Deuteronomy 5

CHAPTER 5THEME: Moses restates and interprets the LawThis is now the second oration of Moses. It is a restating of the Law, and the emphasis is still on love and obedience. In chapters 5-7 we will find a repetition and interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The generation that had originally heard the Law at Mount Sinai is now deadtheir bones are bleaching out there on the desert. This new generation, the Israel that is going into the land, needs to have the Law restated and also interpreted for them. Moses will interpret this in the light of the forty years of experience in the wilderness. Some of you will say that this is a duplicate of chapter 20 of Exodus. Well, it is almost a duplicate. This shows that the Ten Commandments are important enough to repeat. They are basic, moral laws.

Deuteronomy 5:1

Here are the four important steps we are to take in relation to the Word of God. The first is to hear it. The second is to learn it, to become acquainted with what God is saying. The third is to keep it. That means to have the Word of God down in your heart. Remember how David spoke of this fact: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psa_119:11). The fourth is to do it. Not only should the Word of God be in your head and in your heart, but it should get down there where your feet and hands are. You hear, as I do, a great many people say that they live by the Ten Commandments, and that’s their religion. If you quiz such people, as I have done several times, you will find that what they really mean is they have voted for themthat is, they have heard them and they think they are good. But they certainly are not keeping them and are not obeying them. The Law actually is like a plumb line to determine the verticality of a crooked wall. The Law is a mirror that is held up to the heart. It is a headlight on a car to show the way into the darkness and to reveal the curves ahead. God makes it very clear that He is not saving men through the keeping of a moral code. There is nothing wrong with the moral code, the Law, but there is something radically wrong with us. Paul states this in Gal_2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” No one is justified by the Law. Why not? Because no one can do the works of the Law. “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator” (Gal_3:19). It is logical to ask what the purpose of the Law is. The answer is that it was added because of (or for the sake of) transgressions, until the time when the Seed should come. That is, it was temporary until the Seed should come, and that Seed is Christ. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Gal_3:24-25).

The Law served as a schoolmaster, a servant to take us by the hand and bring us to the Cross, just as the schoolmaster brought the child to school. The Law brings us to the Cross and says, “Little fellow, you are a sinner and you need a Savior.” The purpose of the Law is to show us our need for a Savior. The Law is good, friends; there is no doubt about that. The Law reveals the mind of God. The Law reveals how far short you and I come of the glory of God. The Law reveals that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom_3:23).

Put this Law down on your life and let it bring you to Christ.

Deuteronomy 5:2

God did not give the Law to them down in Egypt. The Law was not given until they were out in the wilderness at Horeb, which is Mount Sinai. The Law was given to the nation Israel.

Deuteronomy 5:4

You see, Israel was in a land of idolatry when they lived in Egypt, and Israel lived in an age of idolatry.

Deuteronomy 5:7

Man’s first sin was not to become an atheist; his sin was to become a polytheist. He worshiped many gods. For example, at the tower of Babel, men built a ziggurat, a tower. On the top of this they offered sacrifices, apparently to the sun. The sun and the planets were some of the first objects men worshiped when they turned away from God. After the Flood, they certainly were not worshiping thunder and lightning, because they feared them.

They worshiped the sun, the creation rather than the Creator. It was for the polytheist that God said, “Thou shalt have none other gods before me.” It was not until the time of David that atheism came in. Earlier than that, men were too close to the mooring mast of revelation to be atheists. The revelation of God was still in their memory, and no one was denying the existence of God. In David’s day it was the fool who “…said in his heart, There is no God” (Psa_14:1). That word fool means “insane.” A man who says there is no God is insane or else he is not sincere.

This first commandment does not even mention a disbelief in the existence of God, it prohibits the worship of many gods.

Deuteronomy 5:8

There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who hate God and those who love Him. He goes into detail when He forbids the making of any likeness of anything that could be worshiped. Later on God will say, “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” [Deu_6:5]. The Lord Jesus says that this is the greatest commandment. Over against that is the great company of those who hate God even today. Today many people maintain that they do not worship an idol at all. Yet Paul tells us in Eph_5:5 that covetousness is idolatry. Anything that you give yourself to, anything that stands between you and God, becomes your god. You say you have no idol? To some people, their bankbook is their god. Other people worship the golf club. Others may let a child or a grandchild become their idol. The television screen can become your idol. Anything that takes first place in your heart is your idol.

