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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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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.
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(5-19) These words the LORD spoke 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 it went on no more. And He wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them unto me.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 5:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 24:12 Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”
- Exodus 31:18 When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.
- Deuteronomy 4:12-15 Yahweh spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice. He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets. Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it. Be very careful, for you saw no kind of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire,
- Deuteronomy 4:36 Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you. On earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the middle of the fire.
- Deuteronomy 5:4 Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire,
- Exodus 19:18-19 All of Mount Sinai smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Teaching us by his example to be content with…
Teaching us by his example to be content with his word, and add nothing thereto.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 5:22 These words the LORD spake unto all…
Deu 5:22 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.
Ver. 22. These words the Lord spake.] If human laws are ευρημα των θεων, the invention of the gods, as Demosthenes calls them, how much rather this perfect law of God that needs no alteration or addition?
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 He added no more; he ceased for that time…
He added no more; he ceased for that time to speak immediately, and with that loud voice unto the people, for the rest were delivered to Moses, and by him communicated to the people. This he did to show the preeminence of that law above the rest, and its everlasting obligation.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now therefore why should we die?.... Since we are…
Now therefore why should we die?.... Since we are now alive, and have so wonderfully escaped the danger we were exposed unto, let us be careful that we are not liable to it again:
for this great fire will consume us: if it continues, and we are exposed to it; perhaps some of them might remember the fire that burnt in the uttermost parts of the camp at Taberah, and the destruction of Korah and the two hundred and fifty men with him by fire, Num 11:1,
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if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die; for it was such a voice of words they could not endure as to the matter of them, and therefore entreated the word might not be spoken to them any more; it being the killing letter, and the ministration of condemnation and death; and the manner in which it was delivered was so terrible, that they concluded they could not live, but must die if they heard it again; and imagined that if the fire continued, the flames of it would spread and reach them, and they would not be able to escape them.
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 Out of the midst of the fire, of the…
Out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness - That was a dispensation of terror, designed to make the gospel of grace the more welcome, and to be a specimen of the terrors of the judgment-day. He added no more - He ceased for that time to speak immediately, and with that loud voice unto the people; for the rest were delivered to Moses, and by him communicated unto them. This he did to shew the preeminence of that law above the rest, and its everlasting obligation.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Deu 5:22. Out of the midst of the fire,…
Deu 5:22. Out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness — This was a dispensation of terror, designed to make the gospel of grace the more welcome, and to be a specimen of the terrors of the judgment day. He added no more — He ceased for that time to speak immediately, and with that loud voice, unto the people; for the remaining precepts were delivered to Moses, and by him communicated unto them. This he did to show the pre-eminence of that law above the rest, and its everlasting obligation.
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 He added no more - i. e., He spoke…
He added no more - i. e., He spoke no more with the great voice directly to the people, but addressed all other communications to them through Moses. This unique and sublime phenomenon, followed up by the inscription of the Ten Words on the two tables by the finger of God, marks not only the holiness of God’s Law in general, but the special eminence and permanent obligation of the Ten Words themselves as compared with the rest of the Mosaic enactments. The giving of the two tables did not take place until Moses had been on the Mount 40 days and 40 nights, as appears from the fuller account of Deu 9:9-12.
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 More to the people: the other precepts were communicated…
More to the people: the other precepts were communicated to Moses. The Chaldean and others give a contrary turn to the Hebrew, "and he ceased not" ever since to instruct us. (Calmet) --- Moses gives the sense, not the very words of the decalogue, in which he is not guilty of any lie. (St. Augustine, q. 8.) (Du Hamel)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain he added no more-- (Exo 20:1). The pre-eminence of…
he added no more-- (Exo 20:1). The pre-eminence of these ten commandments was shown in God's announcing them directly: other laws and institutions were communicated to the people through the instrumentality of Moses.
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 22. He added no more — No more to…
22. He added no more — No more to the people; but he said more to Moses, which he was to repeat to the people.
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 22. The Close of the Ten Words and the…
