Deuteronomy 4:37

And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37) Because he loved thy fathers.—The reasons for God’s choice of Israel are frequently stated in this book; and they are always stated in such a way as to enforce the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, and to show the Israelites that their own merit was in no way the ground of God’s choice.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:37. Brought thee out in his sight — Keeping his eye fixed on thee, as a father doth on his beloved child. He himself was present with thee, and marched along with thee in the pillar of cloud and fire. With his mighty power — And not by any natural strength of thy own, thou wast delivered from that bondage in which all the thousands of Israel so long lived in Egypt.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:24-40 Moses urged the greatness, glory, and goodness of God. Did we consider what a God he is with whom we have to do, we should surely make conscience of our duty to him, and not dare to sin against him. Shall we forsake a merciful God, who will never forsake us, if we are faithful unto him? Whither can we go? Let us be held to our duty by the bonds of love, and prevailed with by the mercies of God to cleave to him. Moses urged God's authority over them, and their obligations to him. In keeping God's commandments they would act wisely for themselves. The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. Those who enjoy the benefit of Divine light and laws, ought to support their character for wisdom and honour, that God may be glorified thereby. Those who call upon God, shall certainly find him within call, ready to give an answer of peace to every prayer of faith. All these statutes and judgments of the Divine law are just and righteous, above the statutes and judgments of any of the nations. What they saw at mount Sinai, gave an earnest of the day of judgment, in which the Lord Jesus shall be revealed in flaming fire. They must also remember what they heard at mount Sinai. God manifests himself in the works of the creation, without speech or language, yet their voice is heard, Ps 19:1,3; but to Israel he made himself known by speech and language, condescending to their weakness. The rise of this nation was quite different from the origin of all other nations. See the reasons of free grace; we are not beloved for our own sakes, but for Christ's sake. Moses urged the certain benefit and advantage of obedience. This argument he had begun with, ver. 1, That ye may live, and go in and possess the land; and this he concludes with, ver. 40, That it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee. He reminds them that their prosperity would depend upon their piety. Apostacy from God would undoubtedly be the ruin of their nation. He foresees their revolt from God to idols. Those, and those only, shall find God to their comfort, who seek him with all their heart. Afflictions engage and quicken us to seek God; and, by the grace of God working with them, many are thus brought back to their right mind. When these things are come upon thee, turn to the Lord thy God, for thou seest what comes of turning from him. Let all the arguments be laid together, and then say, if religion has not reason on its side. None cast off the government of their God, but those who first abandon the understanding of a man.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He chose their seed after them - literally, "his seed after him." Speaking of the love of God to their fathers in general, Moses has more especially in mind that one of them who was called "the Friend of God" James 2:23.

Brought thee out in his sight - literally, "by His face:" "i. e." by the might of His personal presence. Compare Exodus 33:14; where God promises "My presence (literally 'My face') shall go with thee."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

30. in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God—either towards the destined close of their captivities, when they evinced a returning spirit of repentance and faith, or in the age of Messiah, which is commonly called "the latter days," and when the scattered tribes of Israel shall be converted to the Gospel of Christ. The occurrence of this auspicious event will be the most illustrious proof of the truth of the promise made in De 4:31.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In his sight; keeping his eye fixed upon him, as the father doth on his beloved child. Or, with his presence, i.e. he did not send them forth by Moses, but he himself was present with them, and as it were marched along with them, in the pillar of cloud and fire.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 Isaac was the son of promise in whom the seed was called; and Jacob is particularly said to be loved by God, when Esau was hated:

therefore he chose their seed after them; not to eternal life and salvation, but to the enjoyment of external blessings and privileges, to be called by his name, and to set up his name and worship among them, and to be a special people to him above all people on the earth, as to outward favours, both civil and ecclesiastical:

and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; which was done not only in the sight of the Egyptians openly, they not daring to hinder them, as the wonders wrought to oblige them to let them go out, done in the sight of the Israelites as before observed, but in the sight of God, he going before them in the pillar of cloud and fire, smiling upon them the Israelites, and looking with a frown upon the host of the Egyptians, and conducting the people by the angel of his presence.

