Deuteronomy 4:9-10

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 4:9

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:10

Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord in Horeb ,.... Above all things Moses would have them take care not to forget the day the law was given from Mount Sinai, which was so awful and solemn, when they saw the fire, the smoke, the lightning, and heard the thunder and the sound of the trumpet; all which were very shocking and terrifying: and though the men of this generation were but young then, being under twenty years of age, yet many of them were old enough to observe these... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 4:9

Only take heed to thyself - Be circumspect and watchful. Keep thy soul diligently - Be mindful of thy eternal interests. Whatever becomes of the body, take care of the soul. Lest thou forget - God does his work that they may be had in everlasting remembrance; and he that forgets them, forgets his own mercies. Besides, if a man forget the work of God on his soul, he loses that work. Lest they depart from thy heart - It is not sufficient to lay up Divine things in the memory, they... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 4:9

Verse 9 9.Only take heed to thyself The same particle, רק, rak, of which I have just spoken, is used here, and its meaning in this place is, as if Moses had said, that this only remained; unless it is preferred to translate it nevertheless. What follows means literally “Guard (custodi) thyself, and guard thy soul;” wherein Moses advances by degrees, reminding them that they needed no common heedfulness, but that they must beware with extreme vigilance and diligence lest they should fail through... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 4:10

Verse 10 10.The day (227) that thou stoodest. The word day might be taken in the accusative, as if in apposition. It is, at any rate, clear that he explains more fully what he had briefly alluded to before, for he summons the people as eye-witnesses, lest, perchance, they should object that they were not sure from whence Moses had derived what he professes to be enjoined him by God. For they were all well aware that he had undertaken nothing without the express command of God. Finally, he... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:1-13

The sacredness of the Divine Law. Law, being the utterance of righteousness, is unalterable as righteousness itself, permanent amid all the mutations of human affairs. Its requirements are statutes, stable as the everlasting hills. I. LAW IS THE VERITABLE VOICE OF GOD ; the manifestation of his thought; the mirror of his mind. "The Lord spake unto you." "Out of the midst of the fire" the flame of holiness and zeal—issues every command. If man's moral nature has an... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:1-14

Obedience the secret of success. Moses here reminds Israel of the privilege it possesses as a nation in having the oracles of God committed unto it ( Romans 3:2 ). He urges obedience upon them as the one purpose for which they are to be introduced into the Promised Land. National prosperity depends upon this. And here we have to notice— I. DISOBEDIENCE HAS ALREADY PROVED FATAL . He recalls the terrible experience in connection with Dual-peer—how the people in large numbers... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:1-14

Obedience the secret of success. Moses here reminds Israel of the privilege it possesses as a nation in having the oracles of God committed unto it ( Romans 3:2 ). He urges obedience upon them as the one purpose for which they are to be introduced into the Promised Land. National prosperity depends upon this. And here we have to notice— I. DISOBEDIENCE HAS ALREADY PROVED FATAL . He recalls the terrible experience in connection with Dual-peer—how the people in large numbers... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 4:1-28

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

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