The Fifth Book of Moses, called Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 5
Chapter V · Vol. I, pp. 486–489
1 A commemoration of the covenant in Horeb, 6 the ten commandments. 22 At the people's request Moses receiveth the law from God.
1 AND Moses called aall Israel,1 and said unto them, bHear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do 2them.
a ver. 23; ch. 29.10; 31.1. Ex. 20.19. Jos. 23.2; 24.1.
1 How could 'all Israel,' even limiting the phrase to all males from twenty years old and upwards, attend in one place to hear this discourse of Moses? The answer is easy; (1) It is not said they all attended, but that all were called. (2) But even if all, in the widest application of the word, were required to attend, and actually did attend, at one place, it is not necessary to infer that they attended at one time; but successively.—C.
b ch. 4.1.
2 Heb. keep to do them.
2 The cLORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
c Ex. 19.5,6; 24.8. ch. 4.23.
3 The LORD dmade not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.3
d Ge. 17.7-14. ch. 29.10-15. Ga. 3.17,21. He. 8.9. Ps. 105.8,10. Je. 50.5.
3 The full meaning appears to be:—'Not with our fathers who subsequently died in the wilderness—not with them only, or with them specially, did God make this covenant; but with us who are here alive this day, and in the act of entering on the country which he promised—to us who are in the enjoyment of the promised blessings.'—P.
4 Thee LORD talked with you face to face in the mount, out of the midst of the fire,
e Ex. 20.22; 33.11; 19.9,19. Nu. 12.8. ch. 4.12,15,33,36. Ne. 9.13,14. He. 12.18,19. ver. 22,24-26.
5 (I stood fbetween 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,
f Ex. 20.18,19,21; 19.16. Ga. 3.19. He. 12.18-21. ver. 24-27.
7 Thouh shalt have none other gods before me.
h Ex. 20.3. 1 Jn. 5.21. Mat. 4.10.
8 Thoui shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
i Ex. 20.4-6. Le. 26.1.
9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: kfor 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,
10 Andl showing mercy unto thousands5 of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
l Je. 32.18. Jn. 15.15. ver. 31; ch. 8.2; 28.1-14. Le. 26.1-13.
5 The mercy of God is held out as a motive to obey the law of God, though the law itself holds out no mercy to the transgressor. In the preface God speaks to them as their Redeemer, and it is only in this view that a sinner can yield it obedience. The mercy of God is here promised to thousands; not only of individuals, or to great multitudes to the third and fourth generation, but to successive generations to the end of time. The Lord's dealings with the posterity of Abraham, who believed his word, loved him, and kept his commandments, illustrate this promise.—I.
11 Thoum shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
12 Keepn the sabbath-day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
n Ex. 20.8-11; 16.23-26; 31.13-17; 35.2. Is. 58.13; 56.6. Mat. 24.20.
13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work;
14 But the seventh day is the osabbath 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 pthy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.
15 And qremember 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.
q ch. 15.15; 16.12; 24.18,22. Ex. i.-xiv. Is. 63.9. Lu. 1.74,75. Ps. 116.16. 2 Co. 5.14,15.
16 Honourr thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; sthat thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451.
r Ep. 6.1,2. Ex. 20.12. ch. 27.16. Le. 19.3. Mat. 19.19. Col. 3.20.
s ch. 4.1,40; 6.2,3; 8.1; 11.8,9.
t Ex. 20.13-17. Mat. 5.21; 7.12; 19.18. Ro. 13.9. Ja. 2.11. Ga. 5.14. Ep. 4.31,32; 6.3-5.
18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
19 Neither shalt thou steal.
20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
21 Neitheru shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field,6 or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.7
u Ro. 7.7. He. 13.5. 1 Ti. 6.10. Tit. 2.10. 1 Th. 4.6. Col. 3.5.
6 Moses in this repetition and comment appropriately introduces the word 'field,' as the people were now about to enter the promised land.—C.
