Deuteronomy 4:44

_AND THIS IS THE LAW WHICH MOSES SET BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL:_ This is the law which Moses set. This is a preface to the rehearsal of the law, which, with the addition of various explanatory circumstances, the following chapters contain....

44._And this is the Law. _This last passage refers to the same thing, viz., that the Law was promulgated anew when the people had now reached the threshold of the promised land, in order that they might be more disposed to obedience, especially when the two tribes and a half had now, by the conquest of the Amorites, obtained a resting-place and a home; for this is the reason why their habitation is mentioned, because the taste of the favor already received ought to stir up their zeal to proceed more cheerfully. We shall elsewhere remark on the country and names of places. It is sufficient here to recollect, that the memory of the Law was renewed, after their inheritance without the promised land had been obtained by the sons of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, and when their assured possession was before the eyes of the rest. But Moses shews that, although he might explain...

41-49 Here is the introduction to another discourse, or sermon, Moses preached to Israel, which we have in the following chapters. He sets the law before them, as the rule they were to work by, the way they were to walk in. He sets it before them, as the glass in which they were to see their natural face, that, looking into this perfect law of liberty, they might continue therein. These are the laws, given when Israel was newly come out of Egypt; and they were now repeated. Moses gave these laws in charge, while they encamped over against Beth-peor, an idol place of the Moabites. Their present triumphs were a powerful argument for obedience. And we should understand our own situation as sinners, and the nature of that gracious covenant to which we are invited. Therein greater things are shown to us than ever Israel saw from mount Sinai; greater mercies are given to us than they experien...

These verses would be more properly assigned to the next chapter. They are intended to serve as the announcement and introduction of the address now to be commenced. Deuteronomy 4:44 gives a kind of general title to the whole of the weighty address, including in fact the central part and substance of the book, which now follows in 22 chapters, divided into two groups: (a) Deut. 5–11, (b) Deut. 12–26. The address was delivered when they had already received the first-fruits of those promises Deuteronomy 4:46, the full fruition of which was to be consequent on their fulfillment of that covenant now again about to be rehearsed to them in its leading features....

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

AND THIS IS THE LAW WHICH MOSES SET BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. Not the law concerning the cities of refuge, but the law of the ten commands repeated in the following chapter; so Jarchi remarks, "this which he should set in order after this section;'' as he does in the next chapter, where he repeats in order the ten precepts, and makes observations on the manner of the delivery of them, and urges obedience to them....

II. THE EXPOSITION OF THE LAW, EXHORTATIONS AND WARNINGS, BLESSING AND CURSE 1. The Proclamation of the Decalogue Chapter S 4:44-5:33 _ 1. The introductory words (Deuteronomy 4:44)_ 2. The law proclaimed (Deuteronomy 5:1) 3. Moses, the mediator (Deuteronomy 5:22) First a general announcement is given of the discourse on the law. The fact is emphasized, that it was set before them after they came forth out of Egypt. Then the victories over Sihon and Og are mentioned once more and that they now possessed their land. Why this repetition? It was to remind them of the goodness and faithfulness of Jehovah, whose law they were about to hear expounded. It was to be

THIS: i.e. which hereafter followeth. The commencement of the new section according to the Structure. CHILDREN. sons....

_And this is the law_ So too Sam.; LXX, Vg. and Pesh. omit _and_. A slight symptom of the fact that this title once stood at the very beginning of an edition of D, the conjunction having been added when other matter was prefixed to it. On _law, Tôrah_, see Deuteronomy 1:5; Deuteronomy 31:1, etc. _set before_ Heb. _sam liphne_instead of the synonymous _nathan liphne_usual in D. _children of Israel_ Heb. _bne Yisra'el_. So E, Deuteronomy 10:6; JE (?), Deuteronomy 31:19; Deuteronomy 3

LESSON FIVE DEUTERONOMY 4:44 TO DEUTERONOMY 6:3 II. THE SECOND DISCOURSE The Law of God (Deuteronomy 4:44 to Deuteronomy 26:19) INTRODUCTION (Deuteronomy 4:44-49) POSITION OF ISRAEL; SUMMARY OF CONQUESTS 44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: 45 these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt, 46beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the l