22. The Close of the Ten Words and the writing of them.
your assembly] or congregation. The Heb. ḳahal, lit. gathering, technically used throughout the O.T. for any assembly of the people or its representatives for organised, national action: (a) In the earlier writings it is most usual of the solemn gathering before God of all capable of bearing arms, for consecration to war, Jdg_20:2; Jdg_21:5; Jdg_21:8; 1Sa_17:47; similarly in E, Num_22:4, where it is used by Balak of Israel ready for war against other nations; while in Ezekiel it is synonymous with army, Eze_17:17, Eze_38:4; Eze_38:15. (b) Also of the people assembled to give their verdict or to execute justice, Jer_26:17; Jer_44:15; cp. Eze_16:40; Pro_5:14. (c) Also of the whole organised commonwealth or congregation of Israel, Mic_2:5; and in the deuteronomic laws, Deu_23:1-3; Deu_23:8. But D specially applies the term to the gathering of Israel to the Covenant at Ḥoreb, so here (cp. the use of the verb in Deu_4:10), the assembly, the day of the a. Deu_9:10, Deu_10:4 (Pl.), Deu_18:16 (Sg.). In the laws Deu_23:1-3; Deu_23:8 (Sg.) it is called the a. of Jehovah. To this assembly P, which also uses ḳahal, applies his more favourite term ‘edah, congregation of the sons of Israel, Exo_35:1; Exo_35:4; Exo_35:20 (a term never used in JE or D, but occurring over 100 times in P, which also sometimes combines the two, cp. Pro_5:14). Otherwise deuteronomic writers use ḳahal only of peaceful gatherings of the people; to hear the Song of Moses, Deu_31:30; to hear the Law read at Shechem, Jos_8:35; and for the consecration of the Temple, 1Ki_8:14; 1Ki_8:22; 1Ki_8:55 (1Ki_12:3 is a doubtful instance; LXX omits it). For the post-exilic use of ḳahal and ‘edah see the present writer’s Jerusalem, i. 380 ff.
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fire … cloud … darkness …] See on Deu_4:11. Sam. and LXX add darkness before cloud. The comparison of E, Exo_20:18-21 is very instructive: thunderings, lightnings, mountain smoking.
with a great voice] E, the voice of the trumpet.
and he added no more] On this contradiction of E see above, p. 83.
two tables of stone] So Deu_4:13; Deu_9:9-11; Deu_10:1; Deu_10:3; the tables of the covenant, Deu_9:9; Deu_9:11; Deu_9:15; J, two tables of stone, Exo_34:1; Exo_34:4; E, tables of stone, Exo_24:12; Exo_31:18 b, P, two tables of the testimony, Exo_31:18 a, Exo_32:15 a, Exo_34:29. The statement of the writing of the tables is not really an anticipation of Exo_9:9 ff. and therefore to be deleted as secondary (Steuernagel), but is necessary here for the completion of the record of the Decalogue. See on Exo_9:9 ff.
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 (22) He added no more—i.e., He spoke no more…
(22) He added no more—i.e., He spoke no more in this manner; or, there were only ten commandments. So Deu_5:25 : “If we add to hear “—i.e., in this fashion.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 22-27. Here is an expanded citation of Exo_20:15-18,…
Vers. 22-27. Here is an expanded citation of Exo_20:15-18, addressed by Moses to prepare the way for the solemn admonition to observe and do all that the Lord had commanded them, with which he passes on to the enunciation of the various statutes and ordinances he had been enjoined by God to lay upon them.
And he added no more. "Only these ten words did God speak immediately to you; all the rest he spoke afterwards by me" (Herxheimer); cf. Num_11:25, where the same formula occurs, "and they added not," i.e. they prophesied only when the Spirit of God came on them, but this was not continuous. And he wrote them in two tables of stone. This anticipates what is recorded in its proper historical connection in Deu_9:10, Deu_9:11.
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The Law as a whole, and its effect upon the people.
In the account of the reception of the Law which we have in the Book of the Exodus, it would seem probable that we have a record which was penned at or near the time of the occurrence. The one before us is declared to be some thirty-nine years after. Moses was then verging towards the end of his career. He indulges in a retrospect of the eventful scenes, and rehearses them in the ears of the people. As we have seen in the first Homily, he "dug" into the Law, and dug up its contents. With this passage as our guide, as we have looked at each command in the Decalogue separately, let us survey it in its entirety.
I THE LAW IS TO BE REGARDED AS A UNITY. It is not made up of isolated precepts. Our Savior declares that it is summed up in two commandments. And the apostle reminds us that "Love is the fulfilling of the Law," love to God the root, and love to man the fruit. Taking them in order, the first four require of us a love that shall worship God alone, honoring his nature, revering his name, and guarding his rest day for his special service. The six later ones enjoin love to man, requiring loyalty in the home, restraint in the temper, purity of the body, fidelity of the hand, government of the tongue, unselfishness in the heart. What a space of ground all that covers! What part or power of our being is there that is not held in its comprehensive grasp? And how deeply it strikes! It is a "critic" of the thoughts and intents of the heart. No superficial obedience can meet its claims. It is not difficult to see the purpose which it was designed to serve. It was the basis of Israel"s national life and legislation. It was for the instruction of the nations round about. (Deu_4:6) And though it was set on a basis of redeeming mercy, it was designed to awaken the conscience to a sense of sin, to take the people to school, and thus to become their child-guide unto Christ. As compared with the simpler patriarchal dispensation, it was an apparent retrogression for the purpose of a spiritual education. It was a form, written, of that high, that holy, that eternal law of righteousness which is the same for all times, all places, and all peoples, yea, of that Law of perfect love which the Divine Being fulfils in absolute perfection, and after which he would have his creatures conformed.
