and preciousness of Christ. He is our life, our righteousness, our holiness, our object, our model, our all. He is in us and me are in Him; and our daily practical life is to be simply Christ reproduced in us, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Hence, we are not only called to love our neighbour, but our enemy; and this, not to work out a righteousness, for we have become the righteousness of God in Christ; it is simply the outflow of the life which we possess, which is in us; and this life is Christ. A Christian is a man who should live Christ. He is neither a Jew, "under law;" nor a Gentile "without law;" but "a man in Christ," standing in grace, called to the same character of obedience as that which was rendered by the Lord Jesus Himself.
We shall not pursue this subject further here; but we earnestly entreat the Christian reader to study, attentively, the fifteenth chapter of Acts, and the epistle to the Galatians. Let him drink in the blessed teaching of these scriptures; and we feel assured he will arrive at a clear understanding of the great question of the law. He will see that the Christian is not under the law, for any purpose whatsoever; that his life, his righteousness, his holiness are on a different ground or principle altogether; that to place the Christian under law, in any way, is to deny the very foundations of Christianity, and contradict the plainest statements of the word. He will learn, from the third chapter of Galatians, that to put ourselves under the law is to give up Christ; to give up the Holy Ghost; to give up faith; to give up the promises.
Tremendous consequences! But there they are mainly set forth before our eyes; and truly when we contemplate the state of the professing church, we cannot but see how terribly those consequences are being realised.
May God the Holy Ghost open the eyes of all Christians to the truth of these things! May He lead them to study the scriptures and to submit themselves to their holy authority, in all things. This is the special need of this our day. We do not study scripture sufficiently. We are not governed by it. We do not see the absolute necessity of testing everything by the light of scripture, and rejecting all that will not stand the test. We go on with a quantity of things that have no foundation whatever in the word; yea, that are positively opposed to it.
What must be the end of all this? We tremble to think of it. We know, blessed be God, that our Lord Jesus Christ will soon come, and take His own beloved and blood-bought people home to the prepared place in the Father’s house, to be for ever with Himself, in the ineffable blessedness of that bright home. But what of those who shall be left behind? What of that vast mass of baptised worldly profession? These are solemn questions which must be weighed in the immediate presence of God, in order to have the true - the divine answer. Let the reader ponder them there, in all tenderness of heart and teachableness of spirit, and the Holy Ghost will lead him to the true answer.
Having sought to set forth, from various parts of scripture, the glorious truth that believers are not under law, but under grace, we may now pursue our study of this fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. In it we have the ten commandments; but not exactly as we have them in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. There are some characteristic touches which demand the reader’s attention.
In Exodus 20 we have history; in Deuteronomy 5 we have not only history but commentary. In the latter, the lawgiver presents moral motives, and makes appeals which would be wholly out of place in the former. In the one, we have naked facts; in the other, facts and comments - facts and their practical application. In a word, there is not the slightest ground for imagining that Deuteronomy 5 is intended to be a literal repetition of Exodus 20; and hence the miserable arguments which infidels ground upon their apparent divergence just crumble into dust beneath our feet. They are simply baseless and utterly contemptible.
Let us, for instance, compare the two scriptures in reference to the subject of the Sabbath. In Exodus 20 we read, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the Sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."
In Deuteronomy 5 we read, Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. (Vers. 12-15.)
Now, the reader can see, at a glance, the difference between the two passages. In Exodus 20 the command to keep the Sabbath is grounded on creation. In Deuteronomy 5 it is grounded on redemption without any allusion to creation, at all. In short, the points of difference arise out of the distinct character of each book, and are perfectly plain to every spiritual mind.
With regard to the institution of the Sabbath we must remember that it rests wholly upon the direct authority of the word of God. Other commandments set forth plain moral duties. Every man knows it to be morally wrong to kill or steal; but, as to the observance of the Sabbath, no one could possibly recognise it as a duty had it not been distinctly appointed by divine authority. Hence its immense importance and interest. Both in our chapter, and in Exodus 20, it stands side by side with all those great moral duties which are universally recognised by the human conscience.
And not only so; but we find, in various other scriptures, that the Sabbath is singled out and presented, with special prominence, as a precious link between Jehovah and Israel; a seal of His covenant with them; and a powerful test of their devotedness to Him. Every one could recognise the moral wrong of theft and murder; only those who loved Jehovah and His word would love and honour His Sabbath.
Thus, in Exodus 16, in connection with the giving of the manna, we read, "And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning..... And Moses said Eat that to day; for to day is a Sabbath unto the Lord; to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass," - so little were they capable of appreciating the high and holy privilege of keeping Jehovah’s Sabbath - "that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. and the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws" Their neglect of the Sabbath proved their moral condition to be all wrong-proved them to be astray as to all the commandments and laws of God. The Sabbath was the great touchstone, the measure and gauge of the real state of their hearts toward Jehovah - "See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day." they found rest and food on the holy Sabbath.
Again, at the close of chapter 31, we have a very remarkable passage in proof of the importance and interest attaching to the Sabbath, in the mind of Jehovah. A full description of the tabernacle and its furniture had been given to Moses, and he was about to receive the two tables of testimony from the hand of Jehovah; but, as if to prove the prominent place which the holy Sabbath held in the divine mind, we read, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." (Ex. 31: 12-17.)
Now, this is a very important passage. It proves, very distinctly, the abiding character of the Sabbath. The terms in which it is spoken of are quite sufficient to show that it was no mere temporary institution, "A sign between me and you, throughout your generations" - "A perpetual covenant" - "a sign for ever."
Let the reader carefully mark these words. They prove, beyond all question, first, that the Sabbath was for Israel. Secondly, that the Sabbath is, in the mind of God, a permanent institution. It is needful to bear these things in mind, in order to avoid all vagueness of thought, and looseness of expression on this deeply interesting subject.
The Sabbath was distinctly and exclusively for the Jewish nation. It is spoken of, emphatically, as a sign between Jehovah and His people Israel. There is not the most remote hint of its being intended for the Gentiles. We shall see, further on, that it is a lovely type of the times of the restitution of all thing of which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began; but this, in no wise, touches the fact of its being an exclusively Jewish institution. There is not so much as a single sentence of scripture to show that the Sabbath had any reference whatever to the Gentiles.
Some would teach us that, inasmuch as we read of the Sabbath day, in Genesis 2, it must, of necessity, have a wider range than the Jewish But let us turn to the passage, and see what it says. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
This is simple enough. There is no mention here of man, at all. We are not told that man rested on the seventh day. Men may infer, conclude or imagine that he did so; but the second of Genesis says nothing about it. And not only so, but we look in vain for any allusion to the Sabbath throughout the entire book of Genesis. The very first notice we have of the Sabbath, in connection with man, is in Exodus 16, a passage already quoted; and there we see, most distinctly, that it was given to Israel, as a people in recognised covenant relationship with Jehovah. That they did not understand or appreciate it is perfectly plain; that they never entered into it is equally plain, according to Psalm 95 and Hebrews 4. But we are now speaking of what it was in the mind of God; and He tells us it was a sign between Him and His people Israel; and a powerful test of their moral condition, and of the state of their heart as to Him. It was not only an integral part of the law as given by Moses to the congregation of Israel, but it is specially referred to and singled out, again and again, as an institution holding a very peculiar place in the mind of God.
Thus, in the book of the prophet Isaiah, we read, "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house, and within my walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger," - here, of course, viewed in connection with Israel, as in Numbers 15 and other scriptures - "that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer, their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."
Again, "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah 58: 13, 14.)
The foregoing quotations are amply sufficient to show the place which the Sabbath holds, in the mind of God. It is needless to multiply passages; but there is just one to which we must refer the reader, in connection with our present subject, namely, Leviticus 23. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." (Vers. 1-3.)
Here it stands at the head of all the feasts given in this marvellous chapter in which we have foreshadowed the entire history of God’s dealings with His people Israel. The Sabbath is the expression of God’s eternal rest into which it is His purpose yet to bring His people, when all their toils and their trials and tribulations shall have passed away - that blessed "Sabbath keeping," (sabbatismons) which "remaineth for the people of God." In various ways, He sought to keep this glorious rest before the hearts of His people; the seventh day, the seventh year, the year of jubilee - all these lovely sabbatic seasons were designed to set forth that blessed time when Israel shall be gathered back to their own beloved land, when the Sabbath shall be kept, in all its deep, divine blessedness, as it never has been kept yet.
And this leads us, naturally, to the second point in connection with the Sabbath, namely, its permanency. This is plainly proved by such expressions as, "perpetual" "a Sign for ever" - "throughout your generations." Such words would never be applied to any merely temporary institution. Thus it is, alas! that Israel never really kept the Sabbath according to God; they never understood its meaning, never entered into its blessedness, never drank into its spirit. They made it a badge of their own righteousness; they boasted in it as a national institution, and used it for self-exaltation; but they never celebrated it in communion with God.
We speak of the nation, as a whole. We doubt not there were precious souls who, in secret, enjoyed the Sabbath, and entered into the thoughts of God about it. But, as a nation, Israel never kept the Sabbath according to God. Hear what Isaiah says, "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting." (Chap. 1: 13.)
Here we see that the precious and beautiful institution of the Sabbath which God had given as a sign of His covenant with His people, had, in their hands, become a positive abomination, perfectly intolerable to Him. And when we open the pages of the New Testament, we find the leaders and heads of the Jewish people continually at issue with our Lord Jesus Christ, in reference to the Sabbath. Look, for example, at the opening verses of Luke 6. "And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath days? And Jesus answering them, said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they which were with him; how he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the showbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat, but for the priests alone? And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath."
And, again, we read, "It came to pass also on another Sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue, and taught; and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against him." - Only conceive an accusation for healing a poor, afflicted fellow mortal! - "But he knew their thoughts," - yes, He read their hearts, through to their very centre - "and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose, and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he did so; and his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus."
What an insight we have here into the hollowness and worthlessness of man’s Sabbath keeping! Those religious guides would rather let the disciples starve than have their Sabbath interfered with. They would allow the man to carry his withered hand to the grave, rather than have him healed on their Sabbath. Alas! alas! it was indeed their Sabbath, and not God’s. His rest could never comport with hunger and withered hands. They had never read aright the record of David’s act, in eating the showbread. They did not understand that legal institutions must give way in the presence of divine grace meeting human need. Grace rises, in its magnificence, above all legal barriers, and faith rejoices in its lustre; but mere religiousness is offended by the activities of grace and the boldness of faith. The Pharisees did not see that the man with the withered hand was a striking commentary upon the nation’s moral condition, a living proof of the fact that they were far away from God. If they were as they ought to be, there would have been no withered hands to heal; but they were not; and hence their Sabbath was an empty formality, a powerless, worthless ordinance, a hideous anomaly, hateful to God, and utterly inconsistent with the condition of man.
Take another instance, in Luke 13. "And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath" - Assuredly, the Sabbath was no day of rest to Him - "And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God." Beautiful illustration of the work of grace in the soul, and the practical result, in every case. All on whom Christ lays His blessed hands are "immediately made straight,’’ and enabled to glorify God.
But man’s Sabbath was touched. "The ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day." He was indignant at the gracious work of healing, though quite indifferent as to the humiliating case of infirmity - and he "said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." How little this poor hollow religionist knew that he was in the very presence of the Lord of the true Sabbath! How utterly insensible he was to the moral inconsistency of attempting to keep a, Sabbath while man’s condition called aloud for divine work! "The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite! doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"
What a withering rebuke! What an opening up of the hollowness and utter wretchedness of their whole system of Judaism! Only think of the glaring incongruity of a Sabbath and a daughter of Abraham bound by the cruel hand of Satan, for eighteen years! There is nothing in all this world so blinding to the mind, so hardening to the heart, so deadening to the conscience, so demoralising to the whole being, as religion without Christ. Its deceiving and degrading power can only be thoroughly judged in the light of the divine presence. For ought that the ruler of the synagogue cared, that poor woman might have gone on to the end of her days, bowed together, and unable to lift up herself. He would have been well content to let her go on as a sad witness of the power of Satan, provided he could keep his Sabbath. His religious indignation was excited, not by the power of Satan as seen in the woman’s condition, but by the power of Christ, as seen in her complete deliverance.
But the Lord gave him his answer. "And when be had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed;" - as well they might - "and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him." What a striking contrast! The advocates of a powerless, heartless, worthless religion, unmasked and covered with shame and confusion, on the one band; and, on the other, all the people rejoicing in the glorious actings of the Son of God who had come into their midst to deliver them from the crushing power of Satan, and fill their hearts with the joy of God’s salvation, and their mouths with His praise!
We must now ask the reader to turn to the gospel of John for further illustration of our subject. We earnestly desire that this vexed question of the Sabbath should be thoroughly examined in the light of scripture. We are convinced that there is very much more involved in it than many professing Christians are aware.
At the opening of John 5 we are introduced to a scene strikingly indicative of Israel’s condition. We do not here attempt to go fully into the passage; we merely refer to it in connection with the subject before us.
The pool of Bethesda, or "house of mercy" - while it was, undoubtedly, the expression of the mercy of God toward His people, - afforded abundant evidence of the miserable condition of man, in general, and of Israel, in particular. Its five porches were thronged with "a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water." What a sample of the whole human family, and of the nation of Israel! What a striking illustration of their moral and spiritual condition, as viewed from a divine standpoint. "Blind, halt, withered;" such is man’s real state, if he only knew it.
But there was one man, in the midst of this impotent throng, so far gone, so feeble and helpless, that the pool of Bethesda could not meet his case. "A certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?" - What grace and power in this question! It went far beyond the utmost stretch of the impotent man’s thoughts. He thought only of human help, or of his own ability to get into the pool. He knew not that the speaker was above and beyond the pool, with its occasional movement; beyond angelic ministry, beyond all human help and efforts the possessor of all power in heaven and on earth. "The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled, to put, me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." What a, true picture of all those who are seeking salvation by ordinances! Each one doing the best he could for himself. No care for others. No thought of helping them. "Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath."
Here we have man’s Sabbath again. It certainly was not God’s Sabbath. The miserable multitude gathered round the pool proved that God’s full rest had not yet come - that His glorious antitype of the Sabbath had not yet dawned on this sin-stricken earth. When that bright day comes, there will be no blind, halt, and withered folk thronging the porches of the pool of Bethesda. God’s Sabbath and human misery are wholly incompatible.
But it was man’s Sabbath. It was no longer the seal of Jehovah’s covenant with the seed of Abraham - as it was once, and will be again - but the badge of man’s self-righteousness, "The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath day; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed." It was, no doubt, lawful enough for him to lie on that bed, week after week, month after month, year after year, while they were going on with their empty, worthless, hollow attempt at Sabbath keeping. If they had had one ray of spiritual light, they would have seen the flagrant inconsistency of attempting to maintain their traditional notions respecting the Sabbath in the presence of human misery, disease and degradation. But they were utterly blind; and hence when the glorious fruits of Christ’s ministry were being displayed, they had the temerity to pronounce them unlawful.
Nor this only; but "therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day." What a, spectacle! Religious people, yea the leaders and teachers of religion - the guides of the professed people of God, seeking to slay the Lord of the Sabbath because He had made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day!
But mark our Lord’s reply. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." This brief but comprehensive statement gives us the root of the whole matter. It opens up to us the real condition of mankind in general, and of Israel in particular; and, in the most affecting manner, presents the grand secret of our Lord’s life and ministry. Blessed be His Name, He had not come into this world to rest. How could He rest - how could He keep a Sabbath, in the midst of human need and misery? Ought not that impotent, blind, halt, and withered multitude which thronged the porches of the pool of Bethesda to have taught " the Jews" the folly of their notions about the Sabbath? For what was that multitude but a sample of the condition of the nation of Israel, and of the whole human family? And how could divine love rest in the midst of such a condition of things? Utterly impossible. Love can only be a worker in a scene of sin and sorrow. From the moment of man’s fall, the Father had been working. Then the Son appeared to carry on the work. And, now, the Holy Ghost is working. Work, and not rest, is the divine order, in a world like this. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
The blessed Lord Jesus went about doing good, on the Sabbath day, as well as every other day; and, finally, having accomplished the glorious work of redemption, He spent the Sabbath in the grave, and rose on the first day of the week, as the First-begotten from the dead, and Head of the new creation, in which all things are of God, and to which, we may surely add, the question of "days and months, and times and years" can have no possible application. No one who thoroughly understands the meaning of death and resurrection could sanction, for a moment, the observance of days. The death of Christ put an end to all that order of things; and His resurrection introduces us into another sphere entirely where it is our high privilege to walk in the light and power of those eternal realities which are ours in Christ, and which stand in vivid contrast with the superstitious observances of a carnal and worldly religiousness.
But here we approach a very interesting point in our subject, namely, the difference between the Sabbath and the Lord’s day, or first day of the week. These two are often confounded. We frequently hear, from the lips of truly pious people, the phrase, "Christian Sabbath," an expression nowhere to be found in the New Testament. It may be that some who make use of it mean a right thing; but we should not only mean right, but also seek to express ourselves according to the teaching of holy scripture.
We are persuaded that the enemy of God and of His Christ has had a great deal more to do with the conventionalisms of Christendom than many of us are aware; and this it is which makes the matter so very serious. The reader may perhaps feel disposed to pronounce it mere! hair-splitting to find any fault with the term "Christian Sabbath." But he may rest assured it is nothing of the sort; on the contrary, if he will only calmly examine the matter in the light of the New Testament, he will find that it involves questions not only interesting but also weighty and important. It is a common saying, "There is nothing in a name;" but, in the matter now before us, there is much in a name.
We have already remarked that our Lord spent the Sabbath in the grave. Is not this a telling and deeply significant fact? We cannot doubt it. We read in it, at least, the setting aside of the old condition of things, and the utter impossibility of keeping a Sabbath in a world of sin and death. Love could not rest in a world like this; it could only labour and die. This is the inscription which we read on the tomb where the Lord of the Sabbath lay buried.
But what of the first day of the week? Is not it the Sabbath on a new footing - the Christian Sabbath? It is never so called in the New Testament. There is not so much as a hint of anything of the kind. If we look through the Acts of the Apostles, we shall find the two days spoken of in the most distinct way. On the Sabbath, we find the Jews assembled in their synagogues for the reading of the law and the prophets. On the first day of the week, we find the Christians assembled to break bread. The two days were as distinct as Judaism and Christianity; nor is there so much as a shadow of scripture foundation for the idea that the Sabbath was merged in the first day of the week. Where is there the slightest authority for the assertion that the Sabbath is changed from the seventh day to the eighth, or first day of the week? Surely, if there be any, nothing is easier than to produce it. But there is absolutely none.
And, be it remembered, that the Sabbath is not merely a seventh day, but the seventh day. It is well to note this, inasmuch as some entertain the idea that provided a seventh portion of time be given to rest, and the public ordinances of religion, it is quite sufficient, and it does not matter what you call it; and thus different nations and different religious systems have their Sabbath day. But this can never satisfy any one who desires to be taught exclusively by scripture. The Sabbath of Eden was the seventh day. The Sabbath for Israel was the seventh day. But the eighth day leads our thoughts onward into eternity: and, in the New Testament, it is called ’the first day of the week" as indicating the beginning of that new order of things of which the cross is the imperishable foundation, and a risen Christ the glorious Head and Centre. To call this day the "Christian Sabbath" is simply to confound things earthly and heavenly. It is to bring the Christian down from his elevated position as associated with a risen and glorified Head in the heavens, and occupy him with the superstitious observance of days, the very thing which made the blessed apostle stand in doubt of the assemblies in Galatia.
In short, the more deeply we ponder the phrase "Christian Sabbath," the more we are convinced that its tendency is, like many other formularies of Christendom, to rob the Christian of all those grand distinctive truths of the New Testament which mark off the church of God from all that went before, and all that is to follow after. The church, though on the earth, is not of this world, even as Christ is not of this world. It is heavenly in its origin, heavenly in its character, heavenly in its principles, walk and hope. It stands between the cross and the glory. The boundaries of its existence on earth are the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came down to form it, and the coming of Christ to receive it to Himself.
Nothing can be more strongly marked than this; and, hence, for any one to attempt to enjoin upon the church of God the legal or superstitious observance of "days and months, and times and years," is to falsify the entire Christian position; mar the integrity of divine revelation, and rob the Christian of the place and portion which belong to him, through the infinite grace of God, and the accomplished atonement of Christ.
