Moses, opening His second and principal address; the chapter explicitly frames itself as Moses's authorized retelling of the Horeb covenant for the second generation
The Ten Commandments and the Living Voice at Horeb
Moses re-presents the Decalogue to the second generation as a living covenant address — not the inheritance of a dead past but the direct speech of the Lord to them — and closes with the community's terrified request that Moses mediate the divine voice, which the Lord endorses as the pattern of covenant instruction going forward.
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Moses re-presents the Decalogue to the second generation as a living covenant address — not the inheritance of a dead past but the direct speech of the Lord to them — and closes with the community's terrified request that Moses mediate the divine voice, which the Lord endorses as the pattern of covenant instruction going forward.
Deuteronomy 5 makes a single sustained argument across its three movements: the Horeb covenant is a living address to each successive generation, not a historical archive. Moses's opening frame ('not with our fathers... but with us, who are all of us here alive today') and the Lord's endorsement of the mediatorial pattern together establish that the Decalogue's authority is not exhausted by its first utterance at Horeb.
The mediatorial appointment at Horeb — Moses receiving and transmitting the full law — is the structural ground for all of Deuteronomy 6-26: those chapters are not supplementary to the Decalogue but its authorized expansion through the divinely appointed mediator.
The second generation on the plains of Moab — those who were children at Horeb or not yet born; Moses insists the covenant addresses them directly despite the generational distance
Plains of Moab; the rhetorical setting is the renewal of the Horeb covenant for a generation about to cross the Jordan
Moses re-presents the Decalogue to the second generation as a living covenant address — not the inheritance of a dead past but the direct speech of the Lord to them — and closes with the community's terrified request that Moses mediate the divine voice, which the Lord endorses as the pattern of covenant instruction going forward.
Moses, opening His second and principal address; the chapter explicitly frames itself as Moses's authorized retelling of the Horeb covenant for the second generation
The second generation on the plains of Moab — those who were children at Horeb or not yet born; Moses insists the covenant addresses them directly despite the generational distance
Plains of Moab; the rhetorical setting is the renewal of the Horeb covenant for a generation about to cross the Jordan
- The second generation must understand themselves as bound by the Horeb covenant, not merely as inheritors of their parents' obligations. Moses's framing — 'not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us' — is a direct address to any tendency to treat the Sinai covenant as historically remote
The Decalogue's placement at the opening of the law code follows the ANE suzerainty treaty pattern: the covenant stipulations follow the historical prologue (chapters 1-4) and are preceded by the identification of the covenant lord. The differences between the Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 20 Decalogue versions are modest but theologically significant, especially in the Sabbath command.
The re-presentation of the Decalogue is the covenant's second ratification — the Horeb covenant is renewed on the plains of Moab for the generation that will enter the land. Everything in Deuteronomy 6-26 is the expansion of this foundation.
From the living-covenant frame (vv. 1-5) through the Decalogue's re-presentation (vv. 6-21) to the Horeb aftermath and Moses's mediatorial appointment (vv. 22-33) — the chapter establishes who spoke, what was said, how it was received, and through whom it will continue to be communicated.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
The chapter forms the community through the living-covenant address (the Decalogue is not a museum piece but a personal summons), the Sabbath as solidarity (rest is not a privilege of the free but an obligation extended to the enslaved), the appropriate fear that is the beginning of wisdom, and the mediatorial humility that knows it cannot approach God on its own terms.
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E
- 5:1: Moses addresses all Israel: hear the statutes and rules, learn them, and be careful to do them.
- 5:2-5: Not with the fathers but with those here today · Moses stood between the Lord and the people at Horeb because the people feared the fire.
- 5:6-7: The Lord identifies Himself as the exodus God and prohibits other gods before Him.
- 5:8-10: No carved image of any form · the Lord is jealous · iniquity visits to the third and fourth generation · steadfast love to thousands who love and obey.
- 5:11: The Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes His name in vain.
- 5:12-15: Observe the Sabbath day · the humanitarian grounding — servants must also rest · remember You were a slave in Egypt and the Lord brought You out with a mighty hand.
- 5:16: Honor Your parents as the Lord commands, that Your days may be long and it may go well in the land.