II THIS LAW CONTAINS WITHIN ITSELF THE EVIDENCE OF ITS DIVINE ORIGIN. An able American commentator on the Laws of Moses (Dr. Wines), tell us of a distinguished lawyer who had been skeptical on the subject of Divine revelation, and who undertook the study of the Old Testament with a view of satisfying himself as to the validity of its claims to be an inspired writing. When he came to the Decalogue, and had given it an attentive perusal, lost in admiration of its superhuman perfection, he exclaimed," Where did Moses get that Law?" He applied himself to the study of the question, and the result was the removal of every skeptical doubt, and the attainment of a clear and earnest conviction of the Divine original of the Law. Nor is it surprising that a legal mind, accustomed to weigh evidence, should come to such a conclusion; for when we know how early in the world"s history this Law was promulgated, it is very marvelous to find that an infant nation should, at starting, have a code of moral law so complete; yea, so elevated, that no other nation at that time presented anything like it, and that even now, 3300 years afterwards, not the wisest man in the world can suggest anything loftier! The kingdoms of Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, have furnished us with naught like this, to say nothing of the Roman, Grecian, and Persian empires, the earliest of which was not founded for centuries after. And if, leaving the merely civil and political side of legislation, we ask for an embodiment of a moral and religious code on which legislation could safely be based, we do not find aught to be compared with this. Nor, if we look at the record of the national life of the very people to whom this Law was first given, do we find that even they approximated to conformity to it. In fact, nothing is more marked in their subsequent literature than their grievous departure from their own standards. When man makes any code of laws, those laws reflect himself and his own standard of attainment. But here is a code far beyond the attainment of any yet recorded nation. It is not necessary, however, to go to ancient nations to show that this Law betokens a higher than human origin. Look at legislation now. Look at the moral sentiment of peoples now. What is the cry? Love thy neighbor as thyself? Emphatically no! But "take care of your own interests, and let your neighbors look after themselves!" "Remove your neighbor"s landmark as you think well!" Why, if no nation in the world is good enough to adopt the standard of the Decalogue, could it have created it, without ever having had any of its educating influence? And if no nation now could do it, how could they who were just liberated from centuries of slavery? But more than this. This Law is high above the attainment of well-trained Christian congregations. Let a minister proclaim the mercy of God in forgiving sin, and his preaching may charm, Let him insist on the demands of God"s righteousness, and while some earnest holy souls will lay it to heart, and humble themselves before God, many will be offended at the enforcement of righteousness; and even now many a minister is persecuted for righteousness" sake. This Law from man? No! it is too good for that. When man is brought face to face with its holy heart-searchingness he hates it! But again. Take the most advanced and holiest Christian you can find. Let him stand in full front of this holy Law and soon he will be crying out, in agony, "God be merciful to me the sinner!" "But," it may be said, "are not Christians always preaching up to a higher level than that of their attainments?" Certainly; but why? Because they feel and know that here is a Law which they certainly did not originate, which is infinitely above them, and which, by being so, proclaims its intrinsic authority, and proves itself Divine. When such a Law is given, conscience can look at it and say, "That"s right." But to create a code above itself, is what no nation ever was able to do. This Law shines by its own light, and is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path.
III WHEN PERCEIVED IN ALL ITS GRANDEUR, THIS HOLY LAW FILLS WITH AWE AND TERROR. The thunder, lightning, flame, etc., revealed a majesty that Israel could not endure. (vers. 25, 26; cf. Heb_12:18-21) But all this terror was nothing compared with the dread that comes over a man when his inmost self is confronted with the Law in its deep heart-searchingness (cf. Rom_7:9)
IV GOD TREATS THE TERROR VERY GRACIOUSLY.
1. Israel was called near to the mount to meet with God, that they might learn a solemn awe, and then sent back to their tents, to wonder and to do.
2. God hearkens to their voice, and appoints a mediator even Moses. (Gal_3:19, Gal_3:20) We are come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. (Heb_12:24)
3. Israel is reminded that what is needed on their part is, not emotion, but devotion (ver. 29). God wants of us a heart to love and obey. Of itself, the Law does but shut us up to see the necessity of a power for righteousness which it cannot give. (Gal_3:21) God has made with us a new covenant. The old covenant says, "Do this, and you will live." The new one says, "Live, and you will do this" (cf. Jer 30 Jer 31; Heb_8:6-13)
4. The people are assured that faithful obedience to the Law of God will ensure the well-being of the nation, its long continuance in the land, and the comfort and peace of the family as well as of the individual. Even so. We have in the Law of God a rule of life absolutely perfect. What is wanted is but obedience to it. This is the one thing to be desired. (Jam_1:22) It is bitterly to be lamented when this obedience is not given. (Psa_80:8-16) When this is the case, the Law becomes a silent accuser. (see Joh_5:45) It is this unwillingness to keep God"s Law which is charged against men as sin. It is of this sin of disloyalty that men are called on to repent (Rom_2:1-16; Eze_18:30; Mat_3:2; Luk_13:3; Act_20:21) God in his great love offers to law-breakers, when penitent, the privilege of starting afresh. (Act_2:38) God forgives the penitent, and imparts new life and strength through the power of the Holy Ghost, to re-set and restore the nature disorganized by sin. Then the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled as men walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Then life has found its true support, is tending to its right issue, is realizing its highest ideal, and has its noblest outlook. Let us all, then, conscious of innumerable failures in obedience, penitently throw ourselves on Divine grace and love, and seek for energy Divine to work in us, canceling the guilt of the past, creating the life of God within; so will it be well with us forever and ever!
