Moses as Mediator
5:22 to 6:3

Moses as Mediator DIG: Were the Israelites in this passage present at Mount Sinai when the ten words were first given? How will this covenant help them to establish a new nation? How were the ten words given (5:4-5, 22 and 34)? What does this scene convey about the importance of these ten words to God? About the well-being of the Israelites? For whom and for what reasons are the statutes and ordinances intended? Why do you think Moses keeps emphasizing these points? What does 5:32-33 say in summary about the function of these ten words?

REFLECT: Why is it important to hold Ha’Shem in awe? How would you rate your walk with the LORD right now? What do you need to work on? How can you help others? Which of the Ten Words is the most difficult for you to keep? How can this struggle result in victory? Who is your Mediator today (First Timothy 2:5)? Why does God bless you?

Moses describes his role as mediator at the time of the giving of the Torah at Mount Horeb and points out ADONAI’s approval of their spirit of reverence. After rehearsing that stupendous revelation, Moshe gives attention to the response YHVH demanded from His chosen people – wholehearted obedience.

These words ADONAI spoke to your entire gathering at the mountain from fire, cloud and thick mist, in a loud voice; then it ceased. But He wrote them on two stone tablets, which He gave to me (5:22 CJB). This verse serves as a conclusion to the Ten Words (to see link click Bk – The Ten Words) and describes Moshe’s role as the mediator of the covenant. The event is described here in general terms, but is presented in more detail in 9:9 to 10:5. The emphasis in this verse is on the awe-inspiring phenomena that accompanied the revelation from Ha’Shem, which leads to the people, overwhelmed by their experience, bringing a request to Moses.

The people requested Moshe to act on their behalf and to continue in the presence of God to hear the words that YHVH intends for them. When you heard the voice coming out of the darkness, as the mountain blazed with fire, you came to me, all the heads of your tribes and your leaders, and said: Here, ADONAI our God has shown us His glory and His greatness! Their anxiety, specifically, arose from having heard God’s voice and survived to tell of the experience. We have heard his voice coming from the fire, and we have seen today that God does speak with human beings, and they stay alive. But they didn’t want to expose themselves to the potential danger of continued encounters with Ha’Shem, so they asked: Why should we keep risking death? This great fire will consume us! If we hear the voice of ADONAI our God any more, we will die! For who is there of all humanity that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and stayed alive (5:23-26 CJB)?

A. The people wanted Moses to act as their mediator. Unlike unresponsive wooden and stone idols, their God is a living being. These leaders then committed themselves and the people to listen to YHVH’s mitzvot and live accordingly. You, go near; and hear everything ADONAI our God says. Then you will tell us everything ADONAI our God says to you; and we will listen to it and do it. ADONAI heard what you were saying when you spoke to me, and ADONAI said to me, “I have heard what these people have said when speaking to you, and everything they have said is good” (5:27-28 CJB).

B. Apparently, however, ADONAI was not convinced that their faithfulness would continue forever. But He was all too aware of their past (as well as their future). Oh, how I wish their hearts would stay like this always, that they would fear Me and obey all My mitzvot; so that it would go well with them and their children forever. Then God spoke through Moses saying: Go, tell them to return to their tents (5:29-30 CJB), thus publicly confirming Moshe’s role as mediator between God and His covenant people.

C. But you, stand here by me; and I will tell you all the mitzvot, the statutes (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: hammishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court) which you are to teach them, so that they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession (5:31 CJB). YHVH once again makes a clear connection between expected obedience by Isra’el and their continued enjoyment of the Land given to them by their covenantal LORD.

D. Therefore you are to be careful to do as ADONAI your God has ordered you; you are not to deviate either to the right or the left from those divine expectations. You are to walk (Hebrew: telechu, like Enoch walked with God) the entire way which ADONAI your God has ordered you. This demonstrates that YHVH expects much more than external obedience to an unrelated collection of mitzvot. God demands the kind of obedience that affects every part of a person’s being.¹⁹² So that you will live, things will go well with you, and you will live long in the Land you are about to possess (5:32-33 CJB). Finally, to topics of a long life and ability to stay in the Land return as the consequence of continued obedience.

C. After encouraging God’s people to live in wholehearted obedience with His covenantal demands, Moses repeats the triad: Now these are the mitzvot, the statutes and ordinances that ADONAI your God commands to teach you to obey in the Land you are crossing over to possess (6:1). This triad: mitzvot, statues, and ordinances appear in three other passages (5:31 above, 7:11 and 26:17), and embody everything that God commanded as a unit.

B. So that you might fear ADONAI your God, to obey all His statutes and mitzvot that I am commanding you and your son and your son’s son all the days of your life, and so that you may prolong your days (6:2). Any blessings that followed would be the outworking of the patriarchal promise (see the commentary on Genesis Dt – I Will Bless Those Who Bless You and Whoever Curses You I Will Curse).

A. Hear, therefore, O Isra’el, and take care to do this, so that it may go well with you and you may increase mightily, as ADONAI the God of your fathers has promised you, in a Land flowing with milk and honey (6:3). There was always the danger that the new generation would become proud and think that God had blessed them because they were better than the previous generations. Moses reminded them that all their blessings came from ADONAI because of His covenant with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fact, it was this truth that opened Moshe’s address (1:8, 21 and 35), and he would mention it again several times (6:10, 9:5 and 27, 29:13, 30:20, 34:3 and also see Exodus 6:8 and 33:1). YHVH’s gracious promise to the patriarchs gave Isra’el ownership of the Land, but it was their own obedience to the LORD that guaranteed their possession and enjoyment of that Land.¹⁹³ God doesn’t bless us because we are good; God blesses us because He is good.

After a historical review was given in Chapters 1 through 4 (see Aj – The Historical Prologue), we were then given the Ten Words in Chapter 5. These 5 chapters are preparation for, and an introduction to, the details of the remaining 603 mitzvot of the Torah. But the actual details, which would normally follow the Ten Words, actually begin in Chapter 12 (see Cr – The Second Address: The Specific Stipulations of the Covenant). Six whole chapters separate the Ten Words from the details. In these six chapters Moses called on the Jews to consider their past, present and future. To the Jews of Moshe’s day, and to all believers today, we are reminded again and again that our entering into a stream of blessing or a stream of cursing is directly linked to our obedience to the Word of God in Deuteronomy, our blueprint for living.¹⁹⁴

Dear Great and Sovereign Heavenly Father, How Awesome You are! Praise You that the requirements for entering heaven are: not race, nor gender, nor how much money someone has, nor physical strength, but it is love for You (Matthew 22:37-40) shown by loving obedience to all You say. How wise You are! We don’t have to wonder: if what you say is the best or is there something better? Definitely what you say in Your Word is 100% the best! You are always looking out for Your children, to guide their path that you may bring them to their heavenly home to live with Your forever – and to richly reward them according to their heart attitude.  For no one can lay any other foundation than what is already laid —which is Yeshua the Messiah.  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear. For the Day will show it, because it is to be revealed by fire; and the fire itself will test each one’s work – what sort it is. If anyone’s work built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward (First Corinthians 3:11-14). Our trials on earth are really nothing compared to the awesome glory of eternal peace and joy in heaven. For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). We love You and enjoy pleasing you. Obedience to You is not a rule to follow- but a joy to please You! We are so glad to lovingly do all that You ask. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Do Not Covet
5: 21

Do not covet DIG: This mitzvah has to do with satisfaction. Your joy should be in the LORD and not measured by your neighbor’s possessions. In what way is this mitzvah the climax of all the previous mitzvot? What is the fruit of covetousness?

REFLECT: Has my desire for another’s possessions or loved one turned into a preoccupation to get what I want no matter whose it is, or who it hurts? Where does covetousness start? What can you do about it? Are you the master of a slave of your desires?

Unlike all the other mitzvot, the tenth mitzvah places more direct emphasis on the inner disposition than on any outward act. This mitzvah serves as a power summary of the previous mitzvot as well as a clear indication of the nature of God’s clear expectations.

Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Deuteronomy 5:21). The climax of the Ten Words (to see link click Bk – The Ten Words) takes us to the heart of the matter, to the source of so much of what the previous mitzvot have prohibited, namely, human covetous desire. We should remember that the Ten Words is not a code of mitzvot in the legislative sense. They are never called “laws,” but words. They set the boundaries of required and prohibited behaviors for the covenant people as a matter of fundamental principle. The inclusion of coveting shows that covenant loyalty in Isra’el went far deeper than external conformity to statutes (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: hammishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court). The God who claimed the people’s love also claimed the rest of their affections and desires. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen (First John 4:20).¹⁸⁸

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Exodus 20:17).

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James 4:1-3).

Dear Heavenly Father, We worship and adore You from our hearts. We do not merely say the words “I love You”, but our heart delights in serving You, even in hard times. It is more important to us to please You than to please anyone else. Our heart delights in You. You are our treasure. “Out of the good treasure of his heart the good man brings forth good, and out of evil the evil man brings forth evil. For from the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Even when others have more things/treasures than we do, we rejoice in you for You are our everlasting, ever loving treasure. We focus on pleasing You. We do not covet what any one has, but we desire a loving relationship with You always. Please draw us close to Yourself. We lovingly submit to You in our time, money, thoughts and all else. You are wonderful! In Your holy Son’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

In some respects, the tenth and last mitzvah is the greatest of the last seven that are more horizontal and describe our relationship with one another. This last mitzvah gives the internal aspect because it focuses on the desires of the heart. If we keep this mitzvah, all the other mitzvot are more easily kept. No system of law has ever had a statute that deals with intent because there is no human way to enforce it. It goes beyond regulating outward acts to requiring us to control our inner thoughts. The apostle Paul said it this way: We demolish arguments and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah (Second Corinthians 10:5 CJB).

We need victory over our thought life more than anything else. Covetousness makes people greedy and causes them to steal. Covetousness drives people to sacrifice the lives of others, even to kill, for what they want. Covetousness gives rise to that uncontrolled lust that plunges people into adultery. Covetousness endangers mutual trust and causes people to lie about themselves and each other to gain money, power, prestige or praise. In short, this mitzvah covers a multitude of sins.

So what does it mean to covet? Does it mean to desire something? Absolutely not. Desires are a normal and healthy part of human life. Our desire for food makes us hungry. That’s how we maintain our health. Our desire for sex is a vital part of love and marriage. This leads to the creation of life. We desire approval and respect. That’s what makes us bathe ourselves and brush our teeth. Another legitimate desire is to get along with others for common goals within society. Basically, without desires we wouldn’t have life.

So does coveting mean desiring something that we don’t have? Not exactly. For example, many people attend college because they desire an education, something they don’t have. But this is not coveting. Almost everything we call progress, improvement or civilization has come from a desire for something we don’t have. Desire is even important in spiritual matters. The Apostle Paul said in First Corinthians 12:31, eagerly desire the greater gifts. Yeshua also said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. No, coveting is not merely a desire for something, even something we don’t have.

Covetousness is a desire that runs rampant over the rights of others and even over one’s own reason. It is out of control desire that will injure or destroy to get what it wants. It’s not wrong for a man to want a house, wife or a car. But it’s wrong for him to want his neighbor’s house, wife and car. This kind of desire is different because a desire for someone else’s belongings plants the seeds of a willingness to lie, steal or kill in order to fulfill that desire. When we feel this type of desire we may even destroy or injure ourselves to get what we want. Covetousness is a normal desire gone terribly wrong. It says, “I want this and I will get it whatever it costs me, whatever the consequences.” A practical substitute for the word covet might be greed. It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.¹⁸⁹

Nathan the prophet saw it in King David (Second Samuel 12:1-13). ADONAI sent Nathan to King David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba, his neighbor, and murdered Uriah, her husband. But instead of confronting him with the actual crimes he had committed, he told him a story. There was a rich man who had a large amount of land with lots of sheep and cattle. One day one of his very best friends came to visit him and he wanted to have a great feast. But he didn’t go out and find one of his own sheep to slaughter, he took his sheep from a poor man who had only one little ewe lamb, a family pet. The rich man could have chosen a sheep from his vast herd, but he took the only lamb the poor man owned. Nathan pointed out that David was the rich man, and covetousness was David’s sin.

When Yeshua came He taught that the cure for covetousness was to surrender to the Lordship of Messiah. He wanted change from the inside out. He said that wrong ideas and wrong desires lead to wrong actions. No matter how pious our outer life may be, if we yield inwardly to covetousness, we are guilty of breaking the mitzvah. Only when we first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness will everything else be given to us (Luke 12:31). To accomplish this change we need a new birth, a conversion, a change of outlook and a change of values. Since covetousness is a sin of the inner life, our supreme need is to be set right within our hearts.

Are you master or slave to your desires? Sin always costs you more than you wanted to pay, and takes you further than you wanted to go. The only way to change, to become master, is to surrender to Yeshua Messiah. We must find a new Master who brings us peace so that we can agree with the apostle Paul and say: For to me, life is in the Messiah, and death is gain (Philippians 1:21 CJB). The only answer to covetousness is to find our delight in ADONAI. So, the B’rit Chadashah teaches us not to covet by being content in Yeshua Messiah.¹⁹⁰

Yeshua summarized the Ten Words by condensing them into two. He said that the first and greatest mitzvah was to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). Then He went on to say that the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18; Matt 22:39). He concluded by boldly claiming that all the Torah and the Prophets hang on these two mitzvot (Matthew 22:40). Messiah was saying essentially that love for ADONAI (that is, obeying the first four of the Ten Words) and love for neighbor (that is, obeying the last six of the Ten Words) form the basic teaching of the TaNaKh.

Messiah understood love, the most positive force in the universe, as the total intent and thrust of the Ten Words. Psychiatrist Karl Menninger once said much the same thing in his definition of love as “the medicine for the sickness of the world.” The combination of ingredients in God’s prescription for human happiness known as the Ten Words is guaranteed, if taken, to keep us spiritually strong and healthy. To obey His covenant stipulations is to receive His bountiful blessings.¹⁹¹

Do Not Give False Testimony
5:20

Do not give false testimony DIG: This mitzvah has to do with the tongue. Originally, what was the meaning of the mitzvah? How did Messiah expand and restate it? What are the three ways of lying? What does God want from us? Why?

REFLECT: Have I lied about another person or hidden the truth to protect myself at another’s expense? When I realize what I have done, how do I feel about it? Do I make amends? Has lying become a habit? What do I do about it? Am I living a lie?

The principle involved here undermines a basic characteristic of the covenant, namely, faithfulness – ADONAI to man, of man to ADONAI, and of man to fellow man.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor (Deuteronomy 5:20). To help prevent giving false testimony, this mitzvah required at least two or three witnesses giving corroborating testimony. Originally, the mitzvah is not simply about telling the truth in general, but about telling the truth in the place where it counts the most, because that is where lying can cost the most – in the court of law. The protection of the process of justice was a major concern in Isra’el, and in the Ten Words (to see link click Bk – The Ten Words) the full weight of the identity, character, and action of YHVH is thrown behind it. Breaking the ninth mitzvah would frequently involve breaking the third, which increased its seriousness. A nation founded by an act of God’s righteousness must guard the righteousness of its own legal system, and every citizen was accountable for doing just that.¹⁸³

But the prophets, and later Jesus and the B’rit Chadashah writers, expanded and restated this mitzvah so that the Bible ultimately forbids every form of a lie. There’s a reason for this, the same reason we’ve discovered as the basis for all the other mitzvot. This mitzvah is founded on the very character of God Himself. He cannot tolerate sin or tell a lie. It is a vital part of His holiness.¹⁸⁴

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16).

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Colossians 3:9-10).

We live in a world full of lies and liars. Often lying is not even considered a vice, and some people think of it as a virtue, or at least an art. Advertisers lie to sell products, Politicians lie to get elected. Because of the relativism that has crept into our society today, most people believe that all truth is personal and nothing is absolutely true or false.

God is truth. The Son of God said: I AM the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6). Jesus proclaimed the coming Ruach ha-Kodesh as the Spirit of truth (John 14:17). That is why the Scriptures place such a high value on the truth. The Lord said that one of the basic characteristics of the Adversary is that there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). Therefore, because God is truthful He wants us to be truthful. In First Peter 1:16, Peter quotes from Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2 and 20:7, where ADONAI says: Be holy, because I am holy. Today we would say, “Be truthful, because I am truthful.” That is why the B’rit Chadashah emphasizes our truthfulness. Who do you follow? The father of lies or the Spirit of truth?