- 5:17-21: Do not murder · do not commit adultery · do not steal · do not bear false witness · do not covet Your neighbor's wife, or His household.
- 5:22: The Ten Words were spoken to the whole assembly from fire, cloud, and thick darkness — a great voice — and written on two stone tablets.
- 5:23-27: The people heard the voice and survived · terrified they approach Moses and ask Him to be their mediator so they do not die from direct divine speech.
- 5:28-31: The Lord affirms the people spoke well · their fear-response is appropriate · He wishes it would always be so. Moses is to remain and receive the full covenant instruction.
- 5:32-33: Do all the Lord has commanded · do not deviate right or left · walk in the way so that You may live long in the land.
Theological Argument
Deuteronomy 5 makes a single sustained argument across its three movements: the Horeb covenant is a living address to each successive generation, not a historical archive. Moses's opening frame ('not with our fathers... but with us, who are all of us here alive today') and the Lord's endorsement of the mediatorial pattern together establish that the Decalogue's authority is not exhausted by its first utterance at Horeb.
The mediatorial appointment at Horeb — Moses receiving and transmitting the full law — is the structural ground for all of Deuteronomy 6-26: those chapters are not supplementary to the Decalogue but its authorized expansion through the divinely appointed mediator.
Living-covenant frame → Decalogue re-presented → people's terror → mediatorial appointment endorsed → summary charge to walk in the way: the chapter moves from claim (this covenant addresses you) through content (the Ten Words) through crisis (the people cannot bear direct divine speech) to resolution (Moses as mediator, the full law forthcoming).
- 1.The living-covenant frame (vv. 2-3) is Moses's most direct address to the problem of generational distance from Horeb — he collapses it by insisting the covenant is not archival but personally addressed to those standing here. The covenant's authority is not historical-biographical but direct and present.
- 2.The Decalogue's two-table structure (commandments 1-4 governing the God-human relationship, commandments 5-10 governing the human-community relationship) is not a division between sacred and secular but a comprehensive covenant order — loving God and loving neighbor are the covenant's two inseparable dimensions.
- 3.The Sabbath command's shift from creation rationale (Exodus 20) to exodus rationale (Deuteronomy 5) demonstrates that the same commandment can carry different theological freight depending on the rhetorical situation — Deuteronomy is addressing those about to inherit the land as former slaves, so the rest-as-liberation logic is primary.
- 4.The people's terror at the divine voice (vv. 23-26) is not a failure of faith but an appropriate response to genuine holiness — the LORD explicitly endorses it as 'well spoken.' The mediatorial pattern that follows is the divine answer to the genuine problem of sinful humanity and holy God.
- 5.The LORD's wish that the people's fear would persist ('Oh that they had such a heart as this always,' v. 29) simultaneously endorses the fear as proper and signals that it will not persist — establishing the realistic anthropology that underlies all of Deuteronomy's warnings.
Theological Focus
- The Decalogue as living covenant address to each generation
- Moses as divinely appointed covenant mediator
- The two-table structure as comprehensive covenant order
- The Sabbath grounded in liberation and humanitarian solidarity
- Appropriate fear as the proper response to divine holiness
- The mediatorial pattern as the ground for all subsequent covenant instruction
- The Living Address of the Covenant
- The Decalogue as Covenant Structure
- The Sabbath as Liberation and Solidarity
- Moses as Covenant Mediator
- Appropriate Fear and Its Insufficiency
- The Decalogue as the Covenant's Written Core
- The Living Address of Scripture
- Divine Jealousy and Covenant Exclusivity
- The Sabbath as Creation Ordinance and Liberation Ethic
- The Fifth Commandment and Covenant Family Order
- The Necessity of Covenant Mediation
- The Fear of God as the Proper Covenant Disposition
- The Two-Table Structure as Comprehensive Covenant Order
Theological Themes
Moses's insistence that the Horeb covenant was made 'not with our fathers... but with us' establishes the hermeneutical principle that governs Deuteronomy's entire rhetorical strategy: each generation receives the covenant as a direct, personal address, not as an inherited institutional obligation. This is the chapter's most generative theological claim and the one that makes every subsequent Mosaic exhortation urgent rather than archival.