Moral Law.
I THE TEN COMMANDMENTS A DISTINCT PART OF GOD"S REVELATION.
1. They were spoken by God"s own voice from the midst of the fire (ver. 24).
2. They only were thus promulgated; "he added no more.
3. They were written on tables of stone.
4. They were deposited in the ark of the covenant. (Exo_25:16) These facts show that they held a distinct place in the Law-giving at Sinai, and that they are not to be confounded with the ceremonial and judicial statutes, subsequently given.
II THE GROUNDS OF THIS DISTINCTION. The Decalogue was:
1. An epitome of universal moral truth.
2. Internally complete as such the first table laying down our duties to God, as respects his being, his worship, his Name, his day, his human representatives; the second forbidding all injury to our fellow-men (injuries to life, property, chastity, character), while requiring by implication the fulfillment of all positive duties, and the regulation even of our secret thoughts.
3. The basis of the covenant with Israel. The foundation on which all subsequent legislation was reared. J.O.
Vers. 22-33. How Moses became mediator.
The Ten Commandments were a direct communication from God to Israel. But it was too much for their sinful, terrified souls to stand, and so Moses is entreated to stand between God and them, and be the medium of communication between them. The Lord approved of the arrangement, and installed Moses into the office (cf. Exo_20:18-21) This suggests
I THE CRY FOR A MEDIATOR AROSE OUT OF THE FEARS OF MEN. The surpassing glory of God makes such a terrific impression on the hearts of sinners that they cry instinctively for mediation. It is a need of mankind when aroused to a true sense of the majesty and purity of God. Those who question the necessity of mediation are really wanting in the due sense of God"s exceeding majesty and glory.
II THE OFFICE OF A MEDIATOR NECESSITATED MUCH PERSONAL SELF-DENIAL. It was doubtless a great honor conferred on Moses; but it was also a great burden. Thus he declared his own fears in the circumstances. "I exceedingly fear and quake" was his testimony about the experience on the mount. Besides, the forty days" seclusion and fast and all the attendant anxieties and troubles showed that it was most assuredly no sinecure. And these trials of Moses only faintly typify the severe strain and trial borne by Christ, the one Mediator between God and man.
III THE MEDIATION WAS LAW-GIVING. Moses was to convey "the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments" of God unto the people. It was didactic its purpose was the conveyance of truth. It was a prophetic office, consequently, which Moses in this instance received. The priestly was made over to Aaron, on the principle of a "division of labor.
And so Christ is the great mediating Prophet. He came forth from the secret place of God to convey to us what God is. He came down from heaven. He testified about heavenly things. (Joh_3:11-13) And in theperfection of mediation, he embodied the truth, and was able to say, "I am the truth". (Joh_14:6) Jesus was a living Law.
IV OBEDIENCE SHOULD RESULT FROM THE MEDIATION. The whole Law was a "commandment with promise." This is shown in ver. 33. The children of Israel were to conduct themselves obediently as the children of God, and they would realize in all its breadth the promise of the fifth commandment. The Law was a Law of well-being (ver. 29). Obedience was the condition of continued prosperity in the land. And the same arrangements continue. Obedience to God"s Law still secures the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. Not, of course, that the saints are always prosperous in this world; were this the case, saintship would be a very mercenary business. But other things being equal, the tendency of obedience is to present as well as future well-being. God makes no promise, but threatening, to the disobedient. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain These words the Lord spake.
Deu_5:22
These words the Lord spake.
