Deuteronomy 4:1-14--Moses Commands Obedience

Deuteronomy 4:1-14
English Standard Version

Moses Commands Obedience
​4 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4 But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

​9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children-- 10 how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

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Moses summarizes the intent of the rest of the book of Deuteronomy (the purpose statement, if you will) in these first few verses of chapter 4.  Moses is teaching and giving the Law to the people which the LORD had given to him.  Why is it so important for the people to be careful to obey everything in the Law?  Because we've already seen examples of what the end is for the people who openly rebel against the LORD and the Law.  Moses references the rebellion at Baal-peor where the Midianites with the help of the prophet Balaam get the Israelites to commit sexual sin and the sin of idolatry so that the LORD's blessing will be removed from them.  This was when the last of the original generation fell in the wilderness.  After this, all those remaining had not been counted in the original census.  They are the ones that are alive who Moses is speaking to--they knew this story because they lived through it.

Moses also says they should obey the LORD's commandments because they will make them wise and understanding in the eyes of the other nations, and it will show the nations that they have a different kind of relationship with the LORD than the pagans do with their gods.  The LORD is near whenever the people call upon Him (though it will not feel that way if the people are living in rebellion against the LORD).  His Law is good and righteous because it is an expression of who He is--the Just and Righteous one.  This is the standard of God's holiness and perfection for any who would try to come to Him on merit (none of us can do so).  That is why the basis of the Law is not on merit, but is built on grace through a system of penal substitutionary atonement for sins that we accidently commit.  However, when the people would willfully, knowingly commit a high-handed sin of rebellion, their punishment was supposed to be death so that the sin would be excised from the people and not be like a cancer or gangrene that would affect the entire congregation (any open sin of rebellion which the people turned a blind eye to, those people were also culpable for and the curses of the Law would be upon all the people).

The people were to remember the covenant that they made before the LORD to be careful to keep all that was written in the Law and to pass these commandments and this covenant on from generation to generation so that the LORD could bless each and every generation for its obedience and not have to judge the Israelites for disobedience with the curses that were in the Law that were meant for the enemies of God.

God told the people to draw near to the mountain (but not too close) where He Himself would teach them and instruct them.  They saw an all-consuming fire and they heard His voice, but did not see His form.  It is interesting that while there was this brilliant fire, at the same time the mountain was also wrapped in darkness and gloom, and the people learned to fear the LORD--both to worship Him in a spirit of reverence and to see His power should they be disobedient to Him.  We want people to fear the LORD out of reverence and worship for Him, but everyone will fear the LORD in one way or another eventually.  Every knee will bow before Him whether by choice for us to worship Him, or because we are compelled to do so by His will that He exercises from His throne.

The LORD commanded the people at that time to obey the Ten Commandments--now they have many more commandments, but even when we had one commandment in the Garden, we didn't obey it.  The solution to us being rebellious rule-breakers is not really to have more rules.  The rules are there to fence people in and show them where the boundaries are so they know when they are "trespassing" where they should not go, but if someone really wants to be on the other side of the fence, they'll climb over it no matter how large the fence or how big and bold the warning signs are.  On this day the Old Covenant was written on tablets of stone, but one day the LORD promised Jeremiah the prophet that the Law would no longer be something external that the people would have to look at on stone tablets and be taught by every generation.  One day the LORD would write His Law on the hearts of His people and take their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh, and He would put His Spirt within His people.  God Himself would be our Teacher.  This is the New Covenant made possible by Jesus.