It is clear from the
entire book of Devarim that this chapter – four – is the very heart of Moshe’s
instruction to Yisrael. So it remains
true to this day – everything we are called to be and do is revealed in the
words of this chapter.
If our hearts are not determined to
“shema” to hear and to do all the words of Torah – WE WILL FALL INTO SOME FORM
OF IDOLATRY AS IS CLEARLY EVIDENT ALL AROUND US TODAY.
The evidence that we are truly
“hearing” YHVH is when we are extremely discerning to any manifestation of
idolatry in our lives.
Deu 4:1 “And now, O Yisra’ĕl, listen(shema) to the
laws and the right-rulings which I am teaching you to do, so that you live, and
shall go in and possess the land which יהוה Elohim of your
fathers is giving you.
א וְעַתָּה יִשְׂרָאֵל,
שְׁמַע אֶל-הַחֻקִּים וְאֶל-הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים,
“and now” – “ve ata” the desert wanderings are over and
“now” the time has come for Yisrael to possess the land. The whole purpose of
the desert wanderings was to prepare Yisrael to “shema” and embrace all
instruction of the Torah that they had received in the wilderness so that they
would never have to wonder in another “wilderness” ever again.
Deu 4:2 “Do not
add to the Word which I command you, and do not take away from it1,
so as to guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim
which I am commanding you. Footnote: 1See also 12:32, Prov. 30:6,
Rev. 22:18-19.
We see today in Judaism that it becomes extremely
difficult to guard the Torah because of all the additional regulations (fences)
that have been added to the Torah.
Yahshua warned the Torah teachers in his time not to
teach the doctrines of men as the commandments of YHVH.
Mar 7:6 And He answering, said to them, “Well did
Yeshayahu prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it has been written, ‘This
people respect Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Mar 7:7 And in vain do they worship Me, teaching as
teachings the commands of men.’1 Footnote: 1See Isa.
29:13, 2 Ki. 17:19, and Mt. 15:3-9.
Mar 7:8 “Forsaking the command of Elohim, you hold fast
the tradition of men.”
Deu 4:3 “Your eyes
have seen what יהוה did at Baʽal Peʽor,
for יהוה your Elohim has destroyed from your midst
all the men who followed Baʽal Peʽor.
Why mention Baal Peor? – It was here that Yisrael brought
the profane into the most set apart place. It was here as it was with the
golden calf that Yisrael entered into mixed worship.
Sadly YHVH’s servants have been taught the difference
between what is acceptable to Him and what is not.
Lev 10:10 so as to make a distinction between the
set-apart and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean,
Lev 10:11 and to teach the children of Yisra’ĕl all the
laws which יהוה has spoken to them by the hand of Mosheh.”
Deu 4:4 “But you
who are clinging(davek) to יהוה your Elohim
are alive today, every one of you.
ד וְאַתֶּם, הַדְּבֵקִים,
בַּיהוָה, אֱלֹהֵיכֶם--חַיִּים כֻּלְּכֶם,
הַיּוֹם
In modern Hebrew “super glue” is called “devek mahir”
Deu 4:5 “See, I
have taught you laws and right-rulings, as יהוה my Elohim
commanded me, to do thus in the land which you go to possess.
Note carefully Moshe ONLY taught what he was taught by
YHVH. Today there are a host of preachers and teachers who do not teach what
Moshe taught, instead they teach what other spiritual leaders teach them.
Deu 4:6 “And you
shall guard and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding before
the eyes of the peoples who hear all these laws, and they shall say, ‘Only a
wise and understanding people is this great nation!’
Can it honestly be said that Christians or Jews are a
wise and understanding people and they are individually great nations that the
whole world looks up to and gives praise to the One and Only Wise Creator -
YHVH.
Verse 6 will be declared over an end time people who have
returned to Hebraic roots of the faith as taught by our Messiah Yahshua and his
followers.
Deu 4:7 “For what
great nation is there which has Elohim so near to it, as יהוה our Elohim is to us, whenever we call on
Him?
Can this be said of any people today? Many attempt to
claim this status but upon careful investigation in the light of YHVH’s Word
they prove to be liars and deceivers.
Deu 4:8 “And what
great nation is there that has such laws and righteous right-rulings like all this Torah which I set before you
this day?
Again what people can truthfully proclaim that they fully
represent all of the Torah to all of the world and not merely attempt
to proclaim some of the Torah to some small religious or ethnic group of
people.
