“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.”
For this doctrine standeth not in bare knowledge, but in practice of life.
“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.”
Cross references: : Deut. 12:32 Think not to be more wise than I am. God will not be served by halves, but will have full obedience.
“Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.”
God’s judgments executed upon other idolaters ought to serve for our instruction, read Num. 25:3 , 4 .
“Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
Because all men naturally desire wisdom, he showeth how to attain unto it. Or, surely.
“For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?”
Helping us, and delivering us out of all dangers, as 2 Sam. 7:23 .
“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;”
He addeth all these words, to show that we can never be careful enough to keep the law of God and to teach it to our posterity.
“And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. midst: Heb. heart”
Exod. 19:18 The Law was given with fearful miracles, to declare both that God was the author thereof, and also that no flesh was able to abide the rigor of the same.
“And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.”
God joineth this condition to his covenant. Or, words.
“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:”
Hebrew, souls. Signifying, that destruction is prepared for all them that make any image to represent God.
“And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. divided: or, imparted”
He hath appointed them for to serve man.
“But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.”
He hath delivered you out of most miserable slavery and freely chosen you for his.
“But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.”
Moses’ good affection appeareth in that he being deprived of such an excellent treasure, doth not envy them that must enjoy it.
“For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”
To those that come not unto him with love and reverence, but rebel against him, Heb. 12:29 .
“When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:”
Meaning hereby all superstition and corruption of the true service of God.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.”
Though men would absolve you, yet the insensible creatures shall be witnesses of your disobedience.
“And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.”
So that his curse shall make his former blessings of none effect.
“But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”
Not with outward show or ceremony, but with a true confession of thy faults.
“(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.”
To certify them the more of the assurance of their salvation.
“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?”
Man’s negligence is partly cause, that he knoweth not God.
“Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”
By so manifest proofs that none could doubt thereof.
“Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.”
He showeth the cause why God wrought these miracles.
“And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;”
Freely, and not of their deserts.
“Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.”
God promiseth reward not for our merits, but to encourage us, and to assure us that our labor shall not be lost.
“These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,”
The articles and points of the covenant.
“And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.”
That is, the salt sea. Deut. 3:17