Does the reader deem this statement unwarrantably strong? If so, let him ponder the following splendid passage from Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians - a passage which ought to be written in letters of gold. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil [or make a prey of] you through philosophy and vain deceit" - mark the combination! not very flattering to philosophy - "after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead [Theotes, deity] bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power." - What more can we possibly want? In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it."
Magnificent victory! A victory gained single handed - gained for us! Universal and eternal homage to His peerless Name! What remains? "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" What can one who is complete and accepted in a risen and glorified Christ have to do with meats, drinks or holy days? What can philosophy, tradition or human religiousness do for him? What can passing shadows add to one who has grasped, by faith, the eternal substance? Surely nothing; and hence the blessed apostle proceeds, "Let no man beguile you of your reward, in a voluntary humility, and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore, if we be dead with Christ, from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances" - such as "touch not;" this "taste not," - that - "handle not" - the other - which all are to perish with the using, after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour, to the satisfying of the flesh." - That is, not giving the measure of honour to the body which is due to it as God’s vessel, but puffing up the flesh with religious pride, fed by a hollow and worthless sanctimoniousness. (Col. 2: 6-23.)
We do not dare to offer any apology for this lengthened quotation. An apology for quoting scripture! Far be the thought! It is not possible for any one to understand this marvellous passage and not have a complete settlement, not only of the Sabbath question, but also of that entire system of things with which this question stands connected. The Christian, who understands his position, is done, for ever, with all questions of meats and drinks, days and months and times and years. He knows nothing of holy seasons and holy places. He is dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, and, as such, is delivered from all the ordinances of a traditional religion. He belongs to heaven, where new moons, holy days and Sabbaths have no place. He is in the new creation, where all things are of God; and hence he can see no moral force in such words as " touch not; taste not; handle not." They have no possible application to him. He lives in a region where the clouds, vapours and mists of monasticism and asceticism are never seen. He has given up all the worthless forms of mere fleshly pietism, and got, in exchange, the solid realities of Christian life. His ear has been opened to hear, and his heart to understand the powerful exhortation of the inspired apostle, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth."
Here we have unfolded before our eyes some of the glories of true, practical, vital Christianity, in striking contrast with all the barren and dreary forms of carnal and worldly religiousness. Christian life does not consist in the observance of certain rules, commandments or traditions of men. It is a divine reality. It is Christ in the heart, and Christ reproduced in the daily life, by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is the new man, formed on the model of Christ Himself, and displaying itself in all the most minute details of our daily history, in the family, in the business, in all our intercourse with our fellow men, in our temper, spirit, style, deportment, all. It is not a matter of mere profession, or of dogma, or of opinion, or of sentiment; it is an unmistakable, living reality. It is the kingdom of God, set up in the heart, asserting its blessed sway over the whole moral being, and shedding its genial influence upon the entire sphere in which we are called to move, from day to day. It is the Christian walking in the blessed footsteps of Him who went about doing good; meeting, so far as in him lies, every form of human need; living not for himself but for others; finding his delight in serving and giving; ready to soothe and sympathise wherever he finds a crushed spirit or a bereaved and desolate heart.
This is Christianity. And oh! how it differs from all the forms in which legality and superstition clothe themselves! How different from the unintelligent and unmeaning observance of days, and months, and times and years, abstaining from meats, forbidding to marry, and such-like! How different from the vapourings of the mystic, the gloom of the ascetic, and the austerities of the monk! How totally different from all these! Yes, reader; and we may add, how different from the unsightly union of high profession and low practice; lofty truths held in the intellect, professed, taught and discussed, and worldliness, self-indulgence, and unsubduedness! The Christianity of the New Testament differs alike from all these things. It is the divine, the heavenly, and the spiritual, displayed amid the human, the earthly and the natural. May it be the holy purpose of the writer and the reader of these lines to be satisfied with nothing short of that morally glorious Christianity revealed in the pages of the New Testament!
It is needless, we trust, to add more on the question of the Sabbath. If the reader has, at all, seized the import of those scriptures which have passed before us, he will have little difficulty in seeing the place which the Sabbath holds, in the dispensational ways of God. He will see that it has direct reference to Israel and the earth - that it was a sign of the covenant between Jehovah and His earthly people, and a powerful test of their moral condition.
Furthermore, he will see that Israel never really kept the Sabbath, never understood its import, never appreciated its value. This was made manifest in the life, ministry and death of our Lord Jesus Christ who performed many of His works of healing on the Sabbath day, and, at the end, spent that day in the tomb.
Finally, he will clearly understand the difference between the Jewish Sabbath and the first day of the week, or the Lord’s day; that the latter is never once called the Sabbath, in the New Testament; but, on the contrary, is constantly presented in its own proper distinctness; it is not the Sabbath changed or transferred, but a new day altogether, having its own special basis and its own peculiar range of thought, leaving the Sabbath wholly untouched, as a suspended institution, to be resumed, by-and-by, when the seed of Abraham shall be restored to their own land. (See Ezek 46: 1, 12.)
But we cannot, happily, turn from this interesting subject without a few words on the place assigned, in the New Testament, to the Lord’s day, or first day of the week. Though it is not the Sabbath; and though it has nothing to do with holy days, or new moons, or "days and months, and times and years;" yet it has its own unique place in Christianity, as is evident from manifold passages in the scriptures of the New Testament.
Our Lord rose from the dead, on that day. He met His disciples, again and again, on that day. The apostle and the brethren at Troas came together to break bread on that day. (Acts 20: 7.) The apostle instructs the Corinthians, and all that, in every place, call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to lay by their offerings on that day; thus teaching us, distinctly, that the first day of the week was the special day for the Lord’s people to assemble for the Lord’s Supper, and the worship, communion and ministry connected with that most precious institution. The blessed Apostle John expressly tells us that he was in the Spirit, on that day, and received that marvellous revelation which closes the Divine Volume.*
{*Some are of opinion that the expression, "On the Lord’s day" ought to be rendered, "Of the day of the Lord," meaning that the apostle was in the spirit of that day when our Lord Christ shall take to Himself His great power and reign. But to this view there are two grave objections. In the first place, the words te kuriake hemera, rendered, in Revelation 1: 10, "the Lord’s day," are quite distinct from te hemera kuriou, in 1 Thessalonians 5: 2; 2 Thessalonians 2: 2; 2 Peter 3: 10, properly rendered, "The day of the Lord." This we consider a very weighty objection, and one quite sufficient to settle the question. But, in addition to this, we have the argument based on the fact that by far the greater portion of the book of Revelation is occupied, not with "the day of the Lord" but with events prior thereto. Hence, therefore, we feel persuaded that "the Lord’s day" and "the first day of the week" are identical; and this we deem a very important fact as proving that that day has a very special place in the word of God - a place which every intelligent Christian will thankfully own.}
Thus then, we have a body of scripture evidence before us amply sufficient to prove to every pious mind that the Lord’s day must not be reduced to the level of ordinary days. It is, to the true Christian, neither the Jewish Sabbath, on the one hand, nor the Gentile Sunday, on the other; but the Lord’s day, on which His people gladly and thankfully assemble round His Table, to keep that precious feast by which they show forth His death, until He come.
Now, it is needless to say that there is not a shade of legal bondage or of superstition connected with the first day of the week. To say so, or to think so, would be to deny the entire circle of truths with which that day stands connected. We have no direct commandment respecting the observance of the day; but the passages already referred to are amply sufficient, for every spiritual mind; and, further, we may say that the instincts of the divine nature would lead every true Christian to honour and love the Lord’s day, and to set it apart, in the most reverent manner, for the worship and service of God. The very thought of any one, professing to love Christ, engaging in business, or unnecessary travelling, on the Lord’s day, would, in our judgement, be revolting to every pious feeling. We believe it to be a hallowed privilege to retire, as much as possible, from all the distractions of natural things, and to devote the hours of the Lord’s day to Himself and to His service.
It will, perhaps be said that the Christian ought to devote every day to the Lord. Most surely; we are the Lord’s, in the very fullest and highest sense. All we have and all we are belongs to Him. This we fully, gladly, own. We are called to do everything in His Name, and to His glory. It is our high privilege to buy and sell, eat and drink, yea, to carry on all our business, under His eye and in the fear and love of His holy Name. We should not put our hand to anything, on any day in the week, on which we could not, with the fullest confidence, ask the Lord’s blessing.
All this is most fully admitted. Every true Christian joyfully owns it. But, at the same time, we deem it Impossible to read the New Testament and not see that the Lord’s day gets a unique place; that it is marked off for us, in the most distinct way; that it has a significance and an importance which cannot, with justice, be claimed for any other day in the week. Indeed so fully are we convinced of the truth of all this, that, even though it were not the law of England, that the Lord’s day should be observed, we should deem it to be both our sacred duty and holy privilege to abstain from all business engagements, save such as were absolutely unavoidable.
Thanks be to God, it is the law of England that the Lord’s day should be observed. This is a signal mercy to all who love the day for the Lord’s sake. We cannot but own His great goodness in having wrested the day from the covetous grasp of the world, and bestowed it upon His people and His servants to be devoted to His worship and to His work.
What a boon is the Lord’s day, with its profound retirement from worldly things! What should we do without it? What a blessed break in upon the week’s toil! How refreshing its exercises to the spiritual mind! How precious the assembly round the Lord’s Table to remember Him, to show forth His death, and celebrate His praise! How delightful the varied services of the Lord’s day, whether those of the evangelist, the pastor, the teacher, the Sunday-school worker, or the tract distributor! What human language can adequately set forth the value and interest of all these things? True it is that the Lord’s day is anything but a day of bodily rest to His servants; indeed they are often more fatigued on that day than on any other day of the week. But oh! it is a blessed fatigue; a delightful fatigue; a fatigue which will meet its bright reward in the rest that remains for the people of God.
Once more, then, beloved Christian reader, let us lift up our hearts in a note of praise to our God for the blessed boon of the Lord’s day. May He continue it to His church until He come! May He countervail, by His Almighty power, every effort of the infidel and the atheist to remove the barriers which English law has erected around the Lord’s day. Truly it will be a sad day for England when those barriers are removed.
It may, perhaps, be said, by some that the Jewish Sabbath is done away, and is, therefore, no longer binding. A large number of professing Christians have taken this ground, and pleaded for the Opening of the parks and places of public recreation on the Sunday. Alas! it is easily seen where such people are drifting to, and what they are seeking. They would set aside the law, in order to procure a licence for fleshly indulgence. They do not understand that the only way in which any one can be free from the law is by being dead to it; and, if dead to the law, we are also of blessed necessity, dead to sin, and dead to the world.
This makes it a different matter altogether. The Christian is, thank God, free from the law; but, if he is, it is not that he may amuse and indulge himself, on the Lord’s day, or any other day; but that he may live to God. "I, through law, am dead to law; that I might live unto God." This is Christian ground; and it can only be occupied by those who are truly born of God. The world cannot understand it; neither can they understand the holy privileges and spiritual exercises of the Lord’s day.
All this is true; but, at the same time, we are thoroughly convinced that were England to remove the barriers which surround the Lord’s day, it would afford a melancholy proof of her abandonment of that profession of religion which has, so long characterised her, as a nation, and of her drifting away in the direction of infidelity and atheism. We must not lose sight of the weighty fact that England has taken the ground of being a Christian nation - a nation professing to be governed by the word of God. She is therefore much more responsible than those nations wrapped in the dark shades of heathenism. We believe that nations, like individuals, will be held responsible for the profession they make; and, hence, those nations which profess and call themselves Christian shall be judged not merely by the light of creation, nor by the law of Moses, but by the full-orbed light of that Christianity which they profess - by all the truth contained within the covers of that blessed book which they possess, and in which they make their boast. The heathen shall be judged on the ground of creation; the Jew, on the ground of the law; the nominal Christian, on the ground of the truth of Christianity.
Now this grave fact renders the position of England and all other professing Christian nations most serious. God will, most assuredly, deal with them on the ground of their profession. It is of no use to say they do not understand what they profess; for why profess what they do not understand and believe? The fact is they profess to understand and believe; and by this fact they shall be judged. They make their boast in this familiar sentence that " The Bible, and the Bible alone is the religion of Protestants."
If this be so, how solemn is the thought of England judged by the standard of an open Bible! ’What will be her judgement? - what her end? Let all whom it may concern ponder the appalling answer.
We must, now, turn from the deeply interesting subject of the Sabbath and the Lord’s day, and draw this section to a close by quoting for the reader the remarkable paragraph with which our chapter ends. It does not call for any lengthened comment, but we deem it profitable, in these "Notes on Deuteronomy," to furnish the reader with very full quotations from the book itself, in order that he may have before him the very words of the Holy Ghost, without even the trouble of laying aside the volume which he holds in his hand.
Having laid before the people the ten commandments, the law-giver proceeds to remind them of the solemn circumstances which accompanied the giving of the law, together with their own feelings and utterances, on the occasion.
"These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more; and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness - for the mountain did burn with fire - that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory, and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth. Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say; and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it. And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee; they have well said all that they have spoken. O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! Go say to them, Get you into your tents again; but as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgements, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you; ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess."
Here the grand principle of the book of Deuteronomy shines out with uncommon lustre. It is embodied in those touching and forcible words which form the very heart’s core of the splendid passage just quoted. "Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!"
Precious words! They set before us, most blessedly, the secret spring of that life which we, as Christians are called to live, from day to day - the life of simple, implicit and unqualified obedience, namely, a heart fearing the Lord - fearing Him, not in a servile spirit, but with all that deep, true, adoring love which the Holy Ghost sheds abroad in our hearts. It is this that delights the heart of our loving Father. His word to us is, "My son, give me thine heart." Where the heart is given, all follows, in lovely moral order. A loving heart finds its very deepest joy in obeying all God’s commandments; and nothing is of any value to God but what springs from a loving heart. The heart is the source of all the issues of life; and, hence, when it is governed by the love of God there is a loving response to all His commandments. We love His commandments because we love Him. Every word of His is precious to the heart that loves Him. Every precept, every statute, every judgement, in a word, His whole law is loved, reverenced, and obeyed, because it has His Name, and His authority attached to it.
The reader will find, in Psalm 119, an uncommonly fine illustration of the special point now before us - a most striking example of one who blessedly answered to the words quoted above; - "Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always." It is the lovely breathing of a soul who found its deep, unfailing, constant delight in the law of God. There are no less than one hundred and seventy allusions to that precious law, under some one title or another. We find scattered along the surface of this marvellous psalm, in rich profusion, such gems as the following.
"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." "I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches." "I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways." "I will delight myself in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word." "My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgements at all times." "Thy testimonies also are my delight, and my counsellors." "I have stuck unto Thy testimonies." "Behold, I have longed after thy precepts." "I trust in thy word." "I have hoped in thy judgements." "I seek; thy precepts." "I will delight myself in thy commandments which I have loved." "I remembered thy judgements." Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." "I turned my feet unto thy testimonies." "I have believed thy commandments." "The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." "I have hoped in thy word." "Thy law is my delight." "Mine! eyes fail for thy word." "All thy commandments are faithful." "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.’’ "I will never forget thy precepts." "I have sought thy precepts." "I will consider thy testimonies." "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." "O how love I thy law; it is my meditation all the day." "How sweet are thy words unto my taste? yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth." "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; for they are The rejoicing of my heart." "I Will have respect unto thy statutes continually" "I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold." "I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right." "Thy testimonies are wonderful." "I opened my mouth, and panted, for I longed for Thy commandments." "Upright are thy judgements." "Thy testimonies..... are righteous, and very faithful." "Thy word is very pure." "Thy law is the truth." "The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting." "All thy commandments are truth." "Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgements endureth for ever: "My heart standeth in awe of Thy word." "I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil." "Great peace have they that love thy law." "My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly." "I have chosen thy precepts." "Thy law is my delight."
Truly it does the heart good, and refreshes the spirit, to transcribe such utterances as the foregoing, many of which are the suited utterances of our Lord Himself, in the days of His flesh. He ever lived upon the word. It was the food of His soul; the authority of His path, the material of His ministry. By it He vanquished Satan; by it He silenced Sadducees, Pharisees and Herodians. By it He taught His disciples. To it He commended His servants, as He was about to ascend into the heavens.
How important is all this for us! How intensely interesting! How deeply practical! What a place it gives the holy scriptures! For we remember that it is, in very deed, the blessed Volume of inspiration which is brought before us in all those golden sentences culled from Psalm 119. How strengthening, refreshing and encouraging for us to mark the way in which our Lord uses the holy scriptures, at all times, the place He gives them, and the dignity He puts upon them! He appeals to them, on all occasions, as a divine authority, from which there can be no appeal. He, though Himself as God over all, the Author of the Volume, having taken His place as man, on the earth, sets forth, with all possible plainness, what is man’s bounden duty and high privilege, namely, to live by the word of God - to bow down, in reverent subjection, to its divine authority.
And have we not here a very complete answer to the oft-raised question of infidelity, "How do we know that the Bible is the word of God?" If indeed we believe in Christ; if we own Him to be the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, very God and very man, we cannot fail to see the moral force of the fact that this divine Person constantly appeals to the scriptures - to Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms, as to a divine standard. Did He not know them to be the word of God? Undoubtedly. As God, He had given them; as Man, He received them, lived by them, and owned their paramount authority, in all things.
What a weighty fact is here for the professing church! What a withering rebuke to all those so called Christian doctors and writers who have presumed to tamper with the grand fundamental truth of the plenary inspiration of the holy scriptures in general, and of the five books of Moses in particular! How terrible to think of the professed teachers of the church of God daring to designate as spurious, writings which our Lord and Master received and owned as divine!
And yet we are told, and we are expected to believe that things are improving! Alas! alas! it is a miserable delusion. The degrading absurdities of ritualism, and the blasphemous reasonings of infidelity are rapidly increasing around us; and where these influences are not actually dominant, we observe, for the most part, a cold indifference, carnal ease, self indulgence, and worldliness - anything and everything, in short, but the evidence of improvement. If people are not led away by infidelity, on the one hand, or by ritualism, on the other, it is, for the most part, owing to the fact that they are too much occupied with pleasure and gain to think of anything else. And as to the religion of the day, if you subtract money and music, you will have a lamentably trifling balance.
Hence, therefore, it is impossible to shake off the conviction that the combined testimony of observation and experience is directly opposed to the notion that things are improving. Indeed, for any one, in the face of such an array of evidence to the contrary, to cling to such a theory can only be regarded as the fruit of a most unaccountable credulity.
But, perhaps, some may feel disposed to say that we must not judge by the sight of our eyes; we must be hopeful. True, provided only we have a divine warrant for our hopefulness. If a single line of scripture can be produced to prove that the present system of things is to be marked by gradual improvement, religiously, politically, morally, or socially, then, by all means, be hopeful. Yes; hope against hope. A single clause of inspiration is quite sufficient to form the basis of a hope which will lift the heart above the very darkest and most depressing surroundings.
But where is such a clause to be found? Simply, nowhere. The testimony of the Bible, from cover to cover; the distinct teaching of holy scripture, from beginning to end; the voices of prophets and apostles, in unbroken harmony - all, without a single divergent note, go to prove, with a force and clearness perfectly unanswerable, that the present condition of things, so far from gradually improving, will grow rapidly worse; that ere the bright beams of millennial glory can gladden this groaning earth, the sword of judgement must do its appalling work. To quote the passages, in proof of our assertion, would literally fill a volume; it would simply be to transcribe a large portion of the prophetic scriptures of the Old and New Testament.
This, of course, we do not attempt. There is no need. The reader has his Bible before him. Let him search it diligently. Let him lay aside all his preconceived ideas, all the conventionalisms of Christendom, all the ordinary phraseology of the religious world, all the dogmas of the schools of divinity, and come, with the simplicity of a little child, to the pure fountain of holy scripture, and drink in its heavenly teaching. If he will only do this, he will rise from the study with the clear and settled conviction that the world will, most assuredly, not be converted by the means now in operation - that it is not the gospel of peace but the besom of destruction that shall prepare the earth for glory.
Is it, then, that we deny the good that is being done? Are we insensible to it? Far be the thought! We heartily bless God for every atom of it. We rejoice in every effort put forth to spread the precious gospel of the grace of God; we render thanks for every soul gathered within the blessed circle of God’s salvation. We delight to think of eighty-five millions of Bibles scattered over the earth. What human mind can calculate the results of all these, yea, the results of a single copy? We earnestly wish God speed to every true-hearted missionary who goes forth with the glad tidings of salvation, whether into the lanes and court-yards of London, or to the most distant parts of the earth.
