Deuteronomy 7:1 “When Yahveh your God brings you into the land you are entering to take possession of, and he drives out many nations before you — the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you –
Deuteronomy 7:2 and when Yahveh your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely eliminate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
Deuteronomy 7:3 You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
Deuteronomy 7:4 because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then Yahveh’s nose will burn at you, and he will rapidly exterminate you.
Deuteronomy 7:5 Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their standing stones,[1] cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images.
Deuteronomy 7:6 You see, you are a sacred[2] people to Yahveh your God. Yahveh your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the land.
Deuteronomy 7:7 “Yahveh had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, because you were the fewest of all peoples.
Deuteronomy 7:8 But because Yahveh cared about you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know that Yahveh, your God, is God, the faithful God who watches his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who care about him and keep his commands.
Deuteronomy 7:10 But he directly pays back and destroys those who hate him. He will not hesitate to pay back directly the one who hates him.
Deuteronomy 7:11 So watch the commands—the prescriptions and rules—that I am commanding you to follow today.
Deuteronomy 7:12 “If you listen to and are careful to watch these rules, Yahveh your God will watch his covenant loyalty with you, as he swore to your fathers.
Deuteronomy 7:13 He will care about you, empower you, and multiply you. He will bless your offspring, and the produce of your land– your grain, new wine, and fresh oil– the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land he swore to your fathers that he would give you.
Deuteronomy 7:14 You will be empowered above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock.
Deuteronomy 7:15 Yahveh will remove all sickness from you; he will not place on you all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.
Deuteronomy 7:16 You must destroy all the peoples Yahveh your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods because that will be a snare to you.
Deuteronomy 7:17 “If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I take possession from them?’
Deuteronomy 7:18 do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what Yahveh, your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt:
Deuteronomy 7:19 the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which Yahveh your God brought you out. Yahveh, your God, will do the same to all the people you fear.
Deuteronomy 7:20 Yahveh, your God, will also send hornets against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you are destroyed.
Deuteronomy 7:21 Don’t be terrified of them, because Yahveh your God, a great and awesome God, is among you.
Deuteronomy 7:22 Yahveh, your God, will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to destroy them rapidly; or else the wild animals will become too numerous for you.
Deuteronomy 7:23 Yahveh, your God, will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are exterminated.
Deuteronomy 7:24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will destroy their names under the sky. No one will be able to stand against you; you will exterminate them.
Deuteronomy 7:25 Burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t crave the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is repulsive[3] to Yahveh, your God.
Deuteronomy 7:26 Do not bring any repulsive thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to abhor and detest it utterly because it is set apart for destruction.
[1]מַצֵּבָה = “an unhewn, upright stone for cult, burial-marking, or memorial purposes” (Holladay). Deut. 7:5; 12:3; 16:22.
“In summary, when the Israelites conquered their new land, they were to destroy the old inhabitants, refusing to enter into any kind of treaty with them, either political or marital. Any kind of treaty would be a compromise and would lead to disaster; therefore the Israelites were to destroy systematically the physical religious “furniture” of their enemies, indicating thereby their complete lack of recognition for the gods of their enemies.”
Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 177.
“Some persons, allowing themselves to be influenced by a morbid feeling^ and false sentimentality, rather than by an enlightened judgment, find difficulty in the directions given to Israel in reference to the Canaanites, in the opening of our chapter. It seems to them inconsistent with a benevolent Being to command His people to smite their fellow-creatures, and to show them nO’ mercy. They cannot understand how a merciful God could commission His people to slay women and children with the edge of the sword.
It is very plain that such persons could not adopt the language of Revelation xv. 3, 4. They are not prepared to say, “Just and true are Thy ways. Thou King of nations.” They cannot justify- God in all His ways ; nay, they are actually sitting in judgment upon Him. They presume to measure the actings of divine government by the standard of their own shallow thoughts — to scan the infinite by the finite ; in short, they measure God by themselves.”
Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy.Vo. 3. Loizeaux Bros 1880. p. 2.
Deuteronomy 6:1 “This is the command — the prescriptions and rules – Yahveh your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and take possession of.
Deuteronomy 6:2 Do this so that you may fear Yahveh your God all the days of your life by watching all his prescriptions[1] and commands. I am commanding you, your son, and your grandson so that you may have a long life.
Deuteronomy 6:3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahveh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Listen, Israel: Yahveh our God, Yahveh is one.
Deuteronomy 6:5 Care about Yahveh your God with all your heart, with all your throat, and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:6 These words that I am commanding you today are to be in your heart.
