신명기 Chapter 4

Translation: ESV

1

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.

Key Message

Hearing and doing God's word is the path to life and blessing.

▸Deuteronomy chapter 4 serves as the conclusion of Moses' first sermon, presenting the motivation and purpose for obeying the law.

Deuteronomy chapter 4 serves as the conclusion of Moses' first sermon, presenting the motivation and purpose for obeying the law. The double command 'listen and do' emphasizes that hearing and doing are inseparable. The purpose of the law is presented through two outcomes: 'you may live' and 'take possession of the land.' The law is not a burden on life but the path to life.

Related Verses

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
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.

Key Message

God's word cannot be modified by human judgment. Recognizing the completeness and authority of the word is the foundation of faith.

▸The command not to add to or subtract from God's word is an important principle concerning the authority of Scripture.

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.

Key Message

Historical warnings should be used to strengthen present faith. Do not forget past failures but use them as cautions.

▸The incident at Baal-peor is a vivid historical warning witnessed firsthand.

4

But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today.

Key Message

The path of life is to hold fast to God firmly. Not mere religious formality but personal union with God is the foundation of life.

▸While those who followed Baal-peor died, those who held fast to the LORD are alive.

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.

Key Message

The purpose of all religious education is not the acquisition of knowledge but practice in life.

▸The purpose of teaching the law is made explicit.

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.'

Key Message

A life according to God's word is the wisest life in the world, and it testifies to God before the world.

▸A remarkable declaration that keeping the law will be Israel's expression of wisdom and knowledge.

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?

Key Message

The God who listens to prayer and draws near is the basis of Israel's greatness. God is always approachable.

▸Israel's uniqueness is that God draws near whenever they pray.

8

And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

Key Message

The law given by God is more righteous and wise than any law in the world.

▸A declaration that Israel's law is righteous.

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—

Key Message

The memory of faith must be transmitted to the next generation. This is how God's community continues.

▸Personal memory ('do not forget') and intergenerational transmission ('make known to your children') are combined in one command.

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.'

Key Message

God's word was given so that people would learn to live in the fear of God and transmit that to the next generation.

▸The purpose of receiving the law at Mount Horeb is made explicit.

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.

Key Message

God's presence is awe-inspiring, and humans must be humble before his holiness.

▸A majestic description of the theophany (divine appearance) at Sinai.

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.

Key Message

God is revealed through words, not images. This is the deepest basis for the command not to make idols.

▸This verse contains the core theology of Deuteronomy chapter 4.

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.

Key Message

The Ten Commandments are the core of the covenant between God and Israel, and they are God's will put in writing.

▸It is declared that the heart of the Sinai revelation is the covenant, and that the specific content of that covenant is the Ten Commandments.

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.

Key Message

God's will operates at two levels: principle and concrete application. Faith is complete when abstract principles are expressed in concrete life.

▸In addition to the Ten Commandments, Moses was given a commission to teach more detailed statutes and rules.

15

Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

Key Message

Making an image of God is to reject God's method of revelation, which is through the word.

▸The theological principle of verse 12 is directly connected as the basis for the warning against idolatry.

16

beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

Key Message

Idolatry is both a distortion of God and a self-corruption that destroys oneself.

▸Idolatry is 'acting corruptly.

17

the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,

Key Message

Representing the Creator as a creature inverts the created order.

▸Representing God in the form of animals and birds is also prohibited.

18

the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.

Key Message

The prohibition of idols is not limited to specific forms but is a comprehensive command not to represent God in the form of any creature.

▸The list of creatures that could become idols continues.

19

And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Key Message

Celestial bodies are creatures made by God—they are God's gift, not objects of worship.

▸Worship of the sun, moon, and stars is also prohibited.

20

But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.

Key Message

God saves his people even from the most harsh environment and makes them his own inheritance.

▸The metaphor of 'iron furnace' powerfully expresses the harsh slave life in Egypt.

21

Furthermore, the LORD was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Key Message

A community's sin affects even its leaders. The community's spiritual responsibility must not be taken lightly.

▸Moses mentions that he cannot enter Canaan, describing the reason as 'because of you.

22

For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land.

Key Message

A true leader dedicates himself so that the next generation may obtain what he himself cannot.

▸Moses' fate (to die in this land) and Israel's mission (cross over and take possession) are contrasted.

23

Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you.

Key Message

The prohibition of idols is a matter of covenant faithfulness. Remembering the covenant with God is the shield against the temptation of idols.

▸This verse connects the previous prohibition of idols with the covenant.

24

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Key Message

God's jealousy is an expression of deep love for Israel and righteous zeal for the proper covenant relationship.

▸Two powerful descriptions of God are presented.

