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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:1-40

This most lively and excellent discourse is so entire, and the particulars of it are so often repeated, that we must take it altogether in the exposition of it, and endeavour to digest it into proper heads, for we cannot divide it into paragraphs. I. In general, it is the use and application of the foregoing history; it comes in by way of inference from it: Now therefore harken, O Israel, Deut. 4:1. This use we should make of the review of God's providences concerning us, we should by them be... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:1

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments ,.... The laws of God, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which they are exhorted to attend to and obey, in consideration of the great and good things the Lord had done for them, ever since they came from Horeb, where they were given them; such as providing for them, and feeding them in the wilderness, preserving them from every hurtful thing, and delivering their enemies into their hands, the two kings of the Amorites,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:2

Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, nether shall you diminish ought from it ,.... Neither make new laws of their own, and join them to the law of God, and set them upon a level with it, or prefer them before it; as the Scribes and Pharisees did in Christ's time, who by their traditions made the word of God of none effect, as do the Papists also by their unwritten traditions; nor abrogate nor detract from the law of God, nor make void any part of it: or else the sense is,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:3

Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor ,.... Because of the idolatry the people of Israel fell into by worshipping that idol, being drawn into it by the daughters of Moab and Midian, through the counsel of Balaam, with whom they committed fornication; which led them to the other sin, and both highly provoking to God. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are,"what the Word of the Lord has done to the worshippers of the idol Peor;" for all the men that followed Baalpeor,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:4

But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God ,.... To the worship of the Lord your God, as the Targum of Jonathan; attended the service of the sanctuary, were observant of the laws of God, and walked in his statutes and judgments; did not apostatize from him by idolatry or otherwise, but kept close unto him, and followed him fully: are alive everyone of you this day ; which is very remarkable, that in such a vast number of people not one should die in such a space of time, it being... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:5

Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me ,.... He had faithfully delivered them, without adding them, or diminishing from them, and had diligently instructed the Israelites in them, had taken pains to lead them into a thorough knowledge and understanding them: that ye should do so in the land whither ye go possess it ; do in like manner as the commandments the Lord direct to; or that which is right F5 כן "rectum". ; proper and fitting... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:6

Keep therefore and do them ,..... Observe them, take notice of what is expressed by them, and perform them, both as to matter and manner, as they require: for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations ; that is, their wisdom and understanding would appear to other nations by their observance of the commands of God: which hear all these statutes ; which they had a report, got knowledge of by some of the philosophers who travelled into those parts, and by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:7

Not so much for their number, for they were the fewest of all people; nor for the largeness of their territories, for the land they were going to possess was but a small country; nor for their wealth and riches, and warlike exploits, though they were not contemptible in either; but for their happy constitution in church and state, being directed and governed in both by laws which came immediately from God himself; for their knowledge of divine things, and for spiritual blessings and privileges... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:8

And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous ,.... Founded in justice and equity, and so agreeable to right reason, and so well calculated and adapted to lead persons in the ways of righteousness and truth, and keep them from doing any injury to each other's persons and properties, and to maintain good order, peace, and concord among them: as all this law which I set before you this day ? which he then repeated, afresh declared, explained and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:9

Only take heed to thyself ,.... To walk according to this law, and not swerve from it: and keep thy soul diligently ; from the transgressions and breaches of it: lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen ; either the statutes and judgments set before them, and the circumstances of the delivery of them; or the punishment inflicted on the breakers of them; or the favours bestowed on those that observed them: and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life ... read more

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