Deuteronomy 5 – Moses Reminds Israel of their Covenant with God at Sinai

A. Moses reminds Israel of their experience at Mount Sinai.

1. (1-3) The present reality of God’s covenant with Israel.

And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.

a. Moses called all Israel: After the brief introduction (Deuteronomy 4:44-49), Moses gathered Israel for the second and longest of the three sermons that make up the book of Deuteronomy.

b. Hear, O Israel: Israel was bound to the covenant they agreed to in Exodus 24:1-8, yet the covenant was made with the previous generation which died in the wilderness. The present generation had to understand and embrace the covenant if they were to enjoy the blessings of the covenant.

c. Made a covenant: Literally, this is to “cut a covenant.” The idea of “cutting” is associated with covenant because covenants were normally sealed with sacrifice – the cutting of a sacrificial victim.

d. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us: In fact, the covenant was originally made with the previous generation, and Moses did not deny this. But as Moses spoke to the generation that would conquer Canaan, he emphasized that this was their covenant. It was a covenant of the living, not of the dead. It was a present reality, not a historical relic.

i. “The fact is emphasized that the Horeb event was not simply an event of the past which concerned Israel’s ancestors only, but was the concern of Israel in every age. The original Israel held within it all later Israelites.” (Thompson)

ii. There is a sense in which ethnic Israel today is still under the old covenant, first agreed to at Mount Sinai, and agreed again here a generation later (on the plains of Moab), and in some sense with every generation since.

· The old covenant is not a path to salvation – all that is fulfilled in the new covenant, through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

· The old covenant seems to mark God’s continued dealings with the Jewish people, especially in the blessing and cursing aspects that were broader parts of the covenant (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 27-28). They are bound as a people that God has selected and promised to use for an important role in His unfolding plan of the ages.

· The Jewish people continue to be uniquely blessed in some ways and at some times, and uniquely cursed in some ways and at some times. This is an outworking of the covenant they made with God at Mount Sinai and renewed here in Deuteronomy.

· Any Jewish person in Christ is not under the old covenant; they are clearly and wonderfully under the new covenant.

2. (4-5) God’s revelation of Himself to Israel at Mount Sinai.

The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said:

a. The LORD talked with you face to face: When God gave His law and made a covenant with Israel, He began with a dramatic revelation of Himself. God manifested His presence at Sinai with fire, smoke, lightning, and the sound of a trumpet (Exodus 19:16-19, 20:18). They audibly heard God’s voice from heaven (Exodus 20:1, 20:19, 20:22). This close communication with Israel was described with the figure of speech, face to face.

i. The use of this phrase in relation to God’s revelation of Himself to Israel at Mount Sinai gives understanding to the use of the phrase face to face in other places. Deuteronomy 4:12 specifically says that Israel saw no form; you only heard a voice. Yet they had a remarkably transparent communication with God, so the figure of speech face to face applies.

ii. Therefore, when Exodus 33:11 says So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend, it uses this figure of speech. It doesn’t mean that Moses literally saw the face of God, which no man can see and live (Exodus 33:20). Exodus 33:11 means Moses had free and unhindered communication with the LORD.

iii. “Face to face seems to mean ‘in person,’ that is, in the immediacy of personal contact.” (Thompson)

b. I stood between the LORD and you at that time: Israel could not bear such free and unhindered communication with the LORD, so they asked Moses to speak to God on their behalf (Exodus 20:19).

B. Moses reminds Israel of the Ten Commandments God spoke at Mount Sinai.

1. (6-7) The first commandment, forbidding idolatry.

‘I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

‘You shall have no other gods before Me.

a. I am the LORD your God: In the ancient world (including Egypt), men worshipped many gods. Here Yahweh (the LORD), the covenant God of Israel, set Himself apart from any of the other supposed deities.

i. As Moses recounted the giving of the Ten Commandments to Israel at Mount Sinai, he used almost the exact words as in the account recorded in Exodus 20.

ii. “In this repetition of the law some things are transposed, and some words are changed, haply to confute that superstitious opinion of the Jews, who were ready to dream of miraculous mysteries in every letter.” (Trapp)

b. Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: Before God commanded anything, He declared who He was and what He had done for Israel. The foundation was clear: because of who God was and what He had done for His people, Yahweh had the right to command them – and God’s people had the obligation to obey Him.

