THE OPENING EXHORTATION THE TEN COMMANDMENTS THE NARRATIVE OF THE SINAI REVELATION AND ISRAEL S RESPONSE DEUTERONOMY 5:1-33

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 1 THE OPENING EXHORTATION THE TEN COMMANDMENTS THE NARRATIVE OF THE SINAI REVELATION AND ISRAEL S RESPONSE DEUTERONOMY 5:1-33

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 2 THE OPENING EXHORTATION THE TEN COMMANDMENTS THE NARRATIVE OF THE SINAI REVELATION AND ISRAEL S RESPONSE Text: Deuteronomy 5:1-33, 1. Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully. 2. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb; 3. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today. 4. The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, 5. while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said, 6. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 7. You shall have no other gods before Me. 8. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 3 the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10. but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 11. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 12. Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14. but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. 16. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you. 17. You shall not murder. 18. You shall not commit adultery. 19. You shall not steal. 20. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 21. You shall not covet your neighbor s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor s house, his field or his

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 4 male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 22. These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23. And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. 24. You said, Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. 25. Now why then should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. 26. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27. Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it. 28. The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. 29. Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! 30. Go, say to them, Return to your tents.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 5 31. But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess. 32. So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33. You shall walk in all the way which the Lord 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 will possess. (NASB) Commentary: The Opening Exhortation Deuteronomy 5:1-5, Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb; The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said, (NASB) In chapter 5 Moses restates the foundation of the Law God had delivered to Israel on Mt. Sinai: the Ten Commandments. As he did so, he reminded them not just of these commandments,

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 6 but also of the context in which they had been given to their ancestors. The first five verses of chapter 5 are an important historical and theological context for what follows. There are several significant elements in this brief statement. Moses first calls on Israel to hear and obey the statutes and ordinances that he spoke to them on that occasion (verse 1). These terms indicate the nature of what follows. These are the laws by which Israel must live in order to be pleasing to God. As someone said, They are the Ten Commandments, not the ten suggestions. Second, these things were spoken to them by God Himself when they were gathered at Horeb. Moses had already made numerous references to the exact time in which God gave His law to them, but reminds Israel once again. The reason for these repeated references is to insure that Israel does not forget the origin of their law. It came directly from God at a specific point in their history. In verses 4, 5 Moses reminds them that God spoke to them face to face, emphasizing again the divine origin of it. Third, the Law that God delivered to them was in the form of a covenant (verse 2). A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties in which each obligates himself to certain actions. God obligated Himself to be their God, their protector, and their provider if they obeyed His commands. Israel obligated themselves to obey God s statutes and ordinances so they would continue to receive His blessings and would live long in the promised land. A violation of the covenant was a serious offense, and Moses used this language so the generation that entered the promised land would remember the obligation they had undertaken.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 7 A fourth, and very important, element in this statement is that the covenant was made, Moses said, with us, with all those of us alive here today (verse 3). It was, in fact, the previous generation who had made this covenant with God, but this generation was just as surely bound by it as their fathers had been. Moses wanted Israel to know that the covenant at Horeb would remain in force in every generation of Israelites until it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This statement has theological significance that is especially important today. The Law of Moses is a covenant that was made between God and Israel, and with no one else. It is a covenant for the Jews, and was never intended for the Gentiles. This is important in our time because so many people believe we should keep the Ten Commandments, even as Christians. However, to do so would bind us to a covenant that was never intended for us. Also, as Paul said in Galations 5:3, And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. Therefore, if we try to keep part of the Law (e.g., the Ten Commandments), we are required to keep the whole law (e.g., sacrifices, holy days, etc.). Gentiles were never required by God to keep the Law of Moses. That law was only for the Jews, and only until the Messiah should come. When the Lord came to the earth, He fulfilled this covenant and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross (Colossians 2:13, 14, When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 8 to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (NASB)). When He did this, He established a new covenant to which all people of all nations are now accountable (Hebrews 8:4-7, Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, See, He says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. (NASB)) Therefore, no one today, whether Jew or Gentile, is bound by the Law of Moses. The Ten Commandments Deuteronomy 5:6-21, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 9 vain. Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (NASB) The record of God s giving the Ten Commandments is found in Exodus 20:2-17, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 10 and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who [e]stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor s house; you shall not covet your neighbor s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (NASB). As Moses restates these commandments, he does so virtually verbatim from the text in Exodus. He begins in verse 6 with God identifying Himself as He spoke to Israel. I am the Lord your God indicates the relationship that already existed between God and Israel, even before the covenant was made at Horeb. A note on verse 6 in the ESV Study Bible says, Obedience to the Ten Commandments and laws in general therefore does not earn the relationship but is a response of faith to God s grace.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 11 The Lord God was Israel s God from the time He made His covenant with Abraham many generations before. As His people, then, their obedience did not earn a relationship with Him, but was the appropriate response to this relationship. In a similar manner, Christians do not obey in order to earn salvation, but rather because we have been saved by the blood of Christ. Therefore, obedience to all the Lord commanded is the only appropriate response to the gift of salvation. No Other gods 5:7. The first commandment is that Israel must have no other gods before the Lord God. Polytheism was the most common form of religion in the ancient world, with people worshiping all manner of gods. Nevertheless, the God of the Hebrews demanded exclusive worship from His people. He was not to be one of many gods, but the one and only God for them. No Graven Images - 5:8. The second commandment is that Israel must not make any kind of idol or worship any such thing. This is a reflection of two important truths. First, God had not manifested Himself in any recognizable form at Horeb. This was done purposely because Israel was to obey God s word, not some image of Him. Second, all the pagan nations worshiped all kinds of images. Making their own images would only entice Israel to bow down to these others. Divine Warning 5:9, 10. God underscored the importance of this prohibition by reminding Israel of His unchangeable character with regard to sin. He is a jealous God, which means that He demands the exclusive devotion of His people. His jealousy is not to be confused with human envy, but

