Fresh Commitment to God
Deuteronomy 4:44-5:33
Our lesson today begins the study of
Moses’ second speech/sermon to the Israelites before they crossed the Jordan
River. Remember Deuteronomy is a book of revival, of calling people back to
faithful relationship with and service to God. Remember, too, Moses gave three
speeches to the Israelites before they took the Promised Land God gave them. This
second speech focuses on the basics of covenant life. Covenant in Hebrew is the
word berith and is a contract or
agreement between two parties. The literal meaning of the word “covenant” is
“to cut.” When two parties made a covenant in Old Testament times, they cut an
animal in half and the two parties walked between the pieces. Sometimes the
parties called Jehovah to witness the transaction such as in Genesis 31:50. For
those instances, the covenant was called a “covenant of the Lord” (1 Samuel 20:8).
People used the word berith
referencing God’s revelation of Himself with a promise or favor such as the Noahic
and Abrahamic covenants and now the Mosaic covenant. Today’s lesson reminds the
hearers and readers of Deuteronomy of God’s covenant to the Israelites on Mount
Sinai with the Ten Commandments. These commandments are the building blocks for
harmonious and peaceful life among people in a new nation and in relationship
with God. They give a framework for moral life full of peace and joy.
Moses, by this time, knew well how
to be an effective speak to the Israelites. From Deuteronomy 4:44-49, Moses
reminded the Israelites of their forty-year history with God since they left
Egypt. Moses built his speech to the point of reminding them of the laws,
statutes, and decrees of God, the one with whom the Israelites had a covenant
since Mount Sinai, even since God’s promise to Abraham.
From chapter five, Moses repeated
the Ten Commandments and called the Israelites to remember them and renew their
covenant with God. In verse 1, Moses’ summoning of them and saying, “Hear, O
Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing,
that you may learn them and observe them carefully,” shows the corporate nature
of the covenant. Moses did not say, “Hear elders and priests.” He did not give
the Laws to the elders for them to pass to the people. Moses spoke to the
Israelites and commanded them. In this passage, we must recognize the difference
between the words “learn” and “observe.” Moses used both words. “Learn”
involves your head to acquire knowledge. It is a mental assent. “Observe” requires
putting into action what a person learned. These two aspects, learning and observing,
are the two parts of the word shamar,
“keep,” Moses spoke in Deuteronomy 4:2. This reminds me of the story of the two
servants in Matthew 24:45-51 and Luke 12:41-46. When asked by the master to do
a task, one servant said he would do it, but then did not. The other servant
said he would not do the task, but then did it. Which one was faithful to the
master? The one who gave physical action to what the master required. The first
servant gave just lip service and mental assent.
In verse two, Moses reminded the
Israelites this covenant with God was not new, but made by God with them forty
years before at Mount Sinai. He reminded them of it and recalled them to
faithful service to God through the Ten Commandments. God’s covenants come
through His grace. He does not need what humankind can offer, but because of
His grace, His unmerited love, He created a covenant with them. To be in a
covenant with God was/is a blessing for the Israelites of the Old Testament and
Christians. Remember God created humankind to be in a relationship with Him.
From Genesis through the New Testament, He made this known. Consider Paul’s
writing in Ephesians 1:3-4 where he said,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love. [NASB]
God’s
covenant with the Israelites showed He had expectations of them. They pleased
God when they lived faithfully according to the covenant He gave them at Mount Sinai.
Living in a covenant relationship applies to people now because Jesus Christ
completed the Mosaic covenant and brought in a new and final covenant with His
life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Humankind can enjoy life when each
person is faithful to the covenant with God, following His Laws, statutes, and
decrees. God knows how life should be lived. He created life. God wants us to
have life abundant (John 10:10). For the Israelites of that time, keeping (the
same word from Deuteronomy 4:2, shamar)
- guarding, preserving, observing, giving heed, and retaining - His laws
guaranteed each person would live in covenant with Him. Believing in Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior guarantees eternal life with God in heaven. Keeping
His laws now shows our love for Him and leads to harmonious and peaceful living
with joy.
In verse three, Moses reiterated
that God “did not make this covenant with their fathers,” but with those who
lived at that time, “those alive today.” God made a covenant with the living.
