Deut 4:44-5:15 Ten Commandments pt I

Intro: Guns & 10 Commandments

The Book of Deuteronomy follows a literary pattern used in the ancient Near East for treaties between rulers and their vassal nations.

With Israel, of course, the Lord had conquered their enemies and set the Jews free, and they were His special people; but as they entered their land, this freedom involved responsibilities.

They were a covenant people and Deuteronomy defines the terms of the covenant.

Like the ancient vassal treaties, Deuteronomy has a preamble (1:1–5) and a review of the history behind the treaty (1:6–4:49).

Then it lists the ruler’s stipulations for the conduct of his subjects (chaps. 5–26) and what would happen if they disobeyed (chaps. 27–30).

It closes with an explanation of how the treaty would operate in future generations (chaps. 31–34).

Read Deut 4:44-49

I. VS. 44-49 MOSES INSTRUCTS IN THE LAW

VS. 44-45 begins the second and longest address of Moses.

It describes the laws or stipulations connected to the covenant (chapters 5–26), and it is followed by two chapters about ratifying the covenant (chapter 27) and the blessings and curses related to the covenant (chapter 28)

“Law” here is Torah, which is “a general term for the whole law.”

“Testimonies,” “statutes,” and “rules” refer to the different “specific stipulations” of that law.

Verse 46-49 tells where the sermon was given

This was probably added an editor later on because of the phrase “Beyond the Jordan” refers to someone who has already crossed over and Moses never did

In Moses’ first sermon He implored them to remember the past and obey the Law

Now he begins to lay out what that law is

He will start with the first law given, the 10 commandments, and then summarize it with the Shema, and then go over the specific laws

II. VS. 1-6 Face to Face

Moses began by calling Israel to hear God’s covenant, learn it, and do whatever it commanded.

As we have seen, “to hear” means much more than to listen casually to words that somebody is speaking. It means to listen attentively, to understand, to heed and obey.

“the learning [described here] is clearly, then, more than academic—it must impact and change life.

This is coupled with the word Shamar, which means “Pay careful attention to

vs. 2 Made a Covenant

Literally, this is to “cut a covenant.”

The idea of “cutting” is associated with covenant because covenants were always sealed with sacrifice – the cutting of a sacrificial victim.

When God made this covenant, it included every generation of the nation of Israel from that day on and not just with the generation that gathered at Sinai.

Moses was addressing a new generation and yet he said, “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb”

The covenant was originally made with the previous generation, and Moses did not deny this. But he drove the point home: This was their covenant; it is a covenant of the living, not of the dead.

Ps 90:1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

This demonstrates that the term face to face does not mean “literal face to literal face,” but is a Hebraic figure of speech meaning “intimate, free communication.”

Deuteronomy 4:12 specifically says that Israel saw no form; you only heard a voice.

Yet they had a remarkably transparent communication with God, so the figure of speech face to face applies.

This is why Exodus 33:11 says So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend, and in Exodus 33:20 the LORD says, You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.

The use of face to face in Exodus 33:11 is a figure of speech, meaning Moses had free and unhindered communication with the LORD.

God spoke out of the midst of the fire

And Moses was their representative because they were afraid

He spoke and received from the Lord on behalf of all the nation

vs. 6 With verse 6 we begin God’s words of giving the Law.

He starts in a way that is very typical for God when establishing or confirming a covenant relationship with his people.

The Lord of the universe, our God, has given these commands to us.

Today we may be afraid to follow God’s Law for fear of displeasing our peers, our leaders, or wicked people.

By following the Law we may forfeit some material or social benefits. But God is greater than all these people, and he rules history.

III. VS. 7-10 NO OTHER GODS BEFORE GOD

It is clear from the references to the Ten Commandments in the Bible that they had a very special place in Biblical religion.

They are sometimes referred to by a special name such as “the ten words,” which is usually translated as “the Ten Commandments” or “the words”

The word Decalogue, which is often used to refer to the Ten Commandments, comes from the Greek meaning “the ten words.”

