51 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven,.... The starry heaven, which to do in itself is not sinful; and may be lawfully and commendably done, to raise admiration at the wonderful works of God in them, and lead to adore the author of them: but if not guarded against may be ensnaring: and when thou seest the sun and the moon, and the stars,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace,.... The allusion is to the trying and melting of metals, and fleeing them from dross, by putting them into furnaces strongly heated, some of which are of earth, others of iron; the word, as the Jewish writers (g) observe, signifies such an one in which gold and silver and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes,.... See Deuteronomy 3:26: and sware that I should not go over Jordan; this circumstance of swearing is nowhere else expressed: and that I should not go in unto that good land; the land of Canaan; he might see it, as he did from Pisgah, but not enter into it: which the Lord thy God giveth thee...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But I must die in this land,.... The land of Moab, in a mountain in it he died, and in a valley there he was buried, Deuteronomy 32:50, I must not go over Jordan; this he repeats, as lying near his heart; he had earnestly solicited to go over, but was denied it: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land; this he firmly believed and assures...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Take heed unto yourselves,.... Since he should not be long with them, to advise, instruct, and caution them: lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you; what that required of them, and what was promised unto them on the performance of it, and what they must expect should they break it, and particularly be so forgetful...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire,.... To his enemies; his wrath is like fire to burn up and destroy all that oppose him and break his commands, and especially idolaters; whose sin of all others is the most provoking to him, since it strikes at his being, his honour and glory; wherefore it follows, even a jealous God; who is jealous of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When thou shall beget children, and children's children,.... Children and grandchildren, and several ages and generations have passed: and shalt have remained long in the land; many years and even ages, or have grown old (h) in it: now they were in their infancy, and as such they were about to enter into it; during the times of the judges, they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day,.... Should they be guilty of such a sin, since they were so strongly and publicly cautioned against it; and even the heaven and the earth were called upon as witnesses of the law being set before them, which so expressly forbids it, Deuteronomy 30:19 that ye shall soon utterly perish from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations,.... As they were by both captivities; the ten tribes were dispersed among the cities of the Medes, and the two tribes throughout the empire of Babylon: and ye shall be left few in number among the Heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you; or be "men of number" (i), so few that they might be easily...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone,.... Idols made by men, cut out of wood and stone; these they should be enticed into the service of, or compelled to serve; which was still more brutish and stupid than to worship the sun, moon, and stars, which were not the works of men's hand, but the glorious works of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God,.... By prayer and supplication, acknowledging and confessing sin, and desiring that God would be gracious and forgive it, and bring them out of their miserable condition; even if out of those depths of affliction and distress, and though scattered about in the world, and in the uttermost parts...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When thou art in tribulation,.... In a strange land, in the power of a foreign enemy, and used ill: and all these things are come upon thee; captivity, thraldom, hard labour, and want of the necessaries of life: [even] in the latter days: in their present captivity for the rejection of the Messiah: if thou turn to the Lord thy God; as the Jews...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the Lord thy God is a merciful God,.... In Christ, in whom he has proclaimed his name as such, of which Moses had a comfortable view, Exodus 34:6 and therefore could attest it from his own knowledge and experience: he will not forsake thee; though in a strange country, but bring them from thence into their own land again, and favour them with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee,.... Inquire into and consult the annals of former times, of ages past: since the day that God created man upon the earth; trace them quite up to the creation of the world, and men in it: and [ask] from the one side of heaven to the other; traverse the whole globe, and examine the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Did [ever] people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire,.... None ever heard the voice of God as they did, much less speaking such words as they heard, and still less out of the midst of fire, which was their case, Deuteronomy 4:12 as thou hast heard, and live? which was stranger still, when they might have expected they should,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation,.... As he now had done, namely, the nation of Israel out of the nation of the Egyptians; this he not only had assayed to do, but had actually done it; whereas no such instance like it could be produced, and especially as done in the manner this was: by temptations,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Unto thee it was showed,.... What the Lord did in Egypt: that thou mightest know that the Lord he [is] God, [there is] none else besides him; that he is the one only living and true God, and there is no other: this phrase is often used by the Prophet Isaiah, to express the same great article of faith.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee,.... Thunder is the voice of God, and by which he instructs men in the greatness of his power, Job 26:14, c. unless his voice in giving the law, which was for the instruction of Israel, is meant for that was heard on earth, on Mount Sinai, to which the following refers: and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And because he loved thy fathers,.... Not their immediate fathers, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and entered not into the good land because of their unbelief, but their more remote fathers or ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had some singular testimonies of the love of God to them, Abraham is called their friend of God, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
To drive out nations from before thee, greater and mightier than thou art,.... The seven nations of the land of Canaan, which were more in number and mightier in power and strength than they, and particularly the Amorites, who were already driven out and dispossessed of their country, even the kingdoms and nations of Sihon and Og: to bring thee in...