Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes ,.... See Deuteronomy 3:26 , and sware that I should not go over Jordan ; this circumstance of swearing is nowhere else expressed: and that I should not go in unto that good land ; the land of Canaan; he might see it, as he did from Pisgah, but not enter into it: which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance ; to them and to their children after them. read more
The Lord was angry with me - And if with me, so as to debar me from entering into the promised land, can you think to escape if guilty of greater provocations? read more
Verse 21 21.Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me. He again records that it arose from the transgression of the people that he was not permitted to enter the land, not by way of expostulation, and much less in order to accuse God of cruelty, as if he had been improperly and unjustly substituted as a criminal in the place of others, but rather to magnify the goodness of God towards those whom He had treated with so much indulgence. For we must observe the comparison, that, whilst they were to... read more
The curse of idolatry. Idolatry is the general bias of fallen humanity, the perversion of an innate principle, the misgrowth of the religious instinct. Men everywhere "feel after God, if haply they may find him." Absolute atheism cannot long endure anywhere. If men reject a personal Deity, they invent an inferior God, and practically worship that. The wildest atheist which the world has seen, must admit that there is some power or force in the world superior to himself. There is no... read more
EXPOSITION ADMONITIONS AND EXHORTATIONS . Moses, having presented to the people certain facts in their recent history which had in them a specially animating and encouraging tendency, proceeds to direct his discourse to the inculcation of duties and exhortations to obedience to the Divine enactments. This portion also of his address is of an introductory character as well as what precedes. read more
The Divine jealousy of graven images. The great temptation of Israel was to idolatry. Images were worshipped by all those nations among whom they came, and they were in constant danger of conforming to the sinful practice. Hence this warning and statement about the Divine jealousy. Let us observe— I. THAT JEALOUSY PRESUPPOSES LOVE . Love must be strong as death, else jealousy will not be cruel as the grave; nor will its coals prove coals of fire, having a most vehement flame... read more
The Divine jealousy of graven images. The great temptation of Israel was to idolatry. Images were worshipped by all those nations among whom they came, and they were in constant danger of conforming to the sinful practice. Hence this warning and statement about the Divine jealousy. Let us observe— I. THAT JEALOUSY PRESUPPOSES LOVE . Love must be strong as death, else jealousy will not be cruel as the grave; nor will its coals prove coals of fire, having a most vehement flame... read more
The Lord was angry with me … and swore , etc. Neither in Numbers 20:12 , nor in Numbers 27:12-14 , is there any mention of God's having sworn that Moses should not enter Canaan with the people; but it is absurd to suppose, as some have done, that the writer here has confounded this with what is recorded in Numbers 14:21 , Numbers 14:28 ,—that is inconceivable; and it certainly does not follow, because no mention is made in Numbers of God's having sworn, that he did not swear on... read more
Moses, after again referring to his being not permitted to enter Canaan, takes occasion anew to warn the people against forgetting the covenant of Jehovah and making any image of God, seeing he is a jealous God, and a consuming fire. read more
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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