Deuteronomy 4:25

_WHEN THOU SHALT BEGET CHILDREN, AND CHILDREN'S CHILDREN, AND YE SHALL HAVE REMAINED LONG IN THE LAND, AND SHALL CORRUPT YOURSELVES, AND MAKE A GRAVEN IMAGE, OR THE LIKENESS OF ANY THING, AND SHALL DO EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD THY GOD, TO PROVOKE HIM TO ANGER:_ When ... ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves. The condition on which the grant of Canaan was given to them was their continued obedience to the principles of the Mosaic law; and the moment that these should be abandoned through a general national apostasy, their title to that land would be forfeited....

25._When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children_. Although at the outset he only adverts to idolatry, yet, inasmuch as he thence takes occasion to inveigh generally against the transgressors of the Law, and denounces punishment against them, I have thought it advisable to introduce this passage amongst the Sanctions (of the Law.) He had already strictly forbidden them to turn aside to idols; he now requires this instruction to be handed down to their grand-children and their whole race; as though he had said, that they must continue faithfully in the pure worship of God, not only lest they should deprive themselves of entering the land of Canaan, but also lest, after having long enjoyed quiet possession of it, they should be expelled from it. For long possession might have hardened their minds in security and arrogance, as if they had no change to fear. Lest, therefore, as ti...

24-40 Moses urged the greatness, glory, and goodness of God. Did we consider what a God he is with whom we have to do, we should surely make conscience of our duty to him, and not dare to sin against him. Shall we forsake a merciful God, who will never forsake us, if we are faithful unto him? Whither can we go? Let us be held to our duty by the bonds of love, and prevailed with by the mercies of God to cleave to him. Moses urged God's authority over them, and their obligations to him. In keeping God's commandments they would act wisely for themselves. The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. Those who enjoy the benefit of Divine light and laws, ought to support their character for wisdom and honour, that God may be glorified thereby. Those who call upon God, shall certainly find him within call, ready to give an answer of peace to every prayer of faith. All these statutes and judgments of...

Compare with these verses Leviticus 26:33, and Deuteronomy 28:64 ff....

EXPOSITION DEUTERONOMY 4:25-5 Moses enforces the warning against idolatry, by predicting the evil that should come upon the nation through the apostasy of those who should in after times turn from Jehovah to strange gods. When they should have begotten children and children's children, and had been long in the land, _i_._e_._ _when in after years a generation should arise that had not known the things they had seen, or had forgotten them (Deuteronomy 4:9), and the nation should then become wanton and corrupt, and fall into idolatry (cf. Deuteronomy 6:10, etc.; D

WHEN THOU SHALL BEGET CHILDREN, AND CHILDREN'S CHILDREN,.... Children and grandchildren, and several ages and generations have passed: AND SHALT HAVE REMAINED LONG IN THE LAND; many years and even ages, or have grown old h in it: now they were in their infancy, and as such they were about to enter into it; during the times of the judges, they were in their childhood, or youth; in the times of David and Solomon, they were in their manhood; after that, in their decline; and in the times of Jeconiah and his brethren in their old age, when for their sins they were carried captive: AND SHALL CORRUPT YOURSELVES, AND MAKE A GRAVEN IMAGE, OR THE LIKENESS OF ANYTHING; Deuteronomy 25:16. AND SHALL DO EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD THY GOD, TO PROVOKE HIM TO ANGER; that sin of idolatry, that God provoking sin, is chiefly intended....

3. HEARKEN, O ISRAEL! CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Obedience demanded (Deuteronomy 4:1)_ 2. The covenant to be observed (Deuteronomy 4:9) 3. Take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget (Deuteronomy 4:15) 4. The warning (Deuteronomy 4:25) 5. Israel, the chosen nation (Deuteronomy 4:32) “Now therefore hearken, O Israel” marks the beginning of the exhortation to keep the law of the Lord. First he had shown the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord and upon that Moses admonishes them to

SECOND PART OF MOSES-' FIRST ADDRESS. This contains exhortations to obedience from motives of self-interest and of gratitude to Yahweh, and forms an apparent logical unity with Deuteronomy 1:6 to Deuteronomy 3:29: but the two pieces had probably a separate origin. The lessons in Deuteronomy 4:1 are not drawn immediately from chs. 1- 3. The writer of 1- 3 has in mind the events which followed the departure from Horeb: that of Deuteronomy 4:1 concentrates attention upon the theophany on Horeb. Deuteronomy 4:27 see

_When thou shalt beget … and ye shall have been_ Read, _ye shall beget_. The sentence illustrates the difficulties raised by the variant forms of address. So quick a change from Sg. to Pl., confirmed by LXX (though Sam. has Pl. for both verbs), is logically possible (_thou_= the mother nation; _ye_= the nation and its children). Yet the Sg. is more probably due to the attraction of the previous Sg., a copyist naturally continuing the latter till the changed form arrested him. For _thy God_both Sam. and LXX read _your God_. Thus the Pl. is complete throughout 25 28. The word for _beget_only here, Deuteronomy 27:1 and in P. _ye shall have been long_ Or _grown old_or _stale_, used of _old_corn, Leviticus 26:10, and inveterate leprosy,...

I MUST NOT GO OVER THE JORDAN (Deuteronomy 4:22)See under Deuteronomy 1:37. c. PUNISHMENT FOR IDOLATRY: BANISHMENT FROM THE LAND (Deuteronomy 4:25-28) 25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of any thing, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, to provoke him to anger; 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27 And Jehovah will scatter you among the peopl