It is remarkable, in nations unacquainted with the gospel, how prone the natives have been found to worship the heavenly bodies. Reader! think how precious the gospel is, which hath taught us to consider all these lights of the firmament, but as the servants of our JESUS. Psalms 19:1-6 . read more
Service. How then could the nations give way to such stupidity, but because they had forgotten the design of God in creating the heavenly bodies, which Moses therefore takes care to inculcate? (Genesis i. 14.) Hebrew and Septuagint, "which God has divided unto all," &c.; whence some have falsely supposed, that God had tolerated the worship of the stars in other nations. See chap. xxix. 26. (Drusius) (Calmet) read more
1-23 The power and love of God to Israel are here made the ground and reason of a number of cautions and serious warnings; and although there is much reference to their national covenant, yet all may be applied to those who live under the gospel. What are laws made for but to be observed and obeyed? Our obedience as individuals cannot merit salvation; but it is the only evidence that we are partakers of the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ, Considering how many... read more
Warning Against Idolatry v. 14. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it, namely, the precepts contained in the legislation beginning with Exodus 21. v. 15. Take ye, therefore, good heed unto yourselves, every one was to watch carefully over his soul; for ye saw no manner of similitude, no form or outline which could be used as the basis for a picture, on the day that the Lord spake unto you... read more
I. THE FIRST DISCOURSEDeuteronomy 1:6 to Deuteronomy 4:401. The command of God for the breaking up from Horeb—and the promise. (Deuteronomy 1:6-8).6The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: 7Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all [his neighbors—see marg.] the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea-side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto... read more
The separation of the Cities of Refuge as a pause to the first discourse.Deuteronomy 4:41-4341Then [After that] Moses severed three cities on this [that] side Jordan, toward the sun-rising; 42That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares [without design] and hated him not in times past [yesterday, the third day]; 43and that fleeing [and flee] unto one of these cities he might live: Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of [for] the Reubenites; and... read more
Jehovah “a Jealous God” Deuteronomy 4:15-31 How often Moses repeats, “ take heed. ” We must watch as well as pray and keep our souls diligently. We must specially beware of idols-that is, any visible thing which takes the place of the unseen and eternal, veiling it from our view. The soul must learn to lean on the everlasting arm. How true that description of the iron furnace! The metaphor is derived from the process of smelting metal. We have had our Egypts, where by trials the real ore of... read more
On the ground of this survey Moser exhorted the people to be obedient, His appeal was based on the greatness of their God and the perfection of His law. Their whole existence as a nation centered around a spiritual ideal. Therefore, he re-emphasized the importance of their attempting to make no likeness to God. Looking on into the future, he uttered words which in the light of subsequent history are seen to have been prophetic. He actually foretold the story of the corruption of the people in... read more
Parting Words Deuteronomy 4:1-49 INTRODUCTORY WORDS It is, perhaps, strange to some that we speak of the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy as "Parting words," yet the whole Book of Deuteronomy centers in the final message which Moses gave to the Children of Israel. You remember in Deuteronomy 3:27 God had told Moses of his being permitted to ascend to the top of Pisgah and behold the promised land. The actual ascent is described in chapter 34, Deuteronomy 34:1 . Moses was 120 years of age. He had... read more
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The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Deuteronomy 4:1-49
Memory and Duty Deuteronomy 4:0 In the ninth verse we have a very solemn possibility indicated. The words of Moses are: "Only take heed to thyself, 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." The solemn possibility is the possibility of forgetting God and God's providence in human life. We fail not always through sin or vulgar crime, as if with... read more