7 On comparing Ex. xx. with De. v. there appear such varieties in the fourth, fifth, and tenth commandments, that infidels have charged the whole with contradiction; and consequently either part or whole with untruth—whilst the opponents of the full divine inspiration of Scripture have adduced them as evidence that whilst the thought was inspired, the words were resigned to the selection of the writers. A single answer will serve to refute the objection of the infidel, and to remove the difficulty of the believer—the answer lies in recollecting (1) That Israel had now been in possession of the ten commandments for almost forty years, and must therefore have been well acquainted with such a brief original document. (2) That to such well-known and original document Moses refers when he says, 'Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee;' that is, not as he does now for the first time command, but as he hath already commanded at Sinai. This view is farther confirmed in ver. 15, where the time of the commandment is again referred—not to the present repetition and comment, but to a past and acknowledged occasion. Again, it is said in ver. 16, 'Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee,' clearly referring to the Sinai original of the commandment, a reference which evidently continues to the end of ver. 21.—C.
22 Thesex words8 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 ywrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
x ch. 4.12-15,33,36. Ex. 19.18,19; 20.18,19. He. 12.18-21. ver. 4,24,26.
8 'These words,' not the words that, by divine authority, I have now given in explanation of the commandments, but the words I have referred to as what 'the Lord God commanded thee,' formerly in the covenant at Sinai.—C.
23 And it came to pass, zwhen 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 aheads of your tribes, and your elders;
a ch. 1.15. Ex. 18.21,25.
24 And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath showed us his glory, and his greatness, and web 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.
25 Now therefore why should we die? cfor this great fire will consume us. If we hear9 the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.
c ch. 33.2. 2 Co. 3.6,7. Ga. 3.10. Ex. 19.18; 20.18,19; 24.17.
9 Heb. add to hear.
26 For dwho 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?
27 Go ethou 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.
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: fthey have well said all that they have spoken.
29 Ohg 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!1
g ch. 32.29; 4.9. Ps. 81.13. Is. 48.18. Je. 4.14; 6.8; 44.4. Mat. 23.37. Pr. 4.23; 33.26.
1 The verse may be translated thus: who will grant that there may be such a heart in them! as much as if he had said, Notwithstanding all their professions, they refuse to receive such a heart from me: how then can they produce it of themselves, or derive it from another source?—C.
30 Go say to them, Get you into your tents again.
31 But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will hspeak 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.
Notes
[Ver. 21. The varieties of expression used, in relating the same thing, by 'holy men of God,' who spoke as they were moved by 'the Holy Ghost,' is never without some important use, that will sooner or later be found out. A remarkable instance occurs in this verse. In many of the catechisms and other books authorized by Romanists, the second commandment, forbidding image worship, is omitted; but to make up the number ten, the tenth commandment is divided into two. The transposition, however, in the text demonstrates the invalidity of the division, and the folly as well as sin of adding to or diminishing from the words of the Lord. C.]
Reflections.—Sinful men must have God's will declared to them, line upon line, precept upon precept. But the promise of grace, made in Jesus Christ, is the great foundation of all our holy obedience; and there can be no happy promise of duty between God and a soul but through his mediation. Public promises of duty between God and parents bind the children to all generations, and it is at their peril if they become ashamed of them. But all obedience to God's law must be immediately founded on what God is, and is to us, and hath done for us. And, oh! what great pleasure God takes in granting himself to be our God in Christ! Often he repeats this grant even in the short abridgment of his law; and many hundred times in the Bible,—that wherever we read, hear, or meditate, we may be constrained to believe that he is God, even our own God, by his spiritual grant of himself to us. Indeed, every peculiar circumstance which men can be in hath its own peculiar enforcements of duty to God and our neighbour. In what a solemn manner was God's law delivered! and it is a mercy that we have his word written for us, for the greater certainty and the better spreading thereof. But it is still a greater mercy that we have one Mediator between God and men—the man Christ Jesus; and so receive the law as fulfilled in Christ: and it is most acceptable to God when sinful men, terrified by the holy law, kindly flee to Jesus and his mediation; when our hearts are right with him; and especially when the views of his promise, his law, and the mediation of Christ and our own vows, concur in animating us to the greatest exactness in all holy obedience.