| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
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| 1 'And this [is] the command, the statutes and the judgments which Jehovah your God hath commanded to teach you, to do in the land which ye are passing over thither 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 so that thou dost fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all His statutes and His commands, which I am commanding thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all days of thy life, and so that thy days are prolonged. |
Fear the LORD – Perfect love casteth out slavish, but not reverential fear. R2986:6, R4051:2
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| 3 'And thou hast heard, O Israel, and observed to do, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest multiply exceedingly, as Jehovah, God of thy fathers, hath spoken to thee, [in] the 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, Jehovah our God [is] one Jehovah; |
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 and thou hast loved Jehovah 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 and these words which I am commanding thee to-day have been on thine heart, |
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| 7 and thou hast repeated them to thy sons, and spoken of them in thy sitting in thine house, and in thy walking in the way, and in thy lying down, and in thy rising 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 hast bound them for a sign upon thy hand, and they have been for frontlets 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 hast written them on door-posts of thy house, and on 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 'And it hath been, when Jehovah thy God doth bring thee in unto the land which He hath sworn to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to thee cities great and good, which thou hast not built, |
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| 11 and houses full of all good things which thou hast not filled, and wells digged which thou hast not digged, vineyards and olive-yards which thou hast not planted, and thou hast eaten, and been satisfied; |
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| 12 'Take heed to thyself lest thou forget Jehovah who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of a 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 Jehovah thy God thou dost fear, and Him thou dost serve, and by His name thou dost swear; |
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| 14 ye do not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who [are] round about you; |
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| 15 for a zealous God [is] Jehovah thy God in thy midst lest the anger of Jehovah thy God burn against thee, and He hath destroyed 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 do not try Jehovah your God as ye tried in Massah; |
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 do diligently keep the commands of Jehovah your God, and His testimonies, and His statutes which He hath commanded thee, |
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| 18 and thou hast done that which is right and good in the eyes of Jehovah, so that it is well with thee, and thou hast gone in and possessed the good land which Jehovah hath sworn to thy fathers, |
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| 19 to drive away all thine enemies from thy presence, as Jehovah hath spoken. |
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| 20 'When thy son asketh thee hereafter, saying, What [are] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you |
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| 21 then thou hast said to thy son, Servants we have been to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Jehovah bringeth us out of Egypt by a high hand; |
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| 22 and Jehovah giveth signs and wonders, great and sad, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes; |
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| 23 and us He hath brought out thence, in order to bring us in, to give to us the land which He had sworn to our fathers. |
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| 24 And Jehovah commandeth us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for good to ourselves all the days, to keep us alive, as [at] this day; |
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| 25 and righteousness it is for us, when we observe to do all this command before Jehovah our God, as He hath commanded us. |
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