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 12 rather with a righteous fidelity to His people that must be reciprocated by them. Because God demands exclusive devotion from His people, He will pour out His wrath on those who forsake Him for other gods. The fact that God says He will visit the iniquity on the third and fourth generations, does not mean that the innocent suffer for the sins of the ancestors. Rather, as sin begets further sin, God will continue to punish, up to the third and fourth generations, all those who hate Him. Hate, in this context denotes disobedience to His commands. On the other hand, God responds differently to those who love Him. In verse 10 He says that He shows lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Him and keep His commandments. Here we see the biblical principle that love and obedience are equivalents in God s view. If there were any doubt as to how Israel should respond to God s commands, this certainly should have eliminated it. Name in Vain 5:11. The third commandment is not to take the name of the Lord in vain, and is accompanied by its own warning. To take the Lord s name in vain means to do so either deceitfully, as in an oath one does not intend to keep, or for a worthless purpose or flippantly. This certainly covers cursing, but also includes many frivolous expressions that use God s name for emphasis. Moses was denied entrance to the promised land because he failed to treat God as holy at the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:8-13, Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 13 their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them. (NASB)). Yet, he never uttered God s name on that occasion. The Jews were so fearful of taking God s name in vain that they refused to speak it. How much more careful ought we to be in the way we use God s name today, especially knowing that God said He would not leave unpunished one who took His name in vain? The Sabbath 5:12-15. The fourth commandment is to observe a day of rest on the Sabbath. The prohibition against any work on this day extended to every man, woman, and child in Israel, including all foreigners who might live among them. It also included all their domesticated animals. Observing this day of rest made it holy for Israel, and it became their day of worship to God. Working on the Sabbath signified disrespect for God and profaned this day.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 14 When God originally gave this command at Horeb (Exodus 20:11, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (NASB)), He made a connection between the Sabbath and the days of creation. Israel was to work six days and rest on the seventh, because this is what God did in creation. In Deuteronomy, however, Moses connected the Sabbath rest to the slavery in Egypt from which God had rescued Israel some forty years before. God gave them rest from their labors in Egypt, and their observance of the Sabbath honored this great blessing. Honor Father and Mother 5:16. The fifth commandment is that each Israelite must honor his father and mother. The term honor in this commandment is more than being obedient to one s parents as a child and being respectful to them as an adult. It refers to providing whatever care may be necessary for one s parents in their old age. This was the command to which Jesus referred in His confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 15:1-9, Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. And He answered and said to them, Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, Honor your father and mother, and, He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death. But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God, he is not to honor his father or his mother. And by this you invalidated the word of God