25

When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger,

Key Message

Spiritual laxity easily comes with prosperity and stability. A time of abundance is also a time of spiritual danger.

▸The danger that comes after settling in Canaan is warned against.

26

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.

Key Message

God's covenant includes judgment clauses. Disobedience inevitably produces consequences.

▸Setting heaven and earth as witnesses comes from ancient Near Eastern treaty forms.

27

And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.

Key Message

God's judgment is carried out concretely and actually. Yet even in judgment there is God's grace in preserving a remnant.

▸Dispersal in exile is foretold.

28

And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

Key Message

Idols are powerless—they can neither see nor hear. It is the irony that what Israel so eagerly wanted to follow is ultimately nothing but wood and stone.

▸The foreign gods Israel would serve in exile are ironically described.

29

But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Key Message

Even after judgment, those who seek God with all their heart will surely find him. God waits for those who return.

▸The transition word 'but' introduces God's grace, which is central to Deuteronomic theology.

30

When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.

Key Message

God's discipline has as its purpose not destruction but causing a return. Suffering can be the beginning of the journey back to God.

▸The word 'return' carries the expectation and promise that the return will ultimately occur.

31

For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

Key Message

God's mercy is greater than Israel's sin. God will never completely abandon his people.

▸After the announcement of judgment, God's character is again proclaimed.

32

For ask now of the days that are past, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.

Key Message

God's salvation that Israel experienced is an unprecedented event in history since creation.

▸Surveying all of history from creation to the present, the rhetorical question asks whether a divine salvation event like what Israel experienced has ever occurred.

33

Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?

Key Message

Receiving God's direct revelation and surviving is an unprecedented privilege given to Israel.

▸This is a rhetorical question asking whether any nation has ever heard the voice of God directly from within fire and survived.

34

Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Key Message

God's salvation is accomplished in varied and powerful ways. No god can do what the God of Israel has done.

▸The various means of salvation in the Exodus are enumerated.

35

To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.

Key Message

The purpose of all God's saving history is for Israel to know that the LORD alone is God.

▸The purpose of all salvation history is proclaimed.

36

Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

Key Message

God speaks from heaven and is present on earth through fire. He is the God who transcends yet draws near.

▸At the Sinai revelation, God simultaneously manifested himself through heaven (voice) and earth (fire).

37

And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,

Key Message

The basis of God's election and salvation is not human merit but God's love. Grace is a gift given to the undeserving.

▸The fundamental motivation of the Exodus is declared to be God's love for the patriarchs.

38

driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

Key Message

God can drive out enemies stronger than us. Faith is trusting in God's power and moving forward on the basis of that power.

▸The promise to drive out the Canaanite nations greater and stronger than Israel and give the land is expressed in the present continuous.

39

know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

Key Message

Knowing and taking to heart that the LORD alone is God is the starting point of all faith and law-keeping.

▸This is the theological conclusion of all of Deuteronomy chapter 4.

40

Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.

Key Message

Knowing God and keeping his commands is the secret of a blessed life. Obedience is both a life duty and the path that enriches life.

▸This is the conclusion of Deuteronomy chapter 4.

41

Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan,

Key Message

God's law provides fair protection even to those who make mistakes. Distinguishing between intent and outcome is the principle of justice.

▸Verses 41-43 describe the institution of the cities of refuge.

42

that the manslayer might flee there, anyone who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past; he may flee to one of these cities and live.

Key Message

God's law considers both intent and action together. Distinguishing between accident and intention is the principle of just law.

▸The conditions for the city of refuge are specified.

43

Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

Key Message

God's institutions are designed in a balanced way so that all people can receive protection.

▸The three cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan are designated one in each tribal territory: Bezer for the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth for the tribe of Gad, and Golan for the tribe of Manasseh.

44

This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel.

Key Message

God's word is proclaimed in a specific historical context.

▸Beginning with verse 44, Moses' second sermon starts.

45

These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt,

Key Message

God's law in its various forms addresses all areas of Israel's life.

▸The law is presented in three categories.

46

beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt.

Key Message

God's word is rooted in a specific historical place and time.

▸The geographical location of the law proclamation is mentioned again.

47

And they captured his land and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan;

Key Message

God's law is given after the history of salvation. Grace comes first, and the law is the response to that grace.

▸The defeat and territorial capture of Sihon and Og is mentioned again.

48

from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion (that is, Mount Hermon),

Key Message

God's promises are fulfilled in concrete geographical reality.

▸The boundaries of the conquered trans-Jordan territory are again specified.

49

and all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

Key Message

The boundaries of the land God promised are specific, and that promise is being fulfilled step by step.

▸The Arabah region on this side of the Jordan, that is, the western boundary from the Jordan River to the Dead Sea, is described.