Deuteronomy by Irving Jensen- used by permission
Source: Ryrie Study Bible
| Dt 1:1-4:43 | Dt 4:44-26:19 | Dt 27:1-34:12 | |||||
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Moses' |
Moses' |
Moses' |
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| Historical Review | Legal Exposition |
Prophetical Promises |
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Looking Back 40 Years |
Looking Up What God Expected of Israel |
Looking Ahead What God Will Do for Israel |
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| Recapitulation of Wanderings | Rehearsal of Israel's Law |
Ratification of Israel's Covenant |
Historical Appendices | ||||
| Remembrance of the past | Commandments for the Present |
Dt 27:1-30:20 Blessing and Cursing |
Dt 31:1-34:12 Death of Moses |
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| Take Heed Don't forget |
Ten Commands |
Related Commands |
Two Choices Affecting the Future |
Moses' Parting Words | |||
| Dt 1:1-4:43 Looking Back |
Dt 4:44-11:32 Exposition of Decalogue |
Dt 12:1-16:17 Ceremonial Laws |
Dt 16:18-20:20 Civil Laws |
Dt 21:1-26:19 Social Laws |
Dt 27:1-28:68 Ratification of Covenant |
Dt 29:1-30:20 Terms of Covenant |
Dt 31:1-34:12 Moses' Song, Blessing, Death |
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Plains of Moab |
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ca. 2 Months |
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- Heart (49x/45v),
- Love (24x/23v),
- Listen (31x/31v),
- Obey/obedient (15x),
- Observe (26x),
- Keep (32x/30v),
- Purge (remove) the evil (10x/10v),
- Remember (15x),
- Forget/forgotten (13x),
- Command (-ed, -ment, -ments) (127x, 98v),
- Covenant (27x/26v),
- Bless/blessed/blessing (50x/45v),
- Life (19x/15v),
- Curse(s)/cursed/cursing (34x/32v),
- Death (23x/19v),
- Fear (25x/25v),
- Carefully (8x),
- Shall not (128x/116v),
- LORD spoke (9x),
- LORD will (34x/34v),
- LORD your God (279x/239v),
- Lord our God (22x/21v),
- Nation(s) (46x/41v),
- Circumcise (Dt 10:16, Dt 30:6).
Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy three times in His temptation in the wilderness [Mat 4:1-11; Dt 8:3; Dt 6:16; Dt 6:13,14; also Dt 10:20].
Key Verses:
Dt 6:5 - "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
Dt 7:9 - "Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments."
Henrietta Mears writes that "You will come to appreciate the full force & magnetic beauty of Deuteronomy only as you read its pages....Nothing in literature matches the majesty of its eloquence. Nothing in the OT has any more powerful appeal for the spiritual life. No book in all the Word of God pictures better the life that is lived according to God's will & the blessings showered upon the soul who comes into the richness & fullness of spiritual living along the rugged pathway of simple obedience...If you want a taste of heaven on earth, become familiar with Deuteronomy." (What the Bible is All About)
J Sidlow Baxter - The Hebrew name for this fifth writing of Moses was Haddebharim, that is, "the Words" - this name being taken from the opening verse of the book: "these be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness ..." This name sufficiently marks off its special character from the more definitely historical and legislative books which have preceded it. The history and legislation of the earlier books are reviewed in Deuteronomy, but only as the basis for the words of admonition which are now recorded. In the truest, deepest, and profoundest sense, Deuteronomy is a book of words; for never were wiser or weightier words uttered.
Our own title, "Deuteronomy," is taken from the Greek, deuteros (second) and nomos (law) - the title which the Septuagint (Lxx) translators gave to the book when they translated the Old Testament into Greek, somewhere about the third century B.C. In Deuteronomy we have a second giving of the Law, or, rather, a new expounding of it to the new generation of Israel who had grown up in the wilderness and were needing to have the Law repeated and expounded to them before their entering into Canaan. Deuteronomy is not the giving of a new Law, but an explication of that which was already given.
A Book of Transition - Deuteronomy is a book of transition. It marks a transition in a fourfold way. First, it marks the transition to a new generation; for with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, and Moses himself, the old generation which came up from Egypt and was numbered at Sinai, had passed away, and a new generation had grown up. Second, it marks the transition to a new possession. The wilderness pilgrimage was to give place to the national occupancy of Canaan. Third, it marks the transition to a new experience, to a new life - houses instead of tents, settled habitation instead of wandering, and, instead of the wilderness diet, the milk and honey and corn and wine of Canaan. Fourth, it marks the transition to a new revelation of God - the revelation of His love. From Genesis to Numbers the love of God is never spoken of but here, in Deuteronomy, we have the wonderful words: "Because He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their seed" (Dt 4:37); "the Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you" (Dt 7:7-8); "the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them" (Dt 10:15); "the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee" (Dt 23:5).