But, admitting all this, as we most heartily do, we nevertheless do not believe in the conversion of the world by the means now in operation. Scripture tells us that it is when the divine judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn righteousness. This one clause of inspiration ought to be sufficient to prove that it is not by the gospel that the world is to be converted, and there are hundreds of clauses which speak the same language and teach the same truth. It is not by grace, but by judgement, that the inhabitants of the world shall learn righteousness.
What then is the object of the gospel If it be not to convert the world, for what purpose is it preached? The Apostle James, in his address at the memorable council at Jerusalem, gives an answer, direct and conclusive, to the question. He says, "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles." For what? To convert them all? The very reverse: "To take out of them a people for his name." Nothing can be more distinct than this It sets before us that which ought to be the grand object of all missionary effort - that which every divinely sent and divinely taught missionary will keep before his mind, in all his blessed labours. It is "to take out a people for his name."
How important to remember this! How needful to have ever before us a true object, in all our work! Of what possible use can it be to work for a false object? Is it not much better to work with a direct view to what God is doing? Will it cripple the missionary’s energies or clip his wings to keep before his eyes the divine purpose in his work? Surely not. Take the case of two missionaries going forth to some distant mission-field; the one has for his object the conversion of the world; the other, the gathering out of a people. Will the latter, by reason of his object, be less devoted, less energetic, less enthusiastic than the former? We cannot believe it; on the contrary, the very fact of his being in the current of the divine mind will impart stability and consistency to his work; and, at the same time, encourage his heart in the face of the difficulties and hindrances which surround him.
But, however this may be, it is perfectly plain that the apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had no such object, in going forth to their work, as the conversion of the world. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
This was to the twelve. The world was to be their sphere. The aspect of their message was unto every creature; the application, to him that believeth. It was, pre-eminently, an individual thing. The conversion of the whole world was not to be their object; that will be effected by a different agency altogether, when God’s present action by the gospel shall have resulted in the gathering out of a people for the heavens.* The Holy Ghost came down, on the day of Pentecost, not to convert the world, but to "convict" (elegxei) it, or demonstrate its guilt, in having rejected the Son of God.** The effect of His presence was to prove the world guilty; and as to the grand object of His mission, it was to form a body composed of believers from amongst both Jews and Gentiles. With this He has been occupied for the last eighteen hundred years. This is "the mystery" of which the Apostle Paul was made a minister, and which he unfolds, so fully and blessedly, in his epistle to the Ephesians. It is impossible for any one to understand the truth set forth in this marvellous document, and not see that the conversion of the world and the formation of the body of Christ are two totally different things which could not possibly go on together.
{*We would commend to the reader’s attention Psalm 47. It is one of a large class of passages which prove that the blessing of the nations is consequent upon Israel’s restoration. "God be merciful unto us [Israel] and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.... God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." There could not be a more lovely or forcible proof of the fact that it is Israel, and not the church, that will be used for the blessing of the nations.}
{**The application of John 16: 8-11 to the Spirit’s work in the individual is, in our judgement, a serious mistake. It refers to the effect of His presence on earth, in reference to the world as a whole. His work in the soul is a precious truth, we need hardly say; but it is not the truth taught in this passage.}
Let the reader ponder the following beautiful passage: "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward; how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men" - not made known in the scriptures of the Old Testament; nor revealed to the Old Testament saints or prophets - "as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets" - that is, to the New Testament prophets - "by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his Promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see, what is the dispensation [oikonomia] of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." (Eph. 3: 1-10)
Take another passage from the epistle to the Colossians. "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body’s sake, which is the church; whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to complete the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Col. 1: 23-29.)
From these, and numerous other passages, the reader may see the special object of Paul’s ministry. Assuredly, he had no such thought in his mind as the conversion of the world. True, he preached the gospel, in all its depth, fullness and power - preached it "from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum" - "preached among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;" but with no thought of converting the world. He knew better. He knew and taught that the world was ripening for judgement - yes, ripening rapidly; that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse;" that, "In the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God had created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."
And, further still, this faithful and divinely inspired witness taught that "in the last days" - far in advance of "the latter times" - "perilous [or difficult] times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their 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 than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." (Compare 1 Tim. 4: 1-3 with 2 Tim. 3: 1-5)
What a picture! It brings us back to the close of the first of Romans, where the same inspired pen portrays for us the dark forms of heathenism; but with this terrible difference that in 2 Timothy it is not heathenism but nominal Christianity - "a form of godliness." And is this to be the end of the present condition of things? Is this the converted world of which we hear so much? Alas! alas! there are false prophets abroad. There are those who cry Peace, peace, when there is no peace. There are those who attempt to daub the crumbling walls of Christendom with untempered mortar.
But it will not do. Judgement is at the door. The professing church has utterly, shamefully failed; she has grievously departed from the word of God, and revolted from the authority of her Lord. There is not a single ray of hope for Christendom. It is the darkest moral blot in the wide universe of God, or on the page of history. The same blessed apostle from whose writings we have already so largely quoted, tells us that the mystery of iniquity doth already work;" hence it has been working now for over eighteen centuries. "Only he that now hindereth will hinder until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the troth, that they might he saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 2: 7-12.)
How awful is the doom of Christendom! Strong delusion! Dark damnation! And all this in the face of the dreams of those false prophets who talk to the people about "the bright side of things." Thank God, there is a bright side for all those who belong to Christ. To them the apostle can speak in bright and cheering accents. "We are bound to give thanks alway to God for yon, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess. 2: 13, 14.)
Here we have, most surely, the bright side of things - the bright and blessed hope of the church of (God - the hope of seeing "the bright and morning Star." All rightly instructed Christians are on the look out, not for an improved or a converted world, but for their coming Lord and Saviour who has gone to prepare a place for them in the Father’s house; and is coming again to receive them to Himself, that where He is, there they may be also. This is His own sweet promise, which may be fulfilled at any moment. He only waits, as Peter tells us, in long suffering mercy, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But when the last member shall be incorporated, by the Holy Ghost, into the blessed body of Christ, then shall the voice of the archangel and the trump of God summon all the redeemed, from the beginning, to meet their descending Lord, in the air, to be for ever with Him.
This is the true and proper hope of the church of God - a hope which He would have ever shining down; into the hearts of all His beloved people, in its purifying and elevating power. Of this blessed hope the enemy has succeeded in robbing a large number of the Lord’s people. Indeed, for centuries it was well nigh blotted out from the church’s horizon; and it has only been partially recovered within the last fifty years. And alas! how partially! Where do we hear of it, throughout the length and breadth of the professing church? Do the pulpits of Christendom ring with the joyful sound, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh"? Far from it. Even the few beloved servants of Christ who are looking for His coming, hardly dare to preach it, because they fear it would be utterly rejected. And so it would. We are thoroughly persuaded that, in the vast majority of cases, men who should venture to preach the glorious truth that the Lord is coming for His church, would speedily have to vacate their pulpits.
What a solemn and striking proof of Satan’s blinding power! He has robbed the church of divinely given hope; and, instead thereof, he has given her a delusion - a lie. Instead of looking out for "The bright and morning Star," he has set her looking for a converted world - a millennium without Christ. He has succeeded in casting such a haze over the future, that the church has completely lost bearings. She does not know where she is. She is like a vessel tossed on the stormy ocean, having neither compass nor rudder, seeing neither sun nor stars. All is darkness and confusion.
And how is this? Simply because the church has lost sight of the pure and precious word of her Lord and has accepted, instead, those bewildering creeds confessions of men which so mar and mutilate the truth of God, that Christians seem utterly at sea as to their proper standing and their proper hope.
And yet they have the Bible in their hands. True but so had the Jews, and yet they rejected the blessed One who is the great theme of the Bible from beginning to end. This was the moral inconsistency with which our Lord charged them, in John "Ye search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me; ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."*
{*the word ereunate may be either imperative or indicative but the context, we judge, demands the latter. They had scriptures; they were read in their synagogues every day; they professed to believe that in them they had life; they testified of Him; and yet they would not come Him. Here was the flagrant inconsistency. Now if ereunate be taken as a command, the whole force of the passage is lost. Need we remind the reader that there are plenty of arguments and inducements leading us to search the scriptures, without appealing to what we believe to be an inaccurate rendering of John 5: 39}
And why was this? Simply because their minds were blinded by religious prejudice. They were under the influence of the doctrines and commandments of men. Hence, although they had the scriptures, and boasted of having them, they were as ignorant of them, and as little governed by them as the poor dark heathen around them. It is one thing to have the Bible in our hands, in our homes, and in our assemblies, and quite another thing to have the truths of the Bible acting on our hearts and consciences, and shining in our lives.
Take, for instance, the great subject now before us, and which has led us into this very lengthened digression. Can anything be more plainly taught in the New Testament than this, namely, that the end of the present condition of things will be terrible apostasy from the truth, and open rebellion against God and the Lamb? The Gospels, the Epistles and the Revelation all agree in setting forth this most solemn truth, with such distinctness and simplicity that a babe in Christ may see it.
And yet how few comparatively believe it! The vast majority believe the very reverse. They believe that by means of the various agencies now in operation all nations shall be converted. In vain we call attention to our Lord’s parables in Matthew 13; the tares, the leaven, and the mustard seed. How do these agree with the idea of a converted world? If the whole world is to be converted by a preached gospel, how is it that tares are found in the field at the end of the age? How is it that there are as many foolish virgins as wise ones, when the Bridegroom comes? If the whole world is to be converted by the gospel, then on whom will "the day of the Lord so come as a thief in the night"? Or what mean those awful words, "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape"? In view of a converted world, what would be the just application, what the moral force of those most solemn words, in the first of Revelation, "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him"? Where are all those wailing kindreds to be found, if the whole world is to be converted?
Reader, is it not as clear as a sunbeam that the two things cannot stand, for a moment together. Is it not perfectly plain that the theory of a world converted by the gospel is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the entire New Testament? How is it then that the vast majority of professing Christians persist in holding it? There can be but the one reply, and that is, they do not bow to the authority of scripture. It is most sorrowful and solemn to have to say it; but it is, alas! too true. The Bible is read in Christendom; but the truths of the Bible are not believed - nay, they are persistently rejected. And all this in view of the oft-repeated boast that "the Bible, and the Bible alone is the religion of Protestants."
But we shall not pursue this subject further here, much as we feel its weight and importance. We trust the reader may be led by the Spirit of God to feel its deep solemnity. We believe the Lord’s people everywhere need to be thoroughly roused to a sense of how entirely the professing church has departed from the authority of scripture. Here, we may rest assured, lies the real cause of all the confusion, all the error, all the evil in our midst. We have departed from the word of the Lord, and from Himself. Until this is seen, felt and owned, we cannot be right. The Lord looks for true repentance, real brokenness of spirit, in His presence. "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word."
This always holds good. There is no limit to the blessing, when the soul is in this truly blessed attitude. But it must be a reality. being "poor and contrite; We must be in the condition. It is an individual matter. "To this man will I look"
Oh! may the Lord, in His infinite mercy, lead us, every one, into true self judgement, under the action of His word! May our ears he opened to hear His voice! May there be a real turning of our hearts to Himself and to His word! May we turn our backs, in holy decision, once and for ever, upon everything that will not stand the test of scripture! This, we are persuaded, is what our Lord Christ looks for on the part Of all who belong to Him, amid the terrible and hopeless debris of Christendom.
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 30, 32 Vers. 1-5. Moses reminds them of the making of…
THE DECALOGUE THE BASIS OF THE COVENANT, THE ESSENCE OF THE WHOLE LAW, AND THE CONDITION OF LIFE AND FELICITY.
Vers. 1-5. Moses reminds them of the making of the covenant at Horeb, and of the revelation of the fundamental law of the covenant there. As he was about to recapitulate the laws which God their King had enacted, it was fitting that he should refer at the outset to that covenant relation between Jehovah and Israel on which all the injunctions of the Law rested.
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And Moses called all Israel called to all Israel, and said. "The calling refers not to the publicity of the address, but to the clear voice which, breaking forth from the inmost heart of Moses, aimed at penetrating, as far as possible, to all" (Gen_49:1; Joh_7:37) (Schroeder). (Cf. also Pro_8:4)
HOMILIES BY D. DAVIES. Vers. 1-5. The Abrahamic covenant renewed.
So solicitous was God for the well-being of Israel that, on critical epochs in their history, he reminds them of their privileged condition. Three main thoughts arrest our attention
I COVENANTED BLESSING SECURED. God has not stood out for the maintenance of his rights; he has stooped to fetter his liberty to bind himself to generous deeds.
1. He allows us to hold proprietorship in him. We can claim him to be our God." The Proprietor of all worlds permits fallen men to assert proprietorship in him! Herein is love! We can call upon him, in justice, to fulfill his self-imposed obligations.
2. A covenant implies reciprocal engagements. It is a deed of grace. God binds himself as a Friend and Defender to us, on condition that we bind ourselves in obedient loyalty to him. Failure on one side releases the other party from his pledge.
3. A covenant includes mutual consent. No covenant is really valid, is not complete, until both parties have sworn to observe it. There may be command, law, decree, proceeding from God to man; but no covenant is really in force until we personally have accepted its terms, and bound ourselves by willing act to observe it. Then, our whole being property, talent, blood, life, are pledged.
II MEDIATION PROVIDED. This is a further mark of condescending grace. When two parties are alienated, it is always deemed an advantage to one party to have a mediator chosen from its ranks. God allows a man to mediate between Israel and himself. "I stood between the Lord and you.
1. Such mediation was needful, because of mutual disparity, Man is finite; God infinite. Man is for self; God is self-oblivious. Man is earthly minded; God is purely spiritual. That the two may coalesce in sentiment, purpose, life, mediation of some sort is required.
2. Mediation is needful, because of mans selfish fear. The people were "afraid, by reason of the fire afraid for their own interests and pleasures. Were men impelled by wisdom, they would count it the highest privilege possible to approach God. What, though we have sinned; inasmuch as God has revealed himself as the Source of mercy, and has deigned to visit us, should we not gladly respond to his proposal, and draw nigh? What, though he is dressed in garments of flame; if we are penitent, the consuming flame will consume only our sin; it will benefit and burnish us. This is our honor and our joy to come very near to God, and to gain larger acquaintance with him. If renewed, our former aversion is turned into longing desire.
3. This mediation was very imperfect. It served a present purpose, viz. a mediation for communicating truth, a mediation for obtaining favor. It speaks a volume for the character and faith of Moses, that he was not afraid to draw near. Imperfect though he was, he displayed a rare spirit of self-sacrifice. "Pardon, I pray thee, this people! or else, blot out my name from thy book!" Here was a vivid type of Jesus.
III HUMAN OBLIGATION INCREASED. In the very nature of things, kindness on the one side begets obligation on the other.
1. This obligation is personal. "The Lord hath not made this covenant with our fathers, but with us." God"s covenant with men is renewed age after age. It is a covenant with us, if we will accept the terms. Are we willing to be his wholly his? Then the covenant is settled, "ordered in all things and sure.
2. This obligation is all-embracing and complete. It includes every part of our nature, every moment in our history, every interest we have in life. Attention is demanded. The ear must be reserved for God. Intellect is pledged. We must "learn the statutes and judgments." Active and dutiful service is due. Like the true Son, our intention must be, "I do always the things that please" the Father! D.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR Vers. 1-33. Reminiscences of Horeb.
I THE COVENANT. (Vers. 2, 3.)
1. Proposed by God. (Exo_19:3-7)
2. Accepted by the people. (Exo_24:7)
3. Entailed obligations on subsequent generations (cf. Deu_6:2) In this covenant, formally ratified by sacrifice, (Exo_24:6, Exo_24:7) Israel accepted Jehovah to be its spiritual and temporal Sovereign.
4. Pledged itself to observe his Law.
5. Was adopted by him as his peculiar people.
6. Had every blessing secured to it on condition of obedience. (Exo_23:22-27)
The new covenant in Christ, while in many respects different from, and superior to, that of Horeb, yet resembles it in several of these particulars.
II THE LAW. (Vers. 6-22.)
1. Holy in its nature.
2. Internally complete as a summary of duty. "He added no more" (ver. 22).
3. Explicative of the character of God. The absoluteness and unity of God, e.g. taught in first commandment; his spirituality, jealousy of his honor, sovereignty, love, and mercy, in second commandment; his holiness, in third commandment; his searching of hearts, in tenth commandment; while in all he appears as the Source of moral obligation, and the Guardian of rights.
4. To be kept from the motive of love (ver. 10). This Law is not abolished, but fulfilled in Christ, by whose Spirit its precepts are written in the minds and hearts of believers (2Co_3:3; Heb_8:10)
III THE MEDIATOR. (Vers. 5, 22-33.) The mediation of Moses was:
1. Craved by the people (vers. 23-28). The manifestation of God"s holiness overwhelms sinful men (cf. Isa_6:3-6) Moses not only endured this manifestation, but went up alone into the thick darkness where God was. How exceptionally great he appears in this!
2. Acquiesced in by God (vers. 28-32). This transacting through a mediator was in harmony with the principle of his dealings with them from the first. A figure of the mediation of Christ.
3. Suitable in itself. As tending to enhance in their minds the impression of God"s holiness and the feeling of their own sinfulness. J.O.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR
Vers. 1-21. The Decalogue.
Moses here recalls the Sinaitic covenant, and wishes the Israelites to remember that, though given to their fathers primarily, it was also applicable to them. They were in many cases present as children then, and they were represented by their parents. Moses speaks with authority as having been mediator (ver. 5) on the occasion.
There are the following lessons to be learned from the Decalogue as here given:
I THE COVENANT IS BASED UPON A MERCIFUL DELIVERANCE. God gives his Law to his people after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. It is intended to be a rule of life for those already redeemed. The gospel precedes the Law Moses the deliverer precedes Moses the lawgiver; the Lord was first known as the fountain of freedom, and then as the fountain of that Law within whose bounds freedom is to be realized.
II THIS LAW COVERS OUR RELATIONS BOTH TO GOD AND MAN.
1. The Laws relating to God. These embrace the four which come first, i.e.
(1) the law against polytheism or atheism. This law is broken when we live "without God in the world," ascribing to luck, chance, or fortune what is due to God"s providence. It is broken when we worship self, or fame, or ambition (cf. "The Life and Letters of J. H. Thorn-well, D.D., LL.D.," p. 142; also) Dale"s "Ten Commandments;" Washburn"s "Social Law of God;" and Crosby"s "Thoughts on the Decalogue").
(2) The law against sensuous worship. For the second commandment is broken in so far as our worship is not "in spirit and in truth.
(3) The law of reverence. Any spirit of undue familiarity which leads to the least trifling before God is a breach of this third commandment.
(4) The law of consecrated time. This fourth commandment is an acknowledgment that all time is God"s by right, and the seventh portion should be by special obligation. In Deuteronomy the Sabbath is based, not on creation, as in Exodus, but on the deliverance from Egypt. Each great providence increases our obligation thus to acknowledge God. Hence the Lord"s day is made commemorative of our Lord"s resurrection.