The Ten Commandments are not the whole law but the law's structural core — Moses will spend chapters 6-26 expanding and applying them. Their placement at the opening of the second address establishes the covenant's two-dimensional order: exclusive devotion to the Lord and just treatment of the neighbor are not separable demands but the single covenant order viewed from two angles.
The Deuteronomy 5 Sabbath command grounds rest in the exodus rather than creation, emphasizing that the people who were once slaves and could not rest must now extend rest to their own slaves. The Sabbath is not only a creation ordinance but a social ethic rooted in the community's own experience of liberation — knowing slavery, they must not impose its conditions on others.
The Horeb aftermath establishes the pattern that will govern all subsequent revelation in Deuteronomy: the people cannot bear direct divine speech; Moses stands between the holy God and the fearful people and transmits the divine word. This mediation is not a concession to weakness but the Lord's own design — endorsed as 'well spoken' and institutionalized as the structure of covenant instruction.
The Lord's commendation of the people's fear-response and His wish that it would persist ('Oh that they had such a heart as this always') holds together the authenticity of the fear and the realism about its fragility. Appropriate fear of the holy God is the foundation of covenant life; the tragedy is that it does not persist — a gap that Deuteronomy's own text implicitly acknowledges will require a deeper solution.
Covenant Significance
Deuteronomy 5 is the covenant's formal re-ratification for the second generation. The Decalogue is the covenant's written core (v. 22: 'He wrote them on two tablets of stone'), and its re-presentation here binds the second generation to the same obligations the first generation received at Horeb. The mediatorial pattern established here — Moses receives and transmits the full law — is the covenant structure that makes all of chapters 6-26 authoritative rather than merely advisory.
- The living-covenant frame (vv. 2-3) establishes that covenant obligations are not reduced by generational distance — each generation receives them as direct address.
- The Decalogue's written character (v. 22) distinguishes it from all other covenant instruction — it alone was spoken directly by the Lord to the whole assembly and written by His own hand on stone.
- The covenant's two-table structure grounds the entire Deuteronomic law code: chapters 6-11 expand the first table (love of God), and chapters 12-26 expand the second table (love of neighbor in covenant community life).
- The mediatorial appointment (vv. 28-31) is the structural authorization for Deuteronomy as a whole — Moses's teaching is not His own but the Lord's instruction transmitted through the appointed mediator.
- The fifth commandment's promise — 'that Your days may be long and that it may go well with You in the land' — ties family honor to the land promise, making the domestic order a covenant issue.
Canonical Connections
The Horeb/Sinai theophany and the original Decalogue presentation — Deuteronomy 5 is a deliberate re-presentation of these events for the second generation, with rhetorical and theological adjustments appropriate to the new context
The memory command immediately preceding — 'You heard the voice but saw no form' — provides the theological context for the Decalogue's re-presentation as a voice-event
The expansion of the first table (love of God) through the Shema and its surrounding instruction — Deuteronomy 5's Decalogue re-presentation is the foundation that chapters 6-11 build on
The expansion of the second table (community justice and covenant order) — the case laws and statutes of chapters 12-26 are the authorized application of the Decalogue's neighbor-directed commands
The original Decalogue — Deuteronomy 5 re-presents it with deliberate variations, most notably the Sabbath rationale (exodus not creation) and the order of the covet command
The golden calf incident and covenant renewal — the mediatorial pattern of Deuteronomy 5 is the structure under which Moses interceded after Israel's first great covenant violation, and its re-affirmation here carries that weight
Jesus summarizes the entire law in love for God and love for neighbor — reading the Decalogue's two-table structure through its own logic and identifying love as the fulfillment of both tables
The author contrasts the Horeb terror (fire, darkness, the voice that caused the people to beg for it to stop) with the new covenant approach to Jesus the mediator of a better covenant — Deuteronomy 5's Horeb aftermath is the explicit typological basis
There is one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus — the structural fulfillment of the Deuteronomy 5 mediatorial appointment
Paul's comparison of the glory of the old and new covenants uses the stone-tablets Decalogue of Deuteronomy 5 as the reference point for the old covenant's written-on-stone character, contrasting it with the new covenant's written-on-heart character
The psalmist's celebration of the law's perfection, purity, and sweetness is a meditation on the same covenant deposit whose authority is grounded in Deuteronomy 5's Horeb re-presentation
The sustained meditation on the covenant word as the life of the righteous is the devotional extension of the Deuteronomy 5 living-covenant principle
Paul's engagement with the commandment 'do not covet' as the law's revelatory function — using the tenth commandment from Deuteronomy 5 to expose the problem of sin the law cannot cure
Paul's argument that love fulfills the law cites several Decalogue commandments from this chapter explicitly, demonstrating that the Deuteronomy 5 Decalogue is the NT's primary text for the law's ethical content
Cross References
Deuteronomy 5 contributes to the gospel trajectory through the mediatorial pattern (Christ as the greater Moses), the people's terror before divine holiness pointing to the need for a mediator who can stand in the gap without dying, the Sabbath's liberation logic anticipating the rest Christ provides, and the living-covenant address principle that reaches its NT fulfillment in the Spirit's direct application of the word to each generation.
