The Ten Commandments: Deuteronomy 5 (5)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 139.1-5
O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.

Psalm 139.1-5
(Ripley: Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah, O My Soul!)
You have searched me, Lord, and known me, when I sit and when I rise.
From afar, my thoughts discerning, all my path before You lies.
Every word, before it’s spoken, You behold and know it well.
Both behind me and before me, Your sweet presence I can tell!

Today’s Text: Read Deuteronomy 5.22-31

Preparation
1. Of what were the people afraid when God gave them His Law the first time?

2. What did God lament about His people?

Meditation
This passage is a bit enigmatic. First, although Moses has just given the Law for the second time, he transports the people before him back to Mt. Sinai, forty years earlier. Then, when God appeared to the people in fire and smoke, they feared for their lives (v. 25). They realized that God was real and serious, and so they asked Moses to act as their intermediary with Him (vv. 26, 27). God sent them back to their tents to wait for Moses to return (vv. 30, 31) with all the Law of God.

God commended them for their response to Him (v. 28). Then He denounced them because their fear was only temporary and self-centered, rather than the true fear of God which He expects of us at all times (v. 29). It seems to me that Moses was talking about the people at Mt. Sinai, but meaning to apply this situation to the people before him on the plains of Moab. It’s as if, having related this account, he was saying to this new generation, “What about you? Do you have a heart for God? Do you fear Him as He requires (Deut. 10.12)?” That question is left open; subsequent events will answer it for us.

Verse 32 returns to the present, with Moses saying that they should “be careful” to obey all that God commands and to walk in all His ways always (vv. 32, 33). Would this new generation prove faithful to God? Or would they show themselves to be wrong-hearted as well?

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Because Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn. 8.12), we tend to forget about the darkness of God. He spoke from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice (Deut. 5.22). Indeed, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10.31). “Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne” (Ps. 97.2). In spite of warnings, the people were still wrong-hearted. God speaks out of the same darkness to us, telling us to fear Him and always keep all His commandments, that it might be well with us and with our children forever (Deut. 5.29). Jesus’ righteousness and justice are the foundation of our salvation; but we must embrace and fear the Power in the darkness to find the Light!

Reflection
1. What does it mean to fear the Lord? Why does the Lord require this of us?

2. How can we know when our heart is turning away from the Lord?

3. How can believers help one another “be careful” to obey all that God commands?

Certainly He has the power of bending and directing men's hearts whithersoever He pleases. Why, then, does He wish that it were given to the people from some other quarter, that they should be always kept in the path of duty, except that, speaking in the character of a man, He shows that it was rather to be wished than hoped that the people would constantly persevere in their fidelity? John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Deuteronomy 5.29

Fill my heart with fear of and love for You, Lord, so that I will…

Closing Prayer: Psalm 139.6-18, 23, 24
Thank God for making you, saving you, giving you His Word, and sending His Spirit to dwell in you. Wait on Him to search the condition of your heart.

Psalm 139.6-18, 23,24
(Ripley: Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah, O My Soul!)
Just to know this is more wondrous than my seeking soul can know.
From Your ever-present Spirit there is nowhere I can go.
Whether high above the heaven or below the earth in hell,
even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your Right Hand hold me well!

Neither light nor dark conceals me; day as night is with You, Lord!
All my inward parts You fashioned by Your all-decreeing Word.
Praise the Lord, for You have made me; all Your wondrous works I’ll tell!
All Your works declare Your glory, and my soul knows this full well!

All my unformed frame You witnessed when You destined all my days.
Precious to me, Lord, Your precepts; all Your wondrous Word I praise.
More than sand, Your thoughts to me, Lord, far too vast their sum for me!
When the morning breaks upon me, in Your presence I shall be.

Search my heart, O Lord, and know me, as You only, Lord, can do.
Test my thoughts and contemplations, whether they be vain or true.
Let there be no sin in me, Lord, nothing that Your Spirit grieves.
Lead me in the righteous way, Lord, unto everlasting peace!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: Ancient Christian Commentary Series III, Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J. ed. in collaboration with Ronnie J. Rombs, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001). All quotations from John Calvin from John Calvin, Commentaries on The Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Order of A Harmony, Rev. Charles William Bingham M. A., tr. and ed. (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1863. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).