Geneva Study Bible

And because {a} he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

(a) Freely, and not because they deserved it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

37. And because he loved thy fathers] So Hosea 11:1 f. In Pent. only here and Deuteronomy 10:15; but cp. Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:13, Deuteronomy 23:5. The free grace and election of God is to the prophets and D the original motive of the wonderful and unparalleled history.

and chose their seed after them] So Sam., LXX, Syr., Targ. and Vulg. Heb. has his seed after him which would mean Abraham. The change to the Sg. is interesting as showing how easily a writer passed from one number to the other. On chose see Deuteronomy 7:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37. - And because he loved thy fathers (cf. Genesis 15:5-7; Exodus 13:15-17, etc.). Inasmuch as God had loved their fathers, the patriarchs, and had chosen them their descendants to be his people, and had delivered them out of Egypt, that he might establish them in the Promised Land, having driven out thence nations mightier than they, therefore were they to consider in their heart and acknowledge that Jehovah alone is God, and that in the wide universe there is no other. The apodosis in this sentence begins at ver. 39, and not, as in the Authorized Version, at "he chose," in ver. 37, nor at "brought thee," as some suggest. Because he loved thy fathers, and chose his [i.e. Abraham's] seed after him, and brought thee, etc., - for all this thou shalt keep his statutes, etc. In his sight; literally, in his face, i.e. in his presence, by himself present with them; with special reference to Exodus 33:14, where the same word is used as here. Onkelos has here "by his Word," and the rabbins explain it of "the angel of his presence, as it is said, Isaiah 63:9" (Bechai, fol. 194 b.). Deuteronomy 4:37

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

All this He did from love to the fathers of Israel (the patriarchs): "and indeed because He loved thy fathers, He chose his seed (the seed of Abraham, the first of the patriarchs) after him, and brought thee (Israel) out of Egypt by His face with great power, to drive out...and to bring thee, to give thee their land...so that thou mightest know and take to heart...and keep His laws," etc. With regard to the construction of these verses, the clause כּי ותחת (and because) in Deuteronomy 4:37 is not to be regarded as dependent upon what precedes, as Schultz supposes; nor are Deuteronomy 4:37 and Deuteronomy 4:38 to be taken as the protasis, and Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 4:40 as the apodosis (as Knobel maintains). Both forms of construction are forced and unnatural. The verses form an independent thought; and the most important point, which was to bind Israel to faithfulness towards Jehovah, is given as the sum and substance of the whole address, and placed as a protasis at the head of the period. The only thing that admits of dispute, is whether the apodosis commences with ויּבחר ("He chose," Deuteronomy 4:37), or only with ויּוצאך ("brought thee out"). Either is possible; and it makes no difference, so far as the main thought is concerned, whether we regard the choice of Israel, or simply the deliverance from Egypt, in which that choice was carried into practical effect, as the consequence of the love of Jehovah to the patriarchs. - The copula ו before תהת is specially emphatic, "and truly," and indicates that the sum and substance of the whole discourse is about to follow, or the one thought in which the whole appeal culminates. It was the love of God to the fathers, not the righteousness of Israel (Deuteronomy 9:5), which lay at the foundation of the election of their posterity to be the nation of Jehovah's possession, and also of all the miracles of grace which were performed in connection with their deliverance out of Egypt. Moses returns to this thought again at Deuteronomy 10:15, for the purpose of impressing it upon the minds of the people as the one motive which laid them under the strongest obligation to circumcise the foreskin of their heart, and walk in the fear and love of the Lord their God (Deuteronomy 10:12.). - The singular suffixes in זרעו (his seed) and אחריו after him) refer to Abraham, whom Moses had especially in his mind when speaking of "thy fathers," because he was pre-eminently the lover of God (Isaiah 41:8; 2 Chronicles 20:7), and also the beloved or friend of God (James 2:23; cf. Genesis 18:17.). "By His face" points back to Exodus 33:14. The face of Jehovah was Jehovah in His personal presence, in His won person, who brought Israel out of Egypt, to root out great and mighty nations before it, and give it their land for an inheritance. "As this day" (clearly shows), viz., by the destruction of Sihon and Og, which gave to the Israelites a practical pledge that the Canaanites in like manner would be rooted out before them. The expression "as this day" does not imply, therefore, that the Canaanites were already rooted out from their land.