Deuteronomy 5

De 5:1-29.

A

COMMEMORATION OF THE

COVENANT IN

HOREB.

1. Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments--Whether this rehearsal

of the law was made in a solemn assembly, or as some think at a general

meeting of the elders as representatives of the people, is of little

moment; it was addressed either directly or indirectly to the Hebrew

people as principles of their peculiar constitution as a nation; and

hence, as has been well observed, "the Jewish law has no obligation

upon Christians, unless so much of it as given or commanded by Jesus

Christ; for whatever in this law is conformable to the laws of nature,

obliges us, not as given by Moses, but by virtue of an antecedent law

common to all rational beings" [BISHOP

WILSON].

3. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us--The

meaning is, "not with our fathers" only, "but with us" also, assuming

it to be "a covenant" of grace. It may mean "not with our fathers" at

all, if the reference is to the peculiar establishment of the covenant

of Sinai; a law was not given to them as to us, nor was the covenant

ratified in the same public manner and by the same solemn sanctions.

Or, finally, the meaning may be "not with our fathers" who died in the

wilderness, in consequence of their rebellion, and to whom God did not

give the rewards promised only to the faithful; but "with us," who

alone, strictly speaking, shall enjoy the benefits of this covenant by

entering on the possession of the promised land.

4. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount--not in a

visible and corporeal form, of which there was no trace

(De 4:12, 15),

but freely, familiarly, and in such a manner that no doubt could be

entertained of His presence.

5. I stood between the Lord and you at that time--as the messenger

and interpreter of thy heavenly King, bringing near two objects

formerly removed from each other at a vast distance, namely, God and

the people

(Ga 3:19).

In this character Moses was a type of Christ, who is the only mediator

between God and men

(1Ti 2:5),

the Mediator of a better covenant

(Heb 8:6; 9:15; 12:24).

to show you the word of the Lord--not the ten commandments--for they

were proclaimed directly by the Divine Speaker Himself, but the

statutes and judgments which are repeated in the subsequent portion of

this book.

6-20. I am the Lord thy God--The word "Lord" is expressive of

authority or dominion; and God, who by natural claim as well as by

covenant relation was entitled to exercise supremacy over His people

Israel, had a sovereign right to establish laws for their government.

[See on

Ex 20:2.]

The commandments which follow are, with a few slight verbal

alterations, the same as formerly recorded

(Ex 20:1-17),

and in some of them there is a distinct reference to that

promulgation.

12. Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath

commanded thee--that is, keep it in mind as a sacred institution of

former enactment and perpetual obligation.

[See on

Ex 20:8].

14. that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as

thou--This is a different reason for the observance of the Sabbath

from what is assigned in

Ex 20:8-11,

where that day is stated to be an appointed memorial of the creation.

But the addition of another motive for the observance does not imply

any necessary contrariety to the other; and it has been thought

probable that, the commemorative design of the institution being well

known, the other reason was specially mentioned on this repetition of

the law, to secure the privilege of sabbatic rest to servants, of

which, in some Hebrew families, they had been deprived. In this view,

the allusion to the period of Egyptian bondage

(De 5:15),

when they themselves were not permitted to observe the Sabbath either

as a day of rest or of public devotion, was peculiarly seasonable and

significant, well fitted to come home to their business and bosoms.

16. that it may go well with thee--This clause is not in Exodus, but

admitted into

Eph 6:3.

21. Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, . . . house, his

field--An alteration is here made in the words (see

Ex 20:17),

but it is so slight ("wife" being put in the first clause and "house"

in the second) that it would not have been worth while noticing it,

except that the interchange proves, contrary to the opinion of some

eminent critics, that these two objects are included in one and the

same commandment.

22. he added no more--

(Ex 20:1).

The pre-eminence of these ten commandments was shown in God's

announcing them directly: other laws and institutions were communicated

to the people through the instrumentality of Moses.

23-28. And . . . ye came near unto

me--(See on

Ex 20:19).

29. Oh, that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear

me--God can bestow such a heart, and has promised to give it, wherever

it is asked

(Jer 32:40).

But the wish which is here expressed on the part of God for the piety

and steadfast obedience of the Israelites did not relate to them as

individuals, so much as a nation, whose religious character and

progress would have a mighty influence on the world at large.