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 15 for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. (NASB) over their tradition of Corban (cf. Mark 7:10, For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother ; and, He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death ; (NASB)) which violated this command. It is important to notice in this command that for the first time a promise is attached to obeying a commandment. Honoring one s father and mother would result in long life and blessings in the land of promise. Paul made reference to this command in Ephesians 6:1-3, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. (NASB) and applied it to his command for children to obey their parents in the Lord. It is clear from his usage of it, that this promise continues in the Christian age. Do Not Murder 5:17. The sixth commandment is very simple, but has been the subject of endless debate because it was poorly translated in some of the early English translations. For generations we have heard Thou shalt not kill used as grounds to oppose capital punishment or bearing arms in war. However, the Hebrew word used here, as well as in Exodus 20:13, You shall not murder. (NASB), refers primarily to the unlawful or immoral killing of another human being. It also is used in reference to homicide that results from carelessness or negligence.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 16 The question of what this command means is settled by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:21, You have heard that the ancients were told, You shall not commit murder and Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. (NASB), the Lord made reference to this command, and the Greek word He used on that occasion means murder. In this section of the Sermon on the Mount the Lord was contrasting what the Jews were being taught in the first century with the higher standard to which His disciples would be held. As a result, He did not simply condemn murder, but the attitudes of the heart that often result in murder. However, His reference to this commandment validates our understanding that this was only a prohibition of murder. Do Not Commit Adultery 5:18. The seventh commandment is also a very simple one. God prohibited infidelity in marriage. The specific statement refers to having sexual relations with one who is married to another. This commandment was given to protect the sanctity of marriage, but it also had theological implications as well. This term was used by God to refer to the infidelity of His people when they followed the gods of the pagan nations. Nevertheless, a husband and wife were commanded to only have sexual relations with each other. Do Not Steal 5:19. The eighth commandment is that Israelites must not steal from one another. This commandment implies a right to personal ownership of property and respect for the property of others. It also promotes honest labor as the only acceptable means of enriching oneself. This is a fundamental principle of any moral society.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 17 Do Not Bear False Witness 5:20. The ninth commandment suggests a legal context in which one might be called upon to testify as to some matter relating to a neighbor. Israelites were bound to give truthful testimony in such cases, lest their neighbor be unjustly punished. The principle of truthfulness, however, applies to every aspect of life. The fact that an Israelite was bound to give honest testimony in a legal context only emphasized the necessity of doing so in every situation. Lying is never condoned in scripture (cf. Revelation 21:8, But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (NASB)). Do Not Covet 5:21. The tenth commandment is stated in a series of specific circumstances. The word covet generally means to desire something with an unholy desire. The word lust is a comparable term. In the context of the tenth commandment, God prohibited Israel from having an unholy desire for anything that belonged to his neighbor. This was in recognition of the fact that such a desire is the root from which other sinful actions, such as adultery or theft, are born. In Exodus 20:17, You shall not covet your neighbor s house; you shall not covet your neighbor s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (NASB), the order is slightly altered, with a neighbor s house coming before a neighbor s wife. In that text the same word is used with reference to all the things the Israelites must not covet. In Deuteronomy 5:21, You shall not covet your neighbor s