2. The laws relating to man. These embrace the succeeding six, thus:
(1) The law of the family. This is the first commandment with promise. (Eph_6:2)
(2) The law of social love. For we are to avoid not only murder, but the unholy anger of which it is the manifestation. (Mat_5:22)
(3) The law of social purity. We must be pure in thought, as well as in act, as our Lord has shown us. (Mat_5:28; also Mar_7:21-23)
(4) The law of honesty. This must be in God"s sight and in man"s. (2Co_8:21)
(5) The law of veracity. Restraining the turbulent tongue. (Jam_3:6, Jam_3:9)
(6) The law of contentment. The curbing of covetousness, which is idolatry. R.M.E. (Col_3:5)
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, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 33 The Lord our God made a covenant with us…
Deu_5:1-5
The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
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The promulgation of the law
God was ever wonderful in His works, and fearful in His judgments--but He was never so terrible in the execution of His will as now in the promulgation of it. Here was nothing but a display of grandeur in the eyes, in the ears of the Israelites, as if God meant to show them by this how dreadful He could be. In the destruction of the first world there were clouds--in the destruction of Sodom there was fire; but here were fires, smoke, clouds, thunder, earthquakes, and whatsoever might work more astonishment than was ever in any vengeance inflicted. And if the law, were thus given, how shall it be required? If such were the proclamation of Gods statutes, what shall be His tribunal? The trumpet of an angel called to the one--the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God, shall summon us to the other. Of the one, Moses, who alone witnessed it, saith, God came with the multitude of His saints; in the other, thousand thousands shall minister unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand shall stand before Him. In the one, Mount Sinai only was in a flame,--all the world shall be so in the other. In the one there were thunders and fires; in the other, a fiery stream shall proceed from Him, whereby the elements shall melt with fervent heat--the heavens and earth shall be dissolved--they shall flee away, and have no place. God would have Israel see that they had not a Governor whose commands might be neglected or trifled with; and therefore, before He gives His people a law, He shows them that He can command heaven, earth, water, fire, air, by the mere signification of His will--thus teaching them that it was a fearful thing to displease such a Legislator, or violate such statutes--while they beheld the elements examples of that obedience, which man should always yield to his Maker. O royal law, and mighty Lawgiver! How could they think of having any other God, that had such evidence of the Divine power of the God of Israel? How could they think of making any resemblance of Him, whom they could not see, but whom they knew to be infinite? How could they dare to profane His name, who proclaimed Himself to them by the incommunicable name of Jehovah? How could they refuse to observe His sacred day, when they saw Him command those luminaries by which days and years are measured? How could they refuse to render honour and fear to those who derive their authority from God, when they saw Him able to assert His own and maintain that of His vicegerents upon earth? How could they think of killing, when they were so strongly affected with the fear of Him who thus manifested Himself able to save and to destroy? How could they think of the flames of impure desires, who beheld such fires of vengeance? How could they think of stealing from others, when they saw who was Lord of heaven and earth, from whom their neighbour derived all his possessions? How could they think of speaking falsely, when they heard the God of truth speak in so tremendous a voice? How could they think of coveting what was anothers, when they saw how weak and uncertain a right they had to what was their own? Lord, to us was this moral law delivered, as well as to them. The letter and ceremonial is passed away; the spirit remains, and shall remain to the end of time. There had not been such state in Thy promulgation of it, if Thou hadst not intended it for eternity. How should we, who comply with human laws to avoid some trifling forfeiture, how should we fear Thee, O God, who art able to cast both soul and body into hell! (Bp. Hall.)
Who are all of us here alive this day.
For the last day of the year
I. This text applies to many this day to whom it was not applicable last year. Thousands have been born in the course of this year.
II. The text applied to many last year to whom it is not now applicable. They were then alive, but now they are inhabitants of the tomb, and their souls have entered the eternal state. Of these, many classes might be specified.
1. Some who were expecting it. Aged, infirm, afflicted, who were daily awaiting their dismissal.
2. Some who were reckoning on many years to come. Young, healthy, hearts full of life; but they perished as the flower. Their sun went down while it was yet day.
3. Some, we fear, died unprepared. Aliens to God; strangers to repentance, faith, and holiness.
4. Many, we trust, died in the Lord. Race ended; warfare accomplished; crown received; forever with the Lord.
III. The text is applicable to all those now assembled. We are all alive here this day.
1. And it is wonderful that we are so. Amidst so many dangers, diseases, and death.
2. Is entirely owing to the goodness and patience of God.
3. We are alive under increasing responsibilities. Many blessings have been given to us this year, for all of which we must give an account: talents, time, opportunities, Sabbaths, sermons, etc.
4. Being alive should fill us with hearty gratitude to God. Our lips, hearts, and lives should show forth His praise.
5. As we are alive, let us now resolve to live more than ever to God, and for eternity.
IV. It is highly probable that the text is now applicable to some here for the last time. (J. Burns, D. D.)
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 vv1, 22 AS the fourth chapter belongs to the speech which…
THE DECALOGUE-ITS FORM
Deu_5:1-21
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AS the fourth chapter belongs to the speech which concludes the legislative portion of Deuteronomy both in contents and language (see chapter 23), we shall pass on now to the fifth chapter, which begins with a recital of the Decalogue. As has already been pointed out, the main trunk of the Book of Deuteronomy is a repetition and expansion of the Law of the Covenant contained in Exodus 20-23. Now, both in Exodus and Deuteronomy, before the more general and detailed legislation, we have the Decalogue, or the Ten Words, as it is called, in substantially the same form; and the question immediately arises as to the age at which this beautifully systematized and organized code of fundamental laws came into existence. Whatever its origin, it is an exceedingly remarkable document. It touches the fundamental principles of religious and moral life with so sure a hand that at this hour, for even the most civilized nations, it sums up the moral code, and that so effectively that no change or extension of it has ever been proposed. That being its character, it becomes a question of exceeding interest to decide whether it can justly be referred to so early a time as the days of Moses. In both the passages where it occurs it is represented as having been given to the people at Horeb by Yahweh Himself, and it is made the earliest and most fundamental part of the covenant between Him and Israel. It would accordingly seem as if a claim were made for it as a specially early and specially sacred law. Now, much as critics have denied, there have been found very few who deny that in the main some such law as this must have been given to Israel in Moses day. Even Kuenen admits as much as that in his "History of the Religion of Israel." The only commandment of the ten he has difficulty in accepting is the second, which forbids the making of any graven image for worship. That, he thinks, cannot have been in the original Decalogue, not because of any peculiarity of language, or because of any incoherency in composition, but simply because he cannot believe that at that early day the religion of Yahweh could have been so spiritual as to demand the prohibition of images. But his reasons are extremely inadequate; more especially as he admits that the Ark was the Mosaic Sanctuary, and that in it there was no image, as there was none in the Temple at Jerusalem. That Yahweh was worshipped under the form of a calf at Horeb, and afterwards in Northern Israel at Bethel and elsewhere, proves nothing. A law does not forthwith extinguish that against which it is directed, for idolatry continued even after Deuteronomy was accepted as the law. Moreover, if, as Kuenen thinks, calf-worship had existed in Israel before Moses, it was not unnatural that it took centuries before the higher view superseded the lower. Even by Christianity the ancient superstitions and religious practices of heathenism were not thoroughly overcome for centuries. Indeed in many places they have not yet been entirely suppressed. Nor does Wellhausen make a better case for a late Decalogue. His hesitation about it is most remarkable, and the reasons he gives for tending to think it may be late are singularly unsatisfactory. His first reason is that "according to Exodus 34, the commandments which stood upon the two tables were quite different." He relies on the words in Exo_34:28 of that chapter-"And he (Moses) was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words"-taking them to imply that the immediately preceding commandments, which are of the same ritual character with those which follow the Decalogue in Exodus 20, fire here called the ten words. But it is not necessary to take the passage so. According to Exo_20:1 it was Yahweh who was to write the words on the tables, and we cannot suppose that so flagrant a contradiction should occur in a single chapter as that here it should be said that Moses wrote the tables. Yahweh, who is mentioned in the previous verse, must therefore be the subject of wayyikhtobh (Exo_34:28), and the ten words consequently are different from the words (up to Exo_34:27) which Yahweh commanded Moses to write, somewhere, but not on the tables. Besides, every one who attempts to make ten words of the commands before Exo_34:27 brings out a different result, and that of itself, as Dillmann says, is sufficient to show that the second Decalogue in chapter 34, is entirely fanciful. Wellhausens second reason is this: "The prohibition of images was quite unknown during the other period: Moses himself is said to have made a brazen serpent, which down to Hezekiahs time continued to be worshipped as an image of Jehovah." But the Decalogue does not prohibit the making of every image; it prohibits the making of images for worship. Therefore Moses might quite well have made a figure of a serpent, even though he wrote the Decalogue, if it was not meant for worship. But there is nothing said to lead us to believe that the serpent was regarded as an image of Yahweh. Indeed the very contrary is asserted; and if Israel in later times made a bad use of this ancient relic of a great deliverance, Moses can hardly be held responsible for that. In the third place, Wellhausen says: "The essentially and necessarily national character of the older phases of the religion of Yahweh completely disappears in the quite universal code of morals which is given in the Decalogue as the fundamental law of Israel; but the entire series of religious personalities throughout the period of the Judges and Kings-from Deborah, who praised Jaels treacherous act of murder, to David, who treated his prisoners of war with the utmost cruelty-make it very difficult to believe that the religion of Israel was from the outset one of a specifically moral character." Surely this is very feeble criticism. On the same grounds we might declare, because of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, or on account of Napoleons reported poisoning of his own wounded at Acre, that Christianity was not a religion of a "specifically moral character" at this present moment. Surely the facts that people never live at the level of their ideals, and that the lifting of a nations life is a process which is as slow as the raising of the level of the delta of the Nile, should be too familiar to permit any one to be misled by difficulties of this kind. Nor is his last ground in any degree more convincing. "It is extremely doubtful," he says, "whether the actual monotheism which is undoubtedly presupposed in the universal moral precepts of the Decalogue could have formed the foundation of a national religion. It was first developed out of the national religion at the downfall of the nation." The obvious reply is that this is a petitio principii. The whole debate in regard to this question is whether Moses was a monotheist, or at least the founder of a religion which was implicitly monotheistic from the beginning; and the date of the Decalogue is interesting mainly because of the light it would throw upon that question. To decide this date therefore by the assertion that, being monotheistic, the Decalogue cannot be Mosaic, is to assume the very thing in dispute. Wellhausen himself seems to favor the opposite view. In speaking of what Moses did for Israel he says that through "the Torah," in the sense of decisions given by lot from the Ark, "he gave a definite positive expression to their sense of nationality and their idea of God. Yahweh was not merely the God of Israel; as such He was the God at once of Law and of Justice, the basis, the informing principle, and the implied postulate of their national consciousness"; and again, "As God of the nation Yahweh became the God of Justice and of Right; as God of Justice and Right, He came to be thought of as the highest, and at last as the only power in heaven and earth." In the Mosaic conception of God, therefore, Wellhausen himself being witness, there lay implicitly, perhaps even explicitly, the conception of Yahweh as "the only power in heaven and earth." In that case, is it reasonable to put the Decalogue late, because being moral it is universal, and so implies monotheism?
But there is still other, and perhaps stronger evidence, that the universality of the Decalogue is no indication of a late date. On the contrary it would seem, from Professor Muirheads account of the Roman fas, that universality in legal precept may be a mark of very primitive laws. Speaking of Rome in its earliest stages of growth, when the circumstances of the people in very many respects resembled those of the Hebrews in Mosaic times, he says: "We look in vain for, and it would be absurd to expect, any definite system of law in those early times. What passed for it was a composite of fas, jas, and boni mores, whose several limits and characteristics it is extremely difficult to define." He then proceeds to describe fas: "By fas was understood the will of the gods, the laws given by Heaven for men on earth, much of it regulative of ceremonial, but a by no means insignificant part embodying rules of conduct. It appears to have had a wider range than ins. There were few of its commands, prohibitions, or precepts that were addressed to men as citizens of any particular state; all mankind came within its scope. It forbade that a war should be undertaken without the prescribed fetial ceremonial, and required that faith should be kept with even an enemy-when a promise had been made to him under sanction of an oath. It enjoined hospitality to foreigners, because the stranger guest was presumed, equally with his entertainer, to be an object of solicitude to a higher power. It punished murder, for it was the taking of a God-given life; the sale of a wife by her husband, for she had become his partner in all things human and Divine; the lifting of a hand against a parent, for it was subversive of the first bond of society and religion, the reverence due by a child to those to whom he owed his existence; incestuous connections, for they defiled the altar; the false oath, and the broken vow, for they were an insult to the divinities invoked," etc. In fact, the Roman fas had much the same character as the Decalogue and the legislation of the first code. {Exodus 20-23} Consequently those who have thought that all early legislation must be concrete, narrow, particularistic, bounded at widest by the direct needs of the men making up the clan, tribe, or petty nationality, are wrong. The early history of law shows that, along with that, there is also a demand for some expression of the laws of life seen from the point of view of mans relation to God. That fact greatly strengthens the case for the early date of the Decalogue. For practically it is the Hebrew fas. If it has a higher tone and a wider sweep if it provides a framework into which human duty can, even now, without undue stretching of it, be securely fitted, that is only what we should expect, if God was working in the history and development of this nation as nowhere else in the world. In short, the history of primitive Roman law shows that, without inspiration, a feeble wavering step would have been taken to the development of a code of moral duty, within the scope of which all mankind should come. With inspiration, surely this effort would also be made, and made with a success not elsewhere attained.
In none of the reasons which have been advanced, therefore, is there anything to set against the Biblical statement that the ten words were older and more sacred than any other portion of the Israelite legislation, and that they were Mosaic in origin. The universal hesitation shown by the greater among the most advanced critics in definitely removing the Decalogue from the foundations of Israels history, although its presence there is so great an embarrassment to them, lets us see how strong the case for the Mosaic origin is, and assures us that the evidence is all in favor of this view.
But if it be Mosaic, at first sight the conclusion would seem to be that the form of the Decalogue given in Exodus is the more ancient, and that the text in Deuteronomy is a later and somewhat extended version of that. Closer examination, however, tends to suggest that the original ten words, in their Mosaic form, differed from any of the texts we have, and that of these the Exodus text in its present form is later than that in Deuteronomy. The great difference in length between the two halves of the Decalogue suggests the probability that originally all the commandments were short, and much the same in style and character as the last half, "Thou shalt not steal," and so on. Further, when the reasons and inducements given for the observance of the longer commands are set aside, just such short commands are left to us as we find in the second table. Lastly, differences between the versions in Exodus and Deuteronomy occur in almost every case in those parts of the text which may be regarded as appendices. In fact there are only two variations in the proper text of the commands. In the fourth, we have in Exodus "Remember the Sabbath day," while in Deuteronomy we have "Observe the Sabbath day"; but the meaning is the same in both cases. In the tenth, in Exodus the command is "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house"; and the "house" is explained by the succeeding clause, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife, nor his manservant," etc., to mean "household" in its widest sense. In Deuteronomy the old meaning of "house" as household and goods has fallen out of use, and the component parts of the neighbors household possessions are named, beginning with his wife. Then follows the "house" in its narrow meaning, as the mere dwelling, grouped along with the slaves and cattle, and with tithawweh substituted in Hebrew for tachmodh.
Fundamentally therefore the two recensions are the same. Even in the reasons and explanations there is only one really important variation. In Exo_20:11 the reason for the observance of the fourth commandment is stated thus: "For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." In Deuteronomy, on the other hand, that reason is omitted, and in its place we find this: "And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm; therefore Yahweh thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath." Now if the reference to the creation had formed part of the original text of the Decalogue in the days of the author of Deuteronomy, if he had that before him as actually spoken by Yahweh, it is difficult to believe that he would have left it out and substituted another reason in its stead. He would have no object in doing so, for he could have added his own reason after that given in Exodus, had he so desired. It is likely, therefore, that in the original text no reason appeared; that Deuteronomy first added a reason; while ver. 11 in Exodus 20. was probably inserted there from a combination of Exo_31:17 b and Gen_2:2 b, -"For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed"; "and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made." Both these texts belong to P and differ in style altogether from JE, with whose language all the rest of the setting of the Decalogue corresponds. On these suppositions Exo_20:9 would necessarily be the latest part of the two texts. Originally, therefore, the Mosaic commands probably ran thus:
"I am Yahweh thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
1. Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy God in vain.
4. Remember (or Keep) the day of rest to sanctify it.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house.
In that shape they contain everything that is fundamentally important, and exhibit the foundations of the Mosaic religion and polity in an entirely satisfactory and credible form.
But, before passing on to consider the substance of the Decalogue, it will be worth our while to consider what the full significance of these differing recensions of the Decalogue is. In both places the words are quoted directly as having been spoken by Yahweh to the people, and they are introduced by the quoting word "saying." Now if we do not wish to square what we read with any theory, the slight divergences between the two recensions need not trouble us, for we have the substance of what was said, and in the main the very words, and that is really all we need to be assured of. But if, on the contrary, we are going to insist that, this being part of an inspired book, every word must be pressed with the accuracy of a masoretic scribe, then we are brought into inextricable difficulties. It cannot be true that at Horeb Yahweh said two different things on this special occasion. One or both of these accounts must be inaccurate, in the pedantic sense of accuracy, and yet both have the same claim to be inspired. In fact both are inspired; it is the theory of inspiration which demands for revelation this kind of accuracy that must go to the wall.
It will be seen that this instance is very instructive as to the method of the ancient Hebrews in dealing with legislation which was firmly held to be Mosaic, or even directly Divine. If we are right in holding that originally the ten words were, as we have supposed, limited to definite short commands, this example teaches us that where there could be no question of deceit, or even an object for deceiving, additions calculated to meet the needs and defects of the particular period at which the laws are written down, are inserted without any hint that they did not form part of the original document. If this has been done, even to the extent we have seen reason to infer, in a small, carefully ordered, and specially ancient and sacred code, how much more freely may we expect the same thing to have been done in the looser and more fluid regulations of the large political and ceremonial codes, which on any supposition were posterior, and much less fundamental and sacred. That there is for us something disappointing, and even slightly questionable, in such action is really nothing to the purpose. We have to learn from the actual facts of revelation how revelation may be, or perhaps even must be, conveyed; and we cannot too soon learn the lesson that to a singular degree, and in many other directions than their notions of accuracy, the ancient mind differs from the modern mind, and that at any period there is a great gulf to be crossed before a Western mind can get into any intimate and sure rapport with an Eastern mind.
One other thing is noteworthy. Wellhausen has already been quoted as to the quite universal and moral character of the Decalogue; and his view, that a code so free from merely local and ceremonial provisions can hardly be Mosaic, has been discussed. But, while rejecting his conclusion, we must adhere to his premises. By emphasizing the universal nature of the ten commandments, and by showing that they preceded the ceremonial law by many centuries, the critical school have cut away the ground from under the semi-antinomian views once so prevalent, and always so popular, with those who call themselves advanced thinkers. It is now no longer possible to maintain that the Decalogue was part of a purely Jewish law, binding only upon Jews and passing away at the advent of Christianity as the ceremonial law did. Of course this view was never really taken seriously in reference to murder or theft; but it has always been a strong point with those who have wished to secularize the Sunday. Now if the advanced critical position be in any degree true, then the ten commandments stand quite separate from the ceremonial law, have nothing in common with it, and are handed down to us in a document written before the conception even of a binding ceremonial law had dawned upon the mind of any man in Israel. Nor is there anything ceremonial or Jewish in the command, Remember or Observe the rest-day to keep it holy. In the reasons given in Exodus and Deuteronomy we have the two principles which make this a moral and universal command-the necessity for rest, and the necessity of an opportunity to cultivate the spiritual nature. Nothing indeed is said about worship; but it lies in the nature of the case that if secular work was rigorously forbidden, mere slothful abstinence from activity cannot have been all that was meant. Worship, and instruction in the things of the higher life, must certainly have been practiced in such a nation as Israel on such a day; and we may therefore say that they were intended by this commandment. Understood in that way, the fourth commandment shows a delicate perception of the conditions of the higher life which surpasses even the prohibition of covetousness in the tenth. In the words of a working man who was advocating its observance, "It gives God a chance"; that is, it gives man the leisure to attend to God. But the moral point of view which it implies is so high, and so difficult of attainment, that it is only now that the nations of Europe are awaking to the inestimable moral benefits of the Sabbath they have despised. Because of this difficulty too, many who think themselves to be leaders in the path of improvement, and are esteemed by others to be so, are never weary of trying to weaken the moral consciousness of the people, until they can steal this benefit away, on the ground that Sabbath-keeping is a mere ceremonial observance. So far from being that, it is a moral duty of the highest type; and the danger in which it seems at times to stand is due mainly to the fact that to appreciate it needs a far more trained and sincere conscience than most of us can bring to the consideration of it.
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 REMARKS.—The Deuteronomy, or second law, is now given…
CRITICAL REMARKS.—The Deuteronomy, or second law, is now given and enforced. But Moses refers to the covenant relation between Jehovah and Israel, and recapitulates the Sinaitic code in its most important features.
Deu_5:1. Moses called marks the publicity and importance of the address.
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Deu_5:2. Our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but with the nation as an organic whole, those identified with the people who entered into the covenant at Sinai.
Deu_5:4 Face to face, not in visible form, but familiarly, near as one person to another.
