The Book of Deuteronomy

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Moses calls all Israel and says, "the LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." Then he rehearses the Ten Commandments. First comes the ground of all the rest: "I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." Because He is their God and their Redeemer, "Thou shalt have none other gods before me." No graven image, no bowing to idols. His name is not to be taken in vain. The Sabbath is to be kept, and here Moses adds a reason drawn from redemption: "remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand." The commands begin with God Himself and flow from His saving work.

One difference deserves a careful reader's notice. In Exodus 20 the same commandment grounds the Sabbath in creation -- "for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth... and rested the seventh day" (Exodus 20:11) -- while here in Deuteronomy Moses grounds it in redemption: "remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt." This is no contradiction, and no slip of memory. Moses is not re-writing the commandment but preaching it afresh to a new generation about to enter the land, drawing out a second reason that fits the hour. Both are true: God's people rest because their God is the Creator who rested, and because He is the Redeemer who brought them out of bondage into rest. The two reasons meet in Christ, in whom creation and redemption are one work, and who calls all who labour, "Come unto me... and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The Sabbath was pointing to Him all along.

Gospel Focus

Notice where the law begins: not with a demand but with a Person and a redemption. "I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." God saves first and commands second; obedience is the response of a redeemed people to the God who delivered them. So it is for us: we do not keep His commandments to earn salvation but because He has already brought us out of the house of bondage in Christ. And the first command stands over all the rest: "Thou shalt have none other gods before me," the same word God spoke from Sinai, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). There is one God, and He will share His throne with no idol, no rival, nothing. Every commandment that follows is really an outworking of this first one, for to break any of them is to set something, self, money, lust, or pride, in the place that belongs to God alone. Keep the first command and you will keep them all: let the one true God be God in your life, with no other before Him.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The second table of the law governs our life together. It opens with the family: "Honour thy father and thy mother... that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee." Then come the great protections of human life and society: "Thou shalt not kill. Neither shalt thou commit adultery. Neither shalt thou steal. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour." And finally the command that reaches into the heart itself: "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house," or anything that is his. These commands guard the home, life, marriage, property, truth, and the very desires of the heart. Where they are kept, a society flourishes; where they are broken, it decays.

Gospel Focus

These commandments show that true love for God is never divorced from how we treat people. Jesus summed up the whole law in loving God and loving our neighbour, and this second table is love for neighbour spelled out. Paul singles out the command to honour parents as "the first commandment with promise" (Ephesians 6:2), the promise being "That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth" (Ephesians 6:3). A generation that honours father and mother, that guards life and marriage, that deals honestly and speaks truth, and that keeps even its desires pure, is a generation on which God's blessing rests. And the last command, "thou shalt not covet," reaches where no human court can reach, into the secret wanting of the heart, showing that God's law is not merely about outward acts but about inward desire. This is why the law finally drives us to Christ: no one keeps it perfectly from the heart, and we need a Saviour who both forgives our breaking of it and writes it within us. Honour God by honouring people; love shown to your neighbour is love returned to Him.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Moses recalls how God spoke the commandments "in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more." The people were terrified: "if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die." So they begged Moses, "Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say... and we will hear it, and do it." God approved their words: "they have well said all that they have spoken." Then comes His yearning cry: "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!" Moses was sent back to teach them the statutes, that they might walk in all God's ways and live.

Gospel Focus

"O that there were such an heart in them" is one of the most moving sentences God ever spoke. It reveals the heart of God Himself, longing not for cringing fear or mere outward keeping, but for a people whose inner life is truly turned to Him, that it might be well with them and their children forever. God is not a harsh taskmaster; He yearns for our good. But the cry also exposes the great need: the people did not have such a heart, and neither by nature do we. The law could command a heart but could not create one. This is the very lack God promised one day to supply: "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts" (Hebrews 8:10). What God longed for at Horeb, He accomplishes under the new covenant, giving His people a new heart by His Spirit, so that His law is no longer only written on stone but within us. When we are born of the water and the Spirit, God answers His own cry: He puts within us the very heart He longed to see, one that fears and loves Him. Ask Him for that heart, and He who longed to give it will not withhold it.