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The voice of God
God spake. Think of it, worshipper of lust and greed, worshipper of self, worshipper of the many-headed monster of thine own evil desires, worshipper of no God! Think of it, Sabbath breakers who seek only your own pleasure on the Lords Day! Think of it, ye who dishonour and are ungrateful and disobedient to father and mother! Think of it, ye whose hearts are full of violence, cruelty, and malice! God spake these words and said. Try to realise what God is, and with it that He speaks and that He is still speaking these words to thee. What words? Very few! Men multiplied indefinitely the necessaries which God had not made many. The summary of the first table is the fear of God; of the second, the love to our neighbour. Brief, then, as they are, the commandments, and with them the whole scope and range, the origin and sum total of mans duty, are summed up in two monosyllables, Love, Serve. The Jews split the Ten Commandments into 613 positive and negative precepts and prohibitions. We can reduce them to one. St. Paul reduced them to the one word Believe. St. John reduced them men may, if they like, devote their whole souls to small observances, doctrinal technicalities: that which God requires as alone necessary for any one of us is righteousness, and righteousness depends on love. A young Gentile went to the great doctor, Shammai, and said to him, I will become a Jew if you will teach me the whole law while I stand on one leg, and the angry Rabbi drove him out of the house with blows. But when he went with the same words to the rival of Shammai, the sweet and noble Hillel, Hillel gently answered, That is easy, my son; never do to anyone what you would not like him to do to you. That is the whole law; all the rest is commentary and fringe. The Gentile was converted, but the Rabbi was wrong. Christ when He was asked by the young ruler, What must I do to inherit eternal life? did not thus dissever the Golden Rule from its force and sanction, He did not divorce the second table from the first; He said, Keep the commandments; love God with all thy heart--that is the first table; and thy neighbour as thyself--that is the second. He knew that man cannot love God his Father unless he loves man his brother; and that he cannot love man the brother aright or at all unless he loves his Father God. In conclusion then, so far as mans whole duty is concerned, all the rest of Scripture is but a commentary upon the Ten Commandments; it either exhorts us to obedience by arguments, or allures us to it by promises, or frightens us from transgressions by threatenings, or excites us to the one and restrains us from the other by examples recorded in its histories. And when all this has been in vain to keep us back from sin, still God does not leave us nor forsake us. The covenant of Jehovah-shammah, The Lord is there, becomes the covenant of Jehovah-Tsidkenu, The Lord our Righteousness. As the atoning blood is sprinkled before the broken tables of the Law it teaches us we have indeed all sinned, but that with God in Christ there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. Christ Himself is the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believeth. (Dean Farrar.)
He added no more.
The completeness of the commandments
These words may be very sad, or they may be very joyous. They would be sad if the Lord had turned away in anger, saying, I will not speak again unto you; but they may be very joyous, yea, musical after a heavenly sort, when God has said just enough to meet the necessity and the weakness of man, and when He forbears to add one word that would overtax his strength and throw his dying hope into melancholy and despair. You have, then, something like completeness of law in these Ten Commandments. Certainly you have what may be called temporary completeness; that is, a completeness adapted to the circumstances under which they were delivered. God could have added more; He need never have stopped: He might have been writing now--but does He delight to overburden us with technicality, or even with legislation of any kind? His delight is to give us as little as may be needful for proper discipline and to secure loyal, loving, and sufficient obedience. Does He give law to vex you? To prove you, not to bewilder and distract your memory. Has He written all the universe over with commandments? He has written the universe over with promises and blessings, and here and there His commanding word is written; for too many promises and benedictions, untempered by those severer words, might lead us into presumption, might turn away all our attention from the deeper and severer studies and pursuits of life, and might end in making us molluscous, and not strong and grand. Now, this is the kind of authority before which I bow with love and thankfulness. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Perpetual obligation of the moral law
The moral law is, from its very nature, unchangeable, and of perpetual obligation; nor can we read the history of its promulgation without seeing that the greatest care was taken to distinguish it from all other laws, and more especially from those judicial and ceremonial laws which were given for the special guidance of the Jewish people.
I. The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Leighton truly says, It is a weak conceit, arising upon the mistake of the Scriptures, to make Christ and Moses as opposites. No, Moses was the servant in the house and Christ the Son; and being a faithful servant, he is not contrary to the Son, but subordinate to Him. By showing us what God requires, the law discloses to us our own manifold transgressions, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. It conveys to us much and important instruction concerning God and concerning ourselves. It teaches us His holiness and our unholiness, His righteousness and our unrighteousness, His infinite perfections and our fallen and imperfect condition. Thus the law, when listened to in the spirit of reverence and godly fear, must produce conviction of sin, and prepare the soul for the reception of Christ. It is our schoolmaster for this great end, that by holy discipline and faithful teaching it may lead us to Him in whom alone salvation is to be found, and of whom we read that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
II. The law is the perpetual rule of duty to all who believe in Christ. In our Divine Surety we see that the law has been perfectly fulfilled, its honour maintained, and its demands fully satisfied. And through His Almighty power, whose purpose is from everlasting, the righteousness which the Lord Jesus presented to the law is imputed to His people--it is unto all and upon all them that believe. It is the spotless robe in which they are accepted now at the throne of grace, and in which they shall be presented hereafter faultless before the throne of glory. How vainly do they talk who speak of the abrogation of the moral law! They forget that He has said, and will perform it, I will put My laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people. Well, then, might the apostle triumphantly exclaim, Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law. Trusting in the Saviour, the believer is secure; but if his faith is genuine and sincere, he will ever seek to have that mind in him which was also in Christ Jesus, and he will be constrained to say, as the Psalmist did, Oh, how love I Thy law: it is my meditation all the day! (W. Niven, B. 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 AFTER the ten commandments, Deuteronomy, like Exodus, next indicates…
THE MEDIATORSHIP OF MOSES
Deu_5:22-23
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AFTER the ten commandments, Deuteronomy, like Exodus, next indicates that for all of legislation, exhortation, and advice that follows, Moses was to be the mediator between God and the people. He is represented as Yahwehs prophet or speaker in all that succeeds; the Decalogue alone is set forth as the direct Divine command. Evidently a great distinction is here notified, and what it exactly was may be best explained by reference to the history of Roman law. In the earliest times that consisted of Fas, Jus, and Jus moribus constitutum. In chapter 4 Professor Muirheads description of fas has been given at length, so that we need not repeat it here. The point to remember is that it consisted of universal precepts such as the Decalogue contains, given direct by God. Jus again was, according to Breal, the Divine will declared by human agency, and it occupied much the position which law does in civilized states now. Finally, Jus moribus constitutum, or boni mores, was customary law, which had a twofold function. It was
(1) a restraint upon the law, condemning, though it could not prevent, the ruthless and unnecessary exercise of legal right.
