◄ Deuteronomy 4:10 ►
The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, "Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children."
Study Bible
The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb
This phrase refers to the significant event at Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai, where the Israelites received the Ten Commandments. This location is central to the covenant relationship between God and Israel. Horeb is often associated with divine revelation and is a place where God manifested His presence. The event underscores the holiness and majesty of God, as well as the seriousness of His commandments. It is a reminder of the covenant established between God and His people, which is foundational to their identity and mission.

the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words
This command emphasizes the importance of communal worship and instruction. God’s words are central to the life of the community, and Moses acts as the mediator between God and the people. The gathering of the people signifies unity and collective responsibility in receiving and obeying God's commandments. This moment foreshadows the New Testament gatherings of believers to hear the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, highlighting the continuity of God's revelation through His chosen messengers.

so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth
The fear of the LORD is a recurring theme in Scripture, representing reverence, awe, and obedience to God. It is foundational for wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 9:10). This fear is not about terror but about recognizing God's holiness and authority. The phrase underscores the lifelong commitment required from the Israelites to live in accordance with God's will. It also points to the enduring nature of God's commandments, which are relevant for all generations.

and that they may teach them to their children.”
This highlights the importance of passing down the faith and God's commandments to future generations. It reflects the biblical principle of discipleship and the responsibility of parents to instruct their children in the ways of the LORD (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). This teaching ensures the continuity of faith and obedience within the community. It also prefigures the Great Commission in the New Testament, where believers are called to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20).

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites who is recounting God's instructions to the people.

2. The LORD (Yahweh)
The God of Israel who gave the commandments and laws to His people.

3. Horeb
Another name for Mount Sinai, where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses.

4. The Israelites
The chosen people of God who were delivered from Egypt and are receiving God's laws.

5. The Assembly
The gathering of the Israelites to hear God's words and learn His commandments.
Teaching Points
The Importance of Reverence
Understanding the fear of the LORD is foundational to a life of faith. It is not about being afraid but having a deep respect and awe for God's holiness and authority.

Generational Teaching
The command to teach God's words to children underscores the responsibility of parents and leaders to pass on faith and values to the next generation.

Community Gathering
The assembly at Horeb highlights the importance of communal worship and learning. Gathering together to hear God's word strengthens faith and unity.

Obedience to God's Word
Hearing God's words should lead to obedience. The Israelites were called to live out the commandments in their daily lives, just as we are today.

Living with Purpose
Learning to fear the LORD and teaching His commandments gives life purpose and direction, guiding believers in their walk with God.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of "fearing the LORD" influence your daily decisions and actions?

2. In what ways can you actively teach God's commandments to the next generation within your family or community?

3. Reflect on a time when gathering with other believers strengthened your faith. How can you prioritize communal worship in your life?

4. How does understanding the events at Horeb deepen your appreciation for God's covenant with His people?

5. What practical steps can you take to ensure that you are not only hearing God's word but also living it out in obedience?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 19-20
These chapters describe the events at Mount Sinai (Horeb) where God gave the Ten Commandments, providing a detailed account of the covenant between God and Israel.

Psalm 78:5-7
This passage emphasizes the importance of teaching God's laws to the next generation, echoing the command in Deuteronomy 4:10.

Proverbs 9:10
This verse highlights the fear of the LORD as the beginning of wisdom, connecting to the purpose of learning to fear God mentioned in Deuteronomy 4:10.

Ephesians 6:4
This New Testament verse instructs parents to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, aligning with the command to teach God's words to children.

Hebrews 12:28-29
These verses speak of worshiping God with reverence and awe, reflecting the fear of the LORD that Deuteronomy 4:10 aims to instill.
Sermons
The Sacredness of the Divine LawD. Davies Deuteronomy 4:1-13
Obedience the Secret of SuccessR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 4:1-14
The Curse of IdolatryD. Davies Deuteronomy 4:1-28
God's Dealings with His PeopleH. J. Hastings, M. A.Deuteronomy 4:1-40
HearkenJ. Parker, D. D.Deuteronomy 4:1-40
Moses' DiscourseHenry, MatthewDeuteronomy 4:1-40
The Bible the Wisdom of NationS. Hayman, B. A.Deuteronomy 4:1-40
A Nation's GloryJ. Orr Deuteronomy 4:6-10
The Revelation At HorebJ. Orr Deuteronomy 4:10-14
People
Amorites, Baalpeor, Bezer, Gadites, Israelites, Manasseh, Manassites, Moses, Og, Reubenites, Sihon
Places
Arabah, Aroer, Bashan, Beth-baal-peor, Bezer, Egypt, Gilead, Golan, Hermon, Heshbon, Horeb, Jordan River, Mount Sion, Peor, Pisgah, Ramoth, Sea of the Arabah, Valley of the Arnon
Topics
Alive, Assemble, Cause, Fear, Gather, Ground, Hast, Hearing, Horeb, Learn, Remember, Revere, Saying, Sons, Specially, Stood, Stoodest, Teach, Teaching, Waiting
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 4:10

