Moses Challenges Israel to Learn from the Example of Baal-Peor 6

7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?












Deu 4:7
Near—By glorious miracles, by the pledges of his special presence, by the operations of his grace, and particularly by his readiness to hear our prayers, and to give us those succours which we pray to him.

Deu 4:8
Righteous—Whereby he implies that the true greatness of a nation doth not consist in pomp or power, or largeness of empire, as commonly men think, but in the righteousness of its laws.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

“NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.

Wesley, John. "Commentary on Deuteronomy 4." "John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible." . 1765.

Moses Challenges Israel to Learn from the Example of Baal-Peor 5

6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."












Deu 4:6
To the nations—For though the generality of Heathens in the latter ages, did through inveterate prejudices condemn the laws of the Hebrews, yet it is certain, the wisest Heathens did highly approve of them, so that they made use of divers of them, and translated them into their own laws and constitutions; and Moses, the giver of these laws, hath been mentioned with great honour for his wisdom and learning by many of them. And particularly the old Heathen oracle expressly said, that the Chaldeans or Hebrews, who worshipped the uncreated God, were the only wise men.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

“NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.

Wesley, John. "Commentary on Deuteronomy 4." "John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible." . 1765.

Moses Challenges Israel to Learn from the Example of Baal-Peor 4

5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.















Deu 4:5
That you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it—Do in like manner as the commandments the Lord direct to; or that which is right; proper and fitting to be done, by doing which they continue in the land they were about to take possession of, therefore when in it were to be careful to them; some of them could not be done till they came into it, and all were to be done in it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Used by permission www.onlinebible.us

כן "rectum."

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

“NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.

Moses Challenges Israel to Learn from the Example of Baal-Peor 3

3 You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.




Deu 4:3
You saw with your . . . eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor—At Baal Peor, Israel sinned by committing both sexual and spiritual immorality with the women of Moab. Moses warned the people of Israel that if they rejected God now as they did back then, the result would be the same. Many would die in the judgment of the Lord.

The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed . . . Baal . . . Peor—24,000 persons died on that account; which being a recent thing, fresh in memory, and what they were eyewitnesses of, was a caution to them to avoid the same sins, as it is to us on whom the ends of the world are come, Num 23:9.

Guzik, David. "Study Guide for Deuteronomy 4." Enduring Word. Blue Letter Bible. 7 Jul 2006. 2010. 18 Jul 2010.
AuthorID=2&contentID=7477&commInfo=31&topic=Deuteronomy >

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Used by permission www.onlinebible.us

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

“NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.

Moses Challenges Israel to Learn from the Example of Baal-Peor 2

2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.




Deu 4:2
The observance of the law, however, required that it should be kept as it was given, that nothing should be added to it or taken from it, but that men should submit to it as to the inviolable word of God. Not by omissions only, but by additions also, was the commandment weakened, and the word of God turned into ordinances of men, as Pharisaism sufficiently proved. This precept is repeated in Deu 13:1; it is then revived by the prophets (Pro 30:6; Jer 26:2), and enforced again at the close of the whole revelation (Rev 22:18-19). In the same sense Christ also said that He had not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill (Mat 5:17); and the old covenant was not abrogated, but only glorified and perfected, by the new.

But keep the commands of the Lord your God, that I give you—In his name; or that he delivered unto them as his commands, and that were to be kept just as they were delivered, without adding to them, or taking from them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Used by permission www.onlinebible.us

“Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament." World Without End.
http://www.worldwithoutend.info

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

“NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.

Moses Challenges Israel to Learn from the Example of Baal-Peor 1

4 Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.



Deu 4:1
The decrees—The laws which concern the worship and service of God.

That you may live and . . . go in and take possession . . . the land—The enjoyment of the temporal blessings which God had promised to Israel were not to be forfeited by any transgression, except national apostasy, sinning presumptuously, and such like breaches of the fundamental articles of the covenant. The sacred history often represents these as the causes of the divine vengeance against them, as in this context.

And . . . go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you—The land of Canaan, which the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had promised to give to their posterity, and which they were to hold by their obedience to his laws.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Used by permission www.onlinebible.us

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

“NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.

Conquests Recounted 2

26 But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. "That is enough," the Lord said. "Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. 28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." 29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.









Deu 3:26
But because of you the Lord was angry with me—Not at this time, and for this prayer of his, but on account of he and Aaron not sanctifying him at the waters of Meribah; or of some expressions of unbelief, and unadvised words, which dropped from his lips through their provocation of him; see Num 20:12.

Deu 3:27
Go up to the top of Pisgah—Which was the highest eminence of Mount Nebo, and so a very proper place to take a prospect from; see Deu 32:49.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Used by permission www.onlinebible.us

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

“NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.