The ninth mitzvah and its restatement in the B’rit Chadashah forbid lying in three ways: telling a lie, spreading a lie and living a lie. There is no reason to believe that this mitzvah is exclusively limited to the judicial realm. It is a mitzvah that lays down fundamental principles; therefore, we would expect a wider application. It is likely that the mitzvah generally protects a person’s name and forbids harming one’s neighbor through slander and uncontrolled defamation. The Hebrew word shaqer means to give an empty promise. Therefore, to lie about your neighbor is forbidden. Such things as gossip, slander and needless flattery are also to be avoided.¹⁸⁵

First, it forbids telling a lie. Proverbs 6:16-19 says ADONAI hates seven things and two items on that list are a lying tongue and false witnesses who pour out lies. In the book of Revelation, John concludes his overview of the New Heaven and New Earth with a serious and solemn warning. He describes those who will be excluded from any participation in the blessings of heaven – all unforgiven sinners. And the list in Revelation 21:8 concludes with these words: and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur (see the commentary on Revelation Fr – Then I Saw a New Heaven and a New Earth). There are similar lists of the unredeemed in Revelation 22:15, Romans 1:28-32, First Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21 and Second Timothy 3:2-5.¹⁸⁶

The Bible tells the heartbreaking and frightening story of Ananias and Sapphira (see the commentary on Acts At – Ananias and Sapphira Lie to the Ruach), who sold their land and told the apostles that they had given all of the money to the church. But in reality, they had kept some of it for themselves. Before their sudden deaths, Peter said to them: How is it that Satan has filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit. You have not lied to men but to God.

The LORD, whose very nature is truth, who speaks only truth, who loves truth, cannot tolerate our lies. Our lies separate us from Him and hurt our fellowship. To be honest about it, lying is a sin. Before, coming to Messiah, many of us were habitual liars. Lying was as easy as falling off of a log and it took a great deal of the Holy Spirit’s influence in our lives to finally break that stronghold and establish a pattern of telling the truth. You see, telling the truth is not a sometimes thing, it is an all the time thing. It is a habit. Some of us have lied so long that we don’t know the difference between the truth and a lie. There is only one way to break the habit, as soon as the Ruach ha-Kodesh convicts you of lying, immediately tell the truth to the person you just lied to. It may be painful, but it works.

Dear Heavenly Father, How wonderful it is to have the privilege of running to You and telling You how much we love You! By our deeds of love we give You a big hug! Praise You for Your love and compassion that forgives us when we repent: If we confess our sins, You are faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (First John 1:9). You not only forgive, but you put our sins as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalms 103:12). Because we want to please You, we want to confess and make right our lies with both You and with the person we wronged. Please give us the courage to tell the person that was lied to , “I’m sorry. I was wrong. How can I make it right?” Though we can’t really make it right, sometimes there is something we can do or say that will help heal the wound. Thank You for Your love and forgiveness. We desire to love You in all we do and say. In the holy name of Your Son and the power of His resurrection. Amen

Second, the Bible forbids spreading a lie as well as telling one. In the final analysis, sins are marked by their effect on others. God’s blueprint for living is not merely a list of rules, but a practical guide on how to get along with other people. Giving false testimony against your neighbor is a sin because it hurts someone. Being very honest, many followers of Jesus do not see the harm in this. People who would never think of murder, adultery or theft, gossip their brains out. We need to be extremely careful about what we say to others. That is why James warns us against spreading a lie, calling the tongue a fire and a world of evil among the parts of the body (James 3:6). Proverbs also deals at length with the tongue because it’s capable of destroying a person’s reputation. Once a lie starts spreading, it is impossible to take back. If you have ever done this, you owe it to your victim to go back to the people you have lied to and set the record straight.

Third, and this is perhaps the greatest meaning or the ninth mitzvah, we are not to live a lie. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (First John 1:6). Therefore, when we live a lie, we deceive ourselves. When what we say is proven false by our life, we are living a lie. Jesus was extremely familiar with people who lived a lie. The scribes claimed to have knowledge they didn’t really possess. The Pharisees claimed to be righteous, but were not. False witnesses told stories of things they had neither seen nor heard. Judas was living a lie when he kissed Yeshua. And Pilate tried to wash his hands of the whole crucifixion, but ordered it nonetheless. You see, the greatest lies we tell are to ourselves. And the reason we do this is because of our pride.

For many people, the biggest lie is when they attempt to maintain a false image of themselves as sinless and not in need of salvation. They try to convince themselves that their lie is true and they try to persuade others that they are something we know they are not. This kind of living lie is described in First John 1:5-10, which ends by saying: If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives. The tragedy is that when people tell this kind of a lie to themselves over and over again, they tend to believe it. Once that happens it is very difficult to face the truth.

God faced the truth about you a long time ago. Maybe you’re just beginning to admit the truth about yourself and see that it’s not a pretty picture. Yet ADONAI knows everything about you and loves you anyway. All He wants you to do is admit the truth. Our sins don’t keep us from the LORD, but our attempts to cover up our sins do.

As we stand before the cross, we realize the truth that we are bad enough to crucify the Son of God. That’s the truth about the human heart. ADONAI has known it for a long, long time and perhaps now you know it also. Admit it to Him. Confess it. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (First John 1:9). The moment you do, the power of the lie, the hold of darkness over you, will be broken. Then the Spirit of truth can begin a miracle in your life, leading you away from lying and darkness to truth and light.¹⁸⁷

Do Not Steal
5: 19

Do not steal DIG: This mitzvah has to do with property. What is yours’ is yours’ but what is not, is theft. A healthy society is built on common respect. What are some subtle ways that people can steal today? From a believers’ standpoint, what is the most serious?

REFLECT: Have I taken things or ideas that were not mine? Do I consider cheating at school, in my business or on my taxes? If I think I could get away with it, is stealing or cheating an acceptable option for me? How is my giving to the LORD? What would He say?

Throughout the TaNaKh YHVH is seen as the ultimate owner of everything, but He entrusted His gifts to mankind, and the use of His property was to be respected.

You shall not steal (Deuteronomy 5:19). This mitzvah is distinctive in a way that is not immediately obvious from the Ten Words (to see link click Bk – The Ten Words). They do not prescribe legal penalties, but in the rest of Isra’el’s legislation, all the offenses that carry a death sentence can be related, either directly or indirectly, to mitzvot in the Ten Words. However, the eighth mitzvot is exceptional. Normally, no theft of property carried a death sentence. Only theft of persons, like kidnapping, was a capital offense (Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7).¹⁷⁹

You shall not steal (Exodus 20:15).

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need (Ephesians 4:28).

Of all the mitzvot in the Bible, this one seems to be the most clear-cut. On the surface it looks very simple. You would think it needs no explanation at all. To steal means the same thing today as it did when God wrote it on tablets of stone. It means the taking of something that belongs to someone else.

This mitzvah is probably the most universal of all the laws in the world. For example, some primitive cultures had no taboo against immorality as long as neither party was married. But if one of the parties were married, adultery was strictly forbidden, not because it was immoral but because it was considered a form of theft, or stealing another person’s spouse. Often the offender settled the matter by simply paying the husband in cows, goats, money, or the sum the husband originally paid for the wife.

Just as the sixth mitzvah: You shall not murder, safeguards life, and the mitzvah: You shall not commit adultery, safeguards love and the family, this eighth mitzvah safeguards property. It forbids theft, the taking or keeping of something that belongs to someone else. Consequently, this mitzvah is desperately needed today.¹⁸⁰

Dear Heavenly Father, We praise You for Your love. Let us not take that love for granted for You are holy and You hate sin. We desire to please You and that means to follow Your pattern of love. Let love be without hypocrisy – detesting what is evil, holding fast to the good. (Romans 12:9). We choose to follow Your commandment of no stealing at all, even when our friends or community says that it is “not really” stealing when we take something that is not ours. You are our Shepherd and we are your people (Psalms 100:3). Your love is what dictates what is the best for us and so we submit to each of your mitzvot, knowing that they were given for our good. Praise You that though we cannot perfectly obey them on our own, You have sent Your Spirit into our hearts (Romans 5:5) to help and guide us to the perfect Jewish Messiah (Hebrews 7:28) of the world.  Therefore, the Torah became our guardian to lead us to Messiah, so that we might be made right based on trusting (Galatians 3:24). His perfect blood paid our sin’s penalty, how much more will the blood of Messiah – who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God – cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14). We choose to follow You in not stealing because we love and trust You with all our hearts. In the holy name of Your Son and the power of His resurrection. Amen

Today theft is at an all-time high. The cost of crime is now in the billions of dollars a year just in the United States alone. Many teenagers today think stealing from department stores is like a video game. But when they end up in jail with a felony count it is no laughing matter. Amazingly, most of the theft comes from the employees themselves! Therefore, in today’s society honesty is a quality that is highly valued by employers because it is so rare. In fact, many godly employees will find security and advancement in their jobs, merely because they follow the eighth mitzvah.

In our schools and colleges plagiarism on papers and cheating on tests are almost the norm today. Students are infected with the “everyone is doing it” mentality. When caught, most have a “what’s the big deal” attitude. Plagiarism is more and more common because of this fact. Often in my lifetime different people have said to me, “Do you think that posting the Ten Words in our classrooms would make any difference at all.” My answer is, “Yes, I do.” ADONAI has said: The word that goes out of My mouth will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

The Bible is clear that stealing can also be taking advantage of someone in need. From the biblical standpoint, to overcharge, to undersell or to deceive is to steal. It’s trying to get something for nothing. It’s trying to gain something at the expense of another person. This is exactly why Jesus drove out the moneychangers from the Temple of His day. Yeshua entered the Temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. He said to them: It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers (Matthew 21:13). The Temple was supposed to be a place of worship, quiet meditation, contemplation, praise and devotion, a place where God’s people could draw close to Him in worship, sacrifice, and offerings and could seek His will and blessing. But all of that was stolen from them by people who carried on their greedy schemes under the guise of serving and worshiping God.¹⁸¹

To cheat is to steal anything, including an honor, which is not rightly yours. Stealing is getting the reward without paying the price, collecting the dividend without making the investment. It’s receiving money without working, it’s making good grades without studying, it’s getting to the top of the ladder without climbing the rungs. Like the other mitzvot, the eighth mitzvah is written from the nature of God into us because we were created in His image. Our lives are an investment. Life involves putting something into it and receiving something in return. Stealing, however, is the shortcut philosophy of life that contradicts this basic principle of God.

The human desire to take shortcuts formed the basis of Christ’s three great temptations in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus knew that there would be no crown without the cross, and no redemption without the suffering of a redeemer, and no resurrection without a crucifixion. But Satan tempted Him to get all of that without paying the price for them, to steal them, if you will. Satan knew people were eagerly looking for a king so he told Yeshua to turn stones into bread, to throw Himself down from the highest point of the Temple so the angles would catch Him, and finally to bow down to Satan himself. In other words, to take a shortcut to the kingship without making the sacrifice. But Jesus would have none of it. He knew there could be no shortcuts when He redeemed us; He was willing to pay the price and be nailed to a cross to die as our substitute.

The Bible also describes another way of stealing, which, from a believer’s standpoint, may be the most serious of all. This is stealing by failing to give our talents or our tithe to ADONAI. This is perhaps the highest level of trying to get something for nothing. We steal by accepting something and giving nothing in return. This sin is not doing wrong acts but failing to use our God-given talents and gifts for Yeshua’s service. These were the people in the parables of Jesus who were condemned and punished most severely. We can also steal from God Himself. Malachi 3:8 asks: Will a man rob God? Yet you rob Me. It goes on to explain that we rob God when we fail to give our tithes and offerings. Like his grandfather Abraham who gave tithes to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:40) before him, Jacob acknowledged that everything he had belonged to ADONAI (Genesis 28:22). Later, tithing would become an obligation under the Torah (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:21-24). Today, in the Dispensation of Grace, believers should tithe and it should be done cheerfully and gratefully, not grudgingly or with a selfish attitude (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Do – When You Give to the Needy, Do Not Do It to be Honored by Others).

What seems to be a great help in understanding the original purpose of the Ten Words is their function within the community. These are mitzvot given by a redeeming God to recently redeemed people for whom He had a national purpose. As God’s people, His special possession, the Israelites had to know what He required of them. Being an Israelite was not a matter of private, personal faith. It had vertical and horizontal dimensions. After all, if Isra’el could not treat ADONAI with respect and treat each other as a special people, how could they be a light to the Gentiles? How could they ever be a kingdom of priests in a world that did not know the true God?¹⁸²

Do Not Commit Adultery
5: 18

Do not commit adultery DIG: This mitzvah has to do with purity. Why is adultery treated so prominently and given such severe punishment in the TaNaKh? How was it viewed as an attack on the nation’s relationship with ADONAI? How is sex like fire? What is the difference between love and lust? How can you tell the difference? How is adultery related to idol worship? How did Yeshua restate the seventh mitzvah?

REFLECT: Have I been unfaithful to my spouse? Am I involved in pornography? Are lust and a wandering eye affecting the relationship with my mate? Do I take that second look? Am I conscious of what I am looking at? Am I aware that others, co-workers or family members, are following my eyes? What is my witness in this area?

The reason this mitzvah is regarded as such a serious offense is because it most closely parallels our relationship with God. The sin of adultery uniquely strikes at the heart of a committed relationship, and thus, opens the door to spiritual adultery with ADONAI.

You shall not commit adultery (Deuteronomy 5:18). Adultery was clearly a very serious offense in ancient Isra’el. The mitzvah that supports the seventh mitzvah made it a capital offense for both parties involved (Leviticus 18:20, 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22). The prophets attack it as a social evil (Hosea 4:2; Jeremiah 7:9, 23:10; Ezeki’el 18:6ff, 22:11, 33:26; Malachi 3:5), and use it as a metaphor for Isra’el’s spiritual adultery (see the commentary on Jeremiah, to see link click At – Unfaithful Isra’el).

Now all human societies, including Isra’el’s ancient Near East neighbors, have sanctions to protect whatever marital arrangements are customary there. But why was adultery treated so prominently and given such severe punishment in the TaNaKh? The nature lies in the nature of the Ten Words (see Bk – The Ten Words), in which this mitzvah is combined with the central importance of the family in Isra’el. As moderns, we have difficulty understanding this context of the family and society because we have largely consigned adultery to the realm of private morality. In Isra’el, however, adultery was anything but a private concern. Adultery was a crime against YHVH inasmuch as it was a crime against the relationship between God and His people Isra’el. Any attack on the stability of the family unit was a potential threat to the nation’s relationship with God.¹⁷⁴

You shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14).

The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God raised up the Lord, and He will raise us up too by His power. Don’t you know that your bodies are parts of the Messiah? So, am I to take parts of the Messiah and make them parts of a prostitute? Heaven forbid! Don’t you know that a man who joins himself to a prostitute becomes physically one with her? For the Scriptures say: The two will become one flesh; but the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

Therefore, run from sexual immorality (see Genesis 39:12)! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body. Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves; for you were bought at a price. So use your bodies to glorify God (First Corinthians 6:13-20 CJB).

We live in a sex-saturated society today. Sins that used to be kept in the dark are now flaunted in public. Our sense of shame has been replaced with brazen defiance. Norms that used to be accepted are now being challenged; people living abnormal lifestyles now want to be accepted as normal. Sex sells everything today. It is in every industry, all the time, year after year, day after day, every minute, every second. We cannot escape it. Like Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, we are swimming in an ocean of sexual excess and perversion while trying to stay clean. Sex crimes are at all-time highs, while infidelity, divorce, and perversion are now commonplace. We are obsessed with sex to a degree perhaps never seen before in the world.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You that Your love is better than life (Psalms 63:4) and better than the love of anyone else. God says to Isra’el, For your Maker is your husband – Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name – the Holy One of Isra’el is your Redeemer. He will be called God of all the earth. (Isaiah 54:5). In the B’rit Chadashah scriptures Paul writes to followers of Yeshua, “For I betrothed you to one husband, to present you to Messiah as a pure virgin” (Second Corinthians 11:2b). Praise you that everyone has a fantastic lover- You! May we never take Your love for granted for You have said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (Matthew 7:21). “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and trusts in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40). May we love You back with more than mere words; but with actions that show our trust of You is with our whole heart for we desire to use our money, our thoughts and our time to Your glory. You are wonderful! In the name of Your holy Son and the power of His resurrection. Amen

We have the seventh mitzvah exactly because sex is God’s idea. Your generation didn’t invent sex. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). The mitzvah, “You shall not commit adultery,” is God’s response to our obvious abuse of His great gift of sexuality. He recoils at the thought of a woman leaving her home in the middle of the night to sleep with her neighbor’s husband. He is disgusted at prostitution. He is angry with the teenager who seeks to satisfy unrestrained lust. The seventh mitzvah is the LORD’s desire to protect us from ourselves.