While speaking of the transitionary nature of Deuteronomy, it is interesting to mention that just as the Old Testament begins with five historical books - Genesis to Deuteronomy, so the New Testament begins with five historical books - Matthew to Acts; and there is a striking parallel between The Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book of the New Testament, and Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old. The Acts, like Deuteronomy, marks a great transition. It marks the transition from the distinctive message of the "Gospels" to that of the epistles. Like Deuteronomy, it marks the transition to a new generation - a re-generation in Christ. Like Deuteronomy, it marks the transition to a new possession - a spiritual Canaan with "all blessings in the heavenlies, in Christ." Like Deuteronomy, it marks the transition to a new experience - a new birth, a new life, a new dynamic, in the Holy Spirit. Like Deuteronomy, it marks the transition to a new revelation of God - the revelation given in the Church epistles of "the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God," namely, the Church; so that now "there might be known, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph 3:10).
But what is equally striking is that both Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the one group, and Acts, the fifth book of the other group, are books in which God gives His people a second chance. What is Deuteronomy? It is deuteros nomos, the second giving of the Law. Before the new generation is committed to Joshua's charge, Moses, at God's command, rehearses the Law to them. What is the book of the Acts? It is the second offer of the Kingdom of Heaven to the Jews, first at the capital, to the Jews of the homeland, and then through the empire, to the Jews of the dispersion. Of this we shall say more later; but it is well to have it in find even now. (Explore the Book- J. Sidlow Baxter - recommended)
Paul Van Gorder - If we were to write one word across this book to state its theme, it would be ''obedience.'' The significant promise and ominous warning are seen in Deuteronomy 11:26-28, which sums it all up. The book of Deuteronomy may be comfortably divided according to the addresses of Moses. Deuteronomy shows with unmistakable clarity the inflexibility of the law and the necessity of complete subjection to the Word of God. As Romans 3:19 declares, ''Now we know that whatever things the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.'' Christ is the fulfillment of the law. He is the only Israelite to obey God totally in the promised land. He alone kept the letter of the code that was set forth in Deuteronomy. The Lord Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy three times in His temptation in the wilderness [cp. Mat 4:1-11; Deu 8:3; 6:16; 6:13,14; also 10:20]. Surely, a book so valuable to the Savior in such a time must also be valuable to us!
But where do you find Christ pictured in the book of Deuteronomy? Ada Habershon in The Study of Types lists 67 types and 13 contrasts between Moses and Christ. The Lord Jesus is seen in a twofold way in the book of Deuteronomy: by prophecy and by type. These words of Moses are recorded in Deuteronomy 18:15, ''The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken.'' After the Lord Jesus fed the 5,000 in Galilee, the people said, ''This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world'' (John 6:14). Shortly before the stones were hurled that crushed out the life of Stephen, that godly believer [quoted Moses] about Jesus. ''This is that Moses who said unto the children of Israel, A Prophet shall the Lord, your God, raise up unto you of your brethren, like me; Him shall ye hear'' (Acts 7:37). Stephen indicated that Jesus Christ is the One of whom Moses spoke.
Christ Pictured in the Life of Moses-- The Scripture says that our Lord was a prophet ''like unto Moses.'' Please consider the following points as you study Deuteronomy. -- Both Moses and Christ...
(1) were goodly children [Ex 2:2; Heb 11:23; Luke 2:52].
(2) refused a kingdom (Heb 11:26a) [Mat 4:8-10].
(3) were the object of a king's wrath [Heb 11:27; Acts 4:27].
(4) acted for the joy of the reward [Heb 11:26b] (Heb 12:2).
(5) were called out of Egypt [Mat 2:13-15].
(6) were rejected at first by their brethren [Ex 2:14; John 1:11]
(7) made the sea obey them [Ex 14:15,16,21; Mark 4:39-41].
(8) had people who wanted to stone them [Num 14:8-10; John 10:31-33].
(9)delivered a parting blessing to Israel [Dt 33:26-29; Mat 23:37-39]
(10)had their resurrection contested (Jude 1:9; Mat 17:3; 28:12-18).
(11) [are] associated in the song of eternity (Rev 15:3).
Van Gorder goes on to write - "we see striking similarities to the death and resurrection of our Lord.
(1) Moses went up to die (Dt 34:1). Christ ascended to Calvary [John 19:17,18].