- The mediatorial appointment at Horeb — the people cannot stand before the holy God · Moses stands between them and transmits the divine word — is the structural type fulfilled in Christ as the one mediator between God and humanity (1 Tim. 2:5). Hebrews 12:18-24 contrasts the Horeb terror (fire, darkness, the voice that made the people beg for it to stop) with the new covenant's approach to Jesus the mediator of a better covenant.
- The Sabbath command in both its creation (Exod. 20) and exodus (Deut. 5) dimensions points forward to the rest Christ provides — Hebrews 4:9-10 identifies the Sabbath rest as a type of the rest that remains for the people of God, entered through faith in Christ rather than through land possession or weekly observance alone.
- Moses's insistence that the covenant addresses 'us, who are all of us here alive today' is the hermeneutical principle that the NT extends through the Spirit — 2 Cor. 3:3 and Hebrews 3:7 ('today, if You hear His voice') both apply the Deuteronomy covenant-address principle to the new covenant community, insisting the word is never merely historical.
- Jesus's identification of love for God and love for neighbor as the two commandments on which all the law hangs (Matt. 22:37-40) reads the Decalogue's two-table structure through its own internal logic — the Deuteronomy 5 re-presentation of the Decalogue is the direct textual basis for Jesus's summary.
- The Decalogue's role in the new covenant is not simple abrogation or simple continuation — the NT distinguishes the law's functions carefully, and the Sabbath command in particular requires nuanced handling (Col. 2:16-17 · Heb. 4:9-11) that neither dismisses its theological freight nor imposes its ceremonial form on new covenant conscience.
- Moses as mediator-type must not be read as making Moses a savior figure — His mediation is real but limited · He transmits the law but cannot secure the heart-obedience the law demands. The type points to the sufficiency of its fulfillment precisely at the point of its own insufficiency.
Primary Emphasis
Deuteronomy 5's christological contribution is concentrated in the mediatorial pattern: the people's inability to stand before the holy God and their request for a go-between is the structural problem that only Christ fully answers. The chapter also contributes through the Decalogue's fulfillment in love (Matt. 22:37-40) and the living-covenant address principle extended by the Spirit.
Chapter Contribution
Deuteronomy 5 makes a single sustained argument across its three movements: the Horeb covenant is a living address to each successive generation, not a historical archive. Moses's opening frame ('not with our fathers... but with us, who are all of us here alive today') and the Lord's endorsement of the mediatorial pattern together establish that the Decalogue's authority is not exhausted by its first utterance at Horeb.
The mediatorial appointment at Horeb — Moses receiving and transmitting the full law — is the structural ground for all of Deuteronomy 6-26: those chapters are not supplementary to the Decalogue but its authorized expansion through the divinely appointed mediator.
Moses stands between the Lord and Israel to declare the word because the people fear the fiery presence of God. The passage displays the necessity and mercy of appointed mediation before a holy God.
The Horeb covenant is pressed upon the present generation as living obligation. Covenant faithfulness requires each generation to receive God's word as addressed to them, not merely inherited from their ancestors.
