◄ Deuteronomy 4:4 ►
But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you.
Study Bible
But you who held fast to the LORD your God
This phrase emphasizes the importance of faithfulness and loyalty to God. In the context of Deuteronomy, Moses is addressing the Israelites who survived the wilderness journey. Holding fast to the LORD implies a steadfast commitment to His commandments and a rejection of idolatry, which was prevalent among surrounding nations. This concept is echoed in other scriptures, such as Joshua 23:8, where the Israelites are urged to cling to the LORD. The idea of holding fast is also seen in the New Testament, where believers are encouraged to remain faithful to Christ (Hebrews 10:23).

are alive to this day,
The survival of those who remained faithful is a testament to God's protection and blessing. Historically, this refers to the Israelites who did not succumb to the idolatry and rebellion that led to the deaths of many in the wilderness, such as in the incident of Baal Peor (Numbers 25). This survival is a physical manifestation of God's covenant promises, showing that obedience leads to life. Theologically, it prefigures the eternal life promised to believers who remain faithful to God through Christ (John 10:28).

every one of you.
This phrase underscores the inclusivity of God's promise and faithfulness. Every individual who remained loyal to God was preserved, highlighting the personal nature of God's covenant relationship with His people. It serves as a reminder that God's promises are not just for a select few but for all who are faithful. This is consistent with the New Testament teaching that salvation through Christ is available to all who believe (Romans 10:13).

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites, delivering God's laws and commandments to the people.

2. Israelites
The chosen people of God, who are being addressed by Moses in this passage.

3. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant God of Israel, who delivered them from Egypt and gave them His laws.

4. Mount Sinai
The place where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, symbolizing His covenant with Israel.

5. The Wilderness
The setting of the Israelites' journey, where they faced trials and learned to trust in God.
Teaching Points
Faithfulness to God Brings Life
Just as the Israelites who held fast to God were preserved, our spiritual vitality depends on our steadfastness in faith.

The Importance of Clinging to God
In a world full of distractions and temptations, believers are called to cling to God, ensuring that their relationship with Him remains the priority.

God's Faithfulness to His Promises
The survival of those who held fast to God is a testament to His faithfulness. We can trust that God will fulfill His promises to us as well.

Community of Believers
The collective faithfulness of the Israelites serves as a reminder of the strength found in a community that holds fast to God together.

Endurance in Trials
The wilderness journey was a time of testing for the Israelites. Similarly, our trials can strengthen our faith as we hold fast to God.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does it mean to "hold fast to the LORD" in your daily life, and how can you practically apply this principle?

2. How does the concept of abiding in Christ (John 15:4-5) relate to the idea of holding fast to God in Deuteronomy 4:4?

3. In what ways can the faithfulness of the Israelites inspire you to remain steadfast in your own faith journey?

4. How can you encourage others in your community to hold fast to God, especially during challenging times?

5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's faithfulness as a result of holding fast to Him. How did this impact your faith?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Joshua 23:8
This verse emphasizes the importance of clinging to the LORD, similar to Deuteronomy 4:4, highlighting the continuity of faithfulness required from the Israelites.

John 15:4-5
Jesus speaks about abiding in Him, which parallels the idea of holding fast to God for life and sustenance.

Hebrews 10:23
Encourages believers to hold unswervingly to the hope they profess, reflecting the steadfastness seen in Deuteronomy 4:4.

Psalm 91:14
God promises deliverance to those who hold fast to Him in love, echoing the theme of divine protection and life.

1 Corinthians 15:58
Paul urges believers to stand firm and let nothing move them, akin to the steadfastness of the Israelites who held fast to God.
Sermons
The Blessedness of Cleaving to the LordJ. C. Blumhardt.Deuteronomy 4:4
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
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
Adhered, Alive, Cleave, Cleaving, Cling, Faith, Fast, Held, Kept, To-day
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 4:3

     7312   Baal

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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