Deu_5:5. Even as regards the Decalogue this statement has its application. Moses “stood between the Lord and them” whilst it was delivered, and perhaps it was (Exo_19:19) addressed directly to Moses, though in accents audible to the assembly beneath. Thus was the law, including even the “Ten Words,” “in the hands of a mediator” (Gal_3:19).—Sp. Com.
Deu_5:6. An introduction to the commandments which follow, and which are given with slight verbal alteration the same as in Exodus 20.
Deu_5:7-16. First table of the Law.
Deu_5:7. Before me, lit. beyond me (Gen_48:22; Psa_16:2), in addition to me (Gen_31:50; Deu_19:9); meaning by the side of me, or in my presence.
Deu_5:8. All symbolic representations prohibited. Heaven, stars or birds; earth, all kinds of animals; water, fish and water creatures.
Deu_5:9. Jealous, who gives not to another honour due to himself (Isa_42:8; Isa_48:11), nor tolerates the worship of any idol. Visiting, not charging the iniquity, but permitting its consequences to flow beyond persons or nations committing it.
Deu_5:10. The third and fourth generation are punished (visited); but mercy is shown to the thousandth.
Deu_5:11. In vain, lit., lift up the name of Jehovah thy God in vain. Lift up, take up a proverb (Num_23:7), a song (Psa_81:3), or a prayer (Isa_37:3), All employment of God’s name for vain and unworthy purposes forbidden; not merely false swearing; but profane and idle swearing in daily life. Guiltless, left unpunished.
Deu_5:12-15. Sabbath, already in existence has to be sanctified (a festival-keeper, Exo_16:23) to be observed a day of rest, belonging to the Lord and consecrated to Him. Neither man nor beast to work. “The exhortation is pointed by reminding the people that they too were formerly servants themselves. The bondage in Egypt and the deliverance from it are not assigned as grounds for the institution of the Sabbath, which is of far older date (cf. Gen_2:3); but rather as suggesting motives for the religions observance of that institution. The exodus was an entrance into rent from the toils of the house of bondage, and is thought actually to have occurred on the Sabbath day. Hence arose special and national obligations with respect to the Sabbath, on which it is exactly within the scope of Moses’ purpose in Deuteronomy to insist.”—Sp. Com.
Deu_5:16. Well with thee. An insertion not in Exo_20:11, but found in Eph_6:3, and amplifying the promise of long life.
Deu_5:17-21. Second table of the law. The enactments are from outward deeds (kill, adultery, steal), to words, (false witness and lies) to inward desires (covet and desire).
Deu_5:22. Added, lit, “He did not add,” i.e., He spoke no more with the great voice directly to the people, but addressed all other communications to them through Moses.
Deu_5:23-33. Here we have a fuller account than that in Exo_20:18-21. God’s reply (Deu_5:18-31) to the people’s request is not given in the summary of Exodus. The people were alarmed at the awful phenomena in which God revealed His glory and uttered His will; entreated Moses to stand between as mediator, that they might not die, and then promised to hear and obey. God approved the request, because it indicated a feeling of unfitness for intercourse with Him, but added—
Deu_5:28-29. “Would that they always had this feeling—this heart in them to fear me, that it might be well with them and their children.”
Deu_5:30-31. The people are directed to their tents; Moses is appointed mediator, to whom God would give all law for the people.
Deu_5:32-33. Events are brought to a close by an exhortation to careful observance of the commandments, never to turn aside, right or left, from the way pointed out, that it may be well with them (cf. cp. Deu_4:40).
THE COVENANT IN HOREB.—Deu_5:1-5
Moses was about to recapitulate the law. It was fitting to remind them of the circumstances in which it was given, and the special relation between God and His people.
I. The method in which the covenant was given. Jewish and other writers have speculated on this subject, but we can only reconcile the various statements in Old and New Testaments (Exo_20:2; Deu_5:4; cf. Act_7:53; Gal_3:19; Heb_2:2) by remembering the spirituality of God, and His special agency in the revelation of His will. From this narrative we learn that—
1. The covenant was specially made with them. “The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers.” It is specially with us, a covenant not of circumcision (Act_7:8) but ten commandments. Light gradually shines, and children know more of God’s will than their forefathers.
2. The covenant was given familiarly to them. “The Lord talked with you face to face,” as one friend with another. Not in dreams and dark visions as of old (Job_4:12-13), but directly, openly and clearly.
3. The covenant was given amid divine splendour. “Out of the midst of the fire.” The natural phenomena and peculiar surroundings were intended to impress their minds and beget right feelings and willing obedience.
4. The covenant was given through a mediator. “I stood between the Lord and you”—at your request, and by God’s approval; to allay your fears and preserve your lives. We have Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant (Heb_12:24) to remove our guilt and intercede with God.
II. The obligations under which the covenant put the people. Special favours beget special obligations. This covenant is with us, reminds us of our privileged condition and reciprocal duty.
1. God’s commands must be performed. “Do them.” Not talk and speculate about them. We must personally accept the terms and bind ourselves to constant performance.
2. God’s commands must be understood before they can be performed. “That ye may learn them.” Obedience must be intelligent, “a reasonable service,” not mechanical. Intellect is concerned as well as heart. “With all thy heart; with all thy mind.”
3. God’s commands must be heard before they can be understood. “Hear, O Israel.” They must be observed and attentively considered. The ears must be employed for God. “I speak in your ears.” Things heard must not slip or glide out of our treacherous hearts and memories as out of leaking vessels (Heb_2:1). Thus there can be no obligation without law to found it upon, and no law in religion but from God. God, therefore, must be heard, feared, and glorified. Loyal obedience is necessary, not to purchase salvation, but to please God and benefit men. “That ye may live, and that it may be well with you.”
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT: GOD’S SUPREMACY OVER OUR AFFECTIONS
Deu_5:6-7
The decalogue, or ten words, have been appropriately divided into two parts, called tables of the law. It is a natural division founded on the distinct character of the precepts themselves, and sanctioned by our Saviour in Mat_22:37-40. In one sense the law was a republication of the law of nature. But sin had corrupted the original impress on the human heart, hence it was necessary to make it the basis of the national constitution with Israel, and to preserve it as the rule of life for all mankind. Man is instructed, and God is exalted in this moral law.
I. God must be the sole object of our affection. “Thou shalt have none other Gods before me.” Our duties arise from our relations. Our relation to God is the earliest, most essential, and most lasting; regard to Him therefore as our God is our first and highest duty. There are systems of morality which omit, or, slightly notice, the high claims of God upon our hearts, which exhalt domestic and social duties, and which sustain and adorn the relation of friendship and the claims of politics and philanthropy. These systems are from men, but the first commandment from God is “thou shalt have no other gods but me.”
1. No other god instead of Jehovah. Nothing must usurp the place of God in our hearts and affections. Riches, learning, and power are gifts from—and must not be worshipped instead of—God. There is a tendency in man to imagine and make other gods. The Jews were prone to fall into the gross enormities of polytheism; classic nations of antiquity, amid all superstitions and devotions, were “without God.” In this age—clear with indications of God’s existence and unity, with tender and most constraining motives to cleave to Him—there is still a tendency in our hearts to depart from God and make idols of the creatures; still a necessity to urge the claims of Jehovah, and maintain virtue and piety in the world. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
2. No other god along with Jehovah. There cannot be two gods. It is impossible to serve two masters. If we hate one we shall cleave to the other, or hold to the one and despise the other (Mat_6:24). Yet many try to serve God and the world—make a compromise, and, like Israel, join a false god with the true. “They feared the Lord and served their own gods.”
3. Jehovah, and Jehovah only, must be our God. He must be the object of our choice and affection. We are forbidden to deny God; to give the glory due to Him to another; and to forget our relation to Him as our God. We must know and acknowledge, worship and serve God as one God, as the only true God, and as our God.
II. The grounds on which God claims to be the sole object of our affection. The law begins with a declaration of God concerning Himself, which serves as a ground and motive for obedience. “I am Jehovah thy God.” These words are often repeated, because the tendencies of our nature to forget or slight God’s manifestations are deep and dangerous.
1. God’s supreme authority. “I am Jehovah.” Self-existent, infinite, and eternal, the source of life, authority and happiness. Our maker, and has right to dispose of us according to his pleasure.
2. God’s covenant mercy. “Thy God.” The name Jehovah might terrify, but “thy God” is the charter in Christ of all blessings, allures and draws us to him. “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.”
3. God’s wonderful deliverance. “Which brought thee out of the land of Egypt,” etc. This was an act of power, wisdom and goodness, specially fitted to incite them to obedience, and kindle their hearts into warmest love. God delivers that he may be served. When he has made and redeemed us surely no other god should hide him from view. “Therefore will we serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT: GOD’S SUPREMACY OVER OUR WORSHIP
Deu_5:8-10
“The first commandment regards the object of worship—the living and true God, and requires that we worship Him and no other The second respects the means of worship, and requires that we worship the true God in such a way only, and by such ordinances as He hath appointed in His word. The first may be discovered by the light of nature, but the second can be discovered only by revelation.” (Patterson). In one command God declares that He will be worshipped by His intelligent creatures, and in the other He prescribes the method of solemnizing His worship.”
I. The spirituality of the Divine nature requires spirituality of Divine worship. God in contrast to all false deities, is a spirit—must be worshipped in spirit and in truth—cannot be, and must not be represented in visible shape. There is no resemblance to Him in anything He has made. Whatever men plead in favour of sense aiding faith, God says “thou shalt not.”
1. We are not to make nor fancy any material image of God in heaven above or on earth beneath, or in the waters beneath the earth.
2. We are not to worship any picture or painting of God. “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them.” We long to set the object of our affection before our eyes—feel it difficult to fix our mind upon an unseen God; but we must trust to no image. The Holy Spirit can help our infirmities, and give spirituality of mind and fervour of devotion. Religious worship is an act of thought, principles, and affections—not attitude, genuflections, and outward rites. It must be in spirit and in truth—not in crucifix, bodily form, and graven image. “To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?”
II. Spirituality of Divine Worship is enforced by special sanctions. To enforce this second (and the first) commandment, certain penalties are threatened and certain mercies promised.
1. God’s righteous displeasure forbids any other worship. “For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.” He is zealous for His honour (Isa_42:8; Isa_48:11) cannot brook a rival, nor receive a partial or divided homage.
2. God’s wonderful providence will punish any other worship. One great error of idolatrous systems—and congenial to every sinner—is to suppose that because God is invisible, He does not notice human conduct. But these words show that His government is universal, extending to individual agents and particular actions. The inspection or administration of God is presented in two aspects—
(1) A threatening aspect to those that hate Him. Sin and its punishment are transmitted. Idolatry and its evil consequences descend from father to son, and God punishes the sins of the parents in the children to the third and fourth generation. This truth appeals to the strongest instincts of our nature, guards the purity of religion, by enlisting the affection of a parent for his offspring and grafting on that affection salutary fear of Divine visitations.
(2) A merciful aspect to those that love Him. The world is not governed by blind fate. There is no irresistible necessity in the continuous results of evil. A merciful God restrains the sinner, checks the evil, and forgives all who are brought back to Him in penitence, prayer, and love, “The same principle of involving the children with the fathers is followed; but, mark the difference in the extent of its application! The visitation of anger was to reach the third or the fourth generation: the display of mercy was to continue throughout thousands of generations!” “Thou showest loving kindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them” (Jer_32:18).
“A Deity believed, will nought avail;
Rewards and punishments make God adored;
And hopes and fears give conscience all her power.”—Young.
DIVINE VISITATIONS.—Deu_5:9-10
It was needful for the sake of the Jews themselves, and for the honour of the true God, that His presence and providence with His people and with other nations should be sensibly realised and enforced by rewards and punishments—that these rewards and punishments should be so distributed as to evince His special interference. We are often more educated by the eye than by the ear. Since we are incapable of lofty abstractions, and insensible to remote consequences of deeds, God seeks by special manifestations to impress our minds and aid us in our duty. Hence the declaration of His government, and the principles on which it is conducted.
I. The government of God is active. He is “visiting.” He is neither dead nor asleep as heathen gods. Nor has He left the world to the government of chance or abstract law. God may seem to be inactive and uninterested in our concerns, but He is ever watchful. Mr. Loyd Garrison, addressing a meeting on one occasion on behalf of negro emancipation, was almost despairing, and cast a gloom upon the audience. Up jumped an old negress, and in a voice of thunder shouted, “Mr. Garrison, is God dead? will he not visit His people?” This was like an electric shock, imparting new life and new hopes. From that day the cause assumed a brighter aspect.
II. The government of God is just. “Visiting the sins.” Men may wink at sin, but God does not. Sentence against evil is not executed speedily; men may be too confident and resolved, their hearts may be fully set (the whole energy directed) upon evil (Ecc_8:11), but God’s patience is not forgetfulness. He is just, and punishment will come. “It comes with feet of wool, but it will strike with hands of lead,” says Bp. Reynolds.
III. The government of God is merciful. Shewing mercy unto thousands. Merciful and benevolent in its general nature and in its results. Punishment is needful, always just and rightly administered in God’s moral government. The threatening is merciful, intended to prevent sin. Anger is shown to a few, but mercy to thousands. “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,” etc. (Exo_34:6-7).
IV. The government of God is universal. It extends to all places—to all individuals. “Them that hate me” and “them that love me;” to all generations, not only to “the third and fourth” but to the end of the world. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_5:1. Hear, O Israel.
1. God speaks to the people.
2. The people are commanded to hear what God utters.
3. To learn what they hear.
4. To keep when they know the laws. “The difference between Divinity and other sciences, is, that it is not enough to learn, but we must keep and do it; as lessons of music must be practised, and a copy not read only, but acted.—Trapp.
Deu_5:5. I stood between. Moses Mediator.
1. Desired by the people who felt their guilt and distance from God.
2. Provided by God (Exo_19:2).
3. Typical of Christ.
Deu_5:6. God set forth.
1. In essential greatness, “I am the Lord,” i.e. Jehovah.
2. In covenant mercy. “Thy God.”
3. In wonderful providence. Brought from Egypt, the house of bondage. “God’s right to give laws to the Hebrew nation is not founded upon His being the one only God, but upon his having, by miraculous interpositions and works of power, laid the foundations of their state—not upon His character and claims as the Creator of heaven and earth, but upon His peculiar relation to them as their national founder and protector; and hence by the unparalleled services which he had rendered to the Israelites, He had acquired all the title to their willing and grateful obedience that a benefactor could have.”—Jamieson, Dr.
The Lord thy God.
1. God’s sovereignty over us. He is our Lord—we are His property and subjects. He has absolute right to prescribe, and absolute power to dispose.
2. God’s propriety in us. “Thy God” in redemption and covenant mercy chiefly, for all have forfeited His favour and love.
Deu_5:6-7. This may well lead the van and be set in the front of all the commandments, because it is the foundation of all true religion. The sum of this commandment is that we should sanctify God in our hearts, and give Him precedence above all created beings. There are two branches—
1. That we must have one God.
2. That we must have but one; or thus—
1. That we must have God for our God.
2. That we must have no other.—Watson.
Deu_5:8-10 Image worship.
1. Impossible. God cannot be represented. He is spiritual and invisible.
2. Irrational. For the workmen is better than the work. Absurd to bow to the work of men’s hands.
3. Unscriptural. Against the command of God (Lev_26:1; Deu_16:22).
Deu_5:9-10. Family religion.
1. Parents should consider well before they act; lest they
(1) expose themselves, and
(2) ruin their children by their wickedness.
2. Children are not excused through bad examples of parents—should imitate their parents in right only, and be thankful if they have been trained up to love and obey God. How careful should we be to set good examples, to maintain the worship of God in the family, and to live that we may rightly influence future generations.
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT: GOD’S SUPREMACY OVER OUR LIPS
Deu_5:11
God is absolute and cannot be seen in His Divine essence, yet He reveals His glory in His name. Since he cannot be known by similitudes, He manifests Himself in His works and word—in the government of the world and the life and death of His Son. God connects His name, therefore, with the solemnities and transactions of Divine truth. This name must not be abused, but its majesty must impress our minds and guard our lips.
I. It is our duty to revere the Divine Name. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Our tongues must not be claimed as our own (Psa_12:3), but devoted to the glory of God.
1. In religious worship. In prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, the heart, and not the lips merely, must be engaged. Our vows must not be made in times of sickness and peril, and forgotten in health and deliverance. Our worship must not be hypocritical, superficial, and insincere; nor our service formal and cold. Our profession must not be in words, but in deeds. If we “swear to the Lord of Hosts,” we must serve Him “with reverence and godly fear.”
2. In ordinary conversation. We profane the Holy Name by its use in light, flippant conversation—in jesting and idle talk. In private intercourse, in the market place, and in courts of law, we must give no force to falsehood. All language garnished with oaths and irreverent use of the Divine name is a violation of this commandment—“Hallowed be thy name.”
II. The irreverent use of the Divine name will be punished. “The Lord will not hold him guiltless.” Many excuse themselves from habit and custom; others justify themselves in profaning God’s name when they are crossed, disappointed, and carried along by passion. Such are not innocent, but guilty; and though they may escape public rebuke from friends, and punishment from human laws, yet the Lord Himself will execute the law. “He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death.”
THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT: GOD’S CLAIM UPON OUR TIME
Deu_5:12-15
“There is a close connection between the commandments of this first table. The first commandment is intended to regulate our views and feelings, in relation to the object of our supreme homage; the second has respect to the medium through which that homage is expressed; the third regards the spirit which is to accompany us in all the solemnities of truth and of religion; and the fourth, the appropriation of a portion of our time to His service—thus to indicate our subjection to His government, and our willingness to be entirely consecrated to His glory” (Stowel). In these words we have an acquaintance with the Sabbath presupposed. It must have been known, and perhaps observed in some respect. Hence the injunction—“remember.” The Sabbath was then instituted, and its obligations made known before the giving of the Law at Sinai. Now the command is given to “keep” and “sanctify” it. Notice the observance of the Sabbath as a day of rest.
I. All classes are under obligation to keep the Sabbath.
1. Individuals must observe the day. “Thou shalt.” It is binding upon every one as subjects of God’s government. Religion—for the permanent interests of which the Sabbath was made—is a matter of personal conviction, experience, responsibility, and practice.
2. Heads of families must observe the day. “Nor thy son, nor thy daughter.” Parents must habitually regard its sanctity and encourage the performance of its duties in the arrangements and discipline of the family. Thus only can the order and welfare of domestic religion be maintained.
3. Masters must observe the day. “Nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant.” Rest was to extend to domestics who specially required it, in performing the heavy duties of the household. God also “careth for cattle.” Dumb animals as well as human beings were embraced in that mercy which is “over all His works.”
II. The method of keeping the Sabbath. Two ways are pointed out.
1. It must be kept as a day of rest. Work was laid aside for man and beast. All kinds of business in the field and in the market must cease. “Thou shalt not do any work.” Physically and morally we require rest. If God saw fit to rest, how much greater need have we to cease from labour. Abolish the Sabbath and human life would be shortened by weary, wasting toil. In 1793 France invented decades, and made every tenth day a sabbath, but found out her mistake and returned to the appointed day. We must cease from worldly employments and servile work. “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord.”
2. It must be kept as a day of worship. As God blessed the day and hallowed it, filling it with peace and good to all; so we must “keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it.” Work must be laid aside for worship. The time is set apart for public and private worship. We must neither forget nor carelessly perform the duties required; nor must we profane the day by idleness, unlawful works, or unnecessary recreation. God dignifies human labour, condemns avarice and excessive toil, and teaches us to look upon work not as aimless, incessant, unprofitable, but as pointing to a rest, a fruition which is typical of that eternal Sabbath which “remaineth for the people of God” Heb_4:9.
III. The Inducements to keep the Sabbath. Many reasons are given for its observance.
1. It is reasonable to keep it. God has given us six days for work, and only claims one for Himself. It might have been the reverse. Is it not, therefore, unreasonable—ungrateful to grudge a seventh part of our time to the worship and service of God!
2. It is right to keep it. God has special claims and propriety in this part of our time. God is in covenant relation, condescends to hold communion with us on that day. Hence it is a great privilege to observe, and an awful robbery to desecrate that day. “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
3. God commands us to keep it. “God hath commanded thee.” As the law of God, it is authoritative and ultimate—not mere counsel and advice, not a naked rule, a bare prescription of what is right. It demands obedience, and its demands are accompanied with just and awful sanctions.