Deuteronomy 6:7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you are lying down[2] and when you are getting up.
Deuteronomy 6:8 Tie them as a sign onto your hand and let them be a symbol between your eyes.
Deuteronomy 6:9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and your city gates.
Deuteronomy 6:10 “When Yahveh your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you – a land with large and good cities that you did not build,
Deuteronomy 6:11 houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant– and when you eat and are satisfied,
Deuteronomy 6:12 be careful or else you will forget Yahveh who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
Deuteronomy 6:13 Fear Yahveh your God, worship him and take your oaths in his name.
Deuteronomy 6:14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you,
Deuteronomy 6:15 because Yahveh your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise, Yahveh, your God’s nose will burn[3] at you and exterminate you from the face of the land.
Deuteronomy 6:16 Do not test Yahveh your God like you tested him at Massah.
Deuteronomy 6:17 Carefully observe the commands of Yahveh your God, the reminders and prescriptions he has commanded you.
Deuteronomy 6:18 Do what is right and good in Yahveh’s sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and take possession of the good land Yahveh your God swore to give your fathers,
Deuteronomy 6:19 by pushing away[4] all your enemies before you, as Yahveh has said.
Deuteronomy 6:20 “When your son asks you in the future, and this is what they say: ‘What is the meaning of the reminders, prescriptions, and rules that Yahveh our God has commanded you? ‘
Deuteronomy 6:21 tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but Yahveh brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.
Deuteronomy 6:22 Before our eyes Yahveh inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household,
Deuteronomy 6:23 but he brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our fathers.
Deuteronomy 6:24 Yahveh commanded us to follow all these prescriptions and to fear Yahveh our God for our good always and that we may stay alive, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 6:25 Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands in the sight of Yahveh our God, like he has commanded us.’
“The fundamental truth has to do with the nature of God as one (v. 4); the fundamental duty is the response of love which God requires of man (v. 5). Both themes are taken up in the teaching of Jesus.”
Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 168.
“As the heart of Israel’s faith and confession, the Shema at 6:4–5 extends the first two commandments in particular (5:6–10), giving essential expression to Israel’s covenant faith. As such, the Shema can be understood as both a statement about Yahweh’s uniqueness (as an answer to the question, ‘Who is our “one and only” God?’ = Yahweh), and also Israel’s response to this uniqueness implied in the translation ‘alone’.”
Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Israel, listen to the prescriptions and rules I am proclaiming as you hear them today. Learn and watch them carefully.
Deuteronomy 5:2 Yahveh our God established a covenant with us at Horeb.
Deuteronomy 5:3 Yahveh did not establish this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.
Deuteronomy 5:4 Yahveh spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain.
Deuteronomy 5:5 At that time, I was standing between Yahveh and you to report the word of Yahveh to you because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. And this is what he said:
Deuteronomy 5:6 I am Yahveh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
Deuteronomy 5:7 Do not have other gods besides me.
Deuteronomy 5:8 Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the land below or in the water under the land.
Deuteronomy 5:9 Do not bow in worship to them and do not serve them, because I, Yahveh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ violation[1] to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,
Deuteronomy 5:10 but showing faithful care to a thousand generations of those who care about me and watch my commands.
Deuteronomy 5:11 Do not misuse the name of Yahveh your God, because Yahveh will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.
Deuteronomy 5:12 Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it sacred[2] like Yahveh, your God has commanded you.
Deuteronomy 5:13 You are to labor six days and do all your work,
Deuteronomy 5:14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahveh your God. Do not do any work– you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the guest who lives within your city gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.
Deuteronomy 5:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahveh, your God, brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Yahveh, your God, has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Deuteronomy 5:16 Honor your father and your mother, as Yahveh your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land Yahveh your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 5:17 You will not murder.
Deuteronomy 5:18 You will not commit adultery.
Deuteronomy 5:19 You will not steal.
Deuteronomy 5:20 You will not give dishonest testimony against your neighbor.
Deuteronomy 5:21 You will not crave[3] your neighbor’s wife or your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Deuteronomy 5:22 “Yahveh spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire collected assembly from the fire, cloud, and total darkness on the mountain; he added nothing to them. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
Deuteronomy 5:23 All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire.
Deuteronomy 5:24 You said, ‘Notice,[4] Yahveh, our God, has shown us his impressive appearance[5] and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak with a human, and he stays alive.
Deuteronomy 5:25 But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of Yahveh, our God, any longer.
Deuteronomy 5:26 For who out of everyone in the flesh[6] has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and stayed alive?
