Deuteronomy 4

NOW therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes The Laws which concerns the worship and service of God., and unto the judgments The Laws concerning your duties to men. So these two comprehend both Tables and the whole Law of God. which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in, and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you By devising other doctrines or wayes of worship than what I have taught or prescribed. See Numb. 15. 39, 40. Deut. 12. 8, 32, 1 King. 12. 33. Prov. 30. 6. Math. 15. 9. For this were to accuse me of want of wisdom or care or faithfulness in not giving you sufficient instructions for my own service., neither shall ye diminish ought from it By rejecting or neglecting any thing which I have commanded, though it seem never so small., that ye may keep the commandements of the LORD your God, which I command you.

Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-Peor: for all the men that followed Baal-Peor, the LORD thy God has destroyed them from among you.

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

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

Keep therefore, and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations For though the generality of Heathen people in the later and degenerate ages of the world did through inveterate prejudices and for their own lusts and interests condemn the Laws of the Hebrews as foolish and absurd, yet it is most certain, that divers of the wisest heathens did highly approve of them so far that they made use of divers of them and translated them into their own Laws and Constitutions; and Moses, the giver of these Laws, has been mentioned with great honour for his... dom and learning by many of them. And particularly the old Heathen Oracle expresly said, that the Chaldeans or Hebrews, who worshipped the uncreated God, were the only wise men., which shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For what nation is there so great, who has God so nigh unto them By glorious miracles, by the pledges of his special presence by the operations of his grace, and particularly, as it here follows, by his readiness to hear our prayers and to give us those succours which we call upon him for., as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

And what nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgements so righteous Whereby he implies that the true greatness of a nation does not consist in pomp or power or largeness of empire, as commonly men think but in the righteousness of its Laws., as all this law which I set before you this day?

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

Specially the day that thou stoodst before the LORD thy God in Horeb Some of them stood there in their own persons, though then they were but young, the rest stood their in the loins of their Parents in whom they may well be said to stand there, because they are said to have entred into covenant with God because their Parents did so in their n... me and for their use., when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

And ye came near, and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burnt with fire unto the midst of heaven Flaming up into the air, which is oft called Heaven, and the midst or the heart of it is not only that which is strictly and properly the middle part, but that which is within it, though but a little way, in which sense places or persons or things are said to be in the heart of the Sea, Exod. 15. 8. Prov. 23. 34. Ezek. 28. 2. and Christ in the heart of the Earth. Matth. 12. 40., with darkness, clouds and thick darkness.

And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude (i. e.) No resemblance or representation of God, whereby either his essence or properties or actions were represented, such as were usual among the heathens., only ye heard a voice.

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

And the LORD commanded me at that time, to teach you statutes and judgments (i. e.) The ceremonial and judicial Laws, which are here distinguished from the moral, or the Ten Commandements, ver. 13., that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

Take ye therefore good heed unto your selves By which caution he insinuates mans great proneness to the worship of images God, who in other places and times did appear in a similitude, in the fashion of a man, now in this most solemn appearance, when he comes to give eternal Laws for the regulation and direction of the Israelites in the worship of God, and in their duty to men, he purposely avoids all such representations, to show that he abhors all Worship of images, or of himself by images of what kind soever, as it here follows ver 16, 17, 18, 19 because he is the invisible God and cannot be represented by any visible image. See Isa. 40. 18. Act. 17.... 9. (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb m, out of the midst of the fire.)

Lest ye corrupt your selves (i. e.) Corrupt your minds with mean and carnal thoughts of God. Or, corrupt your ways or courses, by worshipping God in a corrupt manner, or by falling into Idolatry., and make you a graven image To wit, for worship, or for the representation of God, as it is explained ver. 19. for otherwise it was not simply unlawful to draw the picture or make a figure of a man or a beast., the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female:

The likeness of any beast Whereby the Heathen nations did represent and worship God some by an Ox, some by a Goat, or an Hen, or a Serpent, or a Fish, &c. that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air:

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

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them (i. e.) Strongly enclined, and in a manner constrained partly by the glory of these heavenly bodies, which may seem to be made for higher purposes than to inlighten this lump of earth; partly from that natural propension which is in men to Idolatry. Or, shouldest be driven or thrust, to wit, out of the way of the Lord, (as it is more fully expressed, Deut. 13. 5.) or, be seduced, or led aside, as silly sheep easily are, and worship them. Or, shouldest be cast down, or throw down thy self and worship them, i. e. Worship them by falling down before them., and serve them, which the LORD thy God has divided unto all nations Which are not Gods, but Creatures, made not for the worship, but for the use of men, yea, of the meanest and most barbarous people under Heaven, and therefore cannot without great absurdity be worshipped, especially by you who are so much advanced above other Nations in Wisdome and Knowledge, and in this, that you are my peculiar people. under the whole heaven.