(2) It was a supplement to law (Jus), requiring things law did not, e.g., dutiful service, respect and obedience, chastity, fidelity to engagements, etc.
Now it is a striking fact that, though there can be no question of imitation here, the legislation of Deuteronomy falls naturally into these very divisions; and that fact of itself gives strong support to the belief that here in Israel, as there in Rome, we have the recorded facts of the earliest efforts at the regulation of national life. The fas, then, corresponds to the Decalogue. The Jus runs exactly parallel with the laws in the strict sense of the term, those which Moses received from Yahweh and afterwards promulgated. Lastly, the boni mores are represented in Deuteronomy by those beautiful precepts which limited the exercise of legal right, and, going far beyond law, demanded of Israel that they should make good their claim to be Yahwehs people by justice, charity, and purity.
To some it may seem that we do no service to Scripture by insisting upon such a parallel. They will feel as if thereby the unique character of the religion of Israel as a revealed religion were obscured, if not obliterated. But nothing can be imagined which could confirm us in belief of the substantial accuracy of what we find narrated of early times in Scripture, more than the discovery that, without any possibility of collusion, the earliest records of civilization elsewhere give us precisely the same account of the forms in which law first makes its appearance. Surely we ought now to have learned this lesson at least, that it is no disparagement to a Divinely given system of law and religion, that its growth and development run in the same channels as the growth and development of similar systems which have none of the marks of a Divine origin. Revelation always seizes upon mind as it is, and makes that a sufficient and effective channel for itself. However it is to be explained, it is true that Divine action generally seeks to hide itself in the ordinary course of human things as quickly as possible. It is only at the moment of contact, or at the moment when it has burst forth in some flower of more than earthly grace and loveliness, or when it has overturned and overturned until that state of things which has a right to endure has been attained, that the Divine force reveals itself. For the most part it sinks into the general sum of forces that are making for the progress of humanity, and clothes itself gladly in the uniform of other beneficent but natural influences. Consequently it ought to be a welcome fact that so close a parallel exists between the origins of Roman law and the origins of Hebrew law. The one great gain already mentioned, that it explains the early appearance of the Decalogue, and shows that some such laws would naturally be among the primary laws of Israel, would be sufficient to justify that view; while in addition the distinctions from the early laws of Rome help us to classify in clear broad masses the somewhat disordered series of Deuteronomic laws.
On one point only does the parallel seem questionable. If we followed it alone as our guide, we should have to set down the mediator-ship of Moses, as a mere part of the method, as belonging to the formal side only of the great revelation. In other words, we should have to ask whether the statement we have in Deu_5:22-30 is only an emotional and pictorial way of setting forth the fact that, following and supplementing the elementary and Divinely given Hebrew fas, there was also a Divinely given but humanly mediated jus. But clearly it means much more than that. By the earlier prophets, and generally in all earlier delineations of him, Moses is regarded as a prophet who had more direct and continuous access to the Divine presence than any other prophet of Israel. Moreover he had always been represented from the earliest times as standing between Yahweh and His people, holding on to the one and refusing to let the other go. In the great scene, taken from the earliest constituents of the Pentateuch and narrated in Exodus 32, we see him anticipating by centuries the wonderful picture of the Servant of God in Isaiah 53, and by a still more amazing stretch of time, that Divinest wish of St. Paul, that he himself might be accursed even from Christ for his brethrens sake. He thus stood between Yahweh and His people both as the organ of Revelation and as the self-forgetting intercessor, who suffered for sins not his own, as well as for sins which his connection with his nation had brought upon him; who, instead of repining, was willing to be blotted out of Gods book if that could benefit his people.