Deuteronomy 5:27 Go near and listen to everything Yahveh our God says. Then you can tell us everything Yahveh our God tells you; we will listen and obey.’
Deuteronomy 5:28 “Yahveh heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right.
Deuteronomy 5:29 If only they had such a heart to fear me and watch all my commands always, so that they and their children would permanently[7] prosper.
Deuteronomy 5:30 Go and tell them: Return to your tents.
Deuteronomy 5:31 But you stand here with me, and I will tell you every command – the prescriptions and rules – you are to teach them, so that they may follow them in the land I am giving them to take possession of.’
Deuteronomy 5:32 “Be careful to do as Yahveh your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.
Deuteronomy 5:33 Follow the whole instruction Yahveh your God has commanded you, so that you may stay alive, prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess.
“But in mediating the law, Moses applied it to the contemporary situation, and his repetition of the Decalog and laws in the verses and chapters that follow in Deuteronomy differs at a number of points from the initial presentation of the law in the book of Exodus.”
Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 148.
“The laws of Deuteronomy are like a straight and well-marked ‘path’ or road, without any detours. Therefore, it was imperative for Israel to follow the Lord in all the way that he had commanded (repeated in vv. 32–33). Placed here, these verses are not seen as an intrusion on the assumption that the law had already been given, but may be perceived as anticipating the full complement of laws to follow.”
Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
Matthew 1:1 A birth[1] record of Jesus Christ, a descendant of David, a descendant of Abraham.
Matthew 1:2 Abraham fathered[2] Isaac and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,
Matthew 1:3 and Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram,
Matthew 1:4 and Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon,
Matthew 1:5 and Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse,
Matthew 1:6 and Jesse fathered David, the king. And David fathered Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
Matthew 1:7 and Solomon fathered Rehoboam, and Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asaph,
Matthew 1:8 and Asaph fathered Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, and Joram fathered Uzziah,
Matthew 1:9 and Uzziah fathered Jotham, and Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,
Matthew 1:10 and Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, and Manasseh fathered Amos, and Amos fathered Josiah,
Matthew 1:11 and Josiah fathered Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
Matthew 1:12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah fathered Shealtiel, and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,
Matthew 1:13 and Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, and Abiud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor,
Matthew 1:14 and Azor fathered Zadok, and Zadok fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud,
Matthew 1:15 and Eliud fathered Eleazar, and Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob,
Matthew 1:16 and Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
Matthew 1:17 Now all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
Matthew 1:18 and the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When Mary, his mother had been engaged to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be pregnant by the Sacred[3] Breath.[4]
Matthew 1:19 And her husband Joseph, being an honorable man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Matthew 1:20 But as he thought about these things, notice,[5] an agent[6] of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife because what has been fathered in her is from the Sacred Breath.
Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you will call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their failures.”[7]
Matthew 1:22 All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had predicted through the prophet:
Matthew 1:23 “Notice, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel” (which translates as ‘God with us’).[8]
Matthew 1:24 When Joseph woke up[9] from his sleep, he did as the agent of the Lord had instructed him: he took Mary as his wife,
Matthew 1:25 but did not have intimacy with[10] her until after she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
“Matthew offers three forms of proof—or witness—that Jesus qualifies as King. He first cites the lineage of Jesus, and he does it in accountant-like terms. Jesus is shown to be a direct descendant of both Abraham and David. Jesus is clearly proclaimed to be a Jew, with Abraham—the father of all who have faith—as both His spiritual and biological ancestor. (See Romans 4:16.) Jesus is also of the lineage of King David, to whom an everlasting throne was promised. (See 2 Samuel 7:13 and Isaiah 9:7.) Not only does Jesus fit the prescribed identity for Messiah, but, according to Matthew, Jesus appears in history after three sets of fourteen generations—these multiples of seven (in couplets representing the days of the patriarchs, the kings, and the prophets), had special numerical meaning to the Jewish people. Six groups of seven have passed, which puts Jesus at the threshold of the seventh seven—a numerical position of perfect rule, since seven is the biblical number that refers to perfection in Jewish tradition.”
Blackaby, Henry T. The Gospel of Matthew. Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007. p. 15.
“When God made the world in the beginning, we are told that his Spirit was brooding above the waters. In the silence of the world’s non-being, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, most glorious of creatures. Now the Spirit comes again, into the sheltering darkness of the womb of Mary, who was as open to the will of God as were the waters of the uncreated world. There, in a miracle of smallness and silence, Jesus is conceived, who will be the true light of the world, taking flesh to dwell among us. When on the sixth day of creation God made man, he did for Adam what he had not done for any other creature. The beasts were brought forth from the earth, but God himself breathed the breath of life into the dust of Adam, and he became a living soul. So now the new Adam breaks into the world by a breath, by the Spirit of God, so that all who unite themselves with the death and resurrection of Jesus will be new creations, and will have true life within them.”
