4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto
the judgments, which I teach you, for to a do [them], that
ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD
God of your fathers giveth you.
(a) For this doctrine stands not in bare knowledge, but in
practice of life.
4:2 Ye shall b not add unto the word which I command you,
neither shall ye c diminish [ought] from it, that ye may
keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command
you.
(b) Think not to be more wise than I am.
(c) God will not be served by halves, but will have full
obedience.
4:3 Your d 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.
(d) God's judgments executed on other idolaters ought to
serve for our instruction, read (Nu 25:3,4).
4:4 But ye that did e cleave unto the LORD your God [are]
alive every one of you this day.
(e) And were not idolaters.
4:6 Keep therefore and do [them]; for this [is] your f 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.
(f) Because all men naturally desire wisdom, he shows how to
attain it.
4:7 For what nation [is there so] great, who [hath] God [so] g
nigh unto them, as the LORD our God [is] in all [things
that] we call upon him [for]?
(g) Helping us, and delivering us out of all dangers, as in
(2Sa 7:23).
4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and h 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;
(h) He adds 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.
4:11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the
mountain i burned with fire unto the midst of heaven,
with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
(i) The law was given with fearful miracles, to declare
both that God was the author of it, and also that no
flesh was able to abide the rigour of the same.
4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded
you to k perform, [even] ten commandments; and he wrote
them upon two tables of stone.
(k) God joins this condition to his covenant.
4:15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no
l manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spake
unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
(l) Signifying, that destruction is prepared for all who
make any image to represent God.
4:19 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 m divided unto
all nations under the whole heaven.
(m) He has appointed them to serve man.
4:20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of
the n iron furnace, [even] out of Egypt, to be unto him a
people of inheritance, as [ye are] this day.
(n) He has delivered you out of most miserable slavery and
freely chosen you for his.
4:22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but
o ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
(o) Moses good affection appears in that while he himself
is deprived of such an excellent treasure, he does not
envy those who must enjoy it.
4:24 For the LORD thy God [is] a p consuming fire, [even] a
jealous God.
(p) To those that come not to him with love and reverence,
but rebel against him.
4:25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children,
and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall q
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:
(q) Meaning by this all superstition and corruption of the
true service of God.
4:26 I r 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.
(r) Though men would abuse you, yet the insensible
creatures will be witnesses of your disobedience.
4:27 And the LORD shall s scatter you among the nations, and
ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither
the LORD shall lead you.
(s) So that his curse will make his former blessings
ineffectual.
4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou
shalt find [him], if thou seek him with all thy t heart
and with all thy soul.
(t) Not with outward show or ceremony, but with a true
confession of your faults.
4:31 (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 u sware unto them.
(u) To certify to them even more the assurance of their
salvation.
4:32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before
thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth,
and x [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?
(x) Man's negligence is partially the cause for his
ignorance of God.
4:34 Or hath God assayed to go [and] take him a nation from the
midst of [another] nation, by y 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?
(y) By so manifest proofs that none could doubt of it.
4:35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest z know that
the LORD he [is] God; [there is] none else beside him.
(z) He shows the reason why God did these miracles.
4:37 And because a 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;
(a) Freely, and not because they deserved it.
4:40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his
commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may
b 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.
(b) God promises reward not for our merits, but to
encourage us, and to assure us that our labour will not
be lost.
4:45 These [are] the c testimonies, and the statutes, and the
judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel,
after they came forth out of Egypt,
(c) The articles and points of the covenant.
4:49 And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto
d the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.
