Deuteronomy 4:11-20 NIV

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 4:11

And ye came near and stood under the mountain ,.... At the foot of it, in the lower part of the mountain, as the Targum of Jonathan, and agrees with Exodus 19:17 . and the mountain burnt with fire unto the midst of heaven ; the flame and smoke went up into the middle of the air: with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness; which thick darkness was occasioned partly by the smoke, which went up like the smoke of a furnace, and partly by the thick clouds, which were on the mount, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:12

And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire ,.... For the Lord descended on Mount Sinai in a cloud, in fire, and was in the thick darkness, from whence he delivered out the ten commands: ye heard the voice of the words ; distinctly and plainly, not only the sound of them, but the words themselves, and so as to understand what was meant by them: but saw no similitude ; not any likeness of the person speaking, by which they could form any idea of him in their minds, which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:13

And he declared unto you his covenant ,.... So the law was called, because it contained, on the part of God, things which he would have done or avoided, to which were annexed promises of long life and happiness in the land he gave them; and they, on their part, agreed to hearken to it, and obey it, Exodus 24:3 , which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments ; which see at large in Exodus 20:1 , and in this book afterwards repeated, Deuteronomy 5:6 , and he wrote them... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:14

And the Lord commanded me at that time ,.... When the ten commandments were delivered on Mount Sinai, and Moses was ordered to come up to God in the mount: to teach you statutes and judgments ; laws ceremonial and judicial, besides the ten commands given them: that ye may do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it ; the land of Canaan, which was on the other side of Jordan, and over which they must go in order to possess it; and when they came there, they were to hold the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:15

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves ,.... As to keep all the laws given them, so particularly to avoid idolatry: for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire ; and therefore, as they had nothing that directed and led them, so they had nothing that could be a temptation to them, to make any form or likeness, and worship it. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:16

Lest ye corrupt yourselves ,.... And not themselves only, but the word and worship of God, by idolatry, than which nothing is more corrupting and defiling, nor more abominable to God: and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure ; a graven image, in the likeness of any figure, an idea of which they had formed in their minds: the likeness of male or female ; of a man or a woman; so some of the Heathen deities were in the likeness of men, as Jupiter, Mars, Hercules,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:17

The likeness of any beast that is on the earth ,.... As there are scarce any but the likeness of them has been made and worshipped, or the creatures themselves, as the ox by the Egyptians, the sheep by the Thebans, the goat by the Mendesians, and others by different people: the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air ; as the hawk, and the bird called Ibis, and another by the name of Cneph by the Egyptians, and the eagle by others. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:18

The likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground ,.... As serpents by many; and indeed that creature is introduced into almost all the idolatries of the Heathens, which seems to take its rise from the serpent Satan made use of to deceive our first parents: the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth ; as the crocodile and hippopotamus, or river horse, by the Egyptians; and Dagon and Derceto, supposed to be figures in the form of a fish, among the Phoenicians. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:19

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven ,.... The starry heaven, which to do in itself is not sinful; and may be lawfully and commendably done, to raise admiration at the wonderful works of God in them, and lead to adore the author of them: but if not guarded against may be ensnaring: and when thou seest the sun and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven ; those bright luminaries, so glorious to behold, and so useful and beneficial to the earth, and the inhabitants... read more

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

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:11

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:12

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:13

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:14

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:15

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:17

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:19

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