The covenant words are spoken by the Lord from the fire and written on tablets, showing that Israel's faith and obedience rest on God's revealed word, not human speculation or social consensus.
The Lord alone must be worshiped and represented only according to His revealed will. Idolatry, image-making, and rival allegiance violate His holy covenant claim.
The Lord's longing for a heart that always fears Him and keeps His commands reveals that covenant obedience requires more than temporary emotion or outward compliance.
The people's fear reflects the reality that the living God is glorious, great, and holy; sinful people cannot stand before His unveiled voice lightly or casually.
The command against coveting shows that God's law addresses the heart, not merely external behavior. This exposes the need for mercy, atonement, and the later promise of inward renewal.
Moses stands between the Lord and the people as the appointed covenant mediator who receives and teaches the divine word, anticipating the greater necessity of final mediation in Christ.
The commands protect family order, human life, marriage, property, truth, and desire. The law's moral demands reveal what love of neighbor requires in covenant society.
Hearing the covenant word rightly includes learning, keeping, and doing. Obedience is not detached moralism but the fitting response of God's covenant people to His revealed will.
The Lord's redemptive act precedes the covenant commands. Israel's obedience is required, but it is a response to the God who delivered them from slavery, not a means of self-redemption.
The Ten Commandments alone were spoken directly by the Lord to the whole assembly and written by His own hand on stone — this distinguishes them from all other covenant instruction in a way the chapter emphasizes explicitly (v. 22).
The covenant addresses each successive generation as its direct recipients — Moses's 'not with our fathers but with us' establishes the hermeneutical principle that the covenant word is not reduced to its historical occasion but retains direct address across time.
The second commandment's jealousy warning (vv. 9-10) establishes that the covenant relationship is exclusive and that violation of it has generational consequences — as does faithfulness.
The Deuteronomy 5 Sabbath grounds rest in the exodus, extending the creation ordinance into a social ethic: those who were slaves must not impose slave-conditions on others. The two rationales (creation and liberation) are complementary, not contradictory.
The honor-of-parents command carries a covenant promise tied to the land — family honor is not merely social convention but a covenant obligation with land-inheritance implications.
The people's inability to survive direct divine speech (vv. 24-26) and the Lord's endorsement of the mediatorial pattern establish that mediation between the holy God and sinful humanity is not a concession but a divinely designed structure.
The Lord's commendation of the people's fear-response ('they have rightly said all that they have spoken,' v. 28; 'Oh that they had such a heart as this always,' v. 29) establishes reverential fear as the proper starting posture for covenant relationship — not the only posture but the indispensable foundation.
The Decalogue's organization into God-directed and neighbor-directed commands establishes that covenant faithfulness is comprehensively relational — it cannot be reduced to either piety without ethics or ethics without piety.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
- The chapter forms the community through the living-covenant address (the Decalogue is not a museum piece but a personal summons), the Sabbath as solidarity (rest is not a privilege of the free but an obligation extended to the enslaved), the appropriate fear that is the beginning of wisdom, and the mediatorial humility that knows it cannot approach God on its own terms.
Sense Covenant — the formal binding relationship between the LORD and Israel
Definition Covenant — the formal binding relationship between the LORD and Israel
References Deuteronomy 5:2-3
Why it matters The chapter opens with the direct claim that the Horeb berith was made 'with us, who are all of us here alive today' — the living-covenant principle is attached to this term. The berith's authority and binding character is what makes Moses's re-presentation normative rather than merely historical. All of Deuteronomy is structured as a covenant-renewal document.
Sense I am the LORD your God — the covenant self-identification formula that precedes all commandments
Definition I am the LORD your God — the covenant self-identification formula that precedes all commandments
References Deuteronomy 5:6
Why it matters The Decalogue does not begin with 'You shall not' — it begins with 'I am.' The commandments are the covenant response to a prior act of divine redemption. This sequence is theologically non-negotiable: obligation flows from grace, not grace from obligation. Every commandment in the Decalogue is addressed to those who have already been redeemed.