Cameron, Peter John. Praying with Saint Matthew’s Gospel : Daily Reflections on the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Magnificat, 2010. p. 22.
“In recalling stories of Abraham, David, and the exile (to name but three), the audience learns something of the nature of God. This God constantly intervenes in human affairs. God took initiative in calling Abraham and selecting David. God promised Abraham land and descendants and David an eternal kingdom. God remained faithful to these promises even when both men failed. Abraham and Sarah’s age threatened the promise, as did the offering of Isaac as a sacrifice (Gen 18-22) and the devastating experience of God’s judgment in exile. Yet God remained faithful and acted powerfully to deliver on the promises. Continually God guided Israel forward into a new future.”
Carter, Warren. Matthew : Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist. Rev. ed, Hendrickson Publishers, 2004. p. 108.
“On the two other occasions in Matthew when a single angel appears — significantly, following Jesus’ birth and resurrection (chs. 2 and 28) — the figure is again identified as angelos Kyriou — a servant and messenger of Yahweh. The opening idou prepares readers for the startling and the significant; this will be true to a yet greater degree in 1:23: ‘Behold [Idou, for Hebrew hinéh] the virgin will conceive….’ In this passage, the angel is the only servant of God whose speech is directly reported. He addresses Joseph by name, and identifies him as ‘son of David’ (1:20). Then the angel discloses the manner of Mary’s conception, together with the name and’the mission of the child she will bear.”
Chamblin, J K. Matthew: A Mentor Commentary. Fearn, Tain: Christian Focus Pub, 2010. p. 197.
“Matthew portrays Joseph not as fearing to break the law through failure to divorce Mary, but as fearing to do wrong by taking Mary to wife when she was pregnant by divine causation. Then the statement in v 18, “she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit,’’ does not come as a piece of advance information to the reader, but bears its more natural sense that Joseph found out the reason for, as well as the fact of, Mary’s pregnancy early in the episode (and presumably from Mary; cf. Luke 1:26-45). That , not a wrong deduction, left Joseph in a quandary. In deference to the Holy Spirit he decided to divorce Mary. In consideration of Mary he planned to hand her the certificate of divorce without any witnesses at all. The Mosaic law did not require them, anyway. They had become customary to protect a man from a divorced wife’s false denial of divorce. But, according to Matthew, Joseph intended to waive that precaution. The angel will repeat what Joseph already believed both to assure him of its truth and to provide a basis for the command to marry. Meanwhile, readers of Matthew have no reason to suspect Mary of what not even Joseph suspected her.”
Gundry, Robert H. Matthew: A Commentary on His Literary and Theological Art. , 1983. p. 22.
“Matthew’s Gospel is a story about Jesus’ birth, public ministry, and his passion, death, and resurrection. Even the larger sections of Jesus’ teachings appear in the context of this overall story line. The Evangelist presents himself as a believer in Jesus’ special importance and as the all-knowing narrator whose words can be trusted. He wrote originally for a largely Jewish-Christian audience that wanted greater clarity about how their faith in Jesus related to their identity as Jews in the late first century.”
Harrington, Daniel J. Meeting St. Matthew Today: Understanding the Man, His Mission, and His Message. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2010. p. 15.
“So the decisive moment has arrived. Israel’s long-awaited Shepherd King has come. How will the people respond? Matthew points to a sharp contrast. Jesus’ coming is an intrusion to some but a joy to others. King Herod and the residents of Jerusalem are “disturbed” —troubled, upset, scared—by news about a king of the Jews. By contrast, some strangers from the east joyfully open their hearts and their treasures to the child born to be King and Savior. Ironically, it is these outsiders who model the right way to respond to Jesus arrival. They recognize that something momentous is happening, and so they pursue him and kneel before him and offer him what they value most.”
Hiigel John L. Partnering with the King : Study the Gospel of Matthew and Become a Disciple of Jesus. Paraclete Press 2013. p. 19.
“The Gospel of Matthew does not begin at the birth of Jesus but with Jesus’ origins, with his ancestry and genealogy, going back to the beginnings of faith, to Abraham and his son Isaac. This long line will end with Joseph of the house of David, the earthly, legal father of Jesus. This listing, this history of believers who lived on the Word of God — the