Deuteronomy 5-7    Listen

Let's go over the Ten Commandments again (Deuteronomy 5)

1 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.
2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3 The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.
4 The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.
5 I stood 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 you 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 bondage.
7 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
8 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
10 but showing mercy 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 hold him guiltless 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 the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving 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, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’

Picture this: Israel is on the east side of the Jordan River ready to go over the river and take over their new country. BUT WAIT...first Moses must go over the law which God had given them over the 40 years to make sure they understand. That's what Deuteronomy is, Moses giving the law a second time; it comes from a compound Greek word, "deutero" meaning "second" and "nomy" meaning "law." There you have it, "second law." Jews didn't call this book by its Greek name at all. The Hebrew name for Deuteronomy is "Devarim," meaning, "The Words." (Click here to see the notes on Exodus 20 when the Ten Commandments were given the first time.)

Notice the point Moses makes in verse 3, "The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive." In other words, these aren't just your daddies' commandments; they are for you too! Nearly forty years ago, Moses' current audience were either children or not born yet. Moses wants to make certain that this generation of Hebrews understand that these commandments have no expiration date.

Observant Jews through the centuries traditionally count 613 laws given by Moses in these first 5 books of the Bible. But here are the top 10 - actually a summarization of the whole content of the Law of Moses. Many people today labor under the misconception that God only had ten laws that He passed down. Modern Judaism teaches that God gave the Jews 613 commandments, not merely ten. It's very difficult to count with exactness how many separate and distinct laws are found in the Pentateuch; 613 is close enough. The biblical passage known to most people as the "Ten Commandments" is known to Jews as the "Aseret ha-Dibrot," the Ten Declarations, and is considered to be ten categories of commandments, rather than ten individual commandments. By the way, Roman Catholics render a little different list than non-Catholics. They leave out the non-Catholic number 2 ("You shall not make for yourself a carved image") and then divide number 10 into 2 separate "covet" commandments to get their 10. Why do you suppose?

It's important to mention again here that New Testament Christians are neither saved by the Ten Commandments nor any of the Old Testament laws given to Moses...nor are they somehow made more righteous after salvation by observing them. These laws were given strictly for Jewish observance when God ruled over a nation of people, Israel. Allow me to make this point conclusively by directing your attention to what is typically rendered commandment number 4 (number 3 in the Roman Catholic list). This is the commandment regarding the strict observance of the Sabbath day. Let's take a look at the four verses committed to this commandment in this chapter.

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 the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Here's a question that must be answered if you believe that a Believer is bound by the provisions of the Ten Commandments as many Believers do: Why don't you keep this commandment regarding the Sabbath? Just how important was it that the Jews keep this commandment? Just look at Numbers 15:32-36 (see notes). There you will see that God himself commanded that a man be stoned to death for violating this commandment; he was simply gathering sticks on the Sabbath. Carefully read the article entitled, "The Sabbath Day" for a complete perspective on the relationship between Believers and the Law of Moses by clicking here.

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Moses describes the forty-year-old miracle at Sinai (Deuteronomy 5:22-33)

22 ¶ “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
23 ¶ “So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
24 And you said: “Surely 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 this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.
25 Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall 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 You go near and hear all that the LORD our God may say, and tell us all that the LORD our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28 ¶ “Then 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 are right in all that they have spoken.
29 Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
30 Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.”
31 But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’
32 ¶ “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
33 You shall walk in all the ways 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 shall possess.

Beginning in verse 22, Moses rehearses for his audience the circumstances that existed nearly forty years ago on the occasion when he had received these Ten Commandments from God in Exodus 20 (see notes). He recalls how terrified the people were back then as they stood around the mountain from where God was speaking to Moses. When Moses goes into some detail regarding the "covenant" aspect of the giving of those commandments and includes the consequences of disregarding them, you know his audience had to be all ears at this point. I mean...the Hebrews had been under God's chastisement for 38+ years because of their disregard for God's direction. Who wants to repeat that mistake again!

The Shema - a very important Jewish tradition (Deuteronomy 6)

1 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess,
2 that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—“a land flowing with milk and honey.’
4 ¶ “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 ¶ “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
10 ¶ “So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build,
11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—
12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
13 You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name.
14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you
15 (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.
16 ¶ “You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah.
17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you.
18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers,
19 to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.
20 ¶ “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’
21 then you shall say to your son: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;
22 and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household.
23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers.
24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.
25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’