4. God’s goodness urges to keep it. Israel were reminded of their servitude in Egypt, of deliverance from it, and of introduction into rest. Therefore their hearts should be warmed to gratitude, and they should be prompted to observe that day which reminds them of the goodness of God (Deu_5:15). Special displays of Divine mercy, relief from oppression and despair, should lead us on every return of the day of rest to remember our escape and praise our Redeemer.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_5:11.
1. What required in this commandment: a reverent use of God’s attributes and titles, ordinances, and word.
2. What forbidden: all profaning or abuse of everything by which God makes Himself known to us.
3. What reason annexed to enforce observance. “The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” “The caution that a breach of this commandment incurs guilt in the eyes of Jehovah is especially appropriate, in consequence of the ease with which the temptation to take God’s name in vain besets men in their common intercourse with each other” (Speak. Com.). Learn—
1. The necessity of having becoming views of God.
2. The obligation always to fear Him, and to guard against offending Him by perjury, profanity and blasphemy.
Deu_5:12-14. How God esteemeth the strict observance of the Sabbath may appear by the exact delivery of it. For He hath fenced it about like Mount Sinai, with marks and bounds, that profaneness might not approach it.
(1) By His watchword, “Remember.”
(2) By His bounty, “Six days,” etc.
(3) By His sovereignty, “It is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
(4) By His latitude. “Thou, nor thy son,” etc.
(5) By His own example, “And He rested the seventh day.”
(6) By His benediction, “He blessed it,” and ordained it to be a means of much blessing to those that observe it (Trapp). The sabbath adapted to the necessities of man.
1. By affording rest from toil; hence promoting health and enjoyment.
2. By giving opportunity for family intercourse and instruction.
3. By securing due observance of public worship. Hence in His individual, social, and religious condition the Sabbath promotes the welfare of man. Chief Justice Hale observed that according to his care in observing the Lord’s day, he commonly prospered in his undertakings the week following—“Blessed is the man … that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it” (Isa_56:2).
Deu_5:15. Remember Egypt. We are prone to remember the palaces and pleasures of Egypt; God admonishes us to remember its slavery. The memory of our former state should be—I. An antidote to discontent. Though the labours and trials of the wilderness were many, yet in Egypt we had more. If we labour, it is not to make bricks without straw—not for another, but for our own profit. II. A stimulant to zeal. Remembering Egypt, let us press on toward Canaan; give no advantage to our enemies. III. A reason for obedience. He who graciously delivered us has right to our service. If we made bricks for Pharaoh, “what shall we render unto the Lord?” If fear produced activity, how much more should love! IV. Wings for faith and hope. Remember that that God who could deliver from Egypt can bring to Canaan. He who has begun the work will complete it. V. A call to humility. I was but a servant, a slave: I owe all to my Deliverer. Without Him I were a slave again. “By grace I am what I am.”—(From Bib. Museum.)
THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT: HONOUR TO PARENTS, OR THE RELIGION OF HOME
Deu_5:16
The present division of the commandments may trench upon symmetrical arrangement, but practically that in which the fifth commandment begins, the second table is convenient and important. The four we have considered comprise our duties towards God, the six which remain, our duties towards man in natural order of relationship. If God is to be acknowledged, worshipped in spirit and held in reverence; if the sabbath is to be devoutly kept; it is needful to imbue the mind, and regulate the conduct with remembrance of these truths. This is the highest of parental duties. Children should be taught from earliest days not merely to love, fear and obey, but to honour their parents.
I. Honour is due to parents from children. “Honour thy father and thy mother.” Customs of society distinguish the separate claims of father and mother, but here they are represented as sustaining towards their children one undivided, honourable claim.
1. Honour is due to Parents on account of relationship to their children. Next to relation to God is that of parents to children. There is a beautiful resemblance of one to the other. In the care and interest, the tenderness and authority of a father, we have a faint image of the superintendence, compassion, and government of God. Children should honour their parents because they are related to them. (a) As authors of their being, (b) As their support and comfort, (c) As their educators and protectors.
2. Honour is due to Parents on account of affection for their children. Parents often love their children as themselves, hence terms of endearment concerning them, “olive branches,” “sunbeams,” “jewels,” and all that is delightful and beautiful. They impoverish themselves to enrich them. They are not like the raven, or ostrich which are cruel to their young. (Job_39:14). What a debt of gratitude and honour do children owe to parents! Yet how few try to pay it. Philip the son of Charles V., Emperor of Germany, became master of a new world and of the richest and most extensive dominions in Europe by his father’s voluntary resignation, but was so ungrateful that he kept his generous parent waiting a long time for the payment of a small pension. Milton was dependent on his family on account of infirmities; yet his two elder daughters seem to have been destitute of affection and pity. Hooker often prayed that he might never give sorrow to his mother, and used to say that he loved her so dearly, that he would try to be good as much for her sake, as for his own.
II. The inducements which children have to honour their parents. This is said to be “the first commandment with promise (Eph_6:2). “The promise may be applied to the Jews, and to all who keep the commandment, and thus we trace the confirmation of the word, in the providence of God?
1. It is pleasing to God. (Col_3:20). It is joyful to parents themselves, and acceptable to God. “This is right,” a duty grounded on the simple, natural and unchanging principles of equity.
2. It has a tendency to lengthen human life. “That thy days may be prolonged.” Long life was considered a blessing (Psa_91:16; Psa_128:6), but many children find a grave in the cradle, or die in the flower of their age. “The observers of this commandment have a promise of long life and prosperity; whereas those who neglect the duties of it, have no promise of these things at all. To the former, long life comes in virtue of a promise which is infallible, so far as it shall serve God’s glory and their good; but to the latter it does not come in virtue of any promise at all, for such have no interest in the promise; on the contrary they are under the curse of God; for it is written, ‘cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them’ ” (Paterson).
3. It guarantees the well being of life. “That it may go well with thee.” Long life without the blessings and comforts of life is not desirable. Life is only a blessing, when we retain health and reason, and grow in grace and usefulness, as we grow in age. “Observe and bear all these words that it may go well with thee and thy children after thee for ever.”
4. It pledges national existence. Life and its enjoyments, possession of Canaan, and national permanence depended upon filial respect. Jewish, Roman and other histories, bear witness to this truth. The words set forth a universal principle of national life and existence. “Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts … therefore saith the Lord of Hosts, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.” (Jer_35:18-19).
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT: OR THE RELIGION OF TEMPER.—Deu_5:17
The next three commandments determine our duties towards our neighbour, and secure life, marriage and property. In Lev_19:18 they are summed up in one word, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” Not only is murder condemned, but all our passions from which murder originates. Hence we may term this command the religion of temper.
I. What this commandment forbids. Mere killing is not prohibited, for that was lawful sometimes, but every act of violence which inflicts personal injury and endangers human life. “The omission of the object, still remains to be noticed, as showing that the prohibition includes not only the killing of a fellow-man, but the destruction of one’s own life or suicide.” (Keil).
1. Violent deeds are forbidden. Suicide, or taking away our own life. Ancient systems, taught as a lofty sentiment of morality, that a man might withdraw from life when he found it expedient. Modern verdicts and modern customs of assigning insanity as the cause of this crime lead us to regard it with pity and not detestation. We must look at the act in its real nature, in the law which prohibits it, and the dreadful consequences by which it is enforced. “Do thyself no harm.” Duelling is a vestige of feudal barbarism. It constitutes the person who thinks himself injured the judge, witness, and avenger of his own wrongs. The grounds of its defence, are irrational, and subversive of all law, justice, and humanity. The duellist makes a law for himself, exalts it above the institutions of his country, and the laws of God. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty: And he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.” Murder is forbidden. Every man is our brother. We are bound to love him, and promote his welfare. To murder is to hate him, to inflict the greatest misery on him for ever. In the gospel a sacred dignity is attached to man. He is made in the “image of God,” and associated with the nature of God. Hence, infinite majesty is insulted, infinite goodness abused, and divine authority trampled on. “For in the image of God, made he man.” (Gen_9:6).
2. Violent passions are forbidden. As explained and fulfilled by Jesus Christ, this commandment embraces a class of most powerful human affections and desires. It is enforced by all the facts and principles of the gospel. Anger is a species of murder, and when roused to excess, will produce outrages most shameful. “In their anger they slew a man.” Causeless anger, scornful contempt, and passionate reviling are three breaches of this command. (Mat_5:21-22). Hatred often leads to excess in language and actions. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” (Joh_3:15). A scornful spirit must not be indulged. To scorn is to despise, vilify and revile. Revenge must not be cherished. He who is proud of his own importance, careless of the rights of justice, and sacrifices the peace, character and life of the offender to the indulgence of passion breaks this law. “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people.” (Lev_19:17-18).
“What will not ambition and revenge descend to.”—Milton.
II. What this commandment enjoins. It teaches the very opposite feelings of envy, hatred, and revenge.
1. It enjoins feelings of humanity. We must not envy nor grieve at the prosperity of another—not quarrel, nor rail, nor plot against another. We must exercise mercy, not cruelty. We must be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving towards our fellow creatures, and put away “all bitterness and wrath.”
2. It enjoins the use of all lawful efforts to preserve life. Whatever tends to destroy our natural life is expressly forbidden. We must avoid all intemperance, gluttony, and drunkenness. We must not be indifferent to our own wants, nor neglect the wants of others. Every effort must be made to feed, clothe, and preserve the body, to avoid immoderate labour and indulgence, and to keep the life of another. Destroy not your own souls by false confidence, pernicious sentiments, and neglect of “the great salvation.” Destroy not the souls of others by neglect in preventing them from sin, in abandoning the religious interests of family, society, and neighbourhood, and by withholding your effort and influence to save men. Oh, avoid the guilt of spiritual murder!
Murder forbidden. Observe, this commandment is—I. Universal in application; to each person is said, “Thou shalt not kill.” There is no exception to this rule. II. Emphatic in its wording; “shalt not.” Note the brevity of the whole commandment by which additional force is given to it. Brevity is not only the source of wit, but of wisdom also. III. Concerning the greatest of crimes. The awful nature of murder is sufficiently shown by—
1. The abhorence in which it is held, both by God and man.
2. The terrible reproaches of conscience with which the murderer is tormented.—J. S. Clarke.
“O horror! horror! horror! Tongue, nor heart
Cannot conceive nor name thee.”—Shakespeare.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_5:16. Reverence due to parents. Honour your parents, i.e.,
1. Obey them;
2. Respect them;
3. Treat their opinions with regard;
4. Treat their habits with respect. They may be different from ours; may be antiquated, and to us strange, odd, whimsical; but they are the habits of a parent, and are not to be ridiculed.
5. provide for them when sick, weary, old, and infirm.—Barnes.
Prolonged. A good child lengtheneth his father’s days; therefore God promiseth to lengthen his. Ill children, as they bring their parents’ “gray hairs with sorrow to the grave,” so they are many times cut off in the midst of their days, as Abimelech was: God rendering upon him the evil that he did to his father (Jdg_9:56). Besides the punishment they have in their posterity, to whom they have been peremptores potiùs quàm parentes.—Trapp.
We have a command—“Honour thy father and thy mother.” The political fathers or magistrates (Job_29:16); seniors, venerable with age (Lev_19:32); spiritual fathers (1Co_4:15); domestic fathers, fathers of households (2Ki_5:13); natural fathers, fathers of the flesh (Heb_12:9). How children are to obey this command.
1. By a reverential esteem of their persons. (a) Inwardly, by fear mixed with love (Lev_19:3). (b) Outwardly, in word and gesture.
2. By careful obedience. (a) In hearkening to their council (Pro_1:8). (b) In complying with their commands (Jer_35:6; Col_3:20).
3. By relieving their wants (Gen_47:12). The reasons why children should honour their parents.
1. It is the solemn command of God.
2. It is well pleasing to the Lord (Col_3:20).
3. Parents deserve honour on account of their great love and affection for their children.—Watson.
Deu_5:17.
1. The value of human life. Philosophy, science, and superstition dignify not human nature. Only where the Gospel is known is life appreciated preserved, and consecrated to right ends.
2. The guilt of taking away human life. It may be taken away by violence, excess, or neglect. If a beast killed a man, it was stoned; what punishment, then, shall fall upon the murderer when God comes to “make inquisition for blood” (Psa_9:12).
THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT: THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE.—Deu_5:18
“Nature,” says Grindon, “is a system of nuptials.” Human love is the highest form of love. When true lovers meet, God hath joined them together. Marriage is a symbol of the union between Christ and His Church; intended to be an honourable and abiding institution, and must not be violated by unfaithfulness and adultery. “Let not man put asunder.”
I. The sanctity of marriage must be duly regarded. Adultery was prevalent in Eastern countries, where heat and idleness seem to nourish sinful lusts almost beyond control. It is the most awful perversion of God’s institution, and the strongest language ever used in Scripture depicts its accursed nature. In the light of the New Testament we read this law in broader spirit than mere letter indicates, and that domestic bonds may be destroyed and the household invaded in different ways. “The desertion of a husband or of a wife; the neglect of conjugal duties, so minutely specified and so persuasively urged in various parts of the New Testament; divorce for any reason but the ascertained perpetration of the crime denounced in this prohibition; the degradation of the marriage contract, by subordinating it to schemes of avarice, ambition, or sensuality—each of these is a gross violation of the seventh commandment,” says Stowel. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour.”
II. To secure due regard for marriage sanctity, personal chastity must be cultivated. This sin and the whole class of passions and gratifications of which it is a part, are offences against purity—the purity of God, of ourselves, and of those affected by our example. Cultivate—
1. Chastity in thought. Thoughts are dangerous and only require opportunity to break forth into open wickedness. “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her alread” in his heart” (Mat_5:28).
2. Chastity in conversation. Words as well as acts may violate the spirit of this commandment (Mat_12:37). Let no corrupt, worthless through putridity, communication proceed out of your mouth” (Eph_4:29).
3. Chastity in actions. Fornication, polygamy, and all unnatural pollutions—immodest behaviour and unchaste looks and dress must be abandoned. “Fornication and uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints” (Eph_5:3).
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT: THE RIGHTS OF PROPERTY.—Deu_5:19
Man is endowed with a principle which impels him to the acquisition of wealth. The proper exercise of this principle leads to gradations of social rank, and lays the foundation for the institutions and laws by which property is preserved and transmitted. But since man is sinful and selfish, it is necessary to embody this law in the legislation of the community.
I. How this commandment may be violated. The highwayman who steals his neighbour’s purse; the domestic who takes his master’s cash, and the apprentice who steals his drugs; the tradesman who makes “the ephah small” (Amo_8:5), and weighs with “the balances of deceit” (Hos_12:7), who seeks to overreach or defraud; the dishonest partner; the fraudulent bankrupt; the traducer of character; the borrower and receiver of stolen goods—all violate this law. Spiritually, a man robs God by taking away the Sabbath, withholding what is due from him to support and propagate the gospel, by neglecting his own soul, and foolishly wasting life, with its calls and opportunities. “Will a man rob God?”
II. How to guard against the violation of this commandment. To obey the law and preserve the healthy exercise of a principle which becomes sinful by excessive indulgence we should
1. Be diligent in a lawful calling. In the avocations of life we have the happiness of individuals combined with the interests of society—a sphere in which our powers have no need to be lavished on trifles nor perverted by sinful pursuits. Employment for our own support and that of our family is needful. We are urged not to be idle, careless, and slothful—not to engage in gambling, nor to cherish a covetous, grasping disposition, but to be “diligent in business” and “abide in our calling.” “Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may give to him that needeth” (Eph_4:28).
2. Be content with your lot in life. It is the arrangement of God and not the work of chance. With all our shifting and tricks, our avarice and plots, we cannot alter things. “Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all: and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.” Our individual histories and efforts subserve to the plans of God as much as the fall of states and the motion of stars. Rich and poor are exhorted to trust in God and acquiesce in His providence. “Be content with such things as ye have” (Heb_13:5).
3. Moderate your views, expectations, and desires. A sober estimate of our wants and means of gratification is required. Vigorous restraint must be put upon the tendency to over estimate our own claims, and the indulgence of romantic hopes which are often facinating and ruinous. Fret not nor vex yourselves for the wealth and property of another. “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food covenient for me; lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”
THE NINTH COMMANDMENT: THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TONGUE.—Deu_5:20
We have been considering the law of the family, the law of social right, the law of social purity, and the law of honesty; now we notice the law of truth. We are to regard our neighbour’s reputation, and not injure his character. Our great poet says—
“Who steals my purse steals trash;
But he who filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
Yet leaves me poor indeed!”
I. What is forbidden in this commandment. False witness may be given in various ways; but in everything we must put away lying and speak truth with our neighbour (Eph_4:25).
1. In courts of law false witness was especially condemned. The prosecutor is forbidden to make unjust demand, to lay false charges, and to suborn false witnesses; the defender to deny a just charge, and to make artful evasions; the witnesses must not deny or keep back any part of truth; the advocate, must not defend what is wrong, nor the judge pervert justice and condemn the innocent. We must freely, sincerely speak the truth, and nothing but the truth. “A faithful witness will not lie; but a false witness will utter lies” (Pro_14:5). (cf. Deu_19:18-19; Jer_4:2; Zec_8:17).
2. In daily life false witness is forbidden. Backbiting, evil construing, and malicious accusation must not be indulged. Nor must we be guilty of idle gossip, tale-bearing, and raising, receiving, and spreading scandal or false report. “To credit common report is in itself a species of calumny,” says one. “A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth an ear to a naughty tongue” (Pro_17:4). Give no currency to scandal, nor join those mischievously employed, crying out “Report, and we will report” (Jer_20:10). “How many thousand souls are hurt every day by the words of others,” says Baxter. “Thou shalt not raise (credit, take up, bear) a false (empty, untruthful) report; put not thine hand with the wicked (render him no help) to be an unrighteous witness” (Exo_23:1). (cf. Lev_19:16; Exo_23:7; Psa_101:5; Pro_19:9.)
“Whoever keeps an open ear
For tattlers, will be sure to hear
The trumpet of contention:
Aspersion is the babbler’s trade;
To listen is to lend him aid,
And rush into dissension.—Cowper.
II. What is enjoined in this commandment. It enjoins truth and simplicity in our intercourse one with another, an agreement between the heart and the lips.
1. Truthfulness in speech. Lying is offensive to God and unfits for society. How can you converse or bargain with a man when you cannot trust his word? “Therefore put away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour; for we are members one of another.” (Eph_4:25).
2. Regard for our neighbour’s good name. Invest him with the character of a friend, charitably cover his infirmities, betray not his secrets, readily acknowledge his gifts, and receive good report concerning him. Defend his reputation when unjustly attacked, envy not his success nor take pleasure in his disgrace. “Speak evil of no man.” (Tit_3:2).
3. Love to others as to ourselves. We should be pleased with the good of another, as well as with our own good. Never keep an account of the misdeeds of another, with a view to sum up and charge against him when occasion serves. Abound in that charity which “doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh, (imputeth) no evil.” (1Co_13:5). Our neighbour lives near us, comes under our notice, and lies more or less at our mercy. His claims are therefore enhanced by nearness, by intimate acquaintance with him, and by all local and relative obligations that bind us together. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”—
“Who that dares
His brother’s name, his brother’s cause malign,
The very law maligns, spurns its restraints,
And umpire sits, where he himself should bow.”
THE TENTH COMMANDMENT: UNLAWFUL DESIRE.—Deu_5:21
“As the sixth, seventh, and eighth Commandments forbid us to injure our neighbour in deed, the ninth forbids us to injure him in word, and the tenth in thought. No human eye can see the coveting heart; it is witnessed only by him who possesses it, and by Him to whom all things are naked and open. But it is the root of all sins against our neighbour in word or in deed. (Jas_1:14-15). The man who is acceptable before God, walking uprightly, not backbiting with his tongue, nor doing evil to his neighbour, is he who “speaketh the truth in his heart.” (Psa_15:2-3).—Sp. Com.
I. The way in which this commandment is violated. By that discontentedness with our lot in life which leads us to fret, repine and rebel against God’s providence. “Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured.” (1Co_10:10). By envying or grieving at our neighbour’s good. “Grudge not one against another (Jas_5:9). By indulging unlawful desires for things which belong to our neighbour. Excessive longing after another’s wealth and possessions is branded by this Commandment as sin. “Take heed, and beware of covetousness.”