Sense You shall not have — the exclusive-devotion formula of the first commandment
Definition You shall not have — the exclusive-devotion formula of the first commandment
References Deuteronomy 5:7
Why it matters The first commandment is the hinge on which all others turn — idolatry is the root sin and all subsequent commandments protect either the covenant relationship with the Lord or the community that is constituted by that relationship. The exclusive-devotion formula in v. 7 is the covenant's most fundamental demand.
Form in passage Qal · Infinitive absolute What is this?
Sense Observe/keep the Sabbath day — the Deuteronomy verb versus Exodus's 'remember'
Definition Observe/keep the Sabbath day — the Deuteronomy verb versus Exodus's 'remember'
References Deuteronomy 5:12
Why it matters The verb change from zakhor to shamor is one of the most discussed textual differences between the two Decalogues. The rabbinic tradition preserved in the Shabbat liturgy ('zakhor and shamor were spoken in a single utterance') is an attempt to honor both dimensions. Theologically, Deuteronomy's shamor emphasizes the protective, active enforcement of rest — including for servants — which fits the humanitarian-exodus rationale that follows.
Form in passage Piel · Infinitive absolute What is this?
Sense Honor your father and your mother — the hinge commandment between the two tables
Definition Honor your father and your mother — the hinge commandment between the two tables
References Deuteronomy 5:16
Why it matters The fifth commandment is the only one with a promise attached — 'that Your days may be long and that it may go well with You in the land' — making family honor a covenant issue with land implications. It is also the hinge commandment: honoring parents who transmit the covenant is both reverence toward God (who established the family order) and love toward the neighbor (parents as the specific neighbors in view). Paul cites this command explicitly in Eph. 6:2-3 as 'the first commandment with a promise.'
Form in passage Qal · Imperfect · 2nd Person · Masculine · Singular What is this?
Sense You shall not covet — desire that reaches toward violation of the neighbor's domain
Definition You shall not covet — desire that reaches toward violation of the neighbor's domain
References Deuteronomy 5:21
Why it matters The tenth commandment is the only one that directly addresses the internal orientation rather than just the external action — but it is not reducible to thought-policing alone. Paul uses this commandment in Romans 7:7-12 as the point at which the law exposes the depth of sin: the command against coveting reveals that sin operates in the inner life in ways that external law cannot reach. The commandment thus creates the anthropological pressure that drives toward the new covenant's inward transformation.
Form in passage Piel · Imperfect · 3rd Person · Masculine · Singular What is this?
Sense All that the LORD has spoken we will do — the covenant commitment formula
Definition All that the LORD has spoken we will do — the covenant commitment formula
References Deuteronomy 5:27
Why it matters The commitment formula in v. 27 formally constitutes the second generation as the covenant community — they pledge responsive obedience to the full law before they have heard it. This is not blind commitment but responsive trust in the mediator and His Lord. The formula echoes the Sinai commitment of Exodus 19:8 and 24:3, 7, binding the renewal explicitly to the original ratification.
Lexicon data: MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML (CC0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible Data (CC BY 4.0) · Full details
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–91) — public domain
The chapter forms the community through the living-covenant address (the Decalogue is not a museum piece but a personal summons), the Sabbath as solidarity (rest is not a privilege of the free but an obligation extended to the enslaved), the appropriate fear that is the beginning of wisdom, and the mediatorial humility that knows it cannot approach God on its own terms.
- The Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 20 Decalogues are contradictory sources - The differences are deliberate and rhetorically purposeful — most notably the Sabbath's two different rationales. Deuteronomy is addressed to former slaves about to enter a land of their own · the humanitarian-exodus rationale is contextually appropriate. Both rationales are theologically valid and complementary within the canon.
- The people's request for a mediator was a failure of faith or a rejection of God - The Lord explicitly endorses the request: 'they have rightly said all that they have spoken' (v. 28). The response to the Horeb theophany was appropriate — the people rightly recognized that sinful humanity cannot survive unmediated divine encounter. The request is the proper recognition of the gap that requires mediation, not a refusal of God.
- The tenth commandment against coveting is merely about internal desire management - Coveting in the Hebrew legal context is likely not restricted to internal emotion — the term (chamad) can describe the action that follows desire (cf. Mic. 2:2 where chamad describes the act of seizing fields). The commandment may address both the desire and the actions it produces, guarding the neighbor's household as an inviolable domain.