But the LORD has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace (i. e.) The furnace wherein Iron and other Metals are melted, to which Egypt is fitly compared, not only for the Torment and Misery which they there indured, but also because they were throughly tried and purged thereby, as Metals are by the fire., even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance His peculiar possession from generation to generation, See Exod. 19. 5. Deut. 7. 6. Tit. 2. 14. And therefore for you to forsake God, and worship Idols, will be not only wickedness and madness, but most abominable ingratitude., as ye are this day.

Furthermore, the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee God has granted you the favour which he denyed to me: which greatly increaseth your obligation to God. for an inheritance.

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

Take heed unto your selves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God has forbidden thee Or, commanded thee, to wit, not to do, which is easily understood by comparing this place with Exod. 20. 4, 5. and with Gen. 3. 11. where this phrase is fully expressed. See more on Levit. 4. 2. Deut. 3. 37..

For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire A just and terrible God, who, notwithstanding his special relation to thee, will severely punish and destroy thee, if thou provokest him by Idolatry, or other wayes., even a jealous God Who being espoused to thee, will be highly incensed against thee, if thou followest after other lover..., or committest whoredom with Idols, and no rival or partner..

When thou shalt beget children, and childrens children, and shalt have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt your selves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD Which words are here added either 1. As a caution. Your Idolatry, though possibly secretly and cunningly managed, will not be hid from him he sees it, and he will punish it. Or 2. To aggravate their spiritual Whoredom as being committed in the sight and presence of their Lord and Husband, whose eye is more peculiarly upon them in all their wayes, than it is upon other people. Or, 3. By way of opposition unto mens judgment. Idolatry oft times seems good, and reasonable, and religious in the eyes of men, but, says he it is evil in the eyes of the Lord, whose judgment is most considerable. thy God, to provoke him to anger:

I call heaven and earth Either 1. Figuratively, i. e. God, and Angels, and Men Or rather, 2. Properly; it being usual in Scripture to call in the senceless Creatures as witnesses in such cases, as Deut. 32. 1. Isa. 1. 2. Ier. 2. 12. to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it; but shall utterly be destroyed.

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

And there ye shall serve gods (i. e.) Idols. You shall be compelled by men, and given up by me to Idolatry. So that very thing which was your choice, shall be your punishment it being just and usual for God to punish one sin by giving them up to another, as is manifest from Rom. 1. 24, 25., the work of mens hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him If thou desirest his help and favour. See Deut. 30. 1. Isa. 55. 6. with all thy heart (i. e.) sincerely and fervently., and with all thy soul.

When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days Either in general, in succeeding Ages and Generations: or particularly in the days of the Messias, which are commonly called in Scripture the latter, or last days, as Isa. 2. 2. Host. 3. 5. Mich. 4. 1. Dan. 2. 44. Heb. 1. 2. and 9. 26. And so this may respect the conversion and redemption of the Iewish Nation even in those times when their case seems most desperate, when they have forsaken their God, and rejected their Messias for many ages, to wit, towards the end of the World., if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice:

(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers (i. e.) Made with thy fathers including their posterity, as Gen. 17. 7., which he sware unto them.

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven (i. e.) Of the Earth under heaven. Ask all the Inhabitants of the world. Compare Matt. 24. 31. with Mark 13. 27. unto the other, whether there has been any such thing, as this great thing is or has been heard like it:

Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live (i. e.) And was not overwhelmed and consumed by such a glorious appearance. See Exod. 24. 11. and 33. 20.?

Or has God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations By tribulations and persecutions, which are commonly called temptations, which are here fitly mentioned, as one great occasion first of their cryes unto God, and then of Gods coming for their rescue. Or, temptations is the general title, which is explained by the following particulars, signs, and wonders, &c. which are called temptations, because they were tryals both to the Egyptians and Israelites, whether thereby they would be induced to believe and obey God or no., by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors Raised in the minds of the Egyptians, as the History shows: compare Deut. 2. 25. and 34. 12. or, by terrible things done among them., according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know, that the LORD he is God, there is none else besides him.

Out of heaven (i. e.) Out of the air, above Mount Sinai. See Exod. 19. 9. and 20. 18, 22. he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth At the top of Mount Sinai. he showed thee his great fire, and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight Keeping his eye fixed upon him, as the Father does on his beloved child. Or, with his presence. i. e. He did not send them forth by Moses, but he himself was present with them, and as it were marched along with them, in the pillar of cloud and fire. with his mighty power out of Egypt;

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

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

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

Then Moses severed three cities As God had commanded him, Numb. 35. 6, 14. on this side Jordan toward the sun-rising:

That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities, he might live:

Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain countrey of the Reubenite; and Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadite, and Golan in Bashan of the Manassite.

And this Which has been generally intimated already, but is more particularly and punctually expressed in the following chapter, to which these words are a preface. is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt;

On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-Peor, in the land of Sihon King of the Amorite, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt.

And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorite, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising,

From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto Mount Sion, which is Hermon;

And all the plain on this side Jordan, eastward, even unto the sea of the plain under the springs of Pisgah.