| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
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| 1 This, then, is the commandment,–[namely] the statutes and the regulations, which Yahweh your God hath commanded, to teach you,–that ye may do them in the land whither ye are passing over to possess it: |
And the judgments – Decisions as to right and wrong. R4051:1
To teach you – "They are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world (the present evil world) are come." (1 Cor. 10:11)--the very object of their R1850:2
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| 2 that thou mayest revere Yahweh thy God, [so as] to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I am commanding thee, thou, and thy son and thy sons' son, all the days of thy life,–and that thy days may be prolonged. |
Fear the LORD – Perfect love casteth out slavish, but not reverential fear. R2986:6, R4051:2
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| 3 Therefore shalt thou hear, O Israel, and shalt observe to do, that it may be well with thee, and that ye may multiply greatly, as Yahweh the God of thy fathers hath spoken to thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey. |
May be well – The promises to fleshly Israel were earthly promises. R4051:3
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| 4 Hear, O Israel: Yahweh, is our God,–Yahweh alone. |
The LORD – Jehovah, not a general name but a proper name, the distinctive personal name of the Almighty Father. Like other proper names, it should not be translated. R1410:6
Our God – The word "god" signifies mighty one, but not always the All-Mighty One. R1410:2
Is one LORD – There is but one God, and he has not three names, but one--Jehovah. R4051:5; E41; CR289:3
Our Roman Catholic friends make many gods--the Father, Son, holy Spirit, Mary, and all the apostles and saints; and the Protestants, contrary to Scripture, declare we have three Gods in one or one God in three persons. R4051:4
The Jew rejects the doctrine of the Trinity as an absurdity. OV113:3
Jehovah, self-centered and self-contained, changes not. SM483:4
Scientifically proved by the unity of material, force, government and moral law throughout the universe. R3861:2*
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| 5 Thou shalt therefore love Yahweh thy God,–with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might; |
Thou shalt love – Not dread, fear or tremble. R5521:3
"Love is the fulfilling of the law." (Rom. 13:10) A246
Failure to love God and neighbor results in the time of trouble as a natural consequence. A309
The spiritual Israelite is obliged to live up to everything in the spirit that the Jew was commanded to do in the flesh. Q449:3
Love leads us to do all things in his Word. R5359:6
A law based upon justice. R5072:2
The law the whole world will be under during the Millennial age. Q172:T
The spirit of the Decalogue is today recognized as the very best statement of human obligation. OV10:1; SM380:T
The LORD – Jehovah. E41
With all thine heart – Not a mere passing sentiment of appreciation; it is all-absorbing love that God desires. R1850:4
Some might love and yet work ill, with best intentions; but perfect love worketh no ill. R4850:1
Such love does not wait for commands, but appeals for service. F124
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| 6 so shall these words, which I, am commanding thee today, be upon thy heart; |
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| 7 and thou shalt impress them upon thy sons, and shalt speak of them,–when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; |
Teach them diligently – Cultivate this love by meditating upon his just and holy law and upon his precepts and instructions, and by teaching them diligently. R1850:4
When thou risest up – A heart thus filled with love for God would have no time for sin or frivolity and would indeed be that of a saint. R4052:3
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| 8 and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand,–and they shall serve for bands, between thine eyes; |
Upon thine hand – Let the divine law affect every affair of your life. R4053:2
Between thine eyes – The memory, stored with words of revelation, is a ready weapon of defense against every attack of the Adversary. R2038:6
Misunderstanding the spirit of this exhortation, many Jews, even to this day, bind upon forehead and arm cubical leather boxes, phylacteries, containing Scriptural passages. R4053:1
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| 9 and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and within thy gates. |
Posts of thy house – Many Jews do this literally, but Moses' thought was that everything pertaining to the family of God is sacred to him and under his blessing. R4053:4
And on thy gates – The Christian who abandons the daily reading of the Word and meditation upon it is not a growing Christian. R1850:5
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| 10 So shall it be, when Yahweh thy God shall bring thee into the land, which he sware to thy fathers–to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give unto thee,–into cities great and goodly, which thou didst not build; |
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| 11 and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and hewn cisterns which thou hewedst not, vineyards and oliveyards which thou plantedst not,–and shalt eat and be full, |
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| 12 take heed unto thyself, lest thou forget Yahweh,–who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of servants. |
Lest thou forget – The light, misused, may turn to darkness; and then, "how great is that darkness." (Matt. 6:23) R1850:5
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| 13 Yahweh thy God, shalt thou revere, And, him, shalt thou serve,–And, by his name, shalt thou swear. |
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| 14 Ye shall not go after other gods,–of the gods of the peoples who are surrounding you; |
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| 15 for, a jealous GOD, is Yahweh thy God, in thy midst,–lest the anger of Yahweh thy God kindle upon thee, and so he destroy thee from off the face of the ground. |
And destroy thee – The application to reprobates of spiritual Israel corresponds to the faithful warnings of the Apostle Paul in Heb. 6:4-8 and Heb. 10:26-31. R1850:6
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| 16 Ye shall not put Yahweh your God to the proof,–as ye put him to the proof in Massah [that is, "The place of proving"]. |
Ye shall not tempt – With unreasonable and unnecessary requests for temporal favors or protection against legitimate results of presumptuous experiments. R1688:5
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| 17 Ye shall, keep, the commandments of Yahweh your God and his testimonies and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee; |
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| 18 so shalt thou do what is right and what is pleasing in the eyes of Yahweh,–that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest enter in and possess the good land, which Yahweh sware unto thy fathers; |
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| 19 to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee,–As spake Yahweh. |
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| 20 When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying,–What mean the testimonies, and the statutes and the regulations, which Yahweh our God commanded you? |
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| 21 Then shalt thou say unto thy son, Servants, were we unto Pharaoh, in Egypt,–and Yahweh brought us forth out of Egypt, with a firm hand; |
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| 22 and Yahweh put forth signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his household, before our eyes; |
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| 23 but he brought, us, forth from thence,–that he might bring us in, to give unto us the land, which he sware unto our fathers. |
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| 24 So then Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to revere Yahweh our God,–for our good, all the days, to preserve us alive, (as at this day); |
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| 25 and, righteousness, shall it be to us,–when we take heed to do all this commandment, before Yahweh our God, as he commanded us. |
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