(2) Moses was alone, except for God (Dt 34:6). Christ's followers forsook Him [Mat 26:56].
(3) The Lord talked to him (T 34:4) [Heb 1:8-12].
(4) Moses' faculties were unimpaired (Dt 34:7). Christ remained in control until His death [John 10:17,18]
(5) What a funeral! Moses died ''according to the word of the Lord'' (34:5); literally, ''at the mouth of the Lord.'' Christ dismissed His own spirit when the work was completed [Mat 27:50; Jn 19:28-30].
(6) This is not the last we see of Moses. He stood with Christ and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration, 1500 years later [Mat 17:1-3]. Evidently, the devil tried to hold the body of Moses so that he could not appear with the Lord Jesus (Jude 1:9). Death could not hold our Savior [Acts 2:24]. (OT Reflections of Christ - Deuteronomy)
| THE PENTATEUCH SUMMARIZED |
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BOOK |
KEY |
THE |
THE |
GOD'S |
GOD'S |
GOD'S |
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Genesis |
Beginnings |
Chosen |
Prepared |
Powerful |
Creator |
"Let there be!" |
|
Exodus |
Redemption |
Delivered |
Redeemed |
Merciful |
Deliverer |
"Let My people go!" |
|
Leviticus |
Worship |
Set Apart |
Taught |
Holy |
Sanctifier |
"Be Holy!" |
|
Numbers |
Wandering |
Directed |
Tested |
Just |
Sustainer |
"Go in!" |
|
Deuteronomy |
Renewed |
Made |
Retaught |
Loving |
Rewarder |
"Obey!" |
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Source: Talk Thru the Bible |
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ALBERT BARNES
BRIAN BELL
BIBLE.ORG
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR
HENRY BLUNT
JOHN CALVIN
CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES - George Smith
- Deuteronomy 4 Commentary - Rosscup says Smith is a "radical liberal" so apply Acts 17:11-note!
RICH CATHERS
ADAM CLARKE
THOMAS CONSTABLE
RON DANIEL - Sermon Notes
J N DARBY
BOB DEFFINBAUGH
GEORGE DOUGLAS
SAMUEL DRIVER - Critical and Exegetical Commentary
JOHN DUMMELOW
C J ELLICOTT (1882) OT COMMENTARY FOR ENGLISH READERS
EXPLORE THE BIBLE
EXPOSITORY DICTIONARY OF TEXTS
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE
A C GAEBELEIN
GENE GETZ
- Deuteronomy; Principle #6; Deut. 4:1-14; God's Revealed Truth: We are to accept, believe, and obey the inspired Word of God. Video
- Deuteronomy; Principle #7; Deut. 4:25-31; Our Compassionate God: When we sin and alienate ourselves from God, we must remember that He is patiently waiting for us to return to fellowship with Him. Video
- Deuteronomy; Principle #8; Deut. 4:32-40; Walking Worthy: In view of God's love and grace, we should walk worthy of our great calling in Christ. Video
JOHN GILL
BRUCE GOETTSCHE
GOTQUESTIONS
- Deuteronomy 4:24 What does it mean that God is a consuming fire?
- Deuteronomy 4:40 Did God give Israel the Promised Land for all time?
L M GRANT
DAVID GUZIK
ANDREW HARPER
ROBERT HAWKER Poor Man's Commentary
MATTHEW HENRY
F B HOLE
HOMILETICS
BRUCE HURT, MD
HYMNS RELATED - click for Hymn list and links
- Deuteronomy 4:1 Loyalty to Christ (Cassel)
- Deuteronomy 4:10 Sabbath School Hymn
- Deuteronomy 4:29
- Is Thy Heart Athirst to Know?
- Sweet Is the Light, Whate’er It Be
- There’s a Light in the Bible
- Deuteronomy 4:30 Our God, Our God, Thou Shinest Here
- Deuteronomy 4:35
- None Else but Thee, Forevermore
- None but Christ
- Deuteronomy 4:36 Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?
JAMIESON, FAUSSET, BROWN
S LEWIS JOHNSON
W G JORDAN
KEIL AND DELITZSCH
WILLIAM KELLY
CHARLES KINGSLEY
MEREDITH G KLINE
PAUL E KRETZMANN - Popular Commentary
GARY KUKIS
- Deuteronomy 4 - 521 pages(!) numerous translations, some commentary
J P LANGE
WILLIAM MACDONALD - Check this resource.