i. Yet, the Ten Commandments were never given with the thought that one might earn righteousness or heaven by obeying them all perfectly or adequately. At Sinai, God also provided for Israel’s failure to keep the law, giving them the institution of sacrifice for the atonement of sin. Every sacrifice pointed to the perfect sacrifice offered by Jesus on the cross.

ii. These Ten Commandments can also be summarized as Jesus did, expressing the essence of the law is to love God with your whole being, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:35-40). This simplification doesn’t eliminate the Ten Commandments; it fulfills them, showing us the heart and desire of God for His people. The problem is that we haven’t kept the two commandments either, much less the ten.

iii. Jesus Christ was the only one to ever keep the law perfectly – either in the ten or the two. He never needed to sacrifice for His own sin, so could be the perfect sacrifice for sin. Wonderfully, His obedience is credited to those who put their love and trust in Him (Romans 8:2-3).

iv. For the believer under the new covenant, God’s law is a tutor (Galatians 3:22-25). Before God’s plan of salvation in Jesus Christ was fully evident, God’s people were kept under guard by the law – both in the sense of being bound by the law, but also held in protective custody. The law, through its revelation of God’s character and its exposure of sin, prepares people to come to Jesus – but after coming to Jesus in repentance and faith and receiving God’s gift through the new covenant, believers no longer live under the law as a tutor (though they remember the lessons taught to them).

v. From the perspective of the entire Bible, it can be said that the law of God has three great purposes and uses:

· It is a guardrail, keeping humanity on a moral path.

· It is a mirror, showing man his moral failure and need for a savior.

· It is a guide, showing the heart and desire of God for His people.

vi. Thompson on the Ten Commandments in the New Testament: “Jesus referred to them on various occasions (Matthew 5:21, 27, 33; Mark 12:29–31; Luke 10:27; 18:20) and they lie behind many statements in the Epistles (Romans 2:21-22; Galatians 5:19f.; Ephesians 4:28; 5:3; Hebrews 4:9; James 2:11, etc.).”

c. You shall have no other gods before Me: The first commandment logically flows from understanding who God is and what He has done for His people. Nothing is to come before God and He is the only God we worship and serve.

i. In the days of ancient Israel, there was a great temptation to worship the gods of materialism (Baal, the god of weather and financial success) and sex (Ashtoreth, the goddess of sex, romance, and reproduction), or any number of other local deities. We are tempted to worship the same gods, but without the old-fashioned names and images.

ii. “Other gods must not be brought into Yahweh’s company, for he exists alone as Israel’s God.” (Merrill)

d. No other gods before Me: This did not imply that it was allowed to have other gods if they lined up behind the true God. Instead, the idea is that there are to be no other gods before the sight of the true God in our lives. Before Me is literally, “to My face.” God would allow no rival gods. He alone must be worshipped.

i. Failure to obey this commandment is called idolatry. We are to flee idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14). Those lives marked by habitual idolatry will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:5, Revelation 21:8, 22:15). Idolatry is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), which marks our old life instead of the new (1 Peter 4:3), and we are not to associate with those who call themselves Christians who are idolaters (1 Corinthians 5:11).

2. (8-10) The second commandment, forbidding images used for idolatry.

‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

a. You shall not make for yourself a carved image: The second commandment also prohibited idolatry regarding false gods. In addition, it prohibited the representation of the true God, Yahweh, with any carved or created image for the purpose of worship.

b. Any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath: In that day as well as in our own, worship was tied closely with images – idealized images, or even images in the mind of man. God does not allow the making of any images for worship.

i. The second commandment didn’t forbid making an image of something for artistic purposes. God Himself commanded Israel to make images of cherubim (Exodus 25:18, 26:31). It forbade the making of images as an aid or a help to worship.

ii. “To countenance its image worship, the Roman Catholic Church has left the whole of this second commandment out of the decalogue, and thus lost one whole commandment out of the ten; but to keep up the number they have divided the tenth into two.” (Clarke)

iii. John 4:24 explains the rationale behind the second commandment: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. The use of images and other material things as a focus or “help” to worship denies who God is (Spirit) and how we must worship Him (in spirit and truth).

c. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God: God is jealous in the sense that He will not accept being merely added to our lives; He insists on being supreme and He does this out of love.

i. “‘Zealous’ might be a better translation in modern English, since ‘jealousy’ has acquired an exclusively bad meaning.” (Cole, commentary on Exodus 20)

d. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me: This does not mean God punishes us directly for the sins of our ancestors. The important words are of those who hate Me. If the descendants love God, they will not have the iniquity of the fathers visited on them.

i. “‘This necessarily implies – IF the children walk in the steps of their fathers; for no man can be condemned by Divine justice for a crime of which he was never guilty.” (Clarke)

ii. Yet, the focus here is on idolatry, and this refers to judgment on a national scale – nations that forsake the LORD will be judged, and that judgment will have effects throughout generations.