The covenant is an ongoing and vital covenant, not a memory, but current and relevant,
not obsolete, for the people alive then. People of any age can say God made
this covenant with them because every person can relate to it. The trends and
opinions of the day must be weighed against the truths of the Bible, God’s
Word. Because God created the whole world, people included, His insights are exactly
right and timeless. People of every generation should seek to understand and
follow God’s laws.
From verses four through six, Moses
reminded the Israelites of meeting Yahweh God on the mountain. He reminded them
of their fear to climb the mountain and be in the presence of God. (God
commented on this in verse twenty-nine.) Moses recalled to the Israelites that Yahweh
God said, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of slavery.” God reminded them at Sinai about His greatness and
might and His history with them. Moses made the point to the Israelites God was
still great and mighty. Next, God gave the Israelites commands, the Ten
Commandments, in order of importance – God first, family, neighbors.
Verses seven through twenty-one
contain these commandments. The first four commandments concern a person’s
relationship with God – there shall be no other gods; no idols were to be made;
the Lord’s name shall not be used in vain; and keep the Sabbath day holy. What
is the significance of these in this day when businesses are open on Sundays,
people around the world make and worship idols, people’s swearing is
commonplace, and people consider God insignificant? Why is the first
commandment of having no other gods before and besides Yahweh God important
enough for God to command it? For that time, God gave the Promised Land to the
Israelites. The people who inhabited the land before the Israelites worshipped
many manmade gods. God reminded the Israelites that He alone is God and worthy
to be worshipped by them. He is the only God, not one of many. God is real and
demands complete loyalty. The first covenant is most important because when
God’s authority as the only God is recognized then it makes the other nine
commands more understandable and reasonable. From then to now, every person
must decide who or what will guide his or her life. Some people choose Yahweh, others
work, money, education, and/or themselves. God is the only God who created everything
that is. He alone can bless and fulfill a life because He is the author of
life. Commitment to God is the only way to live in covenant with Him.
The second commandment mandates no
idol or likeness be made of what is in heaven, on earth, or under the earth. In
addition, idols shall not be worshipped or served because God is a jealous God.
He casts His judgment on the person and their children up to the third and
fourth generations. God revealed here the opposite side of judgment, too. He
will show loving-kindness to thousands who love Him and keep His commandments. The
word jealous is qanna in Hebrew. Old
Testament Hebrew writers used this term just five times in the Bible to refer
to God (Exodus 20:5 & 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24, 5:9, & 6:15). From this
word “jealous” comes the word “zealous,” which means an intense burning fire or
fervor for something or someone. This especially represented God’s possession
of His people Israel. It means God is intensely zealous about protecting His
people. God was zealous to protect the Israelites from the influences of the
nations He was giving them as the Promised Land. No manmade idol adequately represents
who God is since He is not created, but the idols are made of things He
created. This commandment set the Hebrew faith apart from every other religion,
which had physical representations of their gods and goddesses. God said the
Israelites and His later children were to worship Him, the Creator, not the
created. Creation points to God and must not be worshipped.
The third commandment stated that
God’s name shall not be taken in “vain, for the Lord will not leave him
unpunished who takes His name in vain.” “Vain” comes from the Hebrew word shav, which means emptiness, falsehood, worthlessness,
and without purpose. The word “unpunished” can mean guiltless. The commandment can
be restated this way – “You shall not use the Lord’s name as if it has no value.
God will not hold the person guiltless who uses His name to make it unworthy or
for falsehood.” God revealed His name to Moses as a sign of the special
relationship He had with Israel. His name should not be used in disrespectful
way. We are not to consider God’s name as worthless or use it in empty ways,
such as swearing. Note: God moved from physical actions towards Him to verbal
actions with this commandment. In all our ways – action, speaking, and thinking
– we are to show signs that we are followers of God. The Shema speaks to this
in Deuteronomy 6:5 when it says to love the Lord your God with all your heart,
soul, and mind. Jesus included it as the great commandment and added another
dimension of a person, the soul. Jesus said to love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37).
The final commandment related to a
person’s relationship with God is the fourth commandment. God said, “Observe
the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you” (vs. 12).