II. The spirit which leads to the violation of this commandment. “Thou shalt not covet.” The words indicate the intense spirituality and holiness of the law. St. James (Deu_1:15) looks upon sin as an outward act. St. Paul looks upon it in its source and earliest stages. The province of human law is the deed, that of divine law the heart, the thoughts from which spring the actions. The thought and desire may lead to execution of evil. Evil concupiscence is the root of all sin, especially of offences which men commit against their fellowmen (Mat_15:19; Mar_7:21). Eve and Achan “saw, coveted, and took.” Covetousness instigated Judas to betray the Saviour, and induced Ananias and Sapphira to “tempt the Holy Ghost.” “I had not known sin (clearly and fully as an indwelling and virulent principle), but by the law; for I had not known lust (irregular and ungoverned desire), except the (Mosaic) law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Rom_7:7).
III. The method of correcting this spirit. Hippocrates advised a consultation of all the physicians in the world for the cure of covetousness. What they could not discover the Bible prescribes.
1. Form a right estimate of worldly good. We covet what never satisfies. “Solomon had put all the creatures in a retort,” says quaint Watson, “and distilled out their essence, and behold ‘all was vanity’ ” (Ecc_2:11).
2. Be satisfied with present possessions. Why ungrateful because we have not more and others less. The more we have the greater will be our account at the last day. Let us believe that condition best which God has given to us. Contentment, says Socrates, is “the wealth of nature.” “I have enough,” cried Jacob (Gen_33:11). “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content (i.e., sufficient in one’s self, self-contained, opposed to outward blessings). (Php_4:11-13.)
3. Pray for Divine grace to help. This alone can subdue lust. Cherish faith in God who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies. Faith is the remedy for care and covetousness. It overcomes the world, purifies the heart, and makes God our portion (Psa_16:5). Ask the Holy Spirit to make you heavenly minded, and fix your thoughts on Christ and things above. “Covet earnestly the best gifts.”
The closing commandment is of great importance in two distinct points of view, first, as exhibiting the spirit of all the previous commandments, and secondly, as laying the foundation for just and consistent views of all the doctrines of the Gospel. It exhibits the spirit of the divine law, as extending to the desires of the heart; the subtlest movings of the mind, as well as the visible actions of the life. In other commandments, a man may lose sight of the real character of the government under which he is placed, and may imagine that if he secures the confidence of his fellow creatures he is safe. This is the prevailing state of mind of men of every rank. It is thought if we infringe not on the rights of others—seize not their property—nor malignantly traduce their characters—nor wantonly endanger their lives, we are moral. But this commandment brings us under the eye of an omniscient ruler, under the authority of a spiritual government. It teaches us that our thoughts and wishes are minutely inspected. It pursues us to our secrecy—pierces the veil of external appearances, and lays open the foldings of self-delusion. It scrutinizes our very souls, and makes us feel the omnipresence of Deity. It brings the sanctions of His law to bear directly on our present consciousness; links the moments of our existence to the last judgment, and pours into the inmost chambers of the spirit the light of a future world. “I had not known sin, except the law had said, ‘thou shalt not covet.’ ” Secondly. The importance of this commandment will be felt when we consider it as laying the foundation for just and consistent views of the doctrines of the gospel. The sublime truths of the one are from the same God who “spake the words” of the other. It is only by invalidating the authority, or by subduing the lofty tone, of the commandments, that a man can either resist the evidence or pervert the meaning of the gospel. How can a man for instance, consistently deny the total depravity of the human race, without first destroying the uncompromising strictness of the divine law, thundering forth its curses on even an irregular desire? How can a man persuade himself that it is not his duty to believe on the name of Jesus Christ for salvation, without first persuading himself that it is not his duty to love God with all his heart and his neighbour as himself, in a word, that nothing is due from him to God, and consequently that he is not a subject of moral government of God? The great promise of the gospel to our first parents, was delivered in circumstances illustrative of this sentiment; for the views they had of the sentence passed upon them, made them feel the necessity and value of this promise. How often in the public discourses of Jesus, and in more private dialogues, with various classes surrounding him, do we see his anxiety to produce an impression of the sanctity and strictness of the commandments,—evidently for the purpose of silencing the objector and preparing him to “receive the Kingdom of God?” In the same spirit the apostles preached and wrote. A consciousness of guilt will lead you to rely on the perfect obedience of Christ. Here we have not simply, an exhibition of mercy, but of “mercy and truth” meeting together—not merely the triumph of grace, but of “grace reigning through righteousness, into eternal life.” “God hath set him forth, not only as a propitiation through faith in his blood, for the remission of sins;” but also, “to declare his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.”—From Dr. Stowel.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_5:18. The sum of this commandment is the preservation of bodily purity.
1. Something tacitly implied; which is that the ordinance of marriage should be observed. (1Co_7:2; Heb_13:4).
2. Something expressly forbidden; which is infecting ourselves with bodily pollutions.—Watson.
Deu_5:19. Dishonesty forbidden. Observe the simple comprehensiveness of this commandment.
1. Nothing is said about the value of the thing stolen. The law is broken whether the thing taken, be a kingdom or a pin.
2. Nothing is said about the nature of the thing stolen; it may be property, time, reputation, etc.
3. Nothing is said about the method of stealing; whether it be secretly appropriated, or violently wrested from its owner.—Biblical Museum.
Deu_5:20. In this commandment, three kinds of interests are combined—the interests of truth—of character—and of neighbourhood.—Stowel.
Learn—
1. The value of a good name.
2. The sacredness of truth.
3. The necessity of guarding our tongue.
4. The danger of false witness. (Deu_19:18-19; Pro_19:5).
“Give thoughts no tongue.”—Shakespeare.
Deu_5:21. The injunction is repeated to call attention and impress the mind. The form here differs from that in (Exo_20:17). The order of the words house and wife is reversed, two different words desire and covet are used here, and the word field is added. The first two variations are explained by the general character of the passage, and it seems natural to mention the “field,” when Moses was speaking with the partition of Canaan in view. Learn—
1. The nature of covetousness. It denotes a state of mind from which the Supreme good has been lost, labouring to replace Hin by some subordinate form of enjoyment.
2. The origin of covetousness from within. Desires, lusts etc.
3. The forms of covetousness. Worldliness, rapacity, avarice, prodigality, etc.
4. The guilt and evils of covetousness.
5. The doom of the covetous. “The covetousness whom the Lord abhoreth.”
THE MAJESTY OF GOD’S LAW.—Deu_5:22-25
The delivery of the commandments was accompanied with every display of grandeur, and amid circumstances of terror. Everything was ordered to impress the mind with the glory of God, the rigour of law, and the dread of penalty. This imposing manner and appalling phenomena indicate the majesty of God’s law. This majesty is seen in different ways.
I. In the divinity of its origin. “These words the Lord spake.” The voice of God was distinctly heard articulating, and that voice was louder than the loudest peals of thunder. Many ask, “from whence do we get the moral law?” The answer is given here. It came from God—the grandest and highest origin to which anything can aspire! It is elevated above the code of Egypt, Persia and Greece—a standard of life infinitely beyond the invention of man, and to which the holiest have never reached. A distinguished lawyer rather sceptically inclined on this subject undertook to read the Old Testament to satisfy himself concerning the validity of its claims. When he read the Decalogue, lost in admiration he exclaimed, “where did Moses get that law?” Further study removed every sceptical doubt, and produced conviction of its divine origin (cf. Pulpit Com. p. 106). “We know that God spake unto Moses.”
II. In the terrible phenomena which accompanied its delivery. Such phenomena were varied, most terrific and designed to produce the conviction of the authority and holiness of law.
1. There was natural agency. The deepest impressions are made upon the mind through the senses, God who knew what was in man signalized his descent on Sinai, with thunder and lightning, smoke and fire, “the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words.” What must be the aim and dignity of a law thus given? What should be the regard and obedience we pay to the great Lawgiver Himself? “That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God.”
2. There was supernatural agency. The word was spoken “by angels.” (Heb_2:2). The law was received “by the disposition (ministration) of angels” (Act_7:53); “ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” (Gal_3:19). The presence of angels is often referred to in the giving of the law, to indicate its solemnity and claims. “He shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints, (myriads of holy ones, i.e. angels); from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” Deu_33:2 (cf. Psa_88:17; Heb_3:3).
III. In the design for which it was given. There was mercy mixed with majesty and the appalling phenomena produced the desired effect.
1. To test their obedience. Israel had been surrounded by idolatry, and the ideas of God’s majesty and reverence for law had been lost, by deifying objects of sense. The manifestations of Sinai were directly adapted to inspire the soul with reverence for the infinite majesty and eternal power of that Being with whom they had to do—to put their obedience to a fresh proof and give them a more signal opportunity of showing devotedness to His will. “For God is come to prove you.”
2. To keep them from sin. They learned the guilt of offending a God so terrible in strictness and holiness. They felt that they were weak, frail, and sinful creatures, and were struck with consternation at such awful displays. Mores himself was overpowered with fear (Heb_12:21). This was a dispensation of terror, designed to prepare for the gospel. “Therefore knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men.”
3. To show the need of a mediator. Conscious of guilt, they were greatly alarmed. “This great fire will consume us.” They wondered that they remained alive after witnessing such appearances. “For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God, speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?” They expected to hear more, but could not forbear it, and requested Moses to hear and speak for them, “Go thou near,” etc. (Deu_5:27). Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant.
IV. In the method in which it is handed down to us. We may judge of the value and importance of communications by the forms in which they are written.
1. This law is complete, “and he added no more” (Deu_5:22). The great voice spoke no more directly to the people. The scene was not repeated, and the law was complete in itself and distinct from other revelations given through Moses. “The law of the Lord is perfect.”
2. This law is permanent. “He wrote them in two tables of stone,” to preserve them from corruption, and transmit them pure and entire to posterity. Let us thank God for a written revelation, which is a natural and human method of conveyance, more complete, uniform, and permanen than any other form. Vox audita perit, littera scripta manet, “a word heard perishes, but a written letter remains.” Tradition passes away like the morning clouds; the Bible will continue as long as sun and moon endure. “The word of the Lord endureth for ever.”
THE USE OF NATURE IN DIVINE INSTRUCTION.—Deu_5:23-26
Nature and the Bible have the same author, and both are written for the instruction of man. “Thus there are two books from whence I collect my divinity,” says Sir Thomas Brown, “besides that written one by God, another of His servant, Nature—that universal and public manuscript that lies expanded unto the eyes of all; those that never saw Him in the one have discovered Him in the other.” God, in the revelation of His will, has often created the scenes and used the elements of nature. This is specially seen in the giving of the Law on Sinai. Hence learn the use of natural phenomena in Divine instruction.
I. Man is constituted to learn from nature. His senses are adapted to the external world. “Ye have heard His voice—we have seen this day.” For every organ of sense there seems to be an object in nature. But man’s moral nature is affected through the medium of sense. Many talk of “the sensuous minds of the Jewish people,” but we are children in this respect. We are frightened at the lightning and the thunder—terror-stricken at floods, fires, and earthquakes. We are roused to a sense of our danger and our guilt by the manifestation of God in His works; and, like Massillon’s audiences in the French Court, dread His terrible judgments. “Let not God speak with us lest we die.”
II. Nature is constituted to teach man. Nature is God’s mind expressed in matter: “a product of His power and wisdom—a mirror in which His attributes are reflected—a volume in which, by legible characters or expressive signs, He maketh Himself known” (Dr. Jas. Buchanan). “Natural theology” is only the true insight and real exposition of God’s revelation in Nature; for “in His temple doth everyone speak of (marg., every whit of it uttereth) His glory” (Psa_29:9). But Nature, as well as the Bible, allows special Divine interpositions. Matter is not eternal, nor is abstract law endowed with attributes of deity. We have often direct interpositions which seem—but only seem, perhaps—above natural law. God speaks to us by the elements, forces, and scenes of Nature. He often extorts confession, vows, and prayers by its awful displays, and speaks in tones which lead us to cry for mercy and a mediator. “Let not God speak with us,” but “do thou speak with us, and we will hear it and do it.”
MOSES CHOSEN MEDIATOR.—Deu_5:27-28; Deu_5:30-31
As all the people stood before the mount, terrified by the vivid flames and the trembling earth, they feared death. The voice of God overpowered them more than anything else, and the heads of the people and elders requested Moses to intercede.
I. The reason of this mediation. In this awful display Israel realised their moral condition as unfit for communion with Jehovah. Guilty man has always felt his distance from God, and at every indication of the supernatural cried out with fear. Convinced of sin we feel the necessity of a mediator.
II. The nature of this mediation. When the people “stood afar off,” conscious of guilt and afraid of God’s wrath, “Moses drew near unto the thick darkness,” or was made to draw near (Exo_20:21), for he durst not venture himself. The Rabbis think that God sent an angel to take him by the hand and lead him up.
1. He spoke to God for the people.
2. He spoke to the people for God. “Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee.” Moses typified Christ by whom we draw nigh to God without fear and reluctance. By him “we have boldness, courageous outspokeness (Act_4:13), and access with confidence.” Eph_3:12.
III. The Divine approval of this mediation. Perhaps they did not know the full import of what they did, but the nomination was well pleasing to God.” “They have well said all that they have spoken.” Moses is duly appointed, and God speaks to them through his mouth, and they promise to hear and obey. Thus was the covenant made between God and Israel. Moses was honoured as the giver of the law, but Jesus is more highly exalted. “For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.”
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WORDS AND DEEDS.—Deu_5:28
He expressly mentions having heard what they had said to Moses. God always hears what we say, not as an unconcerned auditor, but as witness and judge. Solemn thought! The words here were words of religious avowal. “We will hear and do it.” God has heard our religious resolutions and engagements. First our private ones—that we would watch against such a temper; pray for grace to resist such a temptation; to redeem the time and honour the Lord with our substance. Secondly, our more public and solemn ones; when we joined ourselves to His people; went to His table; and over the memorials of His dying love said, “Henceforth by thee only will I make mention of Thy name.” I have heard, says He, the voice of the words, etc.; and adds with approbation, containing in it complaint, “They have well said all they have spoken. But talking and doing are two things. Even amongst ourselves, one goes a little way without the other. Actions speak louder than words. What is lip service in religion! Judas gave our Lord the lip—kissed and betrayed Him. Ezekiel’s hearers extolled his preaching; brought others to admire him; but their hearts went after their covetousness. Here they spoke well in expressing their readiness to hear and do. But God, who knew them better than they knew themselves, exclaimed, “O that there was such a heart in them.”
Speech is one of the most uncertain criterions to judge of character, as to reality or degree of religion. From education, reading, and hearing, persons may learn to talk well—may surpass others far better than themselves: as an empty vessel sounds louder than a full one, and a shallow brook is more noisy than a deep river. Some speak little, concerning themselves especially, for fear of deception, or lest they should appear to be what they are not. Baxter says, in his life of Judge Hale, I feared he was wanting in experimental religion, as he seldom spoke of his own spiritual views and feelings. But upon better acquaintance I found out my mistake. He had heard from many so much hypocrisy and fanaticism that he was urged towards the extreme of silence. It would be better for some to talk less of high confidence and wonderful ecstacies before those weak in faith and comfort, and in danger of being depressed by comparison. To how many individuals will these words apply! The champion of truth, has defended its purity and importance—contended earnestly and as far as argument and evidence goes, wisely for the faith. He has well said all that he has spoken. But where is the spirit of truth? the meekness of wisdom? the mind of Christ? Another in the sanctuary has acknowledged in language equally beautiful and true, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, etc. He has well said all that he has spoken. But where is the broken heart, the contrite spirit? How often after these confessions is the sermon founded upon them disliked and the preacher condemned! A third has gone to his brethren in distress and justified the ways of God to man, but does he justify God’s dealings with himself in trouble? He has well said all that he has spoken; but reminds us of Job’s language, “Behold thou hast instructed many and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it toucheth thee and thou art troubled.” Men mistake themselves though often sincere as they are earnest. They do not distinguish between impulse and disposition, outward excitement and inward principle. Hazael, at the prediction of his cruelties, ignorant of the change that power would produce in him, really execrated the character he became. Peter presuming, but not false, said though all should be offended, yet will not I. The disciples supposed themselves established in faith, beyond the danger of temptation to forsake Him, when they said “Now we believe.” But Jesus answered them, “O that there was such a heart in you!”—From Jay.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_5:23-26. A Triple Prodigy.
1. They heard the voice of God speaking with them in distinct language.
2. They saw the fire, the symbol of His presence, the appearance of which demonstrated it to be supernatural.
3. Though God appeared so terrible, yet no person was destroyed, for He came not “to destroy, but to save.”—Wilson.
Why should they fear to die? Since they had seen that day that God doth talk with man, and He liveth? It is answered that they looked upon their present safety as a wonder, but feared what would follow upon such an interview, if continued. It is still the work of the law to serve man, and to drive them to seek for a mediator. If God speaks to us from heaven His stillest rhetoric would be too loud for us.—Trapp.
Terror of law.
1. Its design.
2. Its results.
3. Its inefficiency to save. “The law was delivered in this terrible manner, partly to procure reverence for the doctrine of it, and partly to set forth the nature and office of it; which is to terrify and thunder-strike offenders. This fire wherein the law was given is still in it, and will never be out of it.” (Deu_33:2).—Trapp.
Deu_5:25 to Deu_27:1. The condition of the people, in the state of their mind, and in the locality of their camp, “afar off” in both senses.
2. The necessity of intercourse between God and the people.
3. The medium of intercourse. “A mediator, Moses was not of redemption as Christ that “mediator of the new covenant,” and “surety of a better testament (Heb_7:22; Heb_9:15), but of receiving the law, and delivering it to the people, for which end he went up.”—Trapp.
TRUE RELIGION DESCRIBED.—Deu_5:29
These words express God’s wish for His people, and describe the obedience which He requires from them. The law had produced a penitent feeling, and Israel had made good resolutions under the influence of that feeling. But true religion does not consist in good feelings and good resolves. God wishes for a true heart and constant obedience. “A heart in them to fear Me always.” True religion is described—
I. In its nature. The fear of God.
1. Not emotion. Many are capable of impression and feel deeply sensible of their wants. But frames and feelings change; emotions die away and leave the heart cold and indifferent. Men may be sensitive in their nature, penetrated with the beauty, power and interests of religion, but at the call of duty—the demand for resolute obedience, “they are offended.”
2. Not resolution. Israel resolved, and God commended their resolutions, but where was their constancy, their sincerity and heart? Men promise what they forget to perform, and their hearts do not chime in with their lips.
3. But the fear of God. Not the spirit of a slave, but of a son. The love which drives out fear and brings us near to God. We must know God not as our Creator and governor, but as our Father. The sense of His presence, authority and love must penetrate the mind, elevate the soul, and temper sacred awe, with filial confidence.
II. In its centre. “A heart in them.” The tone, colouring, and direction of the outer life depend upon the condition of the heart—the inner feelings. Our hearts must be renewed and made susceptible of sympathy and love. “A new heart,” “a heart of flesh,” “a clean heart” must be given and fixed on God. “Such a heart.” Words and profession, mere knowledge and religious excitement are superficial. The seat of life and conduct is within a man. “For as he thinketh in his heart so is he.”
III. In its manifestation. Keeping the commandments. If religion exists it will be seen in its fruits. As light shines forth in beauty, so love in the heart will manifest itself, not in impulse but obedience. “If ye love Me keep My commandments.” This keeping must be—
1. Universal. “All my commandments.” We are not to select some, like the Pharisees, rigidly to observe as compensation for the breach of others. All must be kept. This only is acceptable to God.
2. Constant. “Keep all my commandments always.” In words, actions, and heart. Pledges are made under terror, but God requires expression of steadfast principle, and seeks “patient continuance in well-doing.”
IV. In its rewards. There is no merit in our obedience. It is defective and unworthy. In fact we never can perfectly obey even one commandment in ten. But where true conduct springs from a right heart, there will be happiness or well-being. Thus the way of holiness is the way to happiness and God’s favour.
1. Personal happiness. “That it might be well with them.”
2. Happiness upon posterity. “And with their children.”
3. Happiness perpetual. “For ever!” “A perpetuity of bliss alone is bliss.” All this from a right heart! Have we got such a heart in us? We are taught how it may be gained. “I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me” (Jer_32:40).