ADONAI approves of sex within the confines of a marriage. Adultery is the abuse of this great gift. Like fire, it can be used for good or it can destroy. Fire in my fireplace can be a good thing. It warms my family and can cook our food. But fire in my living room can destroy both my house and my family. The same can be said for sex. Within the confines of marriage sex is a good and godly thing. But outside of marriage it can destroy your family. When Paul wrote the church at Corinth he reminded them that since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of sexual self-control (First Corinthians 7:1b-5).

When Yeshua restated the seventh mitzvah in Matthew 5:27-28, He broadened it, just as He had the sixth, to include thoughts. You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery.” But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Looking at a woman lustfully does not cause a man to commit adultery in his thoughts. He already has committed adultery in his heart. It is not lustful looking that causes the sin in his heart, but the sin in his heart that causes lustful looking. The lustful looking is but the expression of a heart that is already immoral and adulterous. The heart is the soil where the seeds of sin are embedded and begin to grow.¹⁷⁵ The point that Yeshua made is this: the fact that you may not follow through and act upon your thoughts does not make you guiltless.

The Biblical standard is simply this: you shall not lust in thought, word, or deed. Faithfulness to your marriage partner is mandatory. This is the believer’s ethic of sex. You may not agree with it. The world certainly doesn’t like it. You may choose to reject it. But as a believer, you cannot repeal it or revise it.

The word adultery comes from the Hebrew word which means adulteration. The term was first used when the Israelites were worshiping idols, thereby adulterating the true worship of God with godless idols. They had perverted that which was originally pure and clean. That’s what adultery is. It is when we wipe our feet on the pure and clean love that God has given us. When we understand this deeper meaning of adultery, faithfulness and commitment in marriage makes sense; anything else seems unreasonable.¹⁷⁶

What does the seventh mitzvah have to say to those who are not married? The New Covenant uses the term adultery to refer to sex outside of marriage. It uses a different word for sex between two unmarried people: sexual immorality (First Corinthians 5:1, 10:8; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3). And the prohibition against sexual immorality is just as strict as it is against adultery. Many unmarried people today believe that they are in love, but they are actually in lust. Once the sex starts, they cannot tell the difference. Sexual immorality refers to premarital relations and adultery refers to extramarital relations, but the message is exactly the same. If you have no discipline in your sex life before you get married, you will have no discipline in your sex life after you get married. God doesn’t make mistakes on His counsel regarding sex in our lives.

Do you take that second look? Your eyes will see what they see. You can’t do anything about that. But once you see something provocative, you don’t have to take that second look. It’s the second look that will get you in trouble. King David was not at fault for seeing Bathsheba bathing. He could not have helped noticing her, because she was in plain view as he walked on the palace roof. His sin was taking that second look, dwelling on the sight, and in willingly giving in to the temptation. He could have looked away and occupied his mind in other ways. The fact that he had her brought to his chambers and committed adultery with her showed the immoral desire that already existed in his heart (see the commentary on the Life of David Dc – David and Bathsheba).

A popular proverb goes, “Sow a thought and reap an act. Sow an act and reap a habit. Sow a habit and reap a character. Sow a character and reap a destiny.” That process perfectly illustrates the point that, no matter where it ends, sin always begins when an evil thought is sown in the mind and heart.¹⁷⁷

In the 1920s American society whispered, “Follow your libido,” in the 1960s it boldly pronounced, “If it feels good do it,” and in the 1980’s our society screamed proudly, “Love the one you’re with!” Today, it’s, “Do you want to hook-up.” But why was it wrong then, and why is it wrong now? You can’t swim in the toilet and come up smelling like a rose. Thousands of years ago Moses claimed that YHVH gave him a command and he wrote: You shall not commit adultery. And this mitzvah came out of the holy nature and character of ADONAI Himself. Since you and I are created in the image of God, this mitzvah is written for our own good. If we follow God’s blueprint for living, we can prevent a multitude of health problems. But wrong choices always have their consequences. The explosion of pregnancies outside of marriage, in addition to the proliferation of AIDS and STD cases today proves that God’s plan is meant to insure our happiness and well-being.¹⁷⁸

Do Not Murder
5: 17

Do not murder DIG: This mitzvah has to do with the value of life. What is the difference between killing and murder? Why does Ha’Shem alone have the right to take a life? But what about taking the life of an animal? What about suicide? What about abortion?

REFLECT: Have I taken the life of another human being out of greed, malice, jealousy, or negligence? Is anger or rage a regular part of my life? If so, what steps can I take to overcome this problem? If not, who do I know that has this problem, and how can I help?

The verb used in this mitzvah operated in the sense of premeditated murder by a member of the covenant community for personal and illegitimate reasons.

You shall not murder (Deuteronomy 5:17). The high value of individual human life permeated every aspect of the moral values of Isra’el in the TaNaKh. The shedding of innocent blood was one of the most severely condemned crimes in the prophets, the Psalms, and in the Wisdom literature. But it wasn’t only the overt action itself that was condemned. All the actions that led up to acts of violence and murder were also recognized in the stories of Cain’s jealousy (Genesis 4:1-8), David’s lust (Second Samuel 11:1-4), Joab’s treachery (Second Samuel 24:22-39), in Wisdom’s portrayal of murderous greed (Proverbs 1:10-19), and in the penetrating mitzvah of YHVH, “You are not to hate your brother [or sister] in your heart . . . you are not to take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against your people, but love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:17-18).¹⁶⁸ Involuntary manslaughter, which involves accidental death, required a different mitzvah. Moses illustrates this later (to see link click Dm – Three Cities of Refuge).

You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13).

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment”. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother, Raca (an Aramaic term of contempt) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, “You fool!” will be in danger of the fire of hell. You have heard it said: Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:21-22, 43-45a).

The sixth mitzvah elevates human life to the highest possible level, because it recognizes that life is sacred. Life is God’s gift, and we must not tamper with it. No person can restore life once it has ended. To kill is a wrong that, once done, cannot be undone. The finality of taking a human life has caused every civilization, no matter how seemingly primitive, to surround it with prohibitions and regulations. The basic principle is that God alone has sovereignty over physical life and death. After Hannah gave birth to her son Samuel, she praised God with this great truth: ADONAI brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up (First Samuel 2:6). Because God alone is the creator of life, He alone has the right to end it.

The Hebrew word here does not mean killing in general; the Hebrew word murder here, always stresses premeditation and deliberateness. It did not forbid the death penalty as some wish to make it today. In Genesis 9:5-6, God instituted the death penalty: And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too. I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made human beings in His image.” This was never repealed but stated another way in the Torah: If a man strikes someone with an iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death (Numbers 35:16-21).

Do not confuse this mitzvah with taking the life of an animal. Murder means the ending of a human life. No other book than the Bible calls for more mercy towards animals, and the mitzvot were given at a time when even the most “advanced” civilizations of the day abused animals terribly. So, this mitzvah has nothing to do with animal life as much as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) would like to have us think. It does not abolish the authority that man has over animals. As God Himself said: Everything that lives and moves upon the earth will be food for you (Genesis 9:3). As a result, humans and animals are not equals, because man was created in the image of God, and the animals, birds, fish, and insects were not (see the commentary on Genesis Ao – Let Us Make Man in Our Image, In Our Likeness).

As always, to understand this sixth mitzvah we must remember the first two mitzvot, which tell us that only ADONAI will be the God of our lives. History is full of examples, from ancient Rome to Adolph Hitler, only when ADONAI is truly God is mankind truly human. And only when God counts for everything, does man amount to anything. We must maintain this important hierarchy. With this in mind, let us see how this mitzvot guides us amid some of the complexities of modern life. It forbids killing a person directly, as when Cain murdered Abel; or indirectly, as when David killed Uriah by ordering someone else to do it.¹⁶⁹

First, what about suicide? You have no right to murder yourself. The omission of the object shows that the prohibition includes not only the killing of another person, but also the destruction of one’s own life.¹⁷⁰ Life is something that ADONAI does not treat lightly, and it is thus binding on His people to do likewise.¹⁷¹ The same principle applies, ADONAI gives life and He is the only One who has the right to take it. Suicide isn’t a basic human right. If it is not right to murder other human beings, it is not right to murder ourselves. Our life belongs to God, as the Scriptures clearly point out. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body (First Corinthians 6:19-20).

Nevertheless, we should not condemn those who commit suicide either. The Psalmist Asaph knew only too well the deep distress of human life when he cried out: My flesh and my heart may fail (Psalm 73:26a). And sometimes they do fail. But who is our judge? God alone! Sometimes the circumstances of life drive some people to despair and they are no longer capable of making responsible decisions. However, on a scriptural basis, suicide is murder and murder is not an option if we are accountable to God for our bodies.

Secondly, what about war? Is war wrong? Some believers say that Yeshua addresses this when he tells us that we must love our enemies (Matthew 5:39-45), and all who draw the sword will die by the sword (Matthew 26:52). But others say that just as a judge has the right to condemn a murderer, the government has the right, indeed the responsibility, to protect its citizens from evil men and nations. In fact, the Hebrew word murder is never used in the Bible for executing someone who has been condemned to death or for killing an enemy in war. Jesus is described as Commander of the army of the LORD (Joshua 5:13-15). Who is the King of Glory? ADONAI, strong and mighty, ADONAI, mighty in battle (Psalm 24:8). This is not an easy question. This is something you must decide in your own heart, between you and God. No one else can make this decision for you.

Yet, one thing is certain – Christ never gives us, under any circumstances, the right to hate our enemies. If you opt for war, it must be done in agony of spirit and only as a last resort. It must be done regretfully, repentantly, and realizing that it is not a second best decision but a last choice. Those who love the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will not indulge in hatred, a revengeful spirit, bitterness or gloating over a fallen enemy. A believer will instead show love, forgiveness and mercy, even in the midst of war.

But sometimes you find yourself staring into the face of evil, and you are the only person standing between a Charles Manson, an Adolph Hitler, or a terrorist and someone you love. That is the moment of truth.¹⁷² What about abortion? Scripture says: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16; also see Psalm 22:10; Isaiah 44:2 and 24; Jeremiah 1:5 and 20:17). So, abortion should never be used to ease the emotional or financial pain of an unwanted pregnancy. In the case of rape, adoption should be an option if the mother cannot see her way clear to raise the child.

But the Scriptures do not cover every situation in our lives. On our website, in our Statement of Faith under Faith and Practice, we state that Scripture is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. We recognize the local church cannot bind the conscience of individual members in areas where Scripture is silent. Rather, each believer is to be led in those areas by the Lord, to whom he or she alone is ultimately responsible (First Corinthians 8:9; Romans 14). The case of saving the life of the mother because of a pregnancy, or during childbirth, is a difficult one because Scripture is silent. Therefore, the most important thing to do is to bring it before the Lord. Pray about it. Seek God.

Let’s look at a hypothetical situation. Say a young married believer has a five-year-old, a two-year-old, she’s pregnant, and she has cancer. The doctor comes in and tells her that she needs chemotherapy to live. But if she has chemotherapy it will kill the baby – abortion or not. She prays about it for several days. If she decides not to have chemotherapy does that mean she is a very godly woman? If she chooses to go ahead with the chemo does that mean she lacks faith? If she chooses not to have the radiation treatment does that mean God will save her life because she exhibited faith? If she says, Lord, “Your will be done,” does that mean that she will live?

Would you judge someone who went ahead and had an abortion under these circumstances? No. But there still are no easy answers. Some would say if she didn’t have the chemo that she is acting in a suicidal manner. Others would say she is displaying great faith. Is it right to make a decision to end someone’s life? No. Is it God who determines who should live and who should die? Of course it is. However, should a person choose to die to save another’s life? Are we commanded to do that? No! Taking your own life is wrong and taking another person’s life is wrong. No easy answers there! None of us really knows what we would do unless we were actually confronted with the situation. The bottom line is that when it comes down to making a difficult decision like this, it’s between you and God.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise you for Your mercy, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. (Psalms 103:11), and grace that offers eternal life to all who love and follow Yeshua as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:8-9). Praise You for Your infinite forgiveness: As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:12). How wonderful You are! Praise You that You forgive all sins when we confess them to You, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (First John 1:9). How awesome is Your promise to forgive when there is confession of sin to You – whether killing of the unborn, suicide or killing by the tongue. Death and life are in the control of the tongue. Those who indulge in it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21). Your forgiveness is such a great gift to us that we desire to repay You with a life that loves You in all we do. We worship and love You! In your holy Son’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

When Yeshua came He restated the sixth mitzvah and raised it to a much higher level, penetrating deep into our hearts. The Torah only prohibited the outward violence that would kill; however, Messiah expanded it to include the inward thoughts and feelings of anger that lead to physical violence. But there is a righteous anger, Yeshua Himself got angry at the right time, at the right place, and about the right things. We should do likewise. However, God did condemn that personal, out-of-control type of feeling. The only difference between anger and murder is in degree. Isn’t that the order in which killing occurs? Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death (James 1:14-15). First comes the seething resentment, an insult, the hatred, and finally murder.¹⁷³ But ADONAI said: You shall not murder.

Honor Your Parents
5: 16

Honor your parents DIG: How does this fifth mitzvah transition from the fourth mitzvah? Just what does it mean to honor your father and your mother? What is our greatest example of honoring our parents? What does the book of Proverbs have to say about honoring your parents? How do the blessings and the sins of the parents have an impact on the following generations?

REFLECT: Have I shown disrespect for my parents, or withheld my care for them? Have I been unable to appreciate them as gifts from God and refuse to consider their viewpoints as valid? What can you do if you have been deeply hurt by your parents? Do I exasperate my children? Am I raising them in the training and instruction of ADONAI?

As with all these mitzvot, this exhortation for the Israelites to respect their parents would have included children.

Honor your father and your mother just as ADONAI your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and it may go well with you in the land of ADONAI your God is giving you (Deuteronomy 5:16). The sequence of thought from the fourth mitzvah to the fifth is clearly from society as a whole to the family that forms the basic unit of society. The close link between the two mitzvot is also seen by their pairing in Leviticus 19:3. Just as the fourth mitzvah does not merely describe a cultic taboo day, but governed Isra’el’s social and economic life as a whole society under God, so here, the fifth mitzvah forms part of the structure and fabric of Isra’el’s covenantal relationship with ADONAI and is not merely a recipe for happy families.¹⁶³

Honor your father and your mother, so you may live long in the Land ADONAI your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12).

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first mitzvah with a promise, “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy life on the earth.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4).

As far as Isra’el was concerned, the fifth mitzvah had a promise of longevity that referred to the nation as a whole. Instead of meaning a long life for each individual Israelite, it meant that the nation itself would live long in the land of Canaan if they honored their fathers and mothers. On the other hand, cursing one’s parents, the same as rejecting their authority, was a capital offense. ADONAI commanded: Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head (Leviticus 20:9 and Proverbs 20:20).

The Scriptures direct every child to honor his or her father and mother. But just what does it mean to honor your father and your mother? The Hebrew word honor literally means to be heavy, weighty, to honor. Today we would say that his or her words “Carry a lot of weight.” Someone whose words are weighty is someone worthy of honor and respect. However, we can learn even more about what it means to honor someone by looking at its opposite in the Scriptures. The literal meaning of the word curse is to make light of, of little weight, to dishonor. We would say their words “Carry very little weight.” Therefore, when Ha’Shem commands us to honor our parents, He is telling us that they are worthy of high value and respect.¹⁶⁴ We don’t have to agree with our parents to honor them.