3. (11) The third commandment, forbidding the taking of God’s name in vain.

‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

a. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain: In ancient Near Eastern sorcery, it was common to use the name of a god in incantations. This was prohibited by this command, and there are at least three ways this command is commonly disobeyed.

· Profanity: Using the name of God in blasphemy and cursing.

· Frivolity: Using the name of God in a superficial, stupid way.

· Hypocrisy: Claiming the name of God but acting in a way that disgraces Him.

i. Jesus communicated the idea of this command in the disciples’ prayer when He taught us to have regard for the holiness of God’s name (Hallowed be Your name, Matthew 6:9).

b. For the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain: The strength of this command has led to strange traditions among the Jewish people. Some go to extreme lengths in attempting to fulfill this command, refusing to even write out the name of God, in the fear that the paper might be destroyed, and the name of God be written in vain.

i. “In the ancient world and in the thought of Israel the name was held to be part of the one who bore it and its use in the case of a deity was thought to bring the power of the deity to bear on a particular situation. Clearly a believing man might invoke the name of Yahweh, but the careless use of his name was forbidden.” (Thompson)

4. (12-15) The fourth commandment, to keep the Sabbath.

‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

a. Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: The command is to respect the seventh day (Saturday) as a day of rest (you shall do no work). This rest was for all of Israel – for the son and the servant and the stranger – even including cattle.

i. This is an important principle that might be too easily passed over. Here God declared the essential humanity and dignity of women, slaves, and strangers, and said they had the same right to a day of rest as the free Israelite man. This was a radical concept in the ancient world.

ii. The explanation Moses gave of the law here in Deuteronomy set special stress on the truth that the Sabbath was for the foreign-born slaves among Israel. Deuteronomy 5:15 (remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt) is not recorded in Exodus 20.

b. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt: This is the reason Moses gives for Israel’s Sabbath observance, while in the Exodus giving of the Ten Commandments the reason is rooted in the days of creation (Exodus 20:11). Both aspects are true; Sabbath marks God’s rest from His work of creation, and it celebrates redemption.

i. “It is arresting to observe that concerning the Sabbath the ground of the appeal is no longer God’s resting during creation but the people’s position as redeemed from Egypt’s bondage.” (Morgan)

ii. This progressive understanding of the meaning of the Sabbath continues in the New Testament concept of the Sabbath. The New Testament explains the Sabbath as an expression of the believer’s rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ on their behalf (Hebrews 4:1-7), and a commemoration of God’s greatest work of deliverance and redemption through the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week.

c. To keep it holy: God commanded Israel – and all humanity – to make sure that there was a sacred time in their life, a separated time of rest.

i. In their traditions, the Jewish people came to carefully quantify what they thought could and could not be done on the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For example, in Luke 6:1-2, in the mind of the Jewish leaders, the disciples were guilty of four violations of the Sabbath every time they took a bite of grain out in the field, because they reaped, threshed, winnowed, and prepared food.

ii. Ancient Rabbis taught that on the Sabbath, a man could not carry something in his right hand or in his left hand, across his chest or on his shoulder. But he could carry something with the back of his hand, his foot, his elbow, or in his ear, his hair, or in the hem of his shirt, or in his shoe or sandal. Also, on the Sabbath Israelites were forbidden to tie a knot – except, a woman could tie a knot in her girdle. So, if a bucket of water had to be raised from a well, an Israelite could not tie a rope to the bucket, but a woman could tie her girdle to the bucket and pull it up from the well.

iii. In observant Jewish homes today, one cannot turn on a light, a stove, or a switch on the Sabbath. It is forbidden to drive a certain distance or to make a telephone call – all carefully regulated by traditions seeking to spell out the law exactly.