Deuteronomy 5:11

Remember that when Paul shows that all mankind is sinful, he writes, “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” (Rom_3:14). All you have to do is walk down the street today or be in any public place and you will hear the people with foul mouths. I wonder if there ever have been so many foul-mouthed, dirty-minded folk as there are at the present time. God hates it. God says He will not hold guiltless those who take His name in vain. A friend of mine challenged me one day and said it wasn’t fair to say that man’s mouth is full of cursing. I asked him to do a little experiment with me. I suggested we stand on the street corner and hit the first man who came alonghit him in the mouth to see what would come out. My friend, you know what would come out! The first three commandments are negative; now we come to a positive commandment.

Deuteronomy 5:12

The very interesting thing is that all of the commandments are repeated in the New Testament with the exception of the commandment about the Sabbath Day. Why? Because the Sabbath was not given to the church. The church has always met on the first day of the week, the day on which Christ rose from the dead. The Sabbath day has a peculiar relation to the nation Israel. Back in the Book of Exodus, God said, “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you” (Exo_31:13). The Sabbath was given to Israel. It is of interest to notice that in Exodus 20 the children of Israel were told to observe the Sabbath because in six days God had created the heavens and the earth. Here in Deuteronomy the Sabbath is to show the peculiar relationship between God and the children of Israel. Why was the Israelite to keep the Sabbath Day? Because he had been a slave in Egypt, and God had brought him out by His great power. These commandments have been concerned with duty toward God. Now we come to the section concerning duty toward man.

Deuteronomy 5:16

I believe this commandment is related to duty toward God and man. The father and mother stand in the place of God to the little one who is growing up. The little one looks up to the father and the mother, and that is the way it should be. “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (Pro_1:8). Father and Mother are to stand in the place of God while their children are small. Now as these people are going into the land promised to them, they are to honor their father and their mother. A nation that does not observe this commandment will not be blessed. This very thing is a great problem in America right now, although I realize full well that not all fathers and mothers are worthy of this respect. God has something to say to parents also: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph_6:4). Both commandments go together.

Deuteronomy 5:17

The word for “kill” here is a very technical word, the Hebrew ratsach, and it means to murder. Thou shalt not murder. This is personal. This word has in it the thought of premeditated killing, of anger and of personal grievance. This has nothing to do with warwe will read a little later on that God tells these people to destroy their enemy in the land. This commandment does not apply to a soldier under the orders of war.

A young man told me a few years ago that he did not want to go to Vietnam. He said, “I’m not angry at anyone over there. I don’t want to go over there to kill.” I answered that it was a good thing he was not angry with someone over there. If that were the case, and he went to seek that person out in order to kill him, he would be guilty of murder. We will speak more of this when we talk about our duty to government. The sixth commandment was not intended for a serviceman in combat.

Deuteronomy 5:18

We live in a sex-mad age. Every conceivable product is advertised by sex. It is around us on every hand. God’s commandment still stands today. Thou shalt not commit adultery. This is one of the great sins that is pulling our nation down today.

Deuteronomy 5:19

It is true there are many people who can say that they never held up a supermarket or a bank, yet there can be the desire to steal in the heart. Our Lord taught that the very thoughts of our heart are sinful. Hatred in the heart makes one guilty of murder. Lust in the heart makes one guilty of adultery.

Deuteronomy 5:20

The command against covetousness shows that it is a sin just to feel an excessive desire for what belongs to another. Moses rehearses for this younger generation the tremendous experience of receiving the Law directly from God.

Deuteronomy 5:23

It was such a terrifying experience that they wanted Moses to get the message from the Lord and relay it to them:

Deuteronomy 5:27

The children of Israel promised to keep the Law, but they did not do it. Listen now to God’s heart-cry for His people:

Deuteronomy 5:29

The problem was that the nation failed to keep the Law. These people were under favorable conditions, living in the land promised to themthe Law was given for that land as well as that peoplebut they were unable to keep the Law. That should be a lesson to us. Just as they were unable to keep it so you and I are unable to keep it. The Law is a mirror held up to us. We are to look in it, and it will reveal to each of us that we are sinners. The mirror in the bathroom will show the smudge spot on the face, but the mirror won’t wash off that spot. The Law can show us our sin, but it cannot save us. In no way can the mirror remove the smudge spot. We must come to the basin and wash it away. The Law is the mirror that tells us to start washing. It tells us to come to Christ. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, that will wash us and keep on cleansing us from all sin. William Cowper wrote, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.” The important thing is not whether you approve of the Ten Commandments or what you think of them; the important question, my friend is: Have you kept them? If you are honest, you know that you haven’t measured up. That means you need a Savior. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa_1:18). When you come to Christ, He forgives you and cleanses you from all unrighteousness. Then you stand spotless before Him.