God gave two reasons why He commanded this in verses fourteen and fifteen – so
you may rest and so you can remember and worship God. Over the centuries a question
emerged of which day is the Sabbath day. In the Old Testament, the Sabbath
coincided with the Day of Atonement, the day they went to the temple, which for
the Jews was a Saturday. Because of this, the Sabbath meant Saturday. No direct
command in the Bible changed the Sabbath day observance to Sunday. Some Christians
insist on observing the Sabbath on Saturday still. The New Testament gives six
reasons why most Christians keep the Sabbath on Sunday. God raised Jesus on the
first day of the week, Sunday. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, fifty days
after the Sabbath of Passover week, which was the first day of the week, Sunday
(Acts 2:1). Sunday was the day of worship and observance of the Lord’s Supper
for the Troas church (Acts 20:7). Paul instructed the Corinthian Christians to
bring their offerings on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). John
received a vision from God “on the Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10). Christians began
to gather for worship on Sundays after Jesus’ ministry on earth. Whether we
agree or not on which day is the Sabbath, the main point is why worshippers
gather – to keep the day holy. That means to set it apart and keep it
consecrated for God. We set it apart for Bible study and worship of Him and it
gives us a day of rest from our labors.
The remaining six commandments
relate to relationships between people. The first one, commandment five, sets
the stage for the other five commandments. God said in verse sixteen, “Honor
your father and mother, as the Lord your God 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.” A couple of definitions are necessary first. “Honor” means to
respect and fulfill an obligation or keep an agreement. Honor is an inner
disposition with an outward action. The phrase “go well” in this verse means
good, pleasing, glad, and joyful. This commandment is the primary level for every
relationship. When a child learns to respect his or her parents, he or she
learns to respect other people, too. In the Jewish Torah, God requires parents
to teach their children of Yahweh in their waking, laying down, walking, and
sitting (Deuteronomy 4:9-10, 6:7, 11:19) In Proverbs 22:6, the writer said to
“Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not soon depart from it.
The parent’s primary duty is to teach their children to live in a covenant
relationship with God. The first step for the child is to learn to honor his or
her parents. Children show their respect for their parents by obeying them during
their formative years and by taking care of their aging parents in their adult
years.
The sixth commandment begins the
commands that deal with a person’s relationship with other people. God said,
“You shall not murder” (vs. 17). This part of the covenant speaks of valuing
life, denoting the sanctity of human life. We should cherish life as God does.
In the creation story, the pinnacle of creation was God’s creation of human
life. When He created human life, He said it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31).
Jesus, in Matthew 5:21-22, added to this commandment anger and hatred as
sources of murder. This verse commands people not to steal human life.
In the seventh commandment (vs. 18),
God said, “You shall not commit adultery.” This part of the covenant with God concerns
the value of marriage. Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman in the
presence of God. The Hebrew word for adultery is nawaf, which means idolatrous worship of another person’s body.
This type of worship can occur, Jesus said, just by looking at and lusting for
another person’s body. By lusting, the person commits adultery (Matthew 5:28).
Adultery begins with lust and leads to selfishly using another person. Because
God instituted marriage, He values marriage and created this most important
human-to-human covenant. Not following this commandment means a person is
stealing another person’s covenanted and sacred marriage vows and rights by
taking their spouse.
The eighth command mandated by God
for His children says, “You shall not steal” (vs. 19). Stealing is a violation
of another person’s property as adultery is a violation of another person’s
spouse. Stealing shows the person’s dissatisfaction with life and his or her
belief that having more will make him or her happy. This can steal a person’s
contentment and happiness as well as ruin his or her life. The person puts a
greater value on things than on relationships with God and people.
God mandated in the ninth
commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (vs. 20).
“False witness” is lying about a person. The person’s public reputation is
harmed. To live peacefully in the world, society needs to know each member is
honest, has integrity. Giving false witness about someone is stealing the
person’s reputation. We must tell the truth in every situation.
With the tenth commandment, God
moved from actions to attitudes, which Jesus focused on during His ministry. In
verse twenty-one, God commanded, “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.” This command addresses people’s desires. Jesus addressed desires in
His sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7. When people are in a right relationship
with God, they have a meaningful and fulfilling life. God gives His children
everything needed and He promises not to leave or forsake them. Desiring things
creates barriers to worshipping God alone. Things become our idols.