d. Six days you shall labor: God established the pattern for the Sabbath at the time of creation. When He rested from His works on the seventh day (Exodus 20:11), God made the seventh day a day of rest from all our works (Genesis 2:3). It’s as if God said, having too much to do isn’t an excuse for not taking the rest you need – I created the universe and found time to rest from My work.

i. When God told them to observe the Sabbath, He told them to remember the rest. “The term ‘Sabbath’ is derived from the Hebrew verb ‘to rest or cease from work.’” (Kaiser) The most important purpose of the Sabbath was to serve as a preview picture of the rest we have in Jesus.

ii. Like everything in the Bible, we understand this with the perspective of the whole Bible, not this single passage. With this understanding, we see that there is a real sense in which Jesus fulfilled the purpose and plan of the Sabbath for us and in us (Hebrews 4:9-11) – He is our rest. When we remember His finished work we observe the Sabbath, we observe the rest.

iii. Therefore, the whole of Scripture makes it clear that under the new covenant, no one is under obligation to observe a Sabbath day (Colossians 2:16-17 and Galatians 4:9-11). Galatians 4:10 tells us that Christians are not bound to observe days and months and seasons and years. The rest we enter as Christians is something to experience every day, not just one day a week – the rest of knowing we don’t have to work to save ourselves, but our salvation is accomplished in Jesus (Hebrews 4:9-10).

iv. The Sabbath commanded here and observed by Israel was a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). In the new covenant the idea isn’t that there is no Sabbath, but that every day is a day of Sabbath rest in the finished work of God. Since the shadow of the Sabbath is fulfilled in Jesus, we are free to keep any particular day – or no day – as a Sabbath after the custom of ancient Israel.

v. Yet we dare not ignore the importance of a day of rest – God has built us so that we need one. Like a car that needs regular maintenance, we need regular rest – or we will not wear well. Some people are like high-mileage cars that haven’t been maintained well, and it shows.

vi. Some Christians are also dogmatic about observing Saturday as the Sabbath as opposed to Sunday. But because we are free to regard all days as given by God, it makes no difference. But in some ways, Sunday is more appropriate; being the day Jesus rose from the dead (Mark 16:9), and first met with His disciples (John 20:19), and a day when Christians gathered for fellowship (Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2). Under the law, men worked towards God’s rest; but after Jesus’ finished work on the cross, the believer enters rest and goes from that rest out to work.

vii. But we are also commanded to work six days (six days you shall labor). “He who idles his time away in the six days is equally culpable in the sight of God as he who works on the seventh.” (Clarke) Many Christians should give more “leisure time” to the work of the LORD. Every Christian should have a deliberate way to serve God and advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

5. (16) The fifth commandment, to honor father and mother.

‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

a. Honor your father and your mother: This command is wise and good because honor for parents is an essential building block for the stability and health of all society. If the younger generations are constantly at war with older generations, the foundations of society will be destroyed.

i. To honor one’s parents includes to prize them, to care for them, and to show respect or reverence to them. The command is given to children whatever their age.

ii. Jesus used the way the Pharisees interpreted this commandment as an example of how one might keep the law with a limited interpretation yet violate the spirit of the commandment (Matthew 15:3-6).

b. That your days may be long: In Ephesians 6:2 Paul repeated this command, emphasizing the promise stated here, that your days may be long. Rebellion is costly, and many have paid a high price personally for their rebellion against their parents.

6. (17) The sixth commandment, forbidding murder.

‘You shall not murder.

a. You shall not murder: Some people wonder how God can approve both capital punishment (Exodus 19:12) and this prohibition of murder. In Hebrew as well as in English there is a distinction between to kill and to murder. As opposed to killing, murder is the taking of life without legal justification (execution after due process) or moral justification (killing in defense).

i. The distinction between killing and murder is clear in the laws regarding the cities of refuge (Numbers 35:9-34, Deuteronomy 4:41-43).

ii. “The attempt to invoke this law as an argument for pacifism or for the abolition of the death penalty is based on a misunderstanding of verse 17.” (Thompson)

b. You shall not murder: Jesus carefully explained the heart of this commandment. He showed that it also prohibits us from hating someone else (Matthew 5:21-26), because we can wish someone dead in our hearts, yet never have the nerve to commit the deed. Someone may not kill due to a lack of courage or initiative, yet his or her heart is filled with hatred.

7. (18) The seventh commandment, forbidding adultery.