This representation of Moses is not accidental. It is in complete accord with a characteristic of Israelite literature from beginning to end. In the earliest historical records we find that the chief heroes of the nation are mediators, standing for God in the face of evil men, and pleading with God for men when they are broken and penitent, or even when they are only terrified and restrained by the terror of the Lord. At the beginning of the national history we see the noble figure of Abraham in an agony of supplication and entreaty before God on behalf of the cities of the plain. At the end of it, we see the Christ, the supreme "mediator between God and man," pouring out His soul unto death for men "while they were yet sinners," dying, the just for the unjust, taking upon Himself the responsibility for the sin of man, and refusing to let him wander away into permanent separation from God. And all between is in accord with this. For it is not Moses only who is regarded as having a mediatorial office. The very people: itself is set, by the promise given to Abraham, in the same position. As early at least as the eighth century it was put before Israel, that their calling was not for their own sakes only, but that in them all nations of the earth might be blessed. And at their highest moments the prophets and teachers of Israel always recognize this as their nations part. Even when they were being scattered among the heathen, it was that they might be the means of bringing the knowledge of Yahweh to the nations. From end to end of Scripture, therefore, this conception is wrought into the very fiber of its utterances. It is of the essence of the Biblical conception of God that He should work among men by mediators. In no other way could the primary Divine message be set forth than by the prophetic voice; in no other way than by the intercession and the suffering of those most in harmony with the Divine will could any effective hold upon God be given to His people. Only by those who thus proved that they had seen Yahweh could His character be expressed. Further, it was in this way that Moses and the prophets, the rulers and the saints of Israel, were types of Christ.
They were not mere puppets set forth in certain crises of Israels history to go through a certain career, live a certain life, and pass into and out of a number of scenes, in order that they might afford us, upon whom the end of the world has come, pictorial proofs that all things in this history were pressing towards and converging upon Christ. That would be a very artificial way of conceiving the matter. No, each of these types was a real man, with real tasks of his own to accomplish in the world. Not only were they all real men, they were the leading men of their various times. They bore the burden of their day more than others; they were the special organs: of Divine power and grace; and their lives were spent in giving impulse and direction to the movements of their peoples life towards the strange, unlooked-for consummation appointed for it. They were types of Christ, they gave promise of Him, not because of mere arbitrary appointment or selection, but because they did in their day, in a lower degree and at an earlier stage, the very same work that He did. Further, the whole nation was a type of Christ in so far as it was true to its calling at all. It was the prophet and the priest among nations. It spread abroad the knowledge of Him, and it died at last as a nation that life might be given to the world. Both Israel and all the men who truly represented it were partakers in the labors and in the sufferings of Christ beforehand, just as Christians are said to fill up the measure of His sufferings now. The mediatorial character of Moses, therefore, was essential. It is no merely formal thing, nor an afterthought. He would have been no fit founder of the mediatorial nation had he not been a mediator himself, for not otherwise could he have helped to realize the Abrahamic promise.
But there is another subsidiary reason why a mediator was necessary to Israel at this stage. Behind all that Moses taught his people lay necessarily the ancient popular religion of the Hebrews. Now, except in so far as it may have been changed in Egypt, that was in its main features the same as the religion of the other nomadic tribes of Semitic stock, for the Abrahamic faith was, clearly, known but to few. But the names given to their deities by these people-such as Baal, Adhonai, Milcom, etc.-"all expressed submission to the irresistible power revealing itself in nature," just as "Islam," which means "submission," indicates that Mohammedanism is a mere perpetuation of this view. Consequently the Israelite people were unable to conceive God save as a devouring presence, before which no man could live. The Mosaic view was, in itself, immeasurably higher, and, besides that, it opened up the path to attainments then inconceivable. Moses therefore had to stand alone in his new relation to God, while the people cowered away in terror, dominated entirely by the lower conception. They could not stand where he stood. They were unable to believe that power was not Yahwehs only attribute; while Moses had had revealed to him, in germ at least, that God was "merciful and gracious, long-suffering and slow to anger," and that a life passed in His presence was the ideal life for man. Both the Yahwistic narrative in Exodus and the repetition of it in Deuteronomy give the same representation of the events at Sinai, and indicate quite clearly that, while the old relation to God was in itself good so far, it was to be superseded by that higher relation in which Moses stood. That is the meaning of the words in Deu_5:28-29 : "And Yahweh 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. 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!" The parallel passage in Exodus is Exo_20:20 : "And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come toprove you, and that His fear may be before you, that ye sin not." In both, the standpoint of fear is approved as relatively good and wholesome. It was well that the people should have this awestruck fear of the Divine, for it would act as a deterrent from sin. But it was not sufficient. It was only the starting-point for the attainments which Yahweh by Moses, and in Moses, was about to call and incite them to. Moses therefore had to stand between Israel and Yahweh in this too, that he had entered into and lived in relations with his God which they were as yet unable either to conceive or to endure. It is well to add, also, that in giving approval of this kind to fear as a religious motive these early teachers were entirely in accord with the final development of Israelite religion in the New Testament. The modern view that any appeal to fear in religion or morality is degrading would have been simply unintelligible to the Biblical writers. Even now, the whole fabric of society, the state with its officials and the law with its penalties, are a continual protest against it in the realm of practical morality. In truth the conflict raised about this matter in modern times is simply a conflict between superfine theories and facts. Now the Old Testament is throughout supremely true to the facts of human nature and human experience. It is practically a transcript of them as seen in the light of revelation. In a time, therefore, when in morals and religion physical fact is being allowed to override or pervert psychical fact, the Old Testament view is peculiarly wholesome. It helps to restore the balance and to keep mans thoughts sane.