The final twelve verses of
Deuteronomy 5 tell of Moses interceding for the Israelites and God’s response
to the Israelites. In verse twenty-two, God spoke to the Israelites from the
fire, cloud, and thick gloom with a great voice. The Israelites recognized
God’s greatness and glory and feared Him. They recognized that they should not
be in the presence of God. The Israelites said, “Now then why 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” (vs. 25-26)? They recognized God’s magnificence and were in awe and fear
of Him because they recognized their own sinfulness. The Israelites did not
want to die so chose Moses to represent them before God. The earlier generation
of Israelites from the exodus heard God’s condemnation when they refused to
enter the Promised Land and they died. This generation of Israelites recognized
God and feared Him. The realized their littleness and sinfulness. In humility,
the Israelites chose not to see God’s face. They recognized God’s chosen
leader, Moses, asking him to be their intermediary with God.
God applauded the Israelites. He spoke
of their future rebellion against Him. In verse twenty-eight, the people
pleased God with their understanding of whom He is and their awe and worship of
Him. Moses said, “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. The Lord also knew they would
rebel’.” God said in verse twenty-nine, “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!” God mourned because of what He knew the
Israelites would do in their future. They would not keep His covenant and
commandments. The Israelites would turn away from God.
God commanded Moses to tell the
Israelites to return to their tents as they desired and as is fitting in
recognizing God’s greatness and sacredness (vs. 30). He said, though, Moses
must stand before Him and learn His statutes and judgments. God gave Moses the
task of teaching His statutes and judgments to the Israelites so they can “observe”
them and “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” (vs. 33). The Israelites and everyone
who is in a covenant relationship with God are to observe the commandments and
walk in the way of the Lord. God gave this dual command, "observe"
and "walk in the way of the Lord." It leads us back to the word shamar, keep, from chapter four. God’s
command is for the whole person – head, heart, hands, and mouth.
This study is the just the beginning
of Moses’ second speech. He continued this sermon through chapter twenty-nine
verse one. Since the whole of Deuteronomy is about remembering God and renewing
a commitment to Him, Moses’ teaching on God’s commandments draws our attention
back to our relationship with God, with our family, and with other people. The
question we should pose ourselves is when did we last renew our commitment to
God to obey His commandments, statutes, and judgments? The judges and prophets
of the Old Testament cried out to the Israelites over their history to return
to God. Sometimes they returned and other times they did not. We may question
how the Israelites could turn their backs on God when God was obviously there
with them. Yet we need to look back at our history and consider this same
thing. Remember your past when you felt God in your life - His strength and
provision clear. Now, look at your current relationship with Christ. Are you as
close to God now as you were at the time you remembered? We each slip and
wander away from God. God knew that would happen when He gave us the gift of
free will. God knew the Israelites hearts and knows our hearts. In giving
humankind free will, He knew we would turn our backs on Him and walk our own
ways. That is why He prepared a way for us to return to Him when He created the
universe. God’s love is so deep, that He prepared a way for us to return to Him
from before the time of creation. He prepared the way through the human birth
of His divine Son, Jesus Christ, and through Jesus’ life, death, and
resurrection. By His death, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. No more sin
sacrifices are required.
God sent prophets to call the wandering
Israelites back to Him and tell them He made a way for them to return to Him.
Isaiah said in chapter forty,
Comfort, O comfort My people, says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
and call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
that her iniquity has been
removed, that she has received
of the LORD'S hand double for all
her sins. A voice
is calling, ‘Clear
the way for the LORD in
the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.’ [NASB]
Zechariah,
Malachi, Jeremiah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (in his gospel and in
Revelation) called the people of their time and continue to call us today to
return to God. God’s commands are relevant today. They are not obsolete. Jesus
Christ came to fulfill the Mosaic covenant. We no longer need sin sacrifices to
remove our sins so we can be in the presence of God if we are Christians. Jesus’
sacrifice was the one sufficient sacrifice for everyone who believes in Him.
How long has it been since you
renewed your commitment to God? Have you accepted God’s gift of love and mercy?
Have you accepted His sacrifice for the penalty of your sins? God knew when He
gave us the gift of free will we would walk away from Him. God prepared a way
for us to return to Him before He created the world. That shows how much God
loves you and me. Will you return to Him, accept His love and forgiveness, and
walk with Him? This is a renewed commitment to God. If you are not already a
Christian, will you accept God’s love gift through Jesus Christ?
