Deuteronomy · chapter 5 of 34
Updated on
Deuteronomy 5 repeats the Ten Commandments the Lord gave Israel at Horeb. Moses recalls that the covenant is with the present generation, lists the commandments, including the Sabbath as a memory of the rescue from Egypt, and tells how the frightened people asked Moses to speak for them and God approved that request.
With chapter 5 begins the second speech of Moses, the heart of the book: the exposition of the law. Moses summons Israel, about to cross the Jordan, and reminds them that the covenant at Horeb was not only for their fathers. Repeating the Ten Commandments to a new generation turns them into a living, personal call and not only an ancient memory.
Moses summons all Israel and tells them to listen to the statutes and rules, to learn them and do them. He stresses that the Lord made the covenant at Horeb not only with their fathers but with them, those alive today. He spoke face to face out of the fire, though Moses stood between to declare the word to them, because the people were afraid.
Then Moses repeats the ten commandments. The Lord introduces himself as the one who brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. They shall have no other gods before him and make no images to bow down to. They shall not take his name in vain. They shall keep the Sabbath day, on which no one works, not even servants or foreigners, and remember that they were slaves in Egypt and the Lord brought them out with a mighty hand. They shall honor father and mother. They shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet a neighbor's wife, house, field or anything else.
After hearing these words out of the fire and the darkness, the heads of the tribes and the elders came to Moses and asked him to speak with God and tell them what he said, for they feared they would die. The Lord heard and approved what they said, and wished that they would always have that heart to fear him and keep his commandments. Moses was told to stay with the Lord to receive the whole law and teach it, and the chapter closes with the command to walk in all the way the Lord commanded, so that it may go well with them and they may live long in the land.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord introduces himself before giving any commandment: he is the one who brought Israel out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Obedience grows out of a relationship founded on rescue, not a duty imposed from outside.
The Sabbath commandment calls the whole household to rest, even servants and foreigners, and grounds it in the memory that Israel was a slave in Egypt. Here rest is an act of remembrance and mercy.
The Lord wishes that the people would always have a heart to fear him and keep his commandments, so that it may go well with them. God looks for more than outward conduct: he wants a willing heart.
Moses sums up what follows: walk in all the way the Lord has commanded, so that you may live, prosper and prolong your days in the land. The law is presented as a path for life, not a burden.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Not only with the fathers, but with those who were alive that day. — Deuteronomy 5:2-3
Answer: As the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. — Deuteronomy 5:6
Answer: That Israel was a slave in Egypt and the Lord brought them out with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. — Deuteronomy 5:15
Answer: That their days may be long and it may go well with them in the land. — Deuteronomy 5:16
Answer: Because they feared they would die if they kept hearing the Lord's voice from the fire. — Deuteronomy 5:25-27
Answer: That they would always have a heart to fear him and keep his commandments. — Deuteronomy 5:29
The Ten Commandments begin with grace: before asking anything, God recalls that he freed his people. That order matters today as well. In a Bible class we can ask whether we present obedience as a response to God's love or as a list of requirements for earning it.
The Sabbath in Deuteronomy is a day of rest for everyone, including those who work for us. It is an invitation to remember that we are not machines and to care for those who depend on our work. The final commandments, on family, life, faithfulness and truth, also ask us to examine the heart, not only our actions.
Deuteronomy 5 leaves Israel with the ten commandments and the call to walk in all that the Lord commanded. In chapter 6, Moses will explain the center of them all: loving the Lord with all the heart.
They are essentially the same, with small variations. The most visible is the Sabbath: Exodus bases it on creation and Deuteronomy on the rescue from Egypt. The final list of what not to covet is also ordered differently. The two texts complement each other.
It means not using his name in an empty, false or irreverent way: in false oaths, in magic, or as if it had no weight. His name represents his character, and whoever bears it must live accordingly.
Believers hold several views. Some see the principle of weekly rest applied to Sunday, the day of the resurrection; others understand it as a principle of rest fulfilled in Christ, expressed in trust and in guarding time for worship and rest. All agree the text teaches us not to be enslaved to work.