This is the really, really, really big chapter to Jews down through the ages. The oldest fixed daily prayer in Judaism is the Shema, taken right out of this chapter. The word "Shema" is the Hebrew word used at the beginning of verses 3 and 4 translated "Hear." The traditional Jewish Shema consists of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21 (see notes), and Numbers 15:37-41 (see notes). Because of the admonition of Deuteronomy 6:7, observant Jews say this prayer by quoting these verses before they go to bed at night and first thing when they wake up in the morning. Because of verse 8 the observant Jews down through the centuries to today have worn a leather wallet (called a Tefillin) on the arm and head that contain these prayers. Today they wear these during prayer time, but apparently the Pharisees wore them all the time. These verses are also placed in a Mezuzah (a small box) and placed on the door post of a traditional Jewish home because of verse 9. So, you can see that chapter 6 is a really important chapter to Jews. Here's a question for you. Do you think observant Jews took too literally the provisions of these verses by (1) quoting them first upon awakening and last before sleeping (verse 7), (2) placing these words in a wallet that they wore upon their foreheads and arms (verse 8) and (3) literally placing these verses in a box affixed to their doors (verse 9)? Doesn't this passage command them to do just that?

Note the following entry in the Jewish Study Bible with regard to the Shema:

The Shema is more than a prayer. Judaism understands its recitation to be a binding legal act in which individuals pledge their commitment to Torah. By reciting the Shema, the congregation in the synagogue brings the plot of Deuteronomy to life in the present, as it enacts and renews that oath of allegiance to God that, it believes, Israel first vowed on the plains of Moab.

The reference to "Massah" in verse 16 is a reminder of the disobedience of their fathers in the wilderness in Exodus 17 (see notes) with regard to the water-from-the-rock incident. The remaining verses of this chapter confirm that God gave the commandments of chapter 5 to Israel as a legacy for their children. Notice verse 25, "Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us."

WHAT'S SO "CHOSEN" ABOUT THE JEWS? (Deuteronomy 7)

1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
2 and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son.
4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
6 ¶ “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
8 but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 ¶ “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.
11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.
12 ¶ “Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.
13 And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.
14 You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock.
15 And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
16 Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the LORD your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
17 ¶ “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’—
18 you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:
19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
20 Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed.
21 You shall not be terrified of them; for the LORD your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.
22 And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed.
24 And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.
25 You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.
26 Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.

Does God prefer one nationality on this earth over another? This chapter has your answer. "But why?" you ask. It is because of verses 8 and 9; a covenant is a covenant. The covenants God made with Abraham (The Abrahamic Covenant, see notes) and confirmed with his descendants cannot be voided. DON'T GET CONFUSED ABOUT SALVATION! God's promise to Israel here does not speak to the issue of eternal life - only the success of the people of Israel as a nation on the earth. For eternal life, they gotta get saved like everyone else. Today that salvation is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6, see notes). Individual salvation has always been achieved through faith. We see this stated all the way back to Genesis 15:6 (see notes) with regard to Abraham, "And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."

God is very specific in this chapter about the fact that Israel may not coexist with the polytheistic, one-God-hating nationalities who had migrated to Canaan - the land which Israel was about to possess. Look at the provisions of Deuteronomy 7:22, "And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little." And all their pagan objects of worship must be completely eliminated (verses 25-26).

Just look at the guarantee given in verses 12-16 in return for Israel's obedience to God's law:

• abundant multiplication of descendants and possessions
• no infertility in people or livestock
• no sickness or diseases
• sickness and disease upon those who hate Israel
• victory over enemies

Notice the practical help promised to Israel in verse 20, "Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed." Hornets...I hate hornets! We actually saw these hornets mentioned back in Exodus 23:28 (see notes). As a matter of fact, Joshua 24:12 (see notes) indicates that, indeed, the land was cleared for the Hebrews by "the hornet."

How could anyone turn away from that kind of a guarantee?

Now, on the flip side of this proposition, what about the misfortune of these local Canaanite residents. Notice their projected fate in Deuteronomy 7:1-6:

1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
2 and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son.
4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
6 ¶ “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

That seems a little extreme, but there's a reason these Canaanites had to go - WICKEDNESS! Here's what we see in Deuteronomy 9:4 (see notes), "Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you." These Canaanites had been judged by God for their wickedness. Instead of destruction by a flood as in the days of Noah, Israel was to be the instrument of God's judgment upon these wicked people. There's a solemn warning that goes beyond the Law of Moses in Leviticus 18:27-28 (see notes), "(for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you." Those "nations that were before you" weren't under the Law of Moses, but God found their lifestyle practices so repulsive that he "spued out the nations." And the same declaration is made in Leviticus 20:23 (see notes), "And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them."

So, you see, the Canaanites had to go. In most situations during the conquest of Canaan, the Canaanites attacked Israel first. Joshua 11:20 (see notes) explains why, "For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD had commanded Moses."