Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Deuteronomy-Chapter 5

Deut 5.1-33 tells us that Moses repeats the same words that the voice spoke on the mountain. The Ten Commandments are the foundation of the covenant; God said he added no more to these words, which rules out an Oral Law or fences; Moses shows them the law and the people agree to hear and obey the commands.

v 1…Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear (and obey), O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking to you today in your hearing, that you may learn them (knowledge is required) and observe (do) them carefully (these are the stipulations of the covenant).

v 2…The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

v 3…The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), but with us, with all those of us alive here today.

v 4…The Lord spoke to you face to face (so you know) at the mountain from the midst of the fire,

v 5…while I was standing between the Lord and you (as mediator and friend of the bridegroom who brought the bride to the husband-Gal 3.19) at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the mountain and did not go up the mountain (a breakdown in faith-Exo 20.18), he said,

v 6…’I am the Lord (I am Yehovah) your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

v 7…You shall have no other gods (powers) before me.

v 8…You shall not make for yourself an idol, any likeness of what is in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

v 9…You shall not worship them of serve them, for I, the Lord (Yehovah) your God, am a jealous (zealous) God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers (in judgment) on the children, and on the third and fourth generation of those who hate me (Exo 20.5);

v 10…but showing lovingkindness to thousands (at least 2000; so if you divide the fourth generation into 2000, God’s grace is at least 500 times greater than judgment), to those who love me (love is action) and keep my commandments (John 14.15).

v 11…You shall not take the name of the Lord (Yehovah) in vain (false oaths in words and actions, behavior) for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain.

v 12…Observe (Moses is emphasizing the observance of the commands-5.1) the sabbath day to keep it holy (it has a kedusha from the rest of the week), as the Lord your God commanded you.

v 13…Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

v 14…but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work (business, occupation), you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner (Ger Ha Sha’ar-in the land) who stays with you, so that your male and female servant may rest as well as you.

v 15…And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord Yor God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched are; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

v 16…Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged , and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you.

v 17…You shall not murder.

v 18…You shall not commit adultery.

v 19…You shall not steal.

v 20…You shall not bear false witness (same Hebrew word for “vain” in v 11 used here) against your neighbor..

v 21…You shall not covet (I want that; that’s how sin starts) your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his manservant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

v 22…These words the Lord spoke to your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice and he added no more (no Oral Laws or fences were added). And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

v 23…And it came about then 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.

v 24…And you said, ‘Behold (see), the Lord our God has shown us his glory and and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.

v 25…Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we shall die.

v 26…For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking form the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

v 27…Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says to you, then speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we shall hear and do it (Moses showed them the Torah and they said this; Jam 1.22-27, 2.12 says the same thing).’

v 28…And 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 have done well in all that they have spoken.

v 29…Oh that they had such a heart (desire) in them, that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever (after this they engaged in the Golden Calf incident)!

v 30…Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.”

v 31…But as for you, stand here by me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess (this gave rise to the function of a prophet-Exo 20.19; Deut 18.15-22).

v 32…So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left (to deviate and avoid them).

v 33…You shall walk in all the way (the first century believers were called “The Way” because they had a Torah-based faith in Yeshua-Acts 9.2; 19.9, 23; 22.4; 24.24, 22) 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.”

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*