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 18 wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (NASB); however, Moses used covet in reference to a neighbor s wife, and desire, with respect to his property. This suggests an important difference between one s wife and one s possessions, and also suggests how much more serious unholy desire is with respect to another s wife. The point of this commandment is that Israelites were not to have ungodly desires about anything their neighbors might possess. This impure attitude is a root of all kinds of evil, and is the opposite of the purity of heart that God requires of His people. We can see the importance of this commandment in modern society. So much of the evil that occurs is because people covet; that is, they have an unholy desire, for the things that others have acquired. The Narrative of the Sinai Revelation and Israel s Response Deuteronomy 5:22-27, These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. You said, Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 19 Now why then should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it. (NASB) With the Ten Commandments restated, Moses reminded Israel of how he came to be their mediator with God. In verses 22-27 Moses reminded them that when God spoke the Ten Commandments to them from the fire and smoke that enveloped Sinai, the people of Israel were afraid to stand before Him. For this reason, their elders approached Moses with the request that he speak with God and then relay God s word to them. After hearing God s voice as it thundered from Mt. Sinai, Israel was left with a healthy fear of Him. It seems that for the first time since they came out of Egypt Israel realized the power of God. Their reaction to His voice on the mountain shows that they were genuinely afraid of His awesome power, and also genuinely amazed that they had survived the encounter. Israel wanted no more of this kind of contact with Almighty God. It may have been that they were afraid that at any moment He might wipe them out because of their sins. It may have been that they genuinely felt themselves unworthy to stand in God s presence as they had at the mountain. Their request for Moses to intercede on their behalf may also have been an acknowledgment of his special relationship with God. Whatever their reasoning may have been, they wanted Moses to be their

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 20 mediator with God, and they promised that they would do whatever God might command them through Moses. Deuteronomy 5:28-33, The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! Go, say to them, Return to your tents. But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess. So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which the Lord 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 will possess. (NASB) As Moses continued to recount these events, he repeated God s response to the request of their ancestors at the mountain. God was pleased with their reaction, and exclaimed His desire that they would always have this kind of heart within them (verses 28-29). If they maintained this level of respect for Him, God would bless them in every way. God then appointed Moses to stand before Him to receive His commands, and then to relay them to the people. Notice in verse 31 that God again stated that Israel must observe all His

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 21 commandments, statutes, and judgments when they entered the promised land. This is a fundamental principle that never changed in God s dealings with Israel. He demanded obedience, and would accept nothing less than this from His people. Chapter 5 ends with Moses charging Israel that they must do just as the Lord your God has commanded you (verse 32). Of note in this verse is Moses statement that Israel must not turn aside to the right or to the left. The importance of this point is seen in the fact that Moses repeated it twice more in Deuteronomy 17:20; 28:14, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel. and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. (NASB). God Himself bound this on Israel in His charge to Joshua (Joshua 1:7, Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. (NASB)), and Joshua repeated it to the people before his death (Joshua 23:6, Be very firm, then, to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, (NET)). The imagery of this statement is that God s way is a straight path from which His people must not deviate in any way. In the context, the terms right and left simply refer to turning off the path of complete obedience to God s commands. In our time, however, the terms right and left are often used

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 22 to describe those of a conservative point of view versus those of a progressive or liberal point of view. In spiritual application, one side binds where God has not bound, and the other looses where God has not loosed. The command not to turn aside to the right or to the left is consistent with Moses warning in 4:2 (Deuteronomy 4:2, You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. (NASB)) not to add to or to take away from God s commands. Moses concludes this section with an exhortation for Israel to be obedient to all God s commands so it will go well with them in the promised land (verse 33). This is a recurring statement as Moses restates God s law to Israel which underscores the often overlooked point that obedience to God results in a reward here on earth as well as the promise of eternal life. God s intent was to physically bless Israel for their obedience to His Law, and He frequently reminded them of it. Paul made this same point for our benefit in 1 Timothy 4:6-8, In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (NASB).

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 23 Questions on Deuteronomy 5:1-33 1. What is the significance of the terms statutes and ordinances? (5:1) 2. What is the significance of Moses saying that this covenant was made only with those to whom he was then speaking? (5:2-3) _ 3. How did God identify Himself as He spoke to Israel from the mountain? (5:6) 4. How does God respond to those who hate Him? (5:9)

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 24 5. How does God respond to those who love Him and keep His commandments? (5:10) 6. What significant historical event did God tie to the Sabbath day? (5:15) 7. What benefit would Israel receive for honoring their father and mother? (5:16) 8. Why did Israel want Moses to stand between them and God? (5:24-26)

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 25 9. What was God s reaction to Israel s request for Moses to stand between them and God? (5:28) 10. What was God s fervent wish for Israel? (5:29) 11. What is the significance of Moses command that Israel must not turn aside to the right or to the left? (5:32) 12. How would Israel benefit if they walked in all the way that God commanded them? (5:33)

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