‘You shall not commit adultery.

a. You shall not commit adultery: Clearly, the act itself is condemned. God allows no justification for the ways that many often seek to justify extra-marital sex. It is not to be done, and when it is done it is sin and it causes damage.

i. Because there are different punishments for adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22) and the seduction of a virgin woman (Exodus 22:16-17, Deuteronomy 22:23-29), adultery is distinguished from pre-marital sex in the Old Testament. Each is wrong, but wrong in different ways.

ii. Merrill explains why there is not specific mention of other sexual sins in the Ten Commandments: “Elsewhere such matters as fornication (Num 25:1), prostitution (Deut 22:21), and homosexuality (Judg 19:22; Lev 18:22; Deut 23:17–18) receive attention and are soundly condemned. Adultery, however, implies unfaithfulness, covenant breaking, and so is an apt analogue to covenant infidelity on a higher plane – the divine-human.”

b. You shall not commit adultery: The New Testament clearly condemns adultery: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication uncleanness, lewdness (Galatians 5:19). The act is condemned, but not only the act itself.

i. More than the act itself, Jesus carefully explained the heart of this commandment. It prohibits us from looking at a woman to lust for her, where we commit adultery in our heart or mind, yet may not have the courage or opportunity to do the act (Matthew 5:27-30). We aren’t innocent just because we don’t have the opportunity to sin the way we really want to.

8. (19) The eighth commandment, forbidding stealing.

‘You shall not steal.

a. You shall not steal: This command is another important foundation for human society, establishing the right to personal property. God has clearly entrusted certain possessions to certain individuals, and other people or states are not permitted to take that property without due process of law.

i. “Both here and elsewhere all thievery is condemned in the OT as well as in the NT. The right to personal property is basic to the whole Mosaic economy. The word ganaḇ (‘to steal’) reoccurs in Deuteronomy only in 24:7 in relation to kidnapping – a particularly serious violation of the eighth commandment, because it resulted in slavery.” (Kalland)

b. You shall not steal: We can also steal from God. Of course, this demands we honor God with our financial resources, so we are not guilty of robbing Him (Malachi 3:8-10). But we can also rob God by refusing to give Him ourselves for obedience and His service, because He bought us and owns us: knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold…but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).

c. You shall not steal: Ephesians 4:28 gives the solution to stealing. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

9. (20) The ninth commandment, forbidding lying, especially as legal testimony.

‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

a. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor: The primary sense of this command has to do with the legal process. Yet it is common to speak in an informal court, where what we say is taken seriously and truth or error matters for us and for others.

i. In an extended sense, we can break the ninth commandment through slander, tale-bearing, creating false impressions, by silence, by questioning the motives behind someone’s actions, or even by flattery.

ii. “Slander…is a lie invented and spread with intent to do harm. That is the worst form of injury a person can do to another. Compared to one who does this, a gangster is a gentleman, and a murderer is kind, because he ends life in a moment with a stroke and with little pain. But the man guilty of slander ruins a reputation which may never be regained, and causes lifelong suffering.” (Redpath)

iii. “Talebearing…is repeating a report about a person without careful investigation. Many, many times I have known what it is to suffer with that. To repeat a story which brings discredit and dishonor to another person without making sure of the facts, is breaking this commandment.… How many people, especially Christian people, revel in this, and delight in working havoc by telling tales about others. To excuse the action by saying they believed the report to be true, or that there was no intention to malign, is no justification.” (Redpath)

iv. Inappropriate silence may also break this command. “When someone utters a falsity about another and a third person is present who knows that statement to be untrue but, for reasons of fear or being disliked, remains quiet, that third person is as guilty of breaking this law as if he had told a lie.” (Redpath)

v. “If one has evidence of a public charge against anyone and withholds that evidence, ‘he will be held responsible’ (Lev 5:1). Upholding the truth was important in Israel.” (Kalland)

b. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor: The New Testament puts it simply. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds (Colossians 3:9). Lying and false representations belong to the old man, not to the new life believers have in Jesus Christ.

i. “How very strange that we have ever come to think that Christian maturity is shown by the ability to speak our minds, whereas it is really expressed in controlling our tongues.” (Redpath)

ii. “What a startling revelation it would be if a tape recording could be played of all that every church member has said about his fellow members in one week!” (Redpath)

iii. Satan always has an interest in encouraging lies (John 8:44; Acts 5:3), and Jesus Himself was the victim of false witness (Mark 14:57). In some ways, we might say this was the sin that sent Jesus to the cross.

