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| 1 And these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye may do them in the land whereunto ye pass 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 fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's 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 And thou shalt hear, Israel, and take heed to do them; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase greatly, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers hath said unto 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, 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 shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. |
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 command thee this day, shall be in thy heart; |
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| 7 and thou shalt impress them on thy sons, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on 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 on thy hand, and they shall be 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 shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon 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 shall be, when Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee: great and good cities which thou buildedst not, |
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| 11 and houses full of everything good which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards and oliveyards which thou plantedst not, and thou shalt have eaten and shalt be full; |
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| 12 then beware lest thou forget Jehovah who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. |
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 Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. |
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| 14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you; |
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| 15 for Jehovah thy God is a jealous *God in thy midst; lest the anger of Jehovah thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from the face of the earth. |
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 tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him 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 shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. |
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| 18 And thou shalt do what is right and good in the sight of Jehovah, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest enter in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, |
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| 19 thrusting out all thine enemies from before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken. |
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| 20 When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you? |
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| 21 then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand; |
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| 22 and Jehovah shewed signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes; |
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| 23 and he brought us out thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore unto our fathers. |
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| 24 And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good continually, that he might preserve us alive, as it is this day. |
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| 25 And it shall be our righteousness if we take heed to do all these commandments before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us. |
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