Deuteronomy 5:29

_O THAT THERE WERE SUCH AN HEART IN THEM, THAT THEY WOULD FEAR ME, AND KEEP ALL MY COMMANDMENTS ALWAYS, THAT IT MIGHT BE WELL WITH THEM, AND WITH THEIR CHILDREN FOR EVER!_ O that there were such an heart in them! God can bestow such a heart, and has promised to give it wherever it is asked (Jeremiah 32:40). But the wish which is here expressed on the part of for the piety and steadfast obedience of the Israelites, did not relate to them as individuals so much as a nation whose religious character and progress would have a mighty influence on the world at large....

29._O that there were such an heart in them. _God signifies that they would not be so firm and faithful in keeping their promises, as they were ready and willing to make them; and thus that hypocrisy was not altogether banished, or purged from their minds. Moreover, He figuratively (improprie) assumes a human feeling, because it would be vain and absurd for Him to desire what it was in His power to confer. Certainly He has the power of bending and directing men’s hearts whithersoever He pleases. Why, then, does He wish that it were given to the people from some other quarter, that they should be always kept in the path of duty, except that, speaking in the character of a man, He shows that it was rather to be wished than hoped that the people would constantly persevere in their fidelity? Wherefore this and similar passages have been ignorantly abused by some, to establish man’s free will...

23-33 Moses refers to the consternation caused by the terror with which the law was given. God's appearances have always been terrible to man, ever since the fall; but Christ, having taken away sin, invites us to come boldly to the throne of grace. They were in a good mind, under the strong convictions of the word they heard. Many have their consciences startled by the law who have them not purified; fair promises are extorted from them, but no good principles are fixed and rooted in them. God commended what they said. He desires the welfare and salvation of poor sinners. He has given abundant proof that he does so; he gives us time and space to repent. He has sent his Son to redeem us, promised his Spirit to those who pray for him, and has declared that he has no pleasure in the ruin of sinners. It would be well with many, if there were always such a heart in them, as there seems to be...

Verse Deuteronomy 5:29. _O THAT THERE WERE SUCH A HEART IN THEM_] Or rather, מי יתן והיה לבבם זה _mi yitten vehayah lebabam zeh_, _Who will give_ _such a heart to them, that they may fear_, c. They refuse to receive such a heart from _me_ who then can supply it? If they had not been such perfectly free agents as could either use or abuse their liberty, could God have made the complaint or expressed the earnest desire we find in this verse? He made the human will _free_; and in spite of all the influence of sin and Satan, he preserves its _liberty_. Had man no free will, he could neither be _punished_ nor _rewarded_, because a _mere machine_, and consequently no more accountable for his actions than the fire for its consuming quality, or the stone for its _gravity_; the one having burned the house of the righteous, the other ha...

These verses contain a much fuller narrative of the events briefly described in Exodus 20:18. Here it is important to call attention to the fact that it was on the entreaties of the people that Moses had taken on him to be the channel of communication between God and them. God approved Deuteronomy 5:28 the request of the people, because it showed a feeling of their own unworthiness to enter into direct communion with God. The terrors of Sinai had done their work; they had awakened the consciousness of sin....

EXPOSITION THE DECALOGUE THE BASIS OF THE COVENANT, THE ESSENCE OF THE WHOLE LAW, AND THE CONDITION OF LIFE AND FELICITY. DEUTERONOMY 5:1 Moses reminds them of the making of the covenant at Horeb, and of the revelation of the fundamental law of the covenant there. As he was about to recapitulate the laws which God their King had enacted, it was fitting that he should refer at the outset to that covenant relation between Jehovah and Israel on which all the injunctions of the Law rested....

O THAT THERE WERE SUCH AN HEART IN THEM,.... Not that there is properly speaking such volitions and wishes in God; but, as Aben Ezra observes, the Scripture speaks after the language of the children of men; and may be considered as upbraiding them with want of such an heart, and with weakness to do what they had promised; and, at most, as approving of those things they spoke of as grateful to him, and profitable to them: the words may be rendered, "who will give l that they had such an heart"; not to me, but to them, as Aben Ezra notes; they cannot give it to themselves, nor can any creature give it to them; none but God can, and therefore they ought to have prayed to him to give them an heart to hearken and do; agreeably to which is the Arabic version, "it is to be wished by them, that such an heart would continue with them;'' which they by their language signified was in them: that t...

FEAR (_ See Scofield) - (Psalms 19:9). _...

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

O THAT, &C. Figure of speech (_Eeonismos_. App-6. ALWAYS. every day, or all the days....