History tragically reveals that even the chosen people of
YHVH have a sad record of continually and faithfully obeying and teaching
YHVH’s Torah.
Deu 4:9 “Only,
guard yourself, and guard your life diligently, lest you forget the Words your
eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from your heart all the days of your
life. And you shall make them known to your children and your grandchildren.
Deu 4:10 “The day
when you stood before יהוה your Elohim in
Ḥorĕḇ, יהוה said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me and
I make them hear My Words, so that they learn to fear Me all the days they live
on the earth and teach them to their children.’
Deu 4:11 “And you
came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with
fire to the heart of the heavens – darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
Deu 4:12 “And יהוה spoke to you out of the midst of the fire.
You heard a voice of words, but saw no
form, you only heard a voice.
Deu 4:13 “And He
made known to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, the Ten Words, and
He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
Deu 4:14 “And יהוה commanded me at that time to teach you
laws and right-rulings, for you to do them in the land which you pass over to
possess.
Deu 4:15
“Therefore, diligently guard yourselves, for you saw no form when יהוה spoke to you
at Ḥorĕḇ out of the midst of the fire,
Deu 4:16 lest you
should do corruptly and shall make for yourselves a carved image in the form of
any figure – the likeness of male or female,
The evidence that you have not heard “shema” YHVH and His
Torah will be the manifestation of some form of idolatry. Any doctrine or
teaching that is contrary to YHVH’s Torah is a form of idolatry.
Deu 4:17 the likeness
of any beast that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies
in the heavens,
Deu 4:18 the
likeness of any creature that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish
that is in the water under the earth;
Deu 4:19 and lest
you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and shall see the sun, and the moon, and
the stars – all the host of the heavens – and you be drawn away into bowing
down to them and serving them, which יהוה your Elohim
has allotted to all the peoples under all the heavens.
Deu 4:20 “But יהוה has taken you and brought you out of the
iron furnace, out of Mitsrayim, to be His people, an inheritance, as it is
today.
Deu 4:21 “And יהוה was enraged
with me because of your words, and swore that I would not pass over the Yardĕn,
and that I would not enter the good land which יהוה your Elohim is
giving you as an inheritance.
How can Moshe blame the Yisraelites for not being allowed
to enter the Promised Land?
Maybe it was their continual and willful defiance to
YHVH’s commands that caused Moshe to react in complete despair and desperation.
Yahshua has taken upon himself our continual and willful
defiance of Torah.
Gal 3:13 Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the
Torah, having become a curse for us – for it has been written, “Cursed is
everyone who hangs upon a tree.”1 – Footnote: 1Dt. 21:23.
Heb 3:7 Therefore, as the Set-apart Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear His voice,
Heb 3:8 do not harden your hearts as in the
rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, Heb 3:9 where your fathers tried Me, proved Me, and
saw My works forty years.
Heb 3:10 “Therefore I was grieved with that
generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not
known My ways.’
Heb 3:11 “As I swore in My wrath, ‘If they shall enter
into My rest...’ ”1 Footnote: 1Ps. 95:7-11.
Heb 3:12 Look out, brothers, lest there be in any of
you a wicked heart of unbelief in falling away from the living Elohim,
Heb 3:13 but encourage one another daily, while it is
called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened by the deceivableness of sin.
Heb 3:14 For we
have become partakers of Messiah if we hold fast the beginning of our trust
firm to the end,
Heb 3:15 while it is said, “Today, if you hear His
voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Heb 3:16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Was it not
all who came out of Mitsrayim, led by Mosheh?
Heb 3:17 And with whom was He grieved forty years? Was
it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they would not
enter into His rest, but to those who did not obey?
Heb 3:19 So we see that they were unable to enter in
because of unbelief.
Deu 4:22 “For I am
to die in this land, I am not passing over the Yardĕn, but you are passing
over, and shall possess that good land.
Deu 4:23 “Guard
yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of יהוה your Elohim
which He made with you, and shall make for yourselves a carved image in the
form of whatever יהוה your Elohim
has forbidden you.
Deu 4:24 “For יהוה your Elohim is a consuming fire, a jealous
Ěl.
Deu 4:25 “When you
bring forth children and grandchildren, and shall grow old in the land, and
shall do corruptly and make a carved image in the form of whatever, and shall
do what is evil in the eyes of יהוה your Elohim to
provoke Him,
Deu 4:26 “I shall call the heavens and earth to
witness against you on that day, that you soon completely perish from the land
which you pass over the Yardĕn to possess – you do not prolong your days in it
but are completely destroyed.