Our greatest example is Messiah Himself. Even though God the Father would wake God the Son, morning by morning and teach Him that He was destined to go to the cross (Isaiah 50:4-7), Jesus was still obedient to His earthly parents (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Bb – Jesus Grew in Wisdom and Stature, and in Favor with God and Other People). Imagine that, the sinless God of the universe honoring His earthly parents! One of the ways that we are conformed into the likeness of Messiah (Romans 8:29) is by honoring our parents.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for being the best father that there ever could be! It is so peaceful and full of joy to spend time to meditate on Your characteristics (Psalms 63:6-7), holiness (Leviticus 11:45), love (Psalms 63:6, 103:17; First John 4:16), compassion (Psalms 103:13), kindness (Romans 2:4; Titus 3:4), righteousness (Psalms 103:13), greatness (Psalms 104:1), power ( Psalms 29:4,66:3; Matthew 24:30, 26:64; Luke 1:37), infinite understanding (Psalms 147:5), lives in our hearts by His Spirit (Romans 5:5; Galatians 4:6; First John 4:8-15), never leaves His child (Hebrews 13:5) and has a home of perfect peace and great joy in heaven (Revelation 21:4) that Yeshua is preparing (John 14:1-3) for all who love and follow Him as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10). We love You and desire to follow You in all we do and say, including honoring our parents. In the holy name of Your Son and His power of resurrection. Amen

Without a doubt, there are some parents whose insensitivity and unloving actions have hurt their children deeply. What if you had a father or a mother who was physically or psychologically abusive? What about the parent who has chosen to be a friend of the world and therefore become an enemy of God (James 4:4)? That parent loves everything that God hates. How can you honor that parent? I know that from a human perspective some mothers and fathers don’t appear to deserve honor. I am not saying their actions were not hurtful, nor am I rationalizing the negative effects they may have caused over the years. And if you are in physical danger, of course you need to get to a safe place away from them. You don’t have to subject yourself to abuse. However, I am saying that the only way to be free from the hurt is to honor them. Because every time we lower their value and cut them down, we’re dishonoring a part of ourselves. So, if you are in that situation, what can you do? You can make an unconditional decision to treat them (or their memory) as a valuable treasure, and granting them a position of respect and honor in your life. I am not saying this is always easy, but the alternative isn’t very good either. In that way you can stop chasing past hurts and be at peace in the present.

Besides the fifth mitzvah, the book of Proverbs has much to say about honoring our parents. We honor our parents when we listen carefully to their godly counsel (Proverbs 1:8, 2:1, 4:1, 5:1, 9:8, 10:1, 13:1 and 15:5). We honor our parents when they see us acting wisely (Proverbs 27:11). Praising our parents brings light to our lives, but cursing them will snuff out our lamp (Proverbs 20:20). We dishonor our parents and bring grief to them when we act foolishly (Proverbs 17:25). Involvement in immoral relationships not only affects us, but also causes our parents to grieve (Proverbs 5:1-23, 31:3). Being prideful, critical and judgmental dishonors our parents (Proverbs 30:12-17).¹⁶⁵

What happens if a parent has died and you cannot speak face to face? The memory of an absent father or mother can be just as vivid as real life. We carry those mental pictures around with us all our lives. Some people loved their parents deeply but never told them so. Others struggle with a painful past and have horrible feelings and memories of them. May I suggest that you write a letter to that person and share your feelings as if he or she were with you in person. Or if writing a letter is too difficult, make a recording that you can play back and listen to. Love the sinner, hate the sin. You can still be completely honest, and yet not sin with your words.¹⁶⁶

Paul broadened the mitzvah to include both children and parents. This mitzvah deals with the consequences of family behavior. Families are a part of God’s plan. No one is an island and God makes a home for the lonely when He places us in families (Psalm 68:6 NASB). The nature of human life is that each generation begins where the previous generation places it. That’s not some ancient, religious code. That’s an indisputable fact of history. This means that both the blessings and the sins of the parents have an impact on the following generations. This is true genetically, physically, socially, psychologically and spiritually. Each generation starts where the previous generation leaves off. And because this is the nature of humanity, we need a mitzvah to guide us.¹⁶⁷

Observe Yom Shabbat
5: 12-15

Observe Yom Shabbat DIG: This mitzvah has to do with time. What is the difference between observing the Sabbath and worshiping on Sunday? Are there differences between the way Hebrew Christians and Messianic Jews observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy? Why is the Sabbath a sign of the everlasting covenant between God and the Israelites? What is replacement theology? What is the difference between the first four mitzvot and the last six?

REFLECT: Do I choose to observe the Sabbath or to worship on Sunday? Do I fail to take time off for rest, spiritual rejuvenation, and worship? Is my day of worship just like any other day of the week? Is a Christian Gentiles’ worship on Sunday any better, or worse, than a messianic Jew observing the Sabbath? Why or why not?

This is one of two mitzvot that are expressed positively (the other is the mitzvot to honor parents). God demands that His chosen people observe this special day.

Observe Yom Shabbat to keep it holy, as ADONAI your God commanded you. Six days you are to labor and do all your work, but on the seventh day is a Shabbat to ADONAI your God. In it you are not to do any work – not you or your son or your daughter, or your slave or your maid, or your ox, your donkey or any of your livestock or the outsider within your gates, so that your slave and your maid may rest as you do. You must remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and ADONAI your god brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, ADONAI your God commanded you to keep Yom Shabbat (Deuteronomy 5:12-15). Deuteronomy calls on Isra’el to remember the historical events of their redemption (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Bz – Redemption) from Egypt. The phrases a mighty hand and an outstretched arm occur repeatedly throughout the TaNaKh (twenty-six and fifteen times respectively), as references to God’s powerful intervention in Isra’el’s affairs.

The focus on the exodus event rather than God’s creation of the universe in the Exodus account below, provides one of the major differences between the writing of this mitzvah in Deuteronomy and in the book of Exodus. Exodus focuses on God’s finishing the creation week as a background for the mitzvah. Deuteronomy, however, looks to God’s redemption of Isra’el from bondage as slaves in Egypt as the background for the mitzvah. The fact that the audience of Deuteronomy is the children of the generation of the exodus, lends itself to an emphasis on redemption, and the intervention of ADONAI on Isra’el’s behalf.¹⁵⁸

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath for ADONAI your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For six days God made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Thus, God blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11).

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and ADONAI your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, ADONAI your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:15).

Of the Ten Words (see Bk – The Ten Words), nine of them are fulfilled in the Torah’s true meaning, which Messiah upholds, and often made more stringent, so we are obligated to obey them. However, this particular mitzvah regarding the Sabbath day, or Shabbat as it is called in Hebrew, is not found in the New Covenant and as a result, while Gentile Christians may obey it for the blessing (Genesis 12:3a), most choose not to observe it. It is not for the Church. But while keeping the Sabbath saves neither Gentile believers nor Jewish believers; for the Jew, just as the rainbow was the sign of the Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9:12-13) and circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 17:11),¹⁵⁹ Shabbat on Saturday is a special sign between God and the Israelites forever (Exodus 31:13-17; Ezeki’el 20:20). In other words, this passage explicitly states that the Israelites are to keep the Sabbath.

Gentiles worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Jews and Messianic Gentiles observe the Sabbath on Saturday, the seventh day of the week, for the blessing, and to be obedient to the Torah. Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote when speaking of the Day of Atonement: This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. It is a Sabbath rest (Leviticus 23:31b-32a). Israelites were to keep the book of the Torah on their lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that they would act according to everything written in it (Joshua 1:8). The Sabbath is the most important appointed feast day on the Jewish calendar, even greater than Yom Kippur (see the commentary on Leviticus Ef – Yom Kippur). For messianic Jews, the messianic synagogue is a practical way to express the New Covenant faith within the Jewish cultural framework from where it originated.

An allegory. At the beginning of time was One, eternal. But time undivided, time eternal, would be unrelated to the world of space. So, time was divided into seven days and entered into an intimate relationship with the world of space. With every single day, another realm of things came into being, except the seventh day.

The Sabbath was a lonely day. It may be compared to a king who had seven sons. To six of them he gave his wealth, but to the youngest he gave nobility, with the privilege of royalty. The six older sons, who were commoners, found their mates, but the noble one remained without a mate.

After the work of creation, the seventh day pleaded: Master of the universe, all that You have created is in couples; to every day of the week You have given a mate. Only I was left alone. And God answered: The community of Isra’el will be your mate. That promise was not forgotten. When the people of Isra’el stood before Mount Sinai, the Lord said to them: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Here is your mate.¹⁶⁰

Are there differences between the way Hebrew Christians and Messianic Jews observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy? Yes, most certainly. Historically Hebrew Christians are those believers in Christ that are Jewish but are not affiliated with Messianic Judaism. As a result, they faithfully attend church but do not keep Shabbat. Messianic Jews, on the other hand, are those Jewish believers in Messiah who fully keep and retain their Jewishness in theology and practice. In this context, a “Messianic Jew” would never consider himself or herself either a “Christian” or “Hebrew Christian”. Paul defines the Christian for us in Acts 11:26 as being a person or congregation of Gentile believers. The Antioch church of Acts 11:26 was exclusively a Gentile congregation, while the Messianic Jews of the first century were commonly called followers of the Way (Acts 24:14), or simply The Way (Acts 9:2).

In the messianic Siddur, or prayer book, it states that, “The children of Isra’el shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Isra’el forever, that in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he ceased from work and rested”. For the Jew, it is not a question of salvation, but a question of blessing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy (Gen 2:3; also see Exodus 20:11b and Isaiah 56:2-7). If a Jew is saved and chooses to worship in church on Sunday, it has no affect on his or her salvation, but he or she will lose the blessing of Sabbath worship. If a Gentile chooses to worship with a Messianic congregation on Saturday, he or she will also be blessed greatly. The blessing will be a result of the Abrahamic Covenant where ADONAI said: I will bless those who bless you (Genesis 12:3a). It is interesting to note that the Sabbath day rest will be reestablished during the Messianic Kingdom (Ezeki’el 44:24, 45:17, 46:1-4, 46:18).

The fourth mitzvah was given to the Jews in the Torah to set apart the seventh day of the week, which would be Saturday, as a day of rest. God ceased His work on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3), and He wanted them to do the same. There was to be no gathering of manna (16:25-30), no traveling (16:29), no plowing or reaping (34:21), no lighting a fire for cooking (35:3), no gathering wood (Numbers 15:32-36), they were not to make wine or transport it (Nehemiah 13:15), no burden bearing (Jer 17:21-22), and no trading (Amos 8:5). In the Torah, the Sabbath was a day of individual or corporate worship.

Dear Heavenly Father, How Awesome you are! Thank You for designating a special day of rest. It is so wonderful to have a day to not just stop normal activities, but to focus on You, Your great love, and on heaven’s eternal peace and joy for those who love Yeshua as Savior. Your children (John 1:12) can look ahead, far beyond the next week’s activities to eternal joy and great peace (Revelation 21:4) in heaven in the home Yeshua is preparing for us (John 14:1-3). Praise You for making an eternal rest for all who love and follow You (Hebrews 4:11-14). We love You! In the holy name of Your Son and His power of resurrection. Amen

In the Gospels, there were three major areas of conflict between Yeshua and the Pharisees and Sadducees: First, His claim that He was the Messiah; secondly, the authority of the Oral Law, or the traditions of the men (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law); and thirdly, the correct way of observing the Sabbath. In the day of Jesus, the Sabbath had become an end to itself. In fact, certain Jewish religious leaders had developed a theology that Isra’el had been created to observe the Sabbath. But by adding so many rules and regulations, the Pharisees made the Sabbath a burden instead of a blessing. By building ‘the fence around the Torah’ with the Oral Law, they detracted from its true meaning. It was supposed to help man, not enslave him. The Jewish religious leaders missed the human element, because the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). Furthermore, Jesus was, and continues to be, Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8).

There is no question that Yeshua observed the Sabbath in the manner given by the Torah, though not always in the manner given by the rabbis. However, this is not sufficient ground to insist that Jewish or Gentile believers be obligated to keep the Sabbath today for salvation. Yeshua lived under the Torah and perfectly obeyed every one of the 613 mitzvot applicable to Him, be they moral, civil, or ceremonial. To insist that Jewish or Gentile believers keep the Sabbath today to be saved would also require them to perfectly keep all of the same mitzvot, down to the smallest letter, or tiniest part of a letter of Scripture (Matthew 5:18), including the civil and ceremonial laws.¹⁶¹

For the Gentile believer, Sunday, or the first day of the week (Acts 20:7), is not the same as Saturday, the seventh day. Although Sunday is the most common day of worship for the Christian today, no specific day is assigned. One man considers one day more sacred than another; but another man considers every day alike. Each one should be convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord (Romans 14:5-6a). We are commanded to come together in fellowship (Hebrews 10:25), but today the local church determines what day we choose to worship, and most churches have chosen Sunday. For the first early believers, the first day of the week was the day chosen to gather together to break bread. Now on the first day of the week, we gathered to break bread (Acts 20:7). Paul designated the first day of the week for followers of Yeshua to set aside their tithe and offerings. Now concerning the collection for the kedoshim, as I directed Messiah’s communities in Galatia, you do likewise.  On the first day of the week, let each of you set something aside, saving up whatever is gained, so no collections take place when I come.  (First Corinthians 16:1-2). John the apostle placed special emphasis on the first day of the week calling it the Day of the Lord for that was when Yeshua rose from the grace conquering death forever (Matthew 28:1)! I was in the Ruach on the Day of the Lord, and I heard behind me a loud voice like that of a trumpet (Revelation 1:10). Messianic synagogues worship on Saturday. But there are Gentiles whose jobs require them to work both Saturday and Sunday. They should take a day of rest on some other day of the week. The point is that, for our own well-being, we need to take a rest from our normal work every week.¹⁶²

So, are Gentile believers obligated to rest and abstain from work on the Sabbath? No. If you take one day of the week to rest and do something other than your normal work, will you have a richer, fuller, and more rewarding life? But for the Jew, Shabbat can only be celebrated on Saturday.

Although the Christian should have their day of rest, whether Sunday or any other day, it should never be called a “Christian Sabbath”, in that, it does not exist. Certainly, they should all have a designated day or time to rest and be with the Lord in worship, ministry, and service – still that would never be the prescribed Sabbath of the Torah. To call Sunday worship at a church, the “Christian Sabbath”, is a subtle form of replacement theology, where Gentile believers take that which was given to Isra’el and claim it as their own in replacement of the covenant with Isra’el. Thus, because of its great importance, Sabbath worship and Sunday worship cannot be compared.

The first four mitzvot are more vertical and describe our relationship with God, but the last six are more horizontal and describe our relationship with each other.

Do Not Misuse God’s Name
5: 11

DIG: This mitzvah has to do with reverence. What is the most common way of misusing God’s name in the modern world? How is God’s name trivialized in commercialized religion? How can people who are even involved in organized religion subtly misuse ADONAI’s name?

REFLECT: Do I use God’s name in contexts other than prayer, worship, teaching or evangelism? This mitzvah doesn’t say not to mention God’s name, but when you do, do it with respect. Has ADONAI’s name become separated from His person in my everyday life?

YHVH prohibits His children from making use of His Name, a substitute for God Himself, for ends that stand opposed to His purposes.

You must not take the name of ADONAI your God in vain, literally, You must not lift up the name of YHVH your God as worthlessness, for ADONAI will not leave unpunished anyone who takes His Name in vain (Deuteronomy 5:11). In the modern world, the most common misuse of God’s name is in its trivialization used in blasphemy, in common speech, and in the media. A secularized society feels free to use the personal names of God and Messiah with no concern for who they belong to. Then there is the equally trivialized use of God’s name in the commercialization of religion, whether by the overt forces of money, or the more subtle damaging forces of organized religious empires, the “televangelists” and other latter-day Tetzel’s (Tetzel was the man whose blatant selling of indulgences sparked Martin Luther’s protest, which in turn launched the Reformation) with their prosperity gospel and unscrupulous marketing of hopes and promises. By “giving God a bad name,” by blatantly using His name out of their own selfishness, power, or pride – they are, in principle, breaking the third mitzvah.¹⁵²

You shall not misuse the name of ADONAI your God, for ADONAI will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name (Exodus 20:7).

This, then, is how you should pray. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9).

What’s in a name? Plenty! God’s name is comprised of the four Hebrew letters that in English are YHVH. It was this name that was explained to Moses at the burning bush (3:13-22). The Jewish scribes would take extraordinary precautions when writing His name. They would never dip their pen in the ink in the middle of writing His name. If even the king spoke to them while writing the name of YHVH, the scribe would ignore him. In fact, the Jews took this mitzvah so seriously that they refused to pronounce God’s name so they wouldn’t accidentally misuse the name of YHVH. For that very reason, the exact pronunciation of God’s name has been lost. Even today, many Jews make no attempt to use or even pronounce the name, referring to God simply as Ha’Shem, Hebrew for The Name, or ADONAI, like Abba.¹⁵³

Some view this third mitzvah as merely a prohibition against using God’s name as a swear word. The Israelites themselves took it as such. Leviticus 19:12 says: Do not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am ADONAI. But there is a lot more to this mitzvah than that. The word profane comes from the Latin word pro, which means in front of, and fane, which means the temple. Those who profane the name of God have taken the holy out of the temple and permitted their hearts, minds and mouths to be put in the gutter out in front of it. Do you know anyone who loves God and is close to Him that thinks His last name is damn? Of course not. God will hold us responsible if we profanely use His name.

On another level, this third mitzvah is a ban against dishonesty of speech, perjury, false promises and the breaking of our word. Early in human history people came to lie so often that no one could trust a person’s common word. In order to be believed one had to call upon god to witness to the truth. We think the cover-ups and evasions going on today in the political arena and elsewhere are modern phenomena, but the problem is really as old as civilization. The idea also surfaced that if you didn’t swear by God, then you didn’t have to tell the truth. But slowly people became such liars that even that didn’t help. People felt that unless they took a certain elaborate oath they were not required to tell the truth.

By the time Yeshua was born the situation was much worse. People used many different kinds of oaths but still lied. It became impossible to tell if they were telling the truth or not, even though they used God’s name in an oath. That’s why Yeshua said: Do not swear at all, simply let your “Yes” be “Yes” and your “No” be “No” (Matthew 5:34 and 37). His point was that we shouldn’t have to use God’s name to be believed. As believers, our lives should be our witness. We are united in Messiah (Ephesians Chapter 1), meaning we belong to Him. We take His name as our name and we should never profane it by breaking our word, or using His name for selfish or evil purposes (Psalm 139:20; Deuteronomy 5:11).¹⁵⁴ Not that we are perfect, but honoring God all the time including all we say, should be the desire of our hearts.

Dear Heavenly Father, You are holy and awesome! Praise you that every word that You speak can be trusted and totally counted on. Praise You for Your love that is forever for those who revere You (Psalms 103:17). We, Your children, respect You and desire to show You our love by being truthful in all we say and do. Our time on earth to show You our love is short, for you will soon return to rapture those who love You (First Thessalonians 4:15-17, First Corinthians 15:51-57) Then we will live forever in great joy and peace (Revelation 21:4) in heaven in the home Yeshua is preparing for us (John 14:1-3). We love You! In the holy name of Your Son and His power of the resurrection. Amen

This third mitzvah has an even deeper meaning. The third mitzvah also warns us against the misuse of God’s power. In both the TaNaKh and the B’rit Chadashah a person’s name was thought to be an extension of their character. Similarly, throughout the Bible ADONAI’s name represents the nature and character of God Himself. So, to speak for ADONAI is to speak in His name (Deuteronomy 18:19-20). To praise God is to praise His name (Psalm 96:2, 100:4). To worship God is to call upon the name of ADONAI (Genesis 4:26; Isaiah 55:6). To serve God is to love His name (Psalm 5:11). The Temple of God was the place ADONAI chose . . . to put His Name (Deuteronomy 12:5). The Bible teaches that those who know ADONAI’s name will trust in Him (Psalm 9:10). Therefore, to know the name of ADONAI is in some way to know the power of God.

Acts 4:7 tells how the religious leaders questioned Peter and John about their healing of a lame man, asking: By what power or what name did you do this? And Peter answered: It is by the name of Yeshua ha-Mashiach of Nazareth . . . (Acts 4:10). Eventually the high court angrily let them go, warning the apostles not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Ar – Peter and John Stand before the Sanhedrin). You see, God’s name includes His character, His will, and His power. That’s why we are to pray in the name of Messiah and why God’s name has special power and meaning for us. It is as if the third mitzvah is saying, “Be very careful. Don’t use the name of God for your own selfish ends. Don’t attempt to use God’s power for your own will and your own ways. Don’t try to cosign God’s name to a lot of things in your life that are totally unworthy of His name.¹⁵⁵ In this age of grace, the believer is encouraged not to swear by any oath. Echoing what Yeshua had said earlier, James said: Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No” be no, or you will be condemned (James 5:12). We need to exhibit truth on all occasions and should not need the name of God to verify our lifestyle of telling the truth.¹⁵⁶

What’s in a name? Everything. Does your life profane His name or honor His name? Can God sign His name to your body? How about your money? Does ADONAI co-sign His holy name to your checkbook? What about your home, your habits, your mood, your manners, your work, your disposition? Can God sign His name to your life? If so, you are keeping the third mitzvah.¹⁵⁷

Do Not Make Idols
5: 8-10

Do not make idols DIG: This mitzvah has to do with worship. An idol is anything that is carved in wood or stone, or carved in our minds. When adults sin grievously before YHVH, how does it affect their children and grandchildren? One the one hand, do you see any effects of sin passed down in your family? If so, what are they? Or, on the other hand, has the sin of your parent(s) or grandparent(s) had the exact opposite effect on you, and motivated you to godly living?

REFLECT: Once you know who God is, you are called to properly worship Him. Has a picture or image of God replaced the real the LORD as the object of your worship? Have you changed your ultimate loyalty to an object, an activity, an organization or a person that has become the god you serve? If so, what can you do to change all of that. If not, who can you help to escape that trap? God will tolerate no rivals. Do you have rivals in your heart? How can you change that?

YHVH also prohibits His chosen people from fashioning images of worship.

Do not make for yourselves an idol – no image of what is in the heavens above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to them or worship them. For I, ADONAI your God, am a zealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My mitzvot (Deuteronomy 5:8-10). Together, the first and second mitzvot are truly the most fundamental of all, for everything that follows hands on them. Their prominence also reflects the fact that biblically, idolatry is the fundamental human sin. The essence of our fallenness is that we choose to reject the authority of our creator God and to substitute in His place an allegiance to other authorities, other systems and values of our own creation.¹⁴⁹

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, ADONAI your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me. But I will show love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and obey My mitzvot (Exodus 20:4-6).

The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk (Revelation 9:20).

The first mitzvah clearly teaches that ADONAI is the only God, and no others are to be tolerated, or even thought of. The second mitzvah declares the type of God that He is, and how He is to be worshipped. We must remember that God is not against making images. Later, God would command Moses to make a bronze snake in the wilderness. This mitzvah is against worshiping these idols.

No idols were to be worshiped. Deuteronomy 4:15-18 confirmed that command: You saw no form of any kind the day God spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. The people of other nations worshiped objects in heaven above (like the sun, moon and stars), or on the earth below (such as the crocodiles in Egypt or sea monsters among the Babylonians), but Isra’el was to worship the one true God.

Dear Heavenly Father, You are so Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6)! There could never be a better father for You are the best-perfect in all you do! It is a joy to please You. Please open the eyes of my family and friends to see that when they put You as their number one love, then they will be the happiest and full of peace. Praise You for Your love that is higher than the heavens (Psalms 103:11) and the mercy of ADONAI is from everlasting to everlasting on those who revere Him, His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant, who remember to observe His instructions. (Psalms 103:17-18). In the holy name of Your Son and His power of resurrection. Amen

The reason that idols are not to be worshiped is that ADONAI is a jealous or zealous God, and their idolatry is looked upon as spiritual adultery. The Hebrew term qanna’ combines the two concepts of jealousy and zeal (not envy or suspicion).¹⁵⁰ So, zeal, or zealousness, meaning a passionate devotion to, would be a better term to use than jealous, which has negative, even petty connotations. Therefore, idolatry would cause God’s zeal to burn like a husband’s zealousness would burn against an unfaithful wife (Hosea 2:2-5). Because God and Isra’el are viewed as married, Isra’el is viewed as the wife of ADONAI (Deuteronomy 5:1-3, 6:10-15, 7:6-11; Isaiah 54:1-8, 62:4-5; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezeki’el 16:8; Hosea 2:14-23). For that very reason, the Israelites should not have worshiped other gods. God has a right to be zealous over what is rightfully His. As a result, this was not a petty jealousy, but a righteous zealousness.

God will punish the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him (Exodus 20:5). When one member of the family commits a sin, spiritual adultery for example, the whole family suffers. However, Fathers are not to be put to death for the sin of their children and children are no put to death for the sin of their father – each one is to be put to death for their own sin (Deuteronomy 24:16 and Ezeki’el 18:20), but if the innocent party continues to hate God, the penalty of the guilty party will surely be felt by future generations to come in different ways. But even in this, God limits the consequences of their sin to the third and fourth generation for the sake of His covenant with Isra’el. On the other hand, obeying ADONAI’s mitzvot flows naturally from loving Him (John 14:15; First John 5:3), showing loving kindness to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My mitzvot (Deuteronomy 5:10).

An idol is anything or anyone who takes the place of God in our lives. Saint Augustine said, “Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that ought to be worshiped.” Believers are not immune from this temptation. Even different aspects of our faith can become idolatrous. One of the greatest examples of this is the bronze snake in the wilderness. When the Israelites grumbled in the desert, God sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many of them died. ADONAI then commanded Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. So, anyone who was bitten by a snake could look up at the bronze snake and live (Numbers 21:4-9). That bronze snake is a type of Christ on the cross. Yeshua said: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15). That snake, like Yeshua, was a means of salvation, something to deliver the people from their sins. But the Israelites eventually worshiped it. Seven hundred years later when a godly man named Hezekiah became king, he began to cleanse Isra’el from her idolatry. As Second Kings 18:4 tells us, one of the first things he did was to break to pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. They took a good thing that God had given them, a means of salvation, and turned it into an idol to be worshiped. Thus, we must be careful not to do the same thing.

God will tolerate no rivals; not our service, not our concern, not our passionate devotion, not even our ability, though we live or die for the cause of Yeshua the Messiah. He wants every key to every door in your heart. He is zealous that there be no competition. He will not share the throne of our hearts. There is only one seat on the throne and it is His. He wants to look at us and say, “There go My children. They are all Mine. They belong to Me without exception. Every part of their personalities, every relationship, every ambition, and every desire belongs to Me.”

In the last days those that dwell upon the earth will choose to worship idols that cannot see (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Db – The Sixth Trumpet: Four Angels Who Had Been Kept Ready, Were Released to Kill a Third of Mankind). As a direct result of their rebellion, a third of mankind will be killed. Is there an idol in your heart? Can God look down into your heart and ask, “Do I have a rival here? Why aren’t you all mine?” Dear children, keep yourselves from idols (First John 5:21) because ADONAI your God is a zealous God who will tolerate no rival.¹⁵¹

Have No Other Gods
5: 6-7

Have no other gods DIG: Why was it very difficult to practice monotheism for the Israelites in the midst of other pagan nations? What is the temptation today? What does the Bible describe as the greatest, unforgivable sin? What are some examples of other gods not made out of wood or stone? Can you love and serve more than one God? Why or why not?

REFLECT: Has God’s reign in your life been replaced by another object or person you would rather serve? Do you love other things more than you love ADONAI? Does it matter who the God of your life is? What is at stake? So, who is your God? And where is your God? On the throne? Or do you have a divided loyalty?

God does not deliver His covenantal demands to Isra’el in a vacuum, but in the context of an intimate relationship, clearly seen by His character and activity of Isra’el’s behalf.

I am ADONAI your God, who brought you out (His historical act of saving grace) from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. The phrase I am ADONAI your God announces the originator of the covenant, and corresponds to the preamble of the Near Eastern treaty. The demands of the statutes (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: hammishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court) are based on what God had already done. This is a crucial perspective and is commonly overlooked or perverted in Christian attitudes toward the Torah – at least at a popular level. The simplistic view is taken that salvation in the TaNaKh is achieved by works, whereas in the B’rit Chadashah salvation is achieved through faith. The very first sentence of the Ten Words contradicts such a view. The statutes and ordinances were given to Isra’el, not so they could perhaps gain salvation by keeping them, but because ADOANI had already redeemed them, this was how they were to live in light of that fact.¹⁴⁵ You shall have no other gods beside Me (Deuteronomy 5:6-7).

You shall have no other gods in addition to Me (Exodus 20:3).

For even if there are so called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we have our being (First Corinthians 8:5-6).

God condemns polytheism, which is the worship of more than one god. In that day this was a very difficult teaching because it was popular to worship many gods. Indeed, Isra’el had just escaped from Egypt, where thousands of gods were worshiped. Surprisingly, we learn that even the Israelites had worshiped false gods while living in Egypt (Ezeki’el 20:5-8). Unfortunately, Isra’el often disobeyed this very first command by worshiping the idols of other nations.¹⁴⁶ This resulted in the northern Kingdom being taken over by Assyria and the southern Kingdom taken into exile in Babylon.

Today, the temptation is to worship no god at all. But the decision before us is not between atheism or God. It is not the issue of God or no God. That is not our choice. The question is which deity we will worship – the true and living God who came to us as Jesus Christ or a substitute god? Inevitably we must look to something beyond ourselves. This something helps us make choices in life. It gives us a set of values or priorities that serve as a reference point. It becomes the determining factor in our lives so that gradually and perhaps without knowing it, we become like the God or god we worship.

Dear Heavenly Father, What an Awesome God You are! Praise You that You are holy (Leviticus 11:45), Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6) and so Awesome that there is no way that You could ever get better for You are totally perfect in everything – in wisdom, character, love, and mercy. We choose to spend our time, money and thoughts on choices that please You, for we love You and want to grow to be more like You each day. You are wonderful! In the holy name of Your Son and the power of His resurrection. Amen

Every deity stamps his worshiper with his trademark (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Dp – The Mark is the Name of the Beast or the Number of His Name), and your god could be leaving his mark upon your life today. Martin Luther said it beautifully, “Whatever the heart clings to, whatever the heart relies on, that is your god.” We must let ADONAI be God, the true and living God. That’s why the Bible opposes every form of idolatry. The greatest sin described in the Bible is not breaking the mitzvot but rejecting God, or idolatry. Idolatry is misplaced allegiance, making a commitment, having a love, a priority, to a god that displeases and dethrones the true and living God.¹⁴⁷ There is only room for one king on the throne of your heart.

But there are other gods besides idols of wood and stone. Money, pleasure, sex, drugs, science, fashion, fame, music, gluttony, sports and a score of other things can take the rightful place of God in our lives. We can even take good things and make gods out of them. For example, Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon did that very thing. For years he studied, earned a doctorate, worked hard, dreamt, and disciplined himself. Finally, he was chosen to go with Neil Armstrong on the historic mission to the moon. But after the mission he had an emotional breakdown. It didn’t have anything to do with the mission. He became very disillusioned after working hard and attained every goal along the way. But he found it all empty when it was over, he had taken a good thing and made a god out of it. And it did what all false gods do, it turned around and destroyed him. That’s what always happens when we turn God’s gifts into false gods.

So, does it matter who the God of your life is? It certainly does! It is the difference between eternal life and eternal death. You shall have no other gods before Me (also see John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Let ADONAI be God in your life. Yeshua restated the first mitzvah when He said: No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24). We cannot love and serve more than one God. If we do, we become fragmented. Polytheism in one’s heart will produce polytheism in one’s personality and emotions. The Bible calls it idolatry. Psychiatry calls it neurosis. The point is that we were built for only one God.

People might say we are narrow minded. But truth is narrow minded. One plus one, always equals two.

So, who is your God? And where is your God? On the throne? Or do you have a divided loyalty? There is only room for only one person on the throne at a time. Who is on yours? The first mitzvot is basically saying: I am the Lord your God. I am your Savior. I am your Deliverer. You belong to Me. I am sovereign over you. I am yours and you are mine. This mitzvah will be the only mitzvah because I am the only God. Therefore, you shall have no other gods in addition to Me.¹⁴⁸

The Ten Words
5: 1-5

The ten words DIG: What might you infer about human nature in Moses’ day from these ten words? Is this an acknowledgement of sinful humanity, or are these ten words an attempt to change humanity? Explain.

REFLECT: What effect have these Ten Words had on our laws today? What does that tell you about them? Do you think human nature has changed since these Ten Words were given to Moshe? Why or why not? Although most of these are written in the negative, they also imply a positive behavior and a divine freedom. Ultimately, everything belongs to and is given by ADONAI to free us from worry. As you read the following Ten Words, restate in your own words the positive behaviors and divine freedom contained in each of the Ten Words. In what ways might your relationship with God and with others be changed if you lived by the positive and freeing intent of the Ten Words? As you read through them, think about which ones are the most difficult for you to follow.

Moses summoned the Israelites (or their tribal representatives) to a covenantal assembly and called for them to give careful attention to YHVH’s expectations.

Compared with Suzerainty Treaties (to see link click Ah – Treaty of the Great King), the Torah also had general stipulations (see Bj – The First Address: The General Stipulations of the Covenant) which included the Ten Commandments, or in Hebrew, literally, the Ten Words. The fact that YHVH adds nothing more to these mitzvot and inscribes them on stone tablets (4:13), highlights how sacred they are. These Ten Words represent the central core of God’s expectations of His people.¹⁴¹

The Ten Words continue to stir controversy in both the community of believers and society. Some would question their relevance in public life today. Militant groups battle to remove them from schoolrooms, courtrooms and government offices, confining them instead to the area of private religion. More disturbing is the extent to which teaching the Ten Words in the Church has been replaced by the widespread heresy of antinomianism, or the idea that all one has to do is to try one’s best to be saved, and that the Ten Words should be ignored.¹⁴² That is why every generation must hear the Torah and obey it for themselves.

Yeshua said to His disciples: Come, follow Me (Matthew 4:19). Following Jesus involves keeping the mitzvot of ADONAI. He declared: Whoever has My mitzvot and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him (John 14:21). Not only that, but the coming of the Messiah, did not do away with the Ten Words. Jesus taught: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (see the commentary on Exodus Du – Do Not Think I Have Come to Abolish the Torah).

Therefore, what is the purpose of the Ten Words today for believers? First of all, they are not a set of rules. Rules cannot bring freedom; they can only accuse. What they do accomplish is to reveal the heart of God, and thus are an indispensable part of the life of a believer. They have nothing to do with our justification, but they have everything to do with our sanctification. Justification is a one-time action by the LORD whereby, negatively, He forgives the sins of believers and, positively, He declares them righteous by imputing the obedience and righteousness of Christ to them through faith (Genesis 15:6; Psalm 32:2; Jeremiah 23:6; Romans 3:28 to 4:6; Gal 2:16, 3:8-9, 21, 24). Sanctification, however, is to be set apart, specifically, to the holy use and purpose of God. It takes work, and is a continuous lifetime struggle to be transformed into the likeness of Messiah (Second Corinthians 3:18; Romans 12:1-2). It is a goal, and in reality, is never accomplished during our lifetime (see Perfectionism by B.B. Warfield). The result of being transformed is inward peace (Isaiah 32:17), observable spiritual fruit (Second Corinthians 9:8; Second Peter 1:5-11), and a deep desire to honor ADONAI (Matthew 5-16; John 15:8).

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for being the Best! The time on earth is so short to show You how much we love You, compared with all eternity when Your children who love and follow You will live with You in heaven forever in peace and joy! We choose to go beyond the outward following of Your Ten Words, by following them from our heart in love (Matthew 22:37-40). We submit to Your refining of our character by any suffering You allow to come into our lives (Romans 5:3-5, First Peter 1:7). We love You! In Your Holy Son’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

The Ten Mitzvot reveal the heart of God in three ways. First, the Torah is still a moral guide by revealing sin (Romans 7:7). Secondly, we know that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (Second Timothy 3:16). Therefore, the Torah can be used as a teaching tool to show ADONAI’s standard of righteousness, so that we can know Him better and love Him more. And thirdly, it can also be used to point others to Yeshua (Galatians 3:24-25). Nine of these Ten Words are also found in the B’rit Chadashah with conditions of the heart added that make us even more accountable not only in our actions, but in our thoughts as well. You could say they are God’s blueprint for living.

Moses called to all Isra’el for the purpose of acquainting the younger generation with the terms of the divine covenant, and said to them: Hear, O Isra’el (5:1a). This cry is heard four times in Deuteronomy (here, 6:4, 9:1 and 20:3), and each time these words called the people to consider something very serious, something that would challenge the very survival of their nation. The Ten Words would be repeated for the sake of this new generation. They were not given in a vacuum, but a kind of introduction to the whole 613 commandments of the Torah (365 positive mitzvot and 248 negative mitzvot).

The Ten Words were divided into two sections. The first four pertain to our relationship with ADONAI; the last six with our relationship with each other. Yeshua divided them for us when an expert in the Torah asked: Rabbi, which is the greatest mitzvah, in the Torah? Messiah answered: Love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:34-38; Mark 12:28-30), which describes our relationship with YHVH. And then Yeshua pointed out that there is a second commandment that is similar to it: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Mattityahu 22:39; Mark 12:31), which describes our relationship with each other. You can also see the same relationship between Psalms and Proverbs. The Psalms point to our relationship with ADONAI, and Proverbs teaches us about our relationship with each other.

The statutes (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: hammishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court) that I am speaking in your hearing today, learn them and make sure to do them. This second generation (from the time of the Exodus) were not the ones who had originally received the Ten Words (their parents had), but Moshe speaks to this new generation as if they had been living at that time. ADONAI our God cut a covenant with us in Horeb (which is the name used for Mount Sinai in Deuteronomy). Not with our fathers who lived in Egypt has ADONAI cut this covenant but with us – all of us alive here today. And even though this new generation was not present at the time, Moshe declares: ADONAI spoke with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire (5:1b-4). Why would Moshe say something like that? Because Isra’el is an indivisible entity. The rabbis teach that every Jew who has ever lived, symbolically stood there hearing the words of Moshe.

Even though YHVH spoke with Moses face to face, he was not allowed to see His face (Exodus 33:20). And in addition to drawing attention to Isra’el’s unique, intimate relationship with the LORD, Moses pointed out his role as mediator of the covenant. I was standing between ADONAI and you at that time, to tell you the word of ADONAI, because you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.¹⁴³

He said (5:5):

As we study the general stipulations of the covenant, we need to keep in mind that the specific stipulations (see Cr – The Second Address: The Specific Stipulations of the Covenant) begin in Chapter 12. Deuteronomy is a very practical book, being our blueprint for living, and still speaks very tenderly to every Jew and Gentile today.¹⁴⁴

The First Address:
The General Stipulations of the Covenant
5:1 to 11:32

Through Moses, ADONAI first reveals the general stipulations for Isra’el to follow. They can be summarized as an encouragement to love and obey YHVH wholeheartedly. Building on the overview of Chapters 1-3 and his speech in Chapter 4, Moshe urges the Israelites to be loyal and obedient to the covenant. With broad strokes, Moses depicts the kind of character and conduct that the LORD expects from His chosen people. For us today, these general stipulations serve as a blueprint for living (to see link click Exodus Dh – Moses and the Torah).¹⁴⁰

This is the Torah
4: 44-49

These verses serve a similar purpose to 1:4-5, namely, to summarize the historical events which preceded the general stipulations that follow.

The Jewish principle in worship and in the Synagogue is that “the product is more important than the salesman.” Interpreting this to plain language: The Bible is the Word of God, and that is our product. The rabbi (pastor) is the salesman. The most important part of the service is reading the Word of God. Let me say it in a different way. Hearing from God is the most important thing – hearing from God is the reading of His Word! The rabbi (pastor) only dishes it out with the mashed potatoes and the green beans as side dishes.¹³⁸

This is the Torah, which Moses set before Bnei-Yisrael. These are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to Bnei-Yisrael when they came out from Egypt – beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and Bnei-Yisrael struck down when they came out from Egypt (4:44-46). These scriptures are recited every Shabbat around the world. What Moses set before Isra’el as they were camped on the plain of Mo’av was not a new covenant, but instead represents the renewing of the old covenant, given to their parents forty years previously at the same location. The Torah, to which Moshe refers to, covers Chapters 5-26. More broadly, it refers to all the stipulations of the covenant (to see link click Bi – The Stipulations of the Covenant) Moses had delivered to Isra’el since they were encamped at Mount Sinai.

Moshe reminds his fellow Israelites of the immediate historical context, namely, their coming out from Egypt and their conquest of the land formerly occupied by the Amorites under Sihon (see Au – The Conquest of Sihon) and Og (see Av – The Conquest of Og). The intervention of ADONAI on their behalf in both events, gave YHVH the authority to demand their wholehearted obedience and loyalty to His covenant.

They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of the Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan toward the east – from Aroer, which is on the edge of the wadi Arnon, as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, as far as the sea of the Arabah (or the Dead Sea) under the slopes of Pisgah (4:47-49). Moses reviews the land Isra’el occupied at that time: all the Transjordan (except the land controlled by nations with a blood-relationship with Isra’el – the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites), all given to them by YHVH.¹³⁹

Moshe Remembered the Three Cities of Refuge
4: 41-43

This is an introduction to Chapter 5 and the Ten Commandments.

But just before the Ten Commandments there is an interesting commandment that is given about the cities of refuge. Seemingly out of place here, there is a good reason why it is placed here. The cities of refuge carry within them important elements found in the Ten Commandments. Mankind is brought back to the respectable position as being created in the image of God. Opposed to the code of Hammurabi, which judged people by social status, the Torah elevated mankind as ADONAI’s personal possession as seen in these cities of refuge.

Then Moses reminded the Israelites of the three cities beyond the Jordan, toward the east (see the commentary on Numbers Gp – The Cities of Refuge). There the manslayer might flee, who kills his neighbor unintentionally and did not hate him previously. He may flee to one of these cities and live: Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in the Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in the Bashan for the Manassites (4:41-43). This commandment required that as soon as one man accidentlly killed another, he would immediately run to one of these cities until the elders would investigate and determine if a murder had been committed (to see link click Bq – Do Not Murder). If he was found to be innocent, he would continue to live in that city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer could return to his land (Numbers 35:28). Evidently, the death of the high priest must have symbolized a cancellation of the manslayer’s sin.

The reason those cities of refuge were created is given to us in 19:10: Then innocent blood will not be shed within your land that ADONAI your God is giving you as an inheritance, and there would be blood upon you. The life of mankind was extremely important in the eyes of God. There, a person was innocent until proven guilty; there the criminal was not to be abused. Here we see that the Torah became the affair of the state. It was not a matter of personal revenge. This commandment saved Isra’el from having to deal with two possible murders instead of one. What if a man killed another by accident? Then that man was killed out of revenge? You would then have two murders with guilt resting on the nation. This, in turn, would bring judgment on the nation.

In His great concern for the well being of mankind, God commanded that the roads leading to those cities of refuge were to be well maintained and equally spaced in such a way as to be reachable anywhere within Isra’el within a short period of time. History tells us that road signs were put up at all crossings directing refugees to those three cities. What a compassionate way to introduce the Ten Commandments and demonstrate ADONAI’s respect for justice.¹³⁷

God’s Chosen People
4: 32-40

God’s chosen people DIG: Isra’el the chosen people. If YHVH is known by His attributes and actions, what did the Israelites know about Him? Why does ADONAI choose Isra’el (verses 35 and 37)? In what ways do His actions fit His motive? Do you think God provided enough evidence to demonstrate His great love? Why or why not? What responses and results are expected (verses 39-40)? What suggestions does Moses give to parents to influence their children in a godly direction? Which of these, if any, do you most need to work on?

REFLECT: What events in your life do you see as God’s choosing of you? What Egypt has He taken you out of? What Mount Sinai has He spoken to you from? If God is known by His actions, what have you come to know about Him? What further evidence (of His love or your election) are you looking for? What do you believe the LORD wants from you? Why would He choose you? How are you demonstrating God’s greatness to the surrounding unbelievers in your life? What can you do this day to embrace God’s choice of you?

Moses returns to the need of Isra’el to obey ADONAI’s commandments wholeheartedly, and the motivation behind that obedience: who YHVH is and what He has done for them. He recalls for Isra’el the distinctiveness of their God, and reminds them why they were His chosen people.

In order to challenge Isra’el’s appreciation for and understanding of her God, Moses asks four rhetorical questions concerning ADONAI’s activity on her behalf.

First, indeed, ask now about the former days that were before you, from the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of the sky to the other. Has there ever been such a great thing as this, or has anything like it been heard (4:32)? The invitation is thus to explore the whole panorama of human history to see if anything similar to Isra’el’s experience of God had been known before. Notice that Moses is not just saying that nothing greater has happened before, but that nothing like this at all has happened before!

Second, have people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard – and lived (4:33)? Moses was not asking, “Has anyone heard the voice of God and lived to tell about it?” Rather, he was emphasizing that no other nation had ever received direct revelation from its god (Psalm 147:19-20).

Third, for what great nation is there that has gods so near to them, as ADONAI our God is whenever we call on Him (4:7)? The only possible answer could be “No.”

And fourth, or has any god ever tried to come to take for himself a nation from within a nation – by trials like the ten plagues, by signs and wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors – like all that ADONAI your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes (4:34)? What YHVH did in and through the events of the Exodus and the revelation of His Torah on Mount Sinai were unprecedented and unparalleled. Was this all done so that later YHVH would reject and replace her? Heaven forbid!

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for being such a Mighty, Awesome and loving Father! When we think of Your wisdom in creating all land creatures on the sixth day (Genesis 1:24-26) by Your Word: the huge dinosaur and the tiny bunny rabbit, the swift cheetah and the slow turtle, and man with all his intricate internal systems! Praise Your Great power over fire by speaking out of a fiery bush that you kept from burning up! How Awesome Your Mighty power to take Your people out of the greatest power on earth at that time by judgment on their gods in the 10 Plagues (Exodus 12:12)! Praise You for always being near Your people (Hebrews 13:5). There is no god like you and we bow in reverent worship. In Your Holy Son’s name and power of the resurrection. Amen

Paul brings out the same argument in his letter to the church at Rome: Who are the Israelites? To them belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Torah, and the Temple service, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs – and from them, according to the flesh, the Messiah, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen (Romans 9:4-5). Has Isra’el’s position changed? Not at all. Paul uses the present tense here, who are the Israelites. Not who were the Isrealites. These promises still belong to the Israelites today. Thus, the Hebrew Roots movement (see the commentary on Galatians, to see link click Ak – The Hebrew Roots Movement: A Different Gospel), and Replacement Theology are heretical.

It is interesting that Paul was already confronted with this heresy during his day. And his argument was especially strong in Galatians where he makes a distinction between the election of Isra’el that is eternal in the Abrahamic Covenant, and the Mosaic Covenant, which was temporary. What I am saying is this: Torah, which came 430 years later after God’s promise to Abraham was confirmed to Jacob, was an addition and does not cancel the covenant previously confirmed by God, so as to make the promise ineffective. For if the inheritance is based on the legal part of the Torah, which is the halakhah, or the rules governing Jewish life (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law), it is no longer based on a promise; therefore, it no longer comes from a promise. But God gave [the covenant] to Abraham by means of a promise (Galatians 3:17-18 CJB). Paul makes a great distinction here. Just because Isra’el is in the diaspora does not mean that God has rejected her. This was Moshe’s argument in Deuteronomy and Paul’s argument in his letters. These were two Jews who prayed earnestly, and were concerned with the welfare of their people.¹³³

The powerful point here is not simply that YHVH is one, or a belief in monotheism (as important as that might be). Rather, Moses proclaims that ADONAI , the God of Isra’el, is the exclusive, one-and-only true God. You were shown, so that you might know that ADONAI is God – there is no other besides Him (4:35). Moshe then circles back to remind God’s chosen people of their God’s greatness and what He has done for them.¹³⁴

The two features of ADONAI’s love for, and election of, Isra’el are stressed here. They are God’s chosen people. From the heavens He made you hear His voice to instruct you, and on earth He caused you to see His great fire – you heard His words from the midst of the fire. Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them. Then He brought you out from Egypt with His presence, by His great power – to drive out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day (4:36-38). This land refers to the land of Sihon and Og which were already in Isra’el’s possession (see At – Isra’el’s Conquest of the Transjordan).

Based on all the wonderful things the LORD had done for them already. God’s chosen people are urged to acknowledge His utter uniqueness and obey His statutes (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: hammishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court), with the result that this current generation, and all future generations, would experience YHVH’s abundant blessings. Thus, Moshe pleads on behalf of Isra’el, and he does it in the very same way that Paul does in Romans 9, 10 and 11.

When Moses gave the Torah to their parents at Mount Sinai, the emphasis was on the fear of Ha’Shem (Exodus 19:10-25), but his application of the Torah to this new generation magnified God’s love for Isra’el and the importance of the Israelites obeying God’s statutes and ordinances out of love for Him.¹³⁵ So, you will know today and take to heart that ADONAI, He is God, in the heavens above and on the earth below – there is no other. The word heart is mentioned more than forty times in Moshe’s speech, and the Sh’ma (see Bw – The Sh’ma) also emphasizes love for ADONAI. You must keep His statutes and His ordinances, which I am commanding you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you may prolong your days in the land that ADONAI your God is giving you for all time (4:39-40).

As seen in 4:1, Moshe is not simply holding before Isra’el the hope of a permanent home in the Promised Land as a bribe or incentive. Granted, Isra’el’s obedience or disobedience to the covenant, and God’s expectations of them, did affect whether they would remain in the Land of Promise. Nevertheless, YHVH intended that Canaan would serve as a platform for His chosen people to demonstrate His greatness to the surrounding pagan nations for the undetermined future.¹³⁶

Discipline and Torah
4: 25-31

Torah and discipline DIG: What were ADONAI’s expectations of the covenant He cut with Isra’el? What does it mean to cut a covenant? What is God’s main concern here? What is significant about God calling heaven and earth as witnesses? Which generation is Moses addressing here? What were the implications of breaking the covenant? How can Ha’Shem’s discipline still be seen today for the Jews? What is Ha’Shem promise to Isra’el in the far eschatological future? What is the only way to find YHVH?

REFLECT: A life of ease has ruined many people. Have you become too complacent with God? If so, what are your next steps to rekindle your relationship? Without discipline can there be any love? Can a parent really love their children if they refuse to discipline them? What is the result when a child grows up with no blessing? With no discipline? Why do you need both? How has God blessed your life? In the long run, how has God’s discipline benefited you? A life of ease has ruined many people. Have you become too complacent with God? What does it mean for your daily life to seek God with all your heart and soul?

After the strong warning against idolatry, Moses now spells out the consequences of neglecting that warning. He passionately warns the Israelites against complacency.

ADONAI made a covenant with His people and He expected them to keep it. The word covenant is used at least twenty-seven times in Deuteronomy and comes from the Hebrew word berith, which can be translated to eat bread. The action involved in covenant making uses the phrase cut a covenant (see the commentary on Genesis, to see link click Eg – I am the LORD, Who Brought You Out of Ur of the Chaldeans to Give You This Land). In the Near East, when people formed a covenant or treaty that they would help and protect each other (Genesis 26:26-35), they broke bread together. When YHVH established His covenant with the generation of the Exodus, Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Isra’el broke bread before Ha’Shem on Mount Sinai (see the commentary on Exodus En – The Covenant Meal with the God of Isra’el). The terms of the covenant were simple: If Isra’el obeyed God’s statutes (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: hammishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court), He would bless them; however, if they disobeyed, He would discipline them. Even so, He would show His love for them in both the blessing and the discipline (see the commentary on Hebrews Cz – God Disciplines His Children).¹²⁷

The discipline of Isra’el (4:25-28): Moshe would elaborate on the details of the warnings of the covenant later (see Fa – The Warnings of the Covenant), but here he warned this second generation if they did not obey the Torah, they would face godly discipline. They would be punished, scattered, and destroyed as a nation if they didn’t take their covenant responsibilities seriously. When (Hebrew: ki) you father children and children’s children and have been in the Promised Land a long time, and you become prosperous and complacent, and you act corruptly and make a graven image in the form of anything and do evil in the sight of ADONAI your God, provoking Him to anger (4:25). It is noteworthy that the text, here, opens with the word when (ki) and not if (Hebrew im). This led the rabbis to assert that, in addition to warning, this verse also contains a prediction that after 852 years (the numerical value of venovshantem, meaning and have remained long) the Israelites would be exiled. Actually, the destruction of the Temple (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Mt – The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple on Tisha B’Av in 70 AD), and subsequent exile, took place after 850 years. But the sages taught that ADONAI, in His mercy, brought upon them the predicted retribution two years earlier to prevent the complete fulfillment of the prophecy, for you will certainly be destroyed.

When the families were settled, Moshe was concerned that they would become complacent about their relationship with ADONAI. He realized that the battles on the other side of the Jordan would result in honor and victory. But he feared that a complacent attitude would set in when things were going well. It was then that the Israelites were prone to forget God.¹²⁸

Dear Heavenly Father, You are such a wonderful and loving Father! May we never forget how much pain Your sacrifice of love for us cost you when You gave your Son as the sacrifice for our sin (John 1:29, Second Corinthians 5:21). May our hearts never become complacent but instead grow in joy and praise over how wonderful You are- all wise, all powerful, full of mercy and love! We love You! In Your holy Son’s name and power of resurrection. Amen

Then YHVH declared: I call heaven and earth to witness against you today (4:26a). Isaiah began his prophecy by calling the same two witnesses: Listen! Heavens, and hear, earth, for ADONAI has spoken (Isaiah 1:2a). And from there followed with one of the strongest indictments against the Jews and what they had done with what God had given them. But by the time of Isaiah it was already too late. How hard it must have been for Moshe to know in advance that the nation that he had led for forty years would fail.

These witnesses were permanent and unchanging, in contrast to the fickleness of mankind. When that happened Moses warned that you will certainly be carried off quickly from the Land you are crossing over the Jordan to possess. You will not prolong your days on it, for you will certainly be destroyed (4:26b). Moshe wanted Isra’el to understand that if covenantal faithfulness was missing, Isra’el had no claim to the Land. There was no divinely granted right to the Land they were entering without faithfulness to the covenant. If they violated their relationship with YHVH, their relationship with, or enjoyment of, the Land would be interrupted as well.¹²⁹

The implications of breaking the covenant are now given: ADONAI will scatter you among the peoples, and three-thousand-five-hundred years later the Jews are still living his prophecy. In 4:16-19, Moshe shows how idolatry reverses the divine order of creation. In a similar fashion, the godly discipline promised for rebellion represents a reversal of the Abrahamic covenant. YHVH promised to provide a great Land and a great people. However, the LORD also promised that He would drive His people out from the Land and drastically reduce their population if they practiced idolatry in rebellion against Him. And you will be left few in number among the nations where ADONAI will drive you (4:27). The Holy Land occupies a special position in the relationship between YHVH and His people. Since this relationship cannot exist anywhere else in the world, the mere presence of Israelites in the diaspora is equal to serving strange gods. The rabbis declared, “Whoever dwells outside the Holy Land is regarded as if he worships idols” (Ketub. 11ob).

And once in the diaspora, there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which do not see or hear or eat or smell (4:28). There, the Israelites would once again choose to serve pagan gods. But they would discover the impotence of those gods (see the commentary on Jeremiah Ao – I Planted You Like a Choice Vine, from the Very Best Seed). If those gods could not perform the equivalent of even basic human functions, what hope was there of any saving power from them? The mightiest gods of Babylon, far from being any assistance to their worshipers in their hour of need, couldn’t even rescue their own fallen idols (see the commentary on Isaiah Ig – Bel Bows Down, Nebo Stoops Low and They Go Off Together to Captivity). Consequently, if Isra’el, knowing a God who had carried them on eagle’s wings (Exodus 19:4), wanted to go after gods they would have to carry themselves, then they had a hard lesson ahead.¹³⁰

However, there were two positive side-effects to the warning. First, if the people were disciplined through disobedience, the consequences of their actions would drive them back to God. Secondly, even in the midst of the warning, there is an element of hope. Though the people might be unfaithful, ADONAI would remain faithful.¹³¹

The election of Isra’el (4:29-31): This came right after Moses spoke of their failures and dispersion as if he knew of those who would come and falsely claim ownership of the covenants of God. Here, Moshe’s pleading for his people is timeless. No place would be too far and no time too distant for Isra’el to come back to YHVH. But from there you will seek ADONAI your God and you will find Him, when you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul (4:29). Even in the midst of disciplining His chosen people, ADONAI will not forget them.

In the far eschatological future, during the last three days of the Great Tribulation (Hosea 6:1-3), Isra’el come back to ADONAI . . . and ADONAI will come back to Isra’el (see the commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ) and set up His thousand-year Messianic Kingdom (see the commentary on Revelation Fh – The Dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom). YHVH declared: When you are in distress and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you will return (Hebrew: shub, meaning to repent, return, or to turn back to something or someone good) to ADONAI your God and listen to His voice (4:30). This verse is a serious blow to the heretical Hebrew Roots Movement (see the commentary on Galatians Ak – The Hebrew Roots Movement: A Different Gospel) and Replacement Theology which believes that all the promises to Isra’el have been transferred to the Church.

For ADONAI your God is a merciful (Hebrew: rahum, refers to the tender compassion of a mother toward her helpless infant) God. So even if Isra’el forgets her God, He will not abandon her or destroy her, or forget the covenant with her fathers that He swore to them (4:31). One feature of God’s covenant with Isra’el that differed from the usual political treaties of that day was the provision that a rebel could repent, return, and be forgiven. The prospect of beginning a new obedience and blessing was promised to these chosen people (see Bf – God’s Chosen People). In ancient political treaties, rebellion was seldom treated with mercy, even if the offending party repented. But God’s nature is vastly different from that of human rulers. His mercy is equal to His might.¹³²

Watch Yourselves Carefully
4: 15-24

Watch yourselves carefully DIG: Ancient peoples often used animal figurines to represent their gods, or characteristics of their gods. In what ways is this an attempt to control or limit these gods? Why would this be of such concern to Ha’Shem? What is the importance of god acting, yet remaining without form, at Horeb (Mount Sinai)? In what ways are the Israelites the image of the unseen God in verse 20? In what way is Moses’ inability to cross the Jordan a redemptive suffering for Isra’el (verses 21-24)? How could Moshe’s death strengthen their covenant relationship with ADONAI?

REFLECT: In what ways do we attempt to limit or control the LORD? How is this like the function of idols in the ancient world? Whatever is the most important thing in your life can become an idol. Modern-day idols can be sports, family, career, and even the worship of self. Even things that God has given us, and are good, like our family, spouse, children, or career, can become an idol if we are not careful. We need to watch ourselves carefully. Is ADONAI number one in your life, or has He slipped down to number two . . . or three . . . or?

ADONAI made mankind in His image, but idolaters make gods in their own images and thereby cheapen themselves, and insult God.

Watch yourselves carefully since [your parents] saw no form on the day that ADONAI spoke to [them] in Horeb (which is the name used for Mount Sinai in Deuteronomy) out of the midst of the fire (4:15). Since God did not represent Himself in physical form, Isra’el was not to represent Him in physical form. To disobey Ha’Shem’s commandment in this matter was to be in danger of divine judgment. So, this passage is a detailed commentary on the second commandment (to see link click Bm – Do Not Make Idols).¹²²

Moses reminded this second generation from the Exodus not replace YHVH with any human creation. Their parents had worshiped idols during the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 32:1-35; Numbers 25:1-3; Amos 5:25-27; Acts 7:39-43). Some possible objects that pagans might use in idolatrous worship are now given. Examples of most, if not all, of these could be found in the religion of the Canaanites, the Egyptians and the Hittites whose gods found their way into Israel.¹²³ So, this new generation needed to watch themselves carefully, so that they did not act corruptly and make for themselves an idol in the likeness of any figure – the form of a male or female, the form of any animal that is on the earth, the form of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the form of anything that creeps on the ground, the form of any fish that is in the water under the earth (4:16-18).

The warning and prohibition then move from the animal world to the cosmic sphere. The heavenly bodies were among the most powerful of the deities of the ancient Near East. Hence, the temptation to be enticed by them. Therefore, Moses reminded them, “Watch yourselves carefully, so that you do not lift up your eyes toward the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars – all the heavenly host – and are drawn away and bow down and worship them” (see the commentary on Genesis Lw – The Witness of the Stars). ADONAI had allotted them to all the peoples under all the heavens for their benefit, not that they were proper objects of worship (4:19). The list of “shapes” that idols might take is followed by mention of all the heavenly hosts. However, this order precisely reverses the order in the Genesis account, where the heavenly hosts were created first, then afterwards, the animals, fish and birds. The point, being made deliberately through this literary device, is that idolatry not only corrupts and diminishes God’s redemptive achievement for His people, but perverts and turns upside-down the whole created order.¹²⁴

Then Isra’el’s special status is described. While the other pagan nations worshiped the sun, moon and stars, ADONAI had taken Isra’el, and He brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt to be a people for His own inheritance, as you are this day (4:20). YHVH chose Abraham and his descendents to bring His blessings to the whole world (see the commentary on Genesis Dt – I Will Bless Those Who Bless You and Whoever Curses You I Will Curse), and in order to accomplish that important task, Isra’el had to be a separated people. As Isra’el’s Redeemer, YHVH had every right to demand absolute allegiance from her, and Isra’el had every obligation to give absolute allegiance to Him.

Each year when they celebrated Pesach, the Israelites would be reminded that they had been slaves in Egypt and the LORD had delivered them by His great power. They were His people. It was when Isra’el began to imitate surrounding pagan nations and worship their detestable gods that she ceased to be a nation wholly devoted to YHVH. Because she forgot her distinctive privileges, she lost her distinctive blessings. Today, we can learn a lesson from this. We are called to be a separated people who are not conformed to this world (Romans 12:1-2; Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1). Unless we are a separated people, wholly devoted to God, we can never follow Messiah’s example.¹²⁵

Then the passage takes an unexpected turn to God’s denial of Moshe’s entry into the Land (1:37-38, 3:23-28). The link is the theme of inheritance. The Israelites, who had a special status, belonged in a Land of their own, which was their inheritance. And it was into this inheritance that Moses could not go.¹²⁶ Furthermore, ADONAI was angry with me because of your words, and He swore that I would not cross over the Jordan or enter the good land that ADONAI your God is giving you for an inheritance (4:21). For I must die in this land of Mo’av; I am not crossing over the Jordan. But you will cross over and take possession of that good land (4:22). Not only would the previous generation disobey and die outside the Land; Moses, himself, would also die outside, as a witness to the consequences of disobedience.

Dear Heavenly Father, We love You! You are a wonderful Father! May we remember that our obtaining an inheritance is not Your responsibility- but ours. You are so ready to bless Your children but as a wise and loving Father You must discipline us when we do not follow You, “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of ADONAI or lose heart when you are corrected by Him, because ADONAI disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He accepts.” (Hebrews 12:5-6). Even in trials may we keep our eyes fixed on the joy of pleasing You in all we do and think, just as Yeshua did. Focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame; and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2). In Your Holy Son’s name and power of resurrection. Amen

Therefore, watch yourselves carefully so that you do not forget the covenant of ADONAI your God, which He cut with you (see the commentary on Genesis Eg – I am the LORD, Who Brought You Out of Ur of the Chaldeans to Give You This Land), and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything that ADONAI your God has forbidden you. For ADONAI your God, is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). He would purify what is precious (just as fire purifies precious metals) and destroy what is worthless (4:23).

For ADONAI is a jealous God (4:24). The reason that idols are not to be worshiped is that ADONAI is a jealous or zealous God. Idolatry practiced by the Israelites was looked upon as spiritual adultery, and constituted “forgetting” the covenant. The Hebrew term qanna’ combines the two concepts of jealousy and zeal (not envy or suspicion). So, zeal, or zealousness, meaning a passionate devotion to, would be a better term to use than jealous, which has negative, even petty connotations. Because God and Isra’el are viewed as married, Isra’el is viewed as the wife of ADONAI (Deuteronomy 5:1-3, 6:10-15, 7:6-11; Isaiah 54:1-8, 62:4-5; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezeki’el 16:8; Hosea 2:14-23), and idolatry would cause God’s zeal to burn like a husband’s zealousness would burn against an unfaithful wife (Hosea 2:2-5). For that very reason, the Israelites should not have worshiped other gods. God has a right to be zealous over what is rightfully His. As a result, this was not a petty jealousy, but a righteous zealousness.

Do Not Forget
4: 9-14

Do not forget DIG: When Moshe said, “Do not forget the things your eyes have seen,” what is the relationship between this directive and obedience to the Torah? What does this connection between God’s actions and His Torah tell you about how He works? What suggestions does Moses give to parents to influence their children in a godly direction? Which of these, if any, do you most need to work on?

REFLECT: When is it hardest for you to give God’s Word its due place in your life? What needs to happen this week to make sure that will happen? Can you recall a specific time when God’s Word brought clarity and guidance to your life? What happened? How did Scripture fill you with ache for God? When life gets busy, are you prone to forget God and His commandments? If not, how can you help others to remember.

Moses warns this second generation to be careful not to forget God’s expectations of them. He reminds them that God’s intangible appearance at Horeb to their parents was intended to instill in them the fear of Ha’Shem, and this generation should be no less fearful.

Only be watchful and watch over your soul closely, so you do not forget the things (Hebrew: ha-d’varim, meaning words, matters, things, commandments, events or reasons) your eyes have seen and they slip from your heart all the days of your life. They had never literally seen their God, but they had seen what their God had done. That is, in the Exodus from Egypt, and in the travels in the wilderness that had brought them to the plains of Mo’ab. This “forgetting” does not simply mean loss of memory, but actually failing to live in the light of ADONAI’s repeated intervention on their behalf. In other words, living as though those great and awesome events never took place.¹¹⁶ Isra’el was prone to forget YHVH and His commandments, and therefore needed to be reminded not to forget.

Dear Father God, You are Awesome! May we never forget Your love for us at the cross, taking on Yourself our punishment (Second Corinthians 5:19). When we see Your outstretched arms of love, may we also see the painful nail prints in Your hands and feet and bow in worship at how much Your love cost you to redeem us. May our own suffering for bearing Your name make us grateful for Your great pain that You paid to rescue us, and may we always keep our eyes on the joy of pleasing You (Second Corinthians 4:16-17).

The great events at Horeb so long ago were to be guarded carefully so they would not be forgotten. You are to make them known to your children and your children’s children (4:9). The educational thrust of Deuteronomy as a whole is reinforced by frequent instructions for parents to take their own teaching role within the family network of the nation very seriously (6:7 and 20ff, 11:19, 31:13, 32:46).¹¹⁷

After encouraging the people to observe God’s commandments, Moses continued to impress upon them that they should never forget the awesome event at Mount Sinai, where in the middle of the thunder and lightning they received those commandments. They needed to remember the fact that God revealed directly, and not through a mediator, His will to Isra’el, and no seer or dreamer could ever diminish the authority of the Torah.

Moshe reminded the people of the nation’s awesome experience at Horeb when Ha’Shem made His covenant with their parents. The day that [the nation] stood before ADONAI your God in Horeb (which is the name used for Mount Sinai in Deuteronomy), ADONAI said to me, “Gather the people to Me and I will make them hear My [Ten] words (to see link click Bk – The Ten Words), so that they learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and so that they teach their children” (4:10).

The fear of Ha’Shem is one of the dominating thoughts in the TaNaKh. It is a God-given response which enables a person to reverence YHVH, obey His commandments, and to hate evil (Proverbs 8:13; Jeremiah 32:40; Hebrews 5:7-8). It is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10), it is the secret of godly living, and applies to all mankind (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The fear of ADONAI is given as one of the characteristics of the Messiah (Isaiah 11:2-3). God’s people in every age are urged to cultivate and walk in the fear of the LORD (Psalm 34:11; Jeremiah 2:19; Acts 9:31 and 10:2; Ephesians 5:21; Philippians 2:12).¹¹⁸

The details of the experience of Ha’Shem at Horeb/Sinai are vividly recalled for this second generation. Human words are quite inadequate to describe the Sh’khinah glory (see the commentary on Isaiah Ju – The Glory of the LORD Rises Upon You) and the awful majesty of God. The best Moses could do was to make symbolic expressions. He said, “Your parents came near and stood at the bottom of the mountain while the mountain was blazing with fire up to the heart of the heavens – darkness, cloud, and fog. ADONAI spoke to them from the midst of the fire. The sound of words they heard, but a form they did not see – only a voice was audible” (4:11-12). It has been observed that the Jewish culture never developed a visual religious culture, unlike the Greeks. Part of that reason lies in the imageless nature of Isra’el’s worship: the form they did not see. YHVH was to be heard, and through hearing, obeyed.¹¹⁹

But this was not a stern, one-way proposition. It was a relationship. Deuteronomy preserves the balance between obedience to God’s statues (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: ham mishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court), and a relationship with Him through the constant emphasis on the extraordinary grace of ADONAI at the Exodus and in the wilderness. The response to these acts of God is love. Our primary relationship to God should be love. If we possess this kind of love, we will be completely obedient and loyal to Him. The Ten Words need to be written on our hearts, or the gospel will be lost and seen merely as a set of rules (see the commentary on Jeremiah Eo – The Days are Coming, declares the LORD, When I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Isra’el).¹²⁰

God declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to do – the Ten Words (Hebrew: ha-d’varim) – and He wrote them on two tablets of stone which were visible for all the people to see (4:13). There is a partial identification here of the covenant and the Ten Words. The covenant has, however, much more to it than the general stipulations (see Bj – The First Address: The General Stipulations of the Covenant); there are also specific stipulations (see Cr – The Second Address: The Specific Stipulations of the Covenant). And part of the evidence that Isra’el had accepted the conditions of the covenant was that she lived by YHVH’s statutes and ordinances. In a later day, James would say it like this: Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works (James 2:18).¹²¹

Then Moses added: ADONAI commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances so that you might do them in the Land you are crossing over to possess (4:14). Apart from the Ten Words, all the other commandments were proclaimed by YHVH to Isra’el through Moses, who, by that time, was accepted as the faithful prophet of God.

Hear and Obey
4: 1-8

Hear and obey DIG: What two reasons does God give for the necessity of His Torah to the new nation? What do these reasons reveal about God’s expectations for His people? Read Deuteronomy 23-28, 31:18-21, and Jeremiah 7:1-34. Remember that the First Temple was destroyed because of the practice of idolatry and breaking our side of the covenant. Does our covenant with YHVH end when we break it? What is the secret to Jewish success?

REFLECT: What motivates you to godly obedience? First John 5:3 says that God’s “commandments are not burdensome.” How do you experience God’s commandments? What is wisdom? How is wisdom different from human intelligence? What is the source of wisdom? What are some benefits of knowing and obeying God’s wisdom? Would an unbeliever’s commentary on your life resemble what the nations say about Isra’el? Why or why not? How does this make you feel?

Moses commands Isra’el to hear and obey God’s statutes and ordinances so that they will enjoy ADONAI’s blessings, and the surrounding pagan nations would recognize the wisdom and greatness of Isra’el’s Torah, and of Isra’el’s God.

The Israelites were standing at the door of the Promised Land. A Land said to be flowing with milk and honey. By this time, they understood that this Land was not going to be given to them on a silver platter. They had to fight their way in and they had to fight hard to keep it. However, ADONAI never promised them, and He doesn’t promise us that life will be without struggles. But for the believers of every age, God is always with us.

Having concluded his words of rebuke and pointing out that their fathers, as well as himself, had forfeited their right of entering the Promised Land on account of their sins, Moses now turned to the people with the assurance that they were destined to take possession of the Land, on the condition that they remained faithful to God and His Torah.

Chapter 4 is in essence a miniature sermon on the covenant and the Torah, in which the “sermon” prepares the way for the presentation of the Ten Words (to see link click Bk – The Ten Words), and the other statutes (Hebrew: hachukkim, meaning to write into law permanently) and ordinances (Hebrew: hammishpatim, meaning a judgment of the court) that will begin in Chapter 5.¹⁰⁷ This chapter can also be considered a version of the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17) in the TaNaKh. Moshe begins with the belt of truth, which represents the Word of God

And now (Hebrew: veatah), refers back to the previous narration (see Bc – Do Not Forget). It is preparatory to the appeal to obey here. It was as if Moshe was saying, “And now, in the light of ADONAI’s acts of deliverance, you should obey His commandments” (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Joshua 24:14).¹⁰⁸

O Isra’el, hear (Hebrew: shema, occurs almost one hundred times in Deuteronomy) to the statutes and ordinances, representing the Word of God, that I am teaching you to do, so that you may live. Hearing and obeying the Word of God was Isra’el’s very life. When YHVH speaks, He sets before us life and death (30:15-20). Not only was Isra’el’s life dependent on obedience to the Torah, but so was her victory over the enemy. Her obedience would enable her to go in and possess the Land that ADONAI the God of your fathers was giving her (4:1). God gave the Torah to Isra’el through Moses to provide parameters for Isra’el’s conduct, not to function as a museum piece.¹⁰⁹ How could the LORD go before His people and give them victory if they weren’t following Him obediently (1:30)?

Dear Heavenly Father, How Awesome You are! You are such a wonderful and loving Father! Forgive us for focusing on Your love and forgiveness and forgetting the very painful price You paid for our redemption and rescue from sin’s punishment. (Second Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:27, 9:11-15). We need to remember that just like for Isra’el, You go before us and give victory we need to be obedient. We worship You and rejoice in loving and following You. In Your holy Son’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Believers today must find their victory in life from God’s Word. Unless we know what ADONAI commands, we can’t obey Him. But if we know His commandments, believe them, and obey them, then His power goes to work in our lives. And His commandments are not burdensome (First John 5:3). Obeying the LORD becomes a joyful privilege when you realize that His commandments are expressions of His love, assurances of His strength, invitations to His blessing, opportunities to grow and bring Him glory, and occasions to enjoy His love and fellowship as we seek to please Him. God’s Word is an open door into the treasury of His grace.¹¹⁰

Although the actual pronouncement of the Torah does not begin until the following chapters, the nature and purpose of the Torah are explained here, so that the obedience that is called for will not be blind obedience, but an obedience based on understanding. The emphasis is on teaching the Torah because the Torah is the basis of the covenant.¹¹¹

Here Moshe links Isra’el’s welfare and enjoyment of the Promised Land to her obedience to the Word of God. The duty of obedience and the gift of the Land were interdependent. Later in this same chapter, he elaborates on the same idea: You must keep His statutes and His ordinances, which I am commanding you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you may prolong your days in the Land that ADONAI your God is giving you for all time (4:40). The idea that righteousness lengthens life and sin shortens it, is common in the TaNaKh (Proverbs 3:1-2 and 16, 10:27).

How would the Israelites guard the Word of God? The Ruach ha-Kodesh had Moshe write: You must not add to the word that I am commanding you or take away from it – in order to keep the statutes and ordinances of ADONAI your God that I am commanding you for it diminishes its divine purpose (4:2). Tragically, the Israelites eventually elevated the Oral Law (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law) to a place equal, or even superior to, the Torah, even though Moshe had warned against that here. Almost every heresy and sect has originated in a supposed revelation or a new experience on the part of its founder, something outside the teachings of the Bible. It is the elevation of experience over the authority of Scripture that grieves the Ruach ha-Kodesh most of all.

The changes and modification made to the Word of God have resulted in tragedy in the history of Isra’el and also in the history of the Church. A vivid illustration of the fact that disobedience to the commandments of YHVH brings destruction and death is now given. It all began in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve fell because they added and took away from the Word of God. The Serpent began by putting a doubt in the mind of Eve when he said to the woman, “Did God really say: You must not eat from any tree in the garden? You will not surely die (3:1b and 4), when ADONAI had clearly declared: You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die (3:3). This paved the way for the fall of all mankind, and the same mistake is at the root of Isra’el’s suffering over the ages.

This was the same complaint of the prophets, who, like Moshe, linked Isra’el’s ultimate punishment of being banished from the Land as a result of her disregard and modification of the Word of God. Isaiah said: Therefore, My people are in captivity for lack of knowledge (Isaiah 5:13), and Hosea said it this way: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).

When Yeshua came to the earth, He also assessed the reason for Isra’el’s afflicted state when He said: You are making void the Word of God with your tradition that you’ve handed down (Mark 7:13). How many times did Messiah warn Jewish religious leaders not to add or take away from the Scriptures? Have you never read the Scriptures (Matthew 21:42)? Haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God (Matthew 22:31)? Isn’t this the reason you’ve gone astray because you don’t understand the Scriptures (Mark 12:24)? And today these words still apply. Isra’el needs to understand that their individual and national salvation is found in God and His Word. This tragedy extends to the Church as well. We see similar warnings in every epistle about keeping the Word of God and avoiding false teachers. This is why the B’rit Chadashah ends with John’s stern warning: I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in the book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his share in the Tree of Life and the Holy City, which are written in this book (Revelation 22:18-19).

The cults add to the words of the Bible and the liberals take them away. The form of the warning comes from Deuteronomy 4:2, where God admonishes Isra’el, “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of ADONAI your God that I give you.” The Israelites were to worship their God in total and complete obedience. His Word is sufficient and complete. In Deuteronomy 12:32 Moshe added: See (Hebrew: r’eh) that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. Proverbs 30:5-6 warns: Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar. Therefore, the prohibition against altering the words of Revelation by implication extends to the entire Bible (see the commentary on Revelation Gd – If Anyone Adds to the Words of this Book, God Will Add to Them the Plagues Described).¹¹²

Using an emotional illustration from their own history, Moshe refers to the incident at Peor when their very lives depended on total obedience to God’s Word. Your eyes have seen what ADONAI did at Peor, for ADONAI your God has destroyed from among you everyone who followed the false god Ba’al of Peor (4:3). If Isra’el’s rebellion at Kadesh Barnea represented the lowest point in her relationship with YHVH, their rebellion at Ba’al Peor was the freshest in their memory (Numbers 25:1-9; Psalm 106:28; Hosea 9:10). Moses recalled the fact that all who followed the false god Ba’al at Peor had perished, and they who remained faithful to God were still alive. This testified to Moshe’s teaching that obedience to God’s commandments meant life.

Balaam tried to put a curse on the Jews, but it didn’t work (Numbers 23 and 24). So, he tried a different tactic. He found a weakness in the men of Isra’el. At his direction, the women of Mo’ab and Midian were sent out to entice the Jewish men, and they did not come alone. They brought their gods with them. Eventually Balaam prevailed and his plot worked. The men of Isra’el fell and the whole nation was cursed. This was an example of what happens when the Word of God is neglected. Idolatry infiltrated Isra’el and 24,000 died because of the plague that ADONAI had sent against them.

The problem of idolatry has affected the Church as well. Yeshua addressed this when He said to the church in Pergamum: Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. You have some people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality (2:14). Like many today, they had failed to heed to biblical warnings against worldliness. Consequently, it was flirting and in danger of falling in love with the world. This was a fitting warning because it was addressed to the church in Pergamum which represented the Church during the Age of Constantine (see the commentary on Revelation Bb – The Church at Pergamum). Pergamum literally means thoroughly married, and as the body of Messiah became thoroughly married to the Roman Empire. The wheat, in effect, married the weeds (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ev – The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds). As the idol worship gained acceptance in the Church, it declined in spiritual blessing and power. In reality, like the Jews at Ba’al Peor, the church at Pergamum began to commit spiritual adultery.¹¹³

At Peor, the Jewish men who refused the invitation to idolatry and remained true to the LORD were still alive. But you who held tight to ADONAI your God are alive today – all of you (4:4). It is the same for us today. The Word of God is our lifeline, and obeying God’s Word keeps us in fellowship with Him (Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1). God’s people must be careful not to become too friendly with the world (James 4:4), because this leads to loving the world (First John 2:15-17), and being conformed to the world (Romans 12:2). This kind of lifestyle invites the discipline of YHVH (see the commentary on Hebrews Ci – If We Deliberately Keep On Sinning, No Sacrifice For Sins is Left).

More and more people are asking in the world, “What is the secret of the Jews? Why and how do they succeed?” We try to analyze all the reasons for our knowledge, such as our education, languages, mathematics, money management, music, and a thousand different studies that try to put our finger on the best-kept secret as Jews. The Torah cracks open this secret and reveals it to everyone: See, just as ADONAI my God commanded me, I have taught (Hebrew: limmadti, a perfect verb indicating past actions that are seen as now completed) you statutes and ordinances to do in the Land that you are about to enter to possess. You must keep and do them, for it is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say: Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people (4:5-6).

The secret of wisdom is in the Word of God. How blessed are those who reject the advice of the wicked, don’t stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers! Their delight is on ADONAI’s Torah; on His Torah they meditate night and day. They are like trees planted by streams of water, they bear fruit in season, their leaves never wither, everything they do succeeds (Psalm 1:1-3). The secred of wisdom is God’s Word. In knowing God’s word, the people of Isra’el would not only succeed in their mission but they would also be witnesses to the other pagan nations around them, who placed great value on wisdom. And we need to know and obey His wisdom if our lives are to please and glorify Him. For the world’s wisdom is foolishness in the sight of God (First Corinthians 3:19), and those who follow it will be disappointed. In the TaNaKh, the word wisdom has to do with character rather than human intelligence and describes the ethical use of knowledge.¹¹⁴

Finally, the distinctiveness in Isra’el’s relationship with ADONAI is made clear. The covenant would distinguish Isra’el from her neighbors. Unlike their distant relationship with remote and inaccessible gods, Isra’el’s loving relationship with YHVH would amaze the Gentile nations. Isra’el would be respected by the peoples of the world if they would obey and practice the Torah, with a full understanding. For what great nation is there that has gods so near to them, as ADONAI our God is whenever we call on Him? What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances that are righteous – like all of this Torah that I am setting before you today (4:7-8)? Ha’Shem’s Torah would exceed everything that the goyim had ever heard. And as those nations were amazed at Isra’el’s greatness, they would also be amazed at Isra’el’s God.¹¹⁵