- The Decalogue's two tables are the 'religious' and 'moral' law respectively - The division into God-directed and neighbor-directed is not a religious/secular split — all ten commandments are equally part of the covenant order. The Sabbath (fourth commandment) has an explicitly humanitarian dimension · the honor-of-parents command (fifth) carries a covenant-land promise. The two-table structure is a comprehensive covenant order, not a categorization of sacred versus secular.
- Moses insists the Horeb covenant was made 'with us, who are all of us here alive today.' What would change in Your relationship to the Ten Commandments if You received them as a direct personal address rather than as ancient religious history?
- The Sabbath command in Deuteronomy 5 grounds rest in the memory of slavery — 'You shall remember that You were a slave in Egypt.' What does this mean for how You think about rest, work, and the conditions You create for those who work for or with You?
- The Lord endorsed the people's fear-response at Horeb and wished it would always characterize them. What is the difference between the fear the Lord commends and the fear that immobilizes? Where do You see each in Your own life?
- The Decalogue's two-table structure grounds covenant faithfulness in both love of God and love of neighbor. Which dimension are You most tempted to treat as primary while quietly neglecting the other?
- The living-covenant frame (vv. 2-3) speaks to any congregation that treats its inherited theological tradition as a historical possession rather than a living address — the chapter insists that covenant faithfulness is always a present-tense obligation, not an archival one.
- The Sabbath command's humanitarian grounding (vv. 14-15) provides direct pastoral address to workaholism, exploitative employment practices, and the failure to protect rest for those in subordinate positions — the memory of slavery is the ethical ground, not a work-life-balance preference.
- The mediatorial pattern (vv. 27-31) provides the theological ground for the ministry of preaching and teaching — the community receives the divine word through the appointed human teacher, and this structure is the Lord's own design, not an accommodation to human weakness alone.
- The Lord's endorsement of the fear-response alongside His wish that it would persist but knowing it will not ('Oh that they had such a heart as this always') creates pastoral space for honest conversation about the gap between appropriate reverence and the heart's persistent tendency toward casual familiarity or outright forgetting.
Congregation — covenant renewal and catechesis
Congregation — work, rest, and justice
Pastors and teachers
Spiritual direction and personal formation
The Biblical World
Chapter At A Glance
From the living-covenant frame (vv. 1-5) through the Decalogue's re-presentation (vv. 6-21) to the Horeb aftermath and Moses's mediatorial appointment (vv. 22-33) — the chapter establishes who spoke, what was said, how it was received, and through whom it will continue to be communicated.
Deuteronomy 5 is the covenant's formal re-ratification for the second generation. The Decalogue is the covenant's written core (v. 22: 'He wrote them on two tablets of stone'), and its re-presentation here binds the second generation to the same obligations the first generation received at Horeb. The mediatorial pattern established here — Moses receives and transmits the full law — is the covenant structure that makes all of chapters 6-26 authoritative rather than merely advisory.
Deuteronomy 5 contributes to the gospel trajectory through the mediatorial pattern (Christ as the greater Moses), the people's terror before divine holiness pointing to the need for a mediator who can stand in the gap without dying, the Sabbath's liberation logic anticipating the rest Christ provides, and the living-covenant address principle that reaches its NT fulfillment in the Spirit's direct application of the word to each generation.
Focus Points
- The Decalogue as living covenant address to each generation
- Moses as divinely appointed covenant mediator
- The two-table structure as comprehensive covenant order
- The Sabbath grounded in liberation and humanitarian solidarity
- Appropriate fear as the proper response to divine holiness
- The mediatorial pattern as the ground for all subsequent covenant instruction
- The Living Address of the Covenant
- The Decalogue as Covenant Structure
- The Sabbath as Liberation and Solidarity
- Moses as Covenant Mediator
- Appropriate Fear and Its Insufficiency
- The Decalogue as the Covenant's Written Core
- The Living Address of Scripture
- Divine Jealousy and Covenant Exclusivity
- The Sabbath as Creation Ordinance and Liberation Ethic
- The Fifth Commandment and Covenant Family Order
- The Necessity of Covenant Mediation
- The Fear of God as the Proper Covenant Disposition
Cross References
Passages
Chapter opening: Deuteronomy 5:1-5
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Deu 5:6-23 In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exo 20:1-14. - In Deu 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exo 20:18-21, viz. , that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exo 20:23 -31).
His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exo 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges. §118, 3). “ And He added no more: ” as in Num 11:25. God spoken the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.
e. , everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Exo 31:18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in Deu 9:10-11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17).
ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .) Jehovah’s reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.
e. , would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deu 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deu 5:32, Deu 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.
e. , not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20; Deu 28:14; Jos 1:7, etc.) , that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deu 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.
Announcement of the commandments which follow, with a statement of the reason for communicating them, and the beneficent results of their observance. המּצוה, that which is commanded, i.e., the substance of all that Jehovah had commanded, synonymous therefore with the Thorah (Deu 4:44). The words, “ the statutes and the rights ,” are explanatory of and in apposition to “ the commandment .” These commandments Moses was to teach the Israelites to keep in the land which they were preparing to possess (cf. Deu 4:1).
Deu 6:2 The reason for communicating the law was to awaken the fear of God (cf. Deu 4:10; Deu 5:26), and, in fact, such fear of Jehovah as would show itself at all times in the observance of every commandment. “ Thou and thy son: ” this forms the subject to “ thou mightest fear ,” and is placed at the end for the sake of emphasis. The Hiphil האריך has not the transitive meaning, “to make long,” as in Deu 5:30, but the intransitive, to last long , as in Deu 5:16; Exo 20:12, etc.
Deu 6:3 The maintenance of the fear of God would bring prosperity, and the increase of the nation promised to the fathers. In form this thought is not connected with Deu 6:3 as the apodosis, but it is appended to the leading thought in Deu 6:1 by the words “ Hear therefore, O Israel! ” which correspond to the expression “ to teach you ” in Deu 6:1. אשׁר, that, in order that (as in Deu 2:25; Deu 4:10, etc.)
The increase of the nation had been promised to the patriarchs from the very first (Gen 12:1; cf. Lev 26:9). - On “ milk and honey ,” see at Exo 3:8. With Deu 6:4 the burden of the law commences, which is not a new law added to the ten commandments, but simply the development and unfolding of the covenant laws and rights enclosed as a germ in the decalogue, simply an exposition of the law, as had already been announced in Deu 1:5.
The exposition commences with an explanation and enforcing of the first commandment. There are two things contained in it: (1) that Jehovah is the one absolute God; (2) that He requires love with all the heart, all the soul, and all the strength. “ Jehovah our God is one Jehovah . ” This does not mean Jehovah is one God, Jehovah alone ( Abenezra ), for in that case לבדּו יהוה would be used instead of אחד יהוה; still less Jehovah our God, namely, Jehovah is one (J.
H. Michaelis). אחד יהוה together form the predicate of the sentence. The idea is not, Jehovah our God is one (the only) God, but “ one (or the only) Jehovah: ” not in this sense, however, that “He has not adopted one mode of revelation or appearance here and another there, but one mode only, viz. , the revelation which Israel had received” ( Schultz ); for Jehovah never denotes merely a mode in which the true God is revealed or appears, but God as the absolute, unconditioned, or God according to the absolute independence and constancy of His actions.
Hence what is predicated here of Jehovah ( Jehovah one ) does not relate to the unity of God, but simply states that it is to Him alone that the name Jehovah rightfully belongs, that He is the one absolute God, to whom no other Elohim can be compared. This is also the meaning of the same expression in Zec 14:9, where the words added, “and His name one,” can only signify that in the future Jehovah would be acknowledged as the one absolute God, as King over all the earth.
This clause not merely precludes polytheism, but also syncretism, which reduces the one absolute God to a national deity, a Baal (Hos 2:18), and in fact every form of theism and deism, which creates for itself a supreme God according to philosophical abstractions and ideas. For Jehovah, although the absolute One, is not an abstract notion like “absolute being” or “the absolute idea,” but the absolutely living God, as He made Himself known in His deeds in Israel for the salvation of the whole world.