     5184   standing
     8115   discipleship, nature of

Deuteronomy 4:9-10

     5302   education
     5588   traditions
     5854   experience, of God
     8313   nurture

Deuteronomy 4:9-14

     8336   reverence, and obedience

Deuteronomy 4:10-11

     8334   reverence, and God's nature

Deuteronomy 4:10-12

     4269   Sinai, Mount
     8474   seeing God

Library
February the Sixteenth Crowding Out God
"Lest thou forget." --DEUTERONOMY iv. 5-13. That is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a man and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may ignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him! Opposition, injury, contempt, neglect, forgetfulness! Surely this is a descending scale, and the last is the worst. And yet we can forget the Lord God. We can forget all His benefits. We can easily put Him out of mind. We can live as though He were …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Deuteronomy
(Third Sunday after Easter.) Deut. iv. 39, 40. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shall keep therefore his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever. Learned men have argued much of late as to who wrote …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch

Political and Religious Life of the Jewish Dispersion in the West - their Union in the Great Hope of the Coming Deliverer.
It was not only in the capital of the Empire that the Jews enjoyed the rights of Roman citizenship. Many in Asia Minor could boast of the same privilege. [327] The Seleucidic rulers of Syria had previously bestowed kindred privileges on the Jews in many places. Thus, they possessed in some cities twofold rights: the status of Roman and the privileges of Asiatic, citizenship. Those who enjoyed the former were entitled to a civil government of their own, under archons of their choosing, quite independent …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Of the Cities of Refuge.
Hebron, the most eminent among them, excites us to remember the rest. "The Rabbins deliver this; Moses separated three cities of refuge beyond Jordan, [Deut 4:41-43;] and, against them, Joshua separated three cities in the land of Canaan, [Josh 20:7,8]. And these were placed by one another, just as two ranks of vines are in a vineyard: Hebron in Judea against Bezer in the wilderness: Shechem in mount Ephraim against Ramoth in Gilead: Kedesh in mount Napthali against Golan in Basan. And these three …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

That the Devout Soul Ought with the Whole Heart to Yearn after Union with Christ in the Sacrament
The Voice of the Disciple Who shall grant unto me, O Lord, that I may find Thee alone, and open all my heart unto Thee, and enjoy Thee as much as my soul desireth; and that no man may henceforth look upon me, nor any creature move me or have respect unto me, but Thou alone speak unto me and I unto Thee, even as beloved is wont to speak unto beloved, and friend to feast with friend? For this do I pray, this do I long for, that I may be wholly united unto Thee, and may withdraw my heart from all created …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The First Covenant
"Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me."--EX. xix. 5. "He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments."--DEUT. iv. 13.i "If ye keep these judgments, the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant,"--DEUT. vii. 12. "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, which My covenant they brake."--JER. xxxi. 31, 32. WE have …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

The Unity of God
Q-5: ARE THERE MORE GODS THAN ONE? A: There is but one only, the living and true God. That there is a God has been proved; and those that will not believe the verity of his essence, shall feel the severity of his wrath. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' Deut 6:6. He is the only God.' Deut 4:49. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else.' A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Northern Coasts of Galilee. Amanah. The Mountain of Snow.
This coast is described by Moses, Numbers 34:7: "From the Great Sea to mount Hor: from mount Hor to the entrance of Hamath," &c. Mount Hor, in the Jewish writers, is Amanah; mention of which occurs, Canticles 4:8, where R. Solomon thus: "Amanah is a mount in the northern coast of the land of Israel, which in the Talmudical language is called, The mountainous plain of Amanon; the same with mount Hor." In the Jerusalem Targum, for mount 'Hor' is the mount Manus: but the Targum of Jonathan renders it …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10, 6-13. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Epistle cxxvii. From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory .
From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory [89] . To the holy lord, and father in Christ, the Roman [pope], most fair ornament of the Church, a certain most august flower, as it were, of the whole of withering Europe, distinguished speculator, as enjoying a divine contemplation of purity (?) [90] . I, Bargoma [91] , poor dove in Christ, send greeting. Grace to thee and peace from God the Father [and] our [Lord] Jesus Christ. I am pleased to think, O holy pope, that it will seem to thee nothing extravagant …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

"They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

A Reformer's Schooling
'The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2. That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Second visit to Nazareth - the Mission of the Twelve.
It almost seems, as if the departure of Jesus from Capernaum marked a crisis in the history of that town. From henceforth it ceases to be the center of His activity, and is only occasionally, and in passing, visited. Indeed, the concentration and growing power of Pharisaic opposition, and the proximity of Herod's residence at Tiberias [3013] would have rendered a permanent stay there impossible at this stage in our Lord's history. Henceforth, His Life is, indeed, not purely missionary, but He has …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.
If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Wisdom and Revelation.
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

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