992 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me,.... He had faithfully delivered them, without adding them, or diminishing from them, and had diligently instructed the Israelites in them, had taken pains to lead them into a thorough knowledge and understanding them: that ye should do so in the land whither ye...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Keep therefore and do them,..... Observe them, take notice of what is expressed by them, and perform them, both as to matter and manner, as they require: for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations; that is, their wisdom and understanding would appear to other nations by their observance of the commands of God: which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ver. 7 For what nation is there so great,.... Not so much for their number, for they were the fewest of all people; nor for the largeness of their territories, for the land they were going to possess was but a small country; nor for their wealth and riches, and warlike exploits, though they were not contemptible in either; but for their happy...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous,.... Founded in justice and equity, and so agreeable to right reason, and so well calculated and adapted to lead persons in the ways of righteousness and truth, and keep them from doing any injury to each other's persons and properties, and to maintain good order,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Only take heed to thyself,.... To walk according to this law, and not swerve from it: and keep thy soul diligently; from the transgressions and breaches of it: lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen; either the statutes and judgments set before them, and the circumstances of the delivery of them; or the punishment inflicted on the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord in Horeb,.... Above all things Moses would have them take care not to forget the day the law was given from Mount Sinai, which was so awful and solemn, when they saw the fire, the smoke, the lightning, and heard the thunder and the sound of the trumpet; all which were very shocking and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And ye came near and stood under the mountain,.... At the foot of it, in the lower part of the mountain, as the Targum of Jonathan, and agrees with Exodus 19:17 and the mountain burnt with fire unto the midst of heaven; the flame and smoke went up into the middle of the air: with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness; which thick darkness was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire,.... For the Lord descended on Mount Sinai in a cloud, in fire, and was in the thick darkness, from whence he delivered out the ten commands: ye heard the voice of the words; distinctly and plainly, not only the sound of them, but the words themselves, and so as to understand what was meant...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he declared unto you his covenant,.... So the law was called, because it contained, on the part of God, things which he would have done or avoided, to which were annexed promises of long life and happiness in the land he gave them; and they, on their part, agreed to hearken to it, and obey it, Exodus 24:3, which he commanded you to perform,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord commanded me at that time,.... When the ten commandments were delivered on Mount Sinai, and Moses was ordered to come up to God in the mount: to teach you statutes and judgments; laws ceremonial and judicial, besides the ten commands given them: that ye may do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it; the land of Canaan,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves,.... As to keep all the laws given them, so particularly to avoid idolatry: for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; and therefore, as they had nothing that directed and led them, so they had nothing that could be a temptation to them,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Lest ye corrupt yourselves,.... And not themselves only, but the word and worship of God, by idolatry, than which nothing is more corrupting and defiling, nor more abominable to God: and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure; a graven image, in the likeness of any figure, an idea of which they had formed in their minds; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The likeness of any beast that is on the earth,.... As there are scarce any but the likeness of them has been made and worshipped, or the creatures themselves, as the ox by the Egyptians, the sheep by the Thebans, the goat by the Mendesians, and others by different people: the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air; as the hawk, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground,.... As serpents by many; and indeed that creature is introduced into almost all the idolatries of the Heathens, which seems to take its rise from the serpent Satan made use of to deceive our first parents: the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth; as the crocodile and...
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...