Another point on which this narrative of Deuteronomy corrects and restores that which the tendency of modern thought has perverted is an even more important one. We have seen that the Old Testament view, as stated here, and as it is interwoven with the central fibers of the Old Testament conception, is that all men who are called to the task of permanently raising the level of human life and thought must give not only their light to, but their life for, those whom they seek to win for God. They must ask nothing from mankind but ever widening opportunities for service and self-sacrifice. But in our modern day this has been precisely reversed, and men like Goethe and Schopenhauer, and even Carlyle, have demanded that mankind should yield service to them, and then, by the furtherance and development they thereby attain, they promise to work out the deliverance of men from superstition and unreality and the bondage of ignorance. Goethe in this matter is typical. He preached and practiced in the most uncompromising manner the doctrine of self-development. He thought that he could serve humanity in no way so well as by making every one he met, and all the experiences he encountered, minister to his own intellectual growth. Instead of saying with Moses, "Blot me out of Thy book," but spare these dim idolatrous masses, he would have said, "Let them all perish, and let me become the origin of a wiser, more intellectual, more self-restrained race than they." He consequently pursued his own ends relentlessly from his early years, and attained results so immense that almost every domain of thought, speculation, and science is now under some debt to him. But for all purposes of inspiring moral and spiritual enthusiasm he is practically useless. His selfishness, however high its kind, accomplished its work and left him cold, unapproachable, isolated. This want of love for men made him the accurate critic of human nature, but left him blind in great degree and hopeless altogether in regard to those possibilities of better things which are never wholly wanting to it. The result is that, notwithstanding his heroic powers, his influence is today rather a minus quantity in the spiritual and moral life. No one who has not warmth from other sources pouring in upon him can have much communion with Goethe without losing vitality, and in his presence the Divine passion of self-sacrificing love looks out of place, or even slightly absurd. His power is fascinating, but it freezes all the sources of the nobler spiritual emotions, and ultimately must tend to the impoverishing of human nature and the lowering of the level of human life. No; men are not to be reached so if it is wished to raise them to their highest powers, and all experience proves that the New Testament was right in summing up the teaching of the Old by the words, "He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it."
"That is the doctrine, simple, ancient, true;
Such is lifes trial, as old earth smiles and knows.
If you loved only what were worth your love,
Love were clear gain and wholly well for you;
Make the low nature better by your throes!
Give earth yourself, go up for gain above!"
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Admonition to Heed the Law
Admonition to Heed the Law
v. 22. 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, Exo 19:16-19; and He added no more, only the Decalogue was given in this manner. And He wrote them in two tables of stone and delivered them unto me, Exo 24:12; Exo 31:18.
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v. 23. 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;
v. 24. 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, Deu 4:33; Exo 20:18-19.
v. 25. 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. The consciousness of their sinfulness would rest upon them so heavily as to make them die for fear and dread of God’s majesty.
v. 26. 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? Flesh in itself, natural man in his inherited sinfulness, to which is added the guilt of the many transgressions in thought, word, and deed, is opposed to the holiness of God, is conscious of the fact that the punishment upon sin is death, Joh 3:6.
v. 27. 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, Exo 20:19. They were altogether ready to accept the service of Moses as mediator between the Lord and themselves. Note that the speeches are here given in their full form, since Moses was speaking to the children of those who actually spoke these words at Mount Sinai.
v. 28. 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. Their plea had been prompted by the consciousness of their unworthiness before the Lord; it showed a condition of the heart which was peculiarly receptive to the precepts which Jehovah was about to give.
v. 29. 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 forever! The state of mind which Israel showed here is best adapted to heed the commandments of the Lord and to follow the directions of His holy will. But even here there seems to be a show of apprehension concerning the lasting qualities of the professed feeling.
v. 30. Go, say to them, Get you in to your tents again, since their petition was granted.
v. 31. But as for thee, 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. In this way Moses became the formal mouthpiece of the Lord, the recognized mediator between Him and the people, at their own request.
v. 32. 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.
v. 33. 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. The picture is that of a straight road, every deviation from which will plunge the wayfarer into destruction. It will be the aim of every Christian to follow the narrow pathway and to enter in at the strait gate which leads to eternal life, through the mercy and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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 General Information:
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Moses continues to remind the people of Israel what Yahweh said.
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translationWords
word
Yahweh
voice
assembly
darkness
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.