This is the only material in the Bible inscribed on two tablets of stone by the finger of God

Before God commanded anything of man, He declared who He was and what He did for Israel (who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage).

The foundation was clear: because of whom God was and what He did for His people, He has the right to tell us what to do – and we have the obligation to obey Him.

The first four commandments had to do with Israel’s relationship to God personally: acknowledging that there is but one Lord (Deut. 5:6), abstaining from worshiping idols (vv. 8–10), honoring God’s name (v. 11), and observing the Sabbath (vv. 12–15)

The first commandment logically flows from understanding who God is and what He has done for us. Nothing is to come before God and He is the only God we worship and serve.

In the days of ancient Israel, there was great temptation to worship the gods of materialism (Baal, the god of weather and financial success) and sex (Ashtoreth, the goddess of sex, romance, and reproduction), or any number of other local deities.

If there is but one true God, then the making and worshiping of idols is not only illogical, but it’s a denial of Israel’s confession of faith.

Israel was “married” to Jehovah at Sinai, and idolatry was a breach of that marriage covenant and the equivalent of adultery.

We are tempted to worship the same gods, but without the old-fashioned names and images.

This did not imply that it was permissible to have other gods, as long as they lined up behind the true God.

Instead the idea is that there are to be no other gods before the sight of the true God in our life.

Before Me is literally, “to My face.”

This means God demands to be more than “added” to our lives.

We don’t just add Jesus to the life we already have. We must give Him all our lives.

Failure to obey this commandment is called idolatry.

We are to flee idolatry

1 Corinthians 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

Those lives marked by habitual idolatry will not inherit the kingdom of God

Ephesians 5:5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Idolatry is a work of the flesh, which marks our old life instead of the new

Galatians 5:19-20 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

vs. 8 Shall not make any carved images

The second commandment prohibited not only idolatry regarding false gods, it also dealt with making an image of any created thing which we might worship.

In that day as well as in our own, worship was tied closely with images – idealized images, or even images in the mind of man.

God will not allow us to replace Him with another image.

“To countenance its image worship, the Roman Catholic Church has left the whole of this second commandment out of the decalogue, and thus lost one whole commandment out of the ten; but to keep up the number they have divided the tenth into two.”

John 4:24 explains the rationale behind the second commandment: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

The use of images and other material things as a focus or “help” to worship denies who God is (Spirit) and how we must worship Him (in spirit and truth).

vs. 9 For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God:

How can it be said that God is a jealous God?

“God’s jealousy is love in action. He refuses to share the human heart with any rival, not because He is selfish and wants us all for Himself, but because He knows that upon that loyalty to Him depends our very moral life… God is not jealous of us: He is jealous for us.”

vs. 9b Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me:

This does not mean God punishes us directly for the sins of our ancestors. The important words are of those who hate Me – if the descendants love God, they will not have the iniquity of the fathers visited on them.

IV. VS. 11 YOU SHALL NOT TAKE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN

In the third commandment (Deut. 5:11), God’s name represents God’s character and reputation, and to honor His name means to make Him “look good” to the people around us.

We can break the third commandment through:

profanity (using the name of God in blasphemy and cursing),

frivolity (using the name of God in a superficial, stupid way)

hypocrisy (claiming the name of God but acting in a way that disgraces Him).

For the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain:

The strength of this command has led to strange traditions among the Jewish people.

Some go to extreme lengths in attempting to fulfill this command, refusing to even write out the name of God, in the fear that the paper might be destroyed, and the name of God be written in vain.

V. VS. 12-15 OBSERVE THE SABBATH

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy:

The seventh day (Saturday) was commanded to be respected as a day of rest. This rest was for all of Israel – servants and slaves as well as visitors.

This is an important principle that might be too easily passed over.

Here God declared the essential humanity and dignity of women, slaves, and strangers, and said they had the same right to a day of rest as the free Israeli man. This was certainly a radical concept in the ancient world.

In fact, in Moses’ exposition of the Law here in Deuteronomy, he pays special stress on the fact that the Sabbath is for the foreign-born slaves among Israel.

Deuteronomy 5:15 (And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt) is not cited in Exodus 20.