10. (21) The tenth commandment, forbidding covetousness of all kinds.

‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’

a. You shall not covet: All the first nine commands focus more on things that are done, actions that are performed. The tenth command deals with the heart and its desires.

i. “The remarkable thing about this tenth and final statute is that it raises the issue of sin and disobedience from the level of mere act to that of attitude, thought, and desire.” (Merrill)

ii. Literally, the word for covet here means, “to pant after.” Covetousness works like this: the eyes look upon an object, the mind admires it, the will goes over to it, and the body moves in to possess it. Just because the final step has not yet been taken does not mean one is not in the process of coveting in the immediate moment.

b. Your neighbor’s wife…house…field: Covetousness can be expressed towards all sorts of things; it is the itch to have and to possess what someone else has. It speaks of dissatisfaction with what we have and jealousy towards those who have something “better.”

i. Hebrews 13:5 puts it well: Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

ii. This last commandment is closely connected with the first commandment against idolatry: For this you know, that no…covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (Ephesians 5:5).

iii. Jesus gave a special warning about covetousness, which explained the core philosophy of the covetous heart: And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15)

iv. Compared to the Exodus 20 giving of the Ten Commandments, here Moses added his field to the items that one must not covet. Moses had their inheritance of land in Canaan on his mind.

v. “The prohibition against coveting a neighbor’s land would have no meaning if family rights in marriage ties, domestic tranquility, and property ownership did not exist.” (Kalland)

C. The response of Israel and the response of God at Mount Sinai.

1. (22-27) The response of Israel: fear and desire to separate from God.

“These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

“So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said: ‘Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? You go near and hear all that the LORD our God may say, and tell us all that the LORD our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’

a. In the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice: The whole scene was indeed awesome. The LORD spoke, there was fire, a cloud, thick darkness, a loud voice; and it all made such an impression on Israel that they asked Moses to not have God speak to them so directly anymore (Exodus 20:19).

i. Why should we die? …. if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die makes it plain. The Mount Sinai experience was not one of sweet fellowship with God. The message of Mount Sinai was not “come to Me,” but “stay away, for I am holy, and you are not.”

ii. This is the message of the writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews 12:18-24: We, under the new covenant, have not come to Mount Sinai and to the message “stay away.” We have come to Mount Zion, where God’s message is “come unto Me.”

iii. Two tablets: “The fact that they were inscribed on two stone tablets (4:13) suggests to many scholars that some of the commandments were contained on one tablet and the rest on the second. Others, however, maintain, in line with covenant practice, that all ten were engraved on each. That is, they were duplicates with each party to the covenant retaining a copy for his own archives.” (Merrill)

b. Tell us all that the LORD our God says to you, and we will hear and do it: Though perhaps Israel was too confident in their ability to obey God, they had a desire to hear and do what God said.

i. “And indeed it is still the work of the law to scare men, and to drive them to seek for a Mediator.” (Trapp)

2. (28-33) God responds with hopeful pleasure in Israel.

“Then the LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’

“Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

a. They are right in all that they have spoken: God was pleased with Israel’s response. Their response was evidence that they took Him seriously.

b. Oh, that they had such a heart: The sense is that God was pleased by what He saw in Israel, but desired that Israel would keep the same attitude of heart.

i. “Here is a sigh from the Divine heart. It recalls the tears of the Lord Jesus over Jerusalem…. God wants the heart.” (Meyer)

ii. Such a heart: “The deepest fact therein, and the one most powerful in producing results, is not that of the intelligence or the mind; it is that of the desire or heart. A man becomes that which he really desires.” (Morgan)

c. That it might be well with them and their children forever: This was God’s motive in calling for Israel’s obedience – that it might be well with them. Every command of God is rooted in love for His people, not a mere desire for control, or the desire to inflict harm on His people.

i. “The best interests of his people are deep in the heart of God. This view of divine compassion shows how the Lord’s love focuses on what is best for his people.” (Kalland)

d. Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you: Knowing the glory of God (as revealed at Mount Sinai) and the love of God (as revealed by His desire that it might be well with them), gave them even more reason to obey God.

i. When God’s people have trouble obeying God, they often either forget His glory, or they forget His love for them. Sometimes they forget both.

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