Deuteronomy 5:23-33

In Deuteronomy 5 we will read the second telling of what happened then. This seems to be a straightforward telling of what happened at Mt. Sinai. However, it actually contains a great deal of instruction for us as New Covenant Christians. I will read it through, and then we will go back and pick some points up from it. Moses is writing, and reminding the people. Most of the people who left Egypt 20 years old and over were dead by this time. He is re-telling the story so they know it:

This seems to be a clear narrative. However, in this scene Moses represents us! The people represent, in a way, the world. Moses is the only one in Israel—the only one, not even Aaron his brother—who is able to stand before God and hear His words. What, then, was he to do? He was to turn around and teach them to others.

Specifically it says, "in the land." Moses never made it to the land. The analogy for us is we are in training for teaching in the Kingdom of God. We are able, like Moses, to stand before God, hear His Word, digest it, and then turn around and teach it to others as a kind of mediator, or priest.

Notice the difference here: the people say that they cannot see God's power, and hear His voice, and still live. It is very interesting in that God agrees with them! These people are correct in this evaluation. They have judged things correctly. They cannot stand before God, hear His words, and live.

It seems a paradox that Moses (who was also a man), was able to stand there, hear God's voice, see His power, and live. He could survive it! What made the difference? Verse 29: "Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments!" What was the difference? Moses had a heart that God could work with, a heart of "flesh," whereas the people of Israel, as we know from example after example, had a heart of stone. That heart enabled Moses to stand before God and hear His Word, understand it, do it, and then teach it.

This is an Old Testament way of talking about what became known in the New Testament as walking in the Spirit. Moses was not only able to understand the letter of the law, but he was also able to understand the spirit of the law, apply it correctly, and then reap the benefits. That is what he says later on in same verse, "that it might be well with them, and their children forever." Moses was converted, whereas the remainder of Israel was not.

Notice God's meticulous instruction to Moses, and therefore to us. This starts in verse 32. He says, first, "be careful." Being careful is an attitude that you begin with. It means that you watch. You make sure. You do things properly. You do not allow yourself to slip. You keep an eye on what is around you. That is what circumspect means. "Circum" means around. "-spect" means to see. So, you are seeing all around you. You know what is going on. You are aware so you can act or react properly. This is what you are supposed to do in keeping God's commands. This is the same idea that comes out in Simeon—that he was a devout man; careful. In the Greek, it means the same thing.

Another thing Moses shows us here is that we are not to turn to the right hand or the left. This is a warning that we are to be focused on the goal, and not to be distracted to one side or the other. We are not to fall into the ditches. We are not to go off on another road. We are supposed to be going straightforward.

The third thing he says in verse 33 is that you shall walk in all God's ways. This implies progress, movement, application—this is an exhortation.

So, we have here three things: God gives us the attitude to have—to be careful; we are warned not to go left or right; and we are exhorted to move forward, and to apply godly principles in our lives. It is not enough just to know them; we have to apply them and move forward.

What is the result? Verse 33: "That you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the … . . .

Deuteronomy 5:25-29

Notice, as we go through this, that they acknowledge this, that God came down on the mount and spoke to them. They saw His glory and they did come to the conclusion that man and God can meet face to face and the man can still live.

So what God does here is He acknowledges basically that they are right from a very human point of view. Moses was showing here, emphasizing if you will, how the children of Israel were afraid that they would die because of the presence of God. They say, "Who can see God and live?" This is something that we see throughout the Old Testament. This idea that was, I do not know if it was a cultural thing, probably, but that they could not have a relationship with God, they could not talk with God, they could not see Him face to face, and if they did, they would die.

Now if God was in His full glory while He was doing the talking with a human, yes, definitely. But this idea that was floating around that you cannot have a relationship with God, a face to face relationship, was holding them back, and what was holding them back was their fear. They feared God in the wrong way, not in the right way.

I mean, look at the situation as it is here in this chapter, Moses is recounting all these Israelites at the foot of the mountain, God has come down on the mountain. You see the smoke of the burning, all the trumpets going, and God's voice thundering there. This is one of the greatest events in the history of mankind. Most of us would give our eye teeth to have been there; and to see God come down on the mount and to be that close to God and see Him in this physical manifestation of His power, and His law being thundered out with His own voice! That would have been great!

But not to the children of Israel. These are all the heads of the tribes coming, essentially saying, this is what our whole tribe thinks. That you should go up, Moses, and be our mediator and do not let God kill us with His presence. Because the children of Israel were paralyzed with fear. It is a natural human reaction. I am sure we would have it in ourselves even now, even knowing what we know. Hopefully we would not be paralyzed by fear, but we would have a good sense of the fear of God in a right way. That we would feel His power and be drawn to submit to Him. So we cannot blame them. This is very, very human.

But their fear was not the fear of God. It was just fear for their lives. They were fearing that they would die. They were immobilized by terror in the presence of God. Actually, we can probably consider here that there was a great deal of guilt in this fear. They were thinking that if they were in the presence of God that He would strike them down because of their sins. So in their fear was not reverence or devotion. It was just stark terror that was making them go mad. So God relents, He would speak through Moses.

But in verse 29, He complains. He cries out in exasperation. It is an emotional response here. He had done so much for these people in bringing them out of Egypt. He had brought them to Mount Sinai. He was giving them the law and teaching them the way that they should live, and they essentially reject Him. "You're too powerful for us. You scare us, you make us lose our minds! We are so afraid." And so He says here, "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!"

His theophany on the mount here was a good thing, a wonderful thing. He was giving them the law. He was making a covenant with them. He was doing all these things that would help them so much, and they said, "God, I don't want to hear it. Not right now, I can't stand You, I can't stand Your presence." And that is why God says, "Oh, their fear is so misplaced. Their fear is all about them. If they would only show proper beneficial fear, the fear that motivates them to do well, they could live. Their children could live. They would not … . . .

Deuteronomy 5:22-31

Now what happened here? In a sense something very tragic happened, but God knew it was going to happen. It is clarified in Deuteronomy 5, and here we will end for today. Deuteronomy 5 is a repetition, only Moses clarifies.

What happened here was that God gave the people a test to see whether they would draw near to Him. The test proved that Israel's fear of God was nothing more than a terror for their own lives. It was not a deep respect mingled with a trust, that despite this awesome display of power they were safer there than anywhere else they could have been. They did not believe that they had just been set apart, as Moses had been set apart, for safety.

God did not take Moses' life, did He? He would not have taken their lives either if they would have just followed through with what He told them to do: "This far and no farther." He would have considered this that they had drawn near to Him, as close as they could get. They did not keep His commandment. They were filled with self-concern and faithlessness, and they disqualified themselves. They rejected, they turned down the priesthood aspect of the Old Covenant. They never performed it. Even before the covenant was made, they turned it down. And God agreed with them. They were not fit to carry it out. That is why He gave the lament: "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me."

"Do they think that I would have killed them if they had done what I asked them to do?" They were filled with self-concern, and they rejected what God revealed to them. What they made was a discovery of their unworthiness. They were not fit to draw near to Him, and so thus the yearning lament.

The other portions of the covenant remained in place. Even though Israel officially rejected the priesthood, they nonetheless still carried with them a consciousness that they were supposed to represent God before the world. To assist the people in this responsibility God officially, and shortly after that, appointed Moses as their mediator. He appointed the family of Levi to serve as functionaries about the Tabernacle, and specifically the family of Aaron to draw near to Him as priests, and to serve under Moses, assisting him in teaching the Israelites how they were to perform the witnessing.