Deuteronomy · chapter 4 of 34
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Deuteronomy 4 is Moses' great exhortation: Israel must listen to and keep the Lord's laws without adding or taking away, because that obedience will show their wisdom before the nations. Moses recalls God's voice from the fire at Horeb, forbids making images, warns of exile and declares that the Lord is the only God.
After reviewing history in chapters 1 to 3, Moses turns to teaching. Chapter 4 is a kind of sermon on the first commandment: Israel has seen their God act and heard his voice, but saw no form, and so cannot represent him with idols. The chapter prepares the center of the book, the Ten Commandments and the law.
Moses asks Israel to listen to the statutes and rules he teaches them, so that they may live and enter to possess the land. They must not add to or take from what he commands. He reminds them of what happened at Baal-peor, where the Lord destroyed those who followed that god, while those who held fast are alive to this day. Keeping the law will make them look like a wise and understanding people to the nations, who will ask what great nation has a God so near.
Moses orders them to teach all this to their children and recalls the day at Horeb, when they heard the Lord's voice from the fire but saw no form. There God declared his covenant, the ten commandments, which he wrote on two tablets of stone. So they must take care not to make any image, of man or animal, or worship the sun, moon or stars, because the Lord is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Moses warns that if, once settled in the land, they make idols, they will be scattered among the peoples. But he adds hope: from there they will seek the Lord and find him if they seek him with all their heart, because he is a merciful God who will not abandon them or forget his covenant. He asks whether any people ever heard the voice of God from the fire and lived, and concludes that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below, and there is no other.
The chapter closes with three cities of refuge east of the Jordan, Bezer, Ramoth and Golan, and with the introduction to the law that Moses will set out in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Moses forbids adding to the word of the Lord or taking anything from it, so that the people keep his commandments just as they received them. God's word is not material to be adjusted to the convenience or culture of each generation.
Moses urges Israel to take care and not forget what their eyes saw, and to teach it to their children and grandchildren. Faith stays alive when one generation tells the next about the works of God.
Even in exile, the people will be able to seek the Lord and find him, if they seek him with all their heart and all their soul. God opens the door of return before Israel has even made the mistake.
Moses sums up Israel's confession of faith: the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below, and there is no other. This affirmation of one God is the basis of the obedience asked for in the rest of the book.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Add to them or take anything from them. — Deuteronomy 4:2
Answer: That it was a wise and understanding nation, with a God near to it whenever it called. — Deuteronomy 4:6-7
Answer: They heard the voice of the Lord from the fire but saw no form. — Deuteronomy 4:12
Answer: The ten commandments, his covenant. — Deuteronomy 4:13
Answer: As a consuming fire, a jealous God. — Deuteronomy 4:24
Answer: Bezer, Ramoth in Gilead and Golan. — Deuteronomy 4:43
Deuteronomy 4 calls the church to receive God's word without trimming or decorating it, and to pass it on to children. A small group can ask which parts of Scripture we are tempted to remove or soften, and how we teach the faith to younger people with true stories of what God has done.
It also warns against idols, which are not always images. Anything that takes God's place in the heart can be one. And the promise of finding the Lord when he is sought with all the heart encourages anyone who feels far away: the way back is always open.
Deuteronomy 4 ends with three cities of refuge and the beginning of the exposition of the law, in the valley opposite Beth-peor. In chapter 5, Moses summons all Israel and repeats the Ten Commandments the Lord gave at Horeb.
Because at Horeb Israel heard his voice but saw no form. Any image would reduce God to something created and distort his character. The prohibition protects the worship of the living God, who speaks and cannot be manipulated.
It expresses his holiness and his jealousy: the Lord does not share his people's love with other gods and judges idolatry. The letter to the Hebrews takes up the phrase to remind us that God is to be worshiped with reverence and awe.
It means the law may not be expanded or cut down according to the people's tastes. Christian readers usually apply the principle to the whole of Scripture: the church receives God's word and obeys it, without giving it a weight it does not have or removing the weight it does.