DIVINE SOLICITUDE
How lovely does God appear in the concern He here expresses! It is the language of complaint. As much as to say, “But I do not find it so.” Is He then disappointed? Not as to fact—for He knows all things—but as to right. Surely, He may expect from us attention to His voice and improvement of advantages with which we are favoured. When He meets with nothing of this, He has reason to complain. This is the meaning when He says, “What more could have been done for My vineyard, and I have not done it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? These three years I came seeking fruit, and finding none.” It is the expression of desire. When Scripture ascribes human attributes and feelings to God, they must be understood according to the perfection of His nature. They do not precisely mean the same in Him as in us. Yet there is always a truth, which is the basis of such metaphorical representations. Slavish adherence to systematic divinity has injured some of the finest passages of Revelation; and which were intended to be felt rather than criticised. Do not object, therefore, that “God is in the heavens, He hath done whatsoever he pleaseth;” and ask “who hath resisted His will?” for this is His own language, “O that there was such a heart in them!” “How often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Yes, these are expressions of a God that cannot lie. This affords me encouragement. Unworthy as I am, He does not abandon me. He is willing to save, and waiting to be gracious to me. What is the inability of man to harmonize such declarations with some other parts of their creed, to the oath of the living God. “As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.” It is the dictate of parental solicitude. The voice, not of a severe legislator or judge, but of a Father. A Father who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all—who does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men—who says of the refractory child, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” who says of the relenting child, “Is Ephraim My dear Son?” How often does He assume this relation to deprive His greatness of terror, and render it our encouragement and confidence. He pities “as a father pitieth his children,” and takes the heart of a mother for the image of tenderness. “As one whom his mother comforteth.” “Can a woman forget her child?” She may. Ah! ye mothers, your affection is ice; your heart is iron compared with His!”—“Yet will I not forget thee.” Surely “he that loveth not, knoweth not God—for God is love.” Can this encourage us to sin? Can we grieve His spirit? Can we bear Him saying in vain, “O do not that abominable thing which I hate?” “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness,” etc.—From Jay.
CAREFUL WALKING.—Deu_5:30-33
After Moses was chosen mediator he directed the people to return to their tents, urged them to observe carefully all the commandments which they had received, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, that it might be well with them. “This signifieth an exact care to walk in God’s Law, as in the highway from which men may not turn aside, as in Deu_2:27.”—Ainsworth.
I. Human life is under God’s direction. To Israel the message was—“Get you into your tents again;” but to Moses, “Stand thou here by me.” Thus some are appointed to one place, and others to another. God’s law is given for guidance, laid down (for law means that which is laid down or fixed) to show us the way. “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!”
II. This direction is given by chosen agency. Men often choose their own guides and miss their way. Intellect, education, and human laws are not sufficient. The Scriptures and the Christian ministry are the appointed means for instruction.
1. The ministry of man. Moses was chosen teacher and mediator between God and His people. Men must know God in the holy life and teaching of their fellow men, “Speak thou to us.”
2. The revelation of God. Moses had not to speak his own, but the words which God had spoken to him. If we speak not according to the law we have no light—no truth in us. “I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them.”
III. This direction, given by chosen agency, is easily understood. “Do, therefore, as the Lord your God hath commanded you.” So plainly is the path opened up that “the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.”
1. There must be no halting. “Observe to do.” The eye and heart must be fixed. Hesitate and linger not. Never fear, but humbly walk before God.
2. There must be no turning aside. “Ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” “Let thine eyes look right on” (Pro_4:25-27), not behind, nor all around, but “straight before thee.” Straightforward progress will ensure reward. Pray for perseverance and guidance. “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it.”
3. There must be no partiality. “Ye shall walk in all the ways.” The obedience must be full, unreserved, and unwearied. “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments (Psa_119:6).
IV. When the direction thus given is obeyed, the rewards will be great. “That ye may live, and that it may be well with you.” “Verily there is a reward for the righteous,” not of debt, but of sovereign grace. A present reward in temporal benefits and spiritual enjoyments. A future reward of eternal bliss (Isa_48:18; Jer_7:23). In “keeping His commandments there is great reward.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_5:29. God’s wish for Israel.
1. A true heart.
2. Sincere obedience.
3. Perpetual happiness. Such a heart. That heart that will enable us to fear the Legislator, and in thought, word, and deed keep all His commandments. But such a heart, so inclined, is an evidence of previous acceptance; and such conduct resulting from such a heart is the evidence of that character which belongs to a christian, and indicates one whose state has been changed in Christ, and whose character has been elevated by sanctification of the Holy Spirit.—Cumming.
Perfect obedience.
1. Its source—the heart.
2. Its extent. All commandments and always.
3. Its ruling principle—the fear of God.
4. Its blessed results—well with individuals “and their children for ever.”
Deu_5:30 to Deu_33:1. The honour conferred upon Moses. “Near” God.
2. The duty of Moses—“stand” in attentive, willing attitude, as mediator and teacher. “I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the word of the Lord; for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount.”
God’s manifestations in their effect upon men. Repelling some and attracting others. This effect depends upon our state of mind and moral condition. Teach them—
1. The position of a true teacher. “Here by me.”
2. The matter of a true teacher. “All the commandments and the statutes and the judgments.”
3. The design of a true teacher to produce obedience.
Deu_5:33. Walk in the ways.
1. Specific direction.
2. Activity and progress in that direction. We must not simply know, but practice the commandments. We are ignorant, and require Divine instruction; weak, and need strength and support. Our hearts must be right, and we must be steadfast in His covenant (Psa_78:37.) Like travellers in the way, we must look carefully to the end and be careful lest we miss the way.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
Deu_5:1-5. Law. “These words” comprise the whole duty of man; and as interpreted by Christ, they are so comprehensive that there is no conceivable condition in which the human race can exist where these precepts are not applicable as a rule. The language of each is so brief, and so precise, as to be capable of furnishing a perfect guide for the moral government of man. It is so immeasurably superior in its character to that of all other nations that there is no way of accounting for its existence, except by ascribing it to Divine revelation. Infidels themselves are constrained to admit its high origin. For how came the Jews to possess so pure and admirable a law? How were they distinguished for such a sublime code of morality, while all other people, some of them far superior in civilisation and the arts to the Hebrews, fell far short of them in this respect? It was God who “spake all these words.” (Dr. Jamieson.) The moral law is a copy of God’s will, our spiritual directory; it shows us what sins to avoid, what duties to pursue. It has truth and goodness in it (Neh_9:13). Truth, for God spake it; and goodness, for there is nothing the commandment enjoins but it is for our good.—Watson.
Deu_5:6-7. First. This may well lead the van, and be set in front of all the commandments, because it is the foundation of all true religion. None will have cause to repent of cleaving to God and His service. Cardinal Wolsey said, “Oh, if I had served my God as I have my king, He would never have left me thus.”—Watson.
Deu_5:8-10. Second. People pray to the images of the gods, implore them on bended knees, sit or stand long days before them, throw them money, and sacrifice beasts to them with deep respect.—Seneca.
Deu_5:11. Third. Remember the commination and threatening in the text. Here is a meiosis—less is said and more intended. “He will not hold him guiltless;” that is, He will be severely avenged on such a one. Here the Lord speaks after the manner of a judge, who holds the court of assize. The judge is God himself; the accusers, Satan and a man’s conscience; the charge is, “taking God’s name in vain;” the accused is found guilty and condemned: “The Lord will not hold him guiltless.”—Watson.
Deu_5:12-15. Fourth. O, what a blessing is Sunday, interposed between the waves of worldly business, like the Divine path of the Israelites through Jordan. (Wilberforce.) The streams of religion run deeper or shallower, as the banks of the Sabbath are kept up or neglected. (Calcott.) Coleridge once said to a friend on Sunday morning, “I feel as if God had, by giving the Sabbath, given fifty-two springs in every year.”—Bowes.
Deu_5:16. Fifth. Richard Knill so regarded this commandment, that he would not even go out as a missionary without his mother’s consent. He said, “I know that God never smiles on a boy that breaks his mother’s heart.”—Pul. Com.
Deu_5:17. Sixth. There is a close connection between anger and murder. “Killing is not mere blood shedding. Anger without cause is murder. Oppression of the weak is murder. Depriving a man of the means of getting a livelihood, to gratify revenge, is murder.”—Dr. Parker.
Deu_5:18. Adultery debases a person, and makes him resemble the beasts—Nay, it is worse than brutish; for some creatures void of reason, by the instinct of nature, observe some decorum and chastity. The turtle dove is a chaste creature, and keeps to its mate; and the stork wherever he flies, comes into no nest but his own. Naturalists write that if a stork, leaving its own mate, joins with another, all the rest of the storks fall upon it and pull its feathers from it. Adultery is worse than brutish, it degrades a person of his honour.—Watson.
Deu_5:19. Eighth. A man may rob God as well as his neighbour. He who wastes his employer’s time is a thief. He who withholds just praise is a thief—social and literary thieving. He who detracts from the just honour of his fellow man is a thief. He who vows and does not pay is a thief.—Dr. Parker.
Deu_5:20. Ninth. A man that hath no virtue in himself ever envieth virtue in others; for men’s minds will either feed upon their own good or upon others’ evil; and who wanteth the one will prey upon the other. (Bacon.) There would not be so many open mouths if there were not so many open ears.—Bp. Hall.
To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it.—
Tennyson.
Soft buzzing slander; silky moths
That eat an honest name.—Thomson.
Deu_5:21. Tenth. The covetous man is like a greedy ostrich, which devours any metal; but it is with an intent to feed upon it, and in effect it makes a shift to digest and excern it. The avaricious man is like the foolish chough, which loves to steal money only to hide it.—Archbp. Trench.
The cloyed will,
That satiate yet unsatisfied desire,
That tub both filled and running.—
Shakespeare.
Deu_5:22-25. Great voice. Richard Morris, a Baptist minister in England, when a young man attended as a spectator a funeral, which he had followed into St. Mary’s Church, Stamford. His mind being solemnised and softened by the scene, the blast of six trumpets sounded together to set the evening watch, and reverberated through the dome, striking the whole audience with awe. The thought was vividly suggested to his mind that he must certainly hear the tremendous sound of the trump of God. With this impression upon his mind, Mr. Morris retired to his room and prayed to that God whom he knew would be his judge. His prayer was heard, and he began a life of religion and usefulness. This trifling occurrence arrested attention, gave rise to workings of conscience which ended in conversion.—Whitecross.
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 We find throughout the law that this commandment was…
Deu 5:16
We find throughout the law that this commandment was put forth as the great foundation on which others were built. On him "that setteth light by his father or his mother" was one of the curses pronounced on Mount Ebal; and it was commanded, "He that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death."
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I. The keeping of this commandment implies and produces a certain temper of mind which we call meekness. So far as anything like peace can be obtained in this world, it can only be obtained by keeping this commandment, by obedience, obedience to God; and this cannot be shown but by obedience to those whom He has set over us.
II. The temper of obedience being, therefore, the very foundation of all true piety, God has so appointed it that men should be all their lives in conditions of life to exercise and practise this habit of mind, first of all as children under parents, then as servants under masters, as subjects under kings, as all under spiritual pastors, and spiritual pastors under their superiors.
III. It is in this temper of meekness, above all, that Christ has set Himself before us as our Pattern. Christ was willingly subject to a poor carpenter in an obscure village, so much so as even to have worked with him, it is supposed, at his trade. He, alone without sin, was subject to sinful parents.
IV. The more difficult it is for children to pay this honour and obedience to parents who may be unworthy, the more sure they may be that it is the narrow way to life and the strait and difficult gate by which they must enter. True love will cover and turn away its eyes from sins and infirmities. For this reason there is a blessing even unto this day on the children of Shem and Japheth, and a curse on the descendants of Ham.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. ix., p. 277.
References: Deu 5:16.—J. Oswald Dykes, The Law of the Ten Words, p. 105. Deu 5:17-21.—Ibid., pp. 123, 139, 155, 171, 189. Deu 5:22.—Old Testament Outlines, p. 49; J. Oswald Dykes, The Law of the Ten Words, p. 1. Deu 5:24.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 201. Deu 5:24-26.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 203. Deu 5:29.—R. D. B. Rawnsley, A Course of Sermons for the Christian Year, p. 209. Deu 5:31.—J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Easter to Ascension Day, p. 182.
Deu 5:33
I. One of these clauses is commonly said to enjoin a duty, the other to promise the blessings which those might confidently look for who performed it. This is not a satisfactory definition. Moses teaches his countrymen that God has conferred upon them the highest prize which man can conceive, freely and without any merit on their part. Was the knowledge of the living and unseen God nothing in itself, but only valuable in virtue of some results that were to come of it? Moses tells his countrymen that it was everything. To hold it fast was to be a nation; to lose it was to sink back into that condition out of which they had been raised.
II. Is there no duty then assigned in the text? Certainly when it is said, "Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you," it must be meant that there is something required on the part of the creature as well as something bestowed by the Creator. We cannot understand what is required unless we understand what is bestowed. If we believe that a way has been made for us, and that we have been put in that way, we can apprehend the force of the precept to walk in it, we can feel what is meant by transgression and revolt.
III. It is here signified in very simple, clear language that a people in a right, orderly, godly state shall be a well-doing people, a people with all the signs and tokens of strength, growth, triumph, a people marked for permanence and indefinite expansion.
IV. It cannot be true that the blessings of adversity were unknown to the Jews, were reserved for a later period. The more strong their feeling was that God had chosen their nation and made a covenant with it, the greater was their struggle with their individual selfishness, their desire of great things for themselves, the more need had they of God’s fires to purify them. No men could be more taught than the Jewish seers were that punishments are necessary for individuals and nations, and that "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth."
V. It is a perilous and an almost fatal notion that Christian men have less to do with the present than the Jews had, that their minds and their religion are to be projected into a region after death, because there only the Divine Presence is dwelling.
The alternative is between a faith which shall belong to men as men, which shall concern all their ordinary pursuits, toils, relations—the alternative is between such a faith and absolute atheism.
F. D. Maurice, Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 241.
References: Deu 6:1-12.—Parker, vol. iv., p. 136. Deu 6:1-25.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 217.
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 The Repetition of the Decalogue
The Repetition of the Decalogue
This chapter repeats the Law of the Ten Commandments given on Mt. Sinai with the circumstances of its delivery: see Exodus 20, and the notes there.
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3. Their fathers who had heard the Law given at Sinai were actually dead. But as the covenant had been made not with individuals, but with the nation of Israel, Moses could say that it was made not with our fathers, but with us. The expression is really equivalent to 'not only with our fathers but also with ourselves.'
6. This is the ground on which obedience to the Law is due. God's free grace is the first fact in the covenant. On the Ten Commandments see on Exo_20:1-17.
14, 15. In Exodus the obligation to keep the sabbath is made to rest on the fact of the divine creation of the world; here it rests on the divine redemption of Israel. In the former case the reason annexed to the commandment is universal, in the latter national. In both cases the commandment is the same, and it is possible that the original form of the Decalogue gave only the commandment without any reason attached to it: see Exo_23:12 and on Exo_20:10, Exo_20:11.
23-33. Cp. Exo_20:18-21.
24. And he liveth] This is a special token of the divine favour, because usually man cannot bear the immediate revelation of the divine majesty: cp. Exo_33:20; Exo_19:21; Exo_20:19; Jdg_6:23; Jdg_13:22; Isa_6:2, Isa_6:5, and on Exo_24:9-11;
29. The proper attitude of man towards God is not only one of reverence but of obedience.
31. Man needs, and God Himself provides, a Mediator.
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 v29 (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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 22 The Ten Commandments as Given on Sinai
The Ten Commandments as Given on Sinai
v. 1. Add Moses called all Israel and said unto them, he intended his voice to reach as many as possible and to make the announcement as impressive as possible, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them, watch carefully to perform them. After this brief introduction, Moses immediately launches forth in the repetition of the Decalogue as it was given by the Lord on Mount Sinai, Exo 20:2-17.
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v. 2. The Lord, our God, made a covenant with us in Horeb, in the third month after their departure out of Egypt.
v. 3. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, with the patriarchs, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The covenant which the Lord made with Israel as a nation differed from those made with Noah and Abraham, especially as to the extent and inclusiveness of the obligations imposed.
v. 4. The Lord talked with you face to face, as one Person might talk with another, but not in visible form, in the mount out of the midst of the fire, Exo 20:22,
v. 5. (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, Exo 20:21, in the capacity of mediator, to show you the word of the Lord, that is, to make it known to them; for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, Exo 20:18, and went not up into the mount,) saying,
v. 6. I am the Lord, thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. There is here a reminder both of the fact that they were a peculiar people to the Lord and that a typical part of His redemptive work had been accomplished in delivering them out of their position as slaves.
v. 7. Thou shalt have none other gods before Me, either over and above Him, or by His side, or beneath Him, as subordinate gods; He is the one and only God.
v. 8. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, a carved or hewn picture or statue of wood, stone, or metal, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth, Deu 4:15-17.
v. 9. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for that is the real point of the prohibition, the prevention of idolatry; for I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, if the children follow their sinful parents in their iniquity, in their wicked behavior,
v. 10. and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep my commandments, since it pleases the Lord to make His grace and mercy known in much more abundant measure than His wrath and justice. The love toward God is a fruit of faith, itself a gift of God, and this love shows itself in keeping His commandments.
v. 11. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain, not use it in a foolish, fruitless manner; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. Such a person cannot plead innocence; his transgression will invariably be charged to his account and will be demanded of him with a sharp reckoning.
v. 12. Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctify it, observe it as a day set apart for the worship of Jehovah, as the Lord, thy God, hath commanded thee.
v. 13. Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work;
v. 14. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, that thy man-servant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. Cf Exo 20:8-11.
v. 15. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord, thy God, brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm, an expression denoting the exercise of God’s almighty power; therefore the Lord, thy God, commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day. The fact that Israel was the redeemed people of God and thus distinguished by Him above all nations was to be brought out in their Sabbath observance. The Sabbath-day, as a day of rest by God’s command, has been abrogated in the New Testament, and we Christians do not transfer to any other day the special ceremonial prohibitions which attached to the Sabbath of old. Cf Mat 12:8; Mar 2:28; Gal 4:9-11; Col 2:16-17. But the principle of the commandment is in force today as it ever was. It has been most succinctly and successfully stated by Luther: "We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. "
v. 16. Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord, thy God, hath commanded thee, that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee. The New Testament form of this commandment is given by Paul, Eph 6:2-3.
v. 17. Thou shalt not kill.
v. 18. Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
v. 19. Neither shalt thou steal.
v. 20. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor.
v. 21. Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor’s house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbor’s. The fact that the last commandment, or the last two commandments, differ slightly in form from the corresponding precepts in Exo 20:17, is due to the special object in view at this point, when Israel was about to enter upon its possessions. The Law is in force to the end of time. It assists the regenerate in overcoming the temptations of the flesh, and serves as a rule and guide in showing them the holy will of God. It leads the way in 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, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28, 31, 32 General Information:
General Information:
Moses continues to speak to the people of Israel.
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called to all Israel
Here "all" is a generalization. Moses wanted everyone in Israel to hear and obey his words, but his voice was probably not so loud that everyone actually heard him. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
that I will speak in your ears today
Here "ears" refers to the whole person. This metaphor emphasizes that the people know what Moses has said to them, so they cannot sin and then say they did not know they were sinning. AT: "that I will speak to you today" (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
Yahweh did not make this covenant with our ancestors
Possible meanings are 1) Yahweh did not only make a covenant with those who were at Horeb; the covenant was also with the later generations of Israelites or 2) Yahweh did not make this covenant with their distant ancestors, such as, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; instead, this covenant began with the Israelites at Horeb.
translationWords
Moses
Israel
statute
decree
Yahweh
God
covenant
Horeb
life
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, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 33 5:1–26:19 This section contains the heart of the covenant…
5:1–26:19 This section contains the heart of the covenant document, the stipulations. The first subdivision (5:1–11:32) sets forth the major stipulations relating especially to the first two commandments (5:7-10). The more specific minor stipulations make up the rest of the section.
5:1-32 The rest of the covenant laws expand and comment upon the Ten Commandments (5:6-21), on which they are based. Moses had first given the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel nearly forty years earlier (Exod 20:2-17).
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5:1 decrees and regulations: These technical terms describe the stipulations that Israel must obey as the junior partner in the covenant.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.