C H MACKINTOSH
J VERNON MCGEE - Thru the Bible - Mp3's
F B MEYER "Through the Bible"
MOODY BIBLE - Devotionals
- Deuteronomy 3:21-4:14
- Deuteronomy 4:1-8
- Deuteronomy 4:9-14
- Deuteronomy 4:15-24
- Deuteronomy 4:15-43
- Deuteronomy 4:25-28
- Deuteronomy 4:29-31
- Deuteronomy 4:32-38
- Deuteronomy 4:39-40
- Deuteronomy 4:44-5:33
G CAMPBELL MORGAN
- Deuteronomy 4 Exposition on the Bible
- Deuteronomy - Analyzed Bible
- The Message of Deuteronomy
- Deuteronomy 4:29 Backsliding
- Deuteronomy 4:29 The Possibility of Restoration
HENRY MORRIS - Defender's Study Bible
- Deuteronomy 4:2 not add unto the word. This uniquely important commandment—not to augment or diminish the revealed word of God—is reflected in the final climactic words of God in the Bible (Revelation 22:18, 19). Moses here clearly claims verbal inspiration.
- Deuteronomy 4:8 statutes and judgments so righteous. Many forms of government have been employed by tribes and nations throughout history, but the theocracy described by God through Moses would have been the best of all, if it had ever been truly implemented. Our modern libertarian emphasis in human-government relations might recoil at the strictness and severity of God's law, as set forth in the Mosaic writings, but it would truly have assured national righteousness and justice and happiness, as no other system has ever done. all this law
- Deuteronomy 4:13 two tables of stone
- Deuteronomy 4:15 Horeb. Evidently Mount Horeb is essentially the same as Mount Sinai (note Exodus 19:11, 18). Possibly one name referred to the range of mountains, the other to the specific peak.
- Deuteronomy 4:19 driven to worship them. The pagan nations of Canaan, as well as Egypt and the other nations of antiquity, had once known the true God of creation, but had long since become evolutionary pantheists, worshipping the creation instead of the Creator (note Romans 1:20-25). The children of Israel were repeatedly warned against this influence, but repeatedly succumbed to it in later years—just as have people in every age. The first of the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3), was given explicitly to guard against this ever-present Satanic temptation.
- Deuteronomy 4:24 consuming fire
- Deuteronomy 4:28 ye shall serve gods. This is a prophecy remarkably fulfilled in later ages. Not only were the Israelites scattered among the nations of the world, but great multitudes of these apostates abandoned the faith of their fathers in favor of many forms—ancient and modern—of evolutionary pantheism. Modern "Reform Judaism," for example, is little more than evolutionary humanism.
- Deuteronomy 4:30 tribulation. This prophecy, given by Moses as Israel prepared to enter the promised land, apparently looks into the distant future, 3500 years or more, to "the latter days" when Israel will be in the "great tribulation" (Revelation 7:14). At that "time of trouble … thy people shall be delivered," (Daniel 12:1), and "immediately after the tribulation of those days … He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:29, 31).
- Deuteronomy 4:32 God created man. "The days that are past," to which Moses referred, "since the day that God created man upon the earth," had been some 2500 years (assuming no "gaps" in the received chronological genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11). That was a long time, of course, but was at least a reasonable point of reference to which the people could relate—nothing like the eternal evolutionary ages postulated by the Egyptians, Canaanites and other ancient pagan nations.
- Deuteronomy 4:37 he loved thy fathers. Israel was not God's chosen people because they deserved to be, but "because He loved thy fathers." He had made an unconditional promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because of their faithfulness, not that of their "seed after them."
- Deuteronomy 4:41 three cities
JAMES MOULTON
ROBERT NEIGHBOR
NET BIBLE NOTES
WILLIAM NEWELL
JAMES NISBET
OUR DAILY BREAD
- Deuteronomy 4:1-14 Misquote
- Deuteronomy 4:1-9 Story Stewards
- Deuteronomy 4:1-9 Words To Live By
- Deuteronomy 4:1-10 Every Word Matters
- Deuteronomy 4:15-27 Don't Forget!
- Deuteronomy 4:15-31 Unseen Majesty
- Deuteronomy 4:32-40 Singing Bowl
JOSEPH PARKER
- Deuteronomy 4 Divine Foundation
- Deuteronomy 4 Memory and Duty
- Deuteronomy 4:32-40 The Specialty of the Bible
- Deuteronomy 4:39 The Relation of Man to God
SIMON PATRICK
PETER PETT
MATTHEW POOLE
PREACHER'S HOMILETICAL COMMENTARY
PULPIT COMMENTARY
- Deuteronomy 4 Exposition - scroll down page for homilies below
- Deuteronomy 4:1-2 Acceptable Obedience
- Deuteronomy 4:1-4 Life and Prosperity Dependent on Obedience to God
- Deuteronomy 4:1-13 The Sacredness of the Divine Law
- Deuteronomy 4:1-14 Obedience the Secret of Success
- Deuteronomy 4:1-28 The Curse of Idolatry
- Deuteronomy 4:5-9 National Greatness
- Deuteronomy 4:9 The Religious Education of Children
- Deuteronomy 4:6-10 A Nation's Glory
- Deuteronomy 4:10-14 The Revelation at Horeb
- Deuteronomy 4:11-20 Israel's Peculiar Relation to God
- Deuteronomy 4:15-20 Warning Against Heathenish Idolatry
- Deuteronomy 4:15-24 The Divine Jealousy of Graven Images
- Deuteronomy 4:20 The Iron Furnace
- Deuteronomy 4:21-24 God a Consuming Fire
- Deuteronomy 4:25-49 Homiletics
- Deuteronomy 4:23-32 National Backsliding
- Deuteronomy 4:32-41 The Wonderfulness of Israel's History
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Beloved for the Fathers' Sake
- Deuteronomy 4:29-40 The Mercy of God
- Deuteronomy 4:41-43 The Cities of Refuge
- Deuteronomy 4:41-43 The Cities of Refuge Beyond the Jordan
- Deuteronomy 4:25-31 Judgment Leading to Mercy
- Deuteronomy 4:32-40 The Deliverance of the Lord's People Unparalleled
- Deuteronomy 4:44-49 The Circumstances Under Which the Law was Reiterated
REFORMATION STUDY BIBLE
- Deut 4:2
- Deut 4:3
- Deut 4:6
- Deut 4:9
- Deut 4:10
- Deut 4:13
- Deut 4:15
- Deut 4:20
- Deut 4:21
- Deut 4:24
- Deut 4:25–29
- Deut 4:27
- Deut 4:30
- Deut 4:31
- Deut 4:32
- Deut 4:34
- Deut 4:37
- Deut 4:41–43
- Deut 4:44–11:32
- Deut 4:45
- Deut 4:49
RON RITCHIE
DON ROBINSON
SERMON AUDIO
SERMON BIBLE COMMENTARY
CHARLES SIMEON
- Deuteronomy 4 - following sermons
- Deuteronomy 4:7-9 Moses' Solemn Charge to Israel
CHUCK SMITH
JAMES SMITH - Expository Outlines - Handfuls of Purpose
- A Solemn Charge - Deuteronomy 4:1-9
Excerpt - "O Israel, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (vv. 1, 2). This is a very clear evidence of inspiration. The statutes and judgments taught by Moses were the authoritative words of God. As Newberry points out, the I's of Moses here are emphatic in the Hebrew. He speaks in God's stead. This Paul declares in writing to the Hebrews (chapter 1:1). This solemn charge to keep the words of God comes loudly and urgently upon us today. - Backsliding Its Cause And Cure - Deuteronomy 4:23-31
Excerpt - Whatever occupies the chief place in our hearts and lives takes the place of God and becomes our God. We are constantly in danger, as Israel was, of allowing visible things to usurp the place of the Eternal One, whom we see not. When the Lord spoke out of the midst of the fire in Horeb no manner of similitude was seen (v. 15). One of the reasons given is, "For the Lord your God is a jealous God" (v. 24). Jealous of our faith, and the adoration of our hearts. Backsliding is always manifested by preferring some earthly thing to the Lord.
C. H. SPURGEON
JOSEPH SUTCLIFFE
JOE TEMPLE
THIRD MILLENNIUM
- The Call to Covenant Fidelity - Deuteronomy 4:1-40
- The Basic Contours of Covenant Fidelity - Deuteronomy 4:1-2
- Covenant Lessons from the Past - Deuteronomy 4:3-24
- Lesson from Baal Peor - Deuteronomy 4:3-9
- Lesson from Sinai - Deuteronomy 4:10-20
- Lesson from Meribah - Deuteronomy 4:21-24
- Covenant Threats and Hopes for the Future - Deuteronomy 4:25-31
- A Summary - Deuteronomy 4:32-40
- The Cities of Refuge in TransJordan - Deuteronomy 4:41-43
- Moses' Second Covenantal Speech [The Stipulations] - Deuteronomy 4:44-26:19
- An Introduction - Deuteronomy 4:44-49
JOHN TRAPP
BOB UTLEY
CHRIS VOGEL
DANIEL WHEDON
SERMONS BY VERSE - older expositors