Literal translation – “I testify against you today, the
heavens and earth are witnesses that you shall soon utterly perish from the
land which you pass over the Yarden to possess – you will not have a prolonged
stay on the land because you will be utterly exterminated.”
This is the harshest possible language to use against a
people who refuse to hear and obey YHVH’s Torah. It was true then it remains
true today. He is the same yesterday today and forever - Heb 13:8, Ps 119:89.
Deu 4:27 “And יהוה shall scatter you among the peoples, and
you shall be left few in number among the gentiles where יהוה drives you.
Deu 4:28 “And
there you shall serve mighty ones, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone,
which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
Deu 4:29 “But from
there you shall seek יהוה your Elohim,
and shall find, when you search for Him with all your heart1 and
with all your being. Footnote: 1Jer. 29:13.
Deu 4:30 “In your
distress, when all these words shall come upon you in the latter days, then you
shall return to יהוה your Elohim
and shall obey His voice.
Those who are called to be part of Yisrael will be deeply
grieved and vexed as a result of being dispersed among the gentile nations. In
the last days this despair will only deepen and become worse. It will cause a
remnant to turn back to YHVH and they will begin to carefully hear and obey
Him.
Deu 4:31 “For יהוה your Elohim is a compassionate Ěl, He does
not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which
He swore to them.
Deu 4:32 “For ask
now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that Elohim
created man on the earth, and ask from one end of the heavens to the other end
of the heavens, whether there has been a
Word as great as this, or has been heard like it.
Deu 4:33 “Has a
people heard the voice of Elohim speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you
have heard, and live?
Deu 4:34 “Or has
Elohim tried to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of a nation by
trials, and by signs, and by wonders, and by battle, and by a strong hand and
an outstretched arm, and by great fearsome deeds, according to all that יהוה your Elohim did for you in Mitsrayim
before your eyes?
Deu 4:35 “You have
been shown it, to know that יהוה Himself is
Elohim; there is no one beside Him.
Deu 4:36 “From the
heavens He let you hear His voice, to instruct you, and on earth He showed you
His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
Deu 4:37 “And
because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and
brought you out of Mitsrayim with His Presence, with His great power,
Deu 4:38 to drive
out from before you nations greater and stronger than you, to bring you in, to
give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today.
Deu 4:39 “And you
shall know today, and shall recall to your heart that יהוה Himself is Elohim in the heavens above and
on the earth beneath; there is none else.
Deu 4:40 “And you
shall guard His laws and His commands which I command you today, so that it is
well with you and with your children after you, and so that you prolong your
days on the soil which יהוה your Elohim is
giving you for all time.”
The most miraculous event of all time was the giving of
the Torah, Yahshua came to confirm and witness the greatness of the Torah and
to establish the covenant revealed in the Torah between YHVH and Yisrael.
Deu 4:41 Then
Mosheh separated three cities beyond the Yardĕn, toward the rising of the sun,
Deu 4:42 for him
who killed someone to flee there, he who kills his neighbour unintentionally,
without having hated him in time past, and might flee to one of these cities
and live:
Deu 4:43 Betser in
the wilderness in the level land for the Re’uḇĕnites,
and Ramoth in Gilʽaḏ for the Gaḏites,
and Golan in Bashan for the Menashshites.
Deu 4:44 And this
is the Torah which Mosheh set before the children of Yisra’ĕl.
Deu 4:45 These are
the witnesses, and the laws, and the right-rulings which Mosheh spoke to the
children of Yisra’ĕl after they came out of Mitsrayim,
Deu 4:46 beyond
the Yardĕn, in the valley opposite Bĕyth Peʽor, in
the land of Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, who dwelt at Ḥeshbon,
whom Mosheh and the children of Yisra’ĕl had smitten after they came out of
Mitsrayim.
Deu 4:47 And they
took possession of his land and the land of Oḡ
sovereign of Bashan, two sovereigns of the Amorites, who were beyond the
Yardĕn, toward the rising of the sun,
Deu 4:48 from Aroʽĕr,
which is on the bank of the wadi Arnon, even to Mount Siyon, which is Ḥermon,
Deu 4:49 and all
the desert plain beyond the Yardĕn as far as the Sea of the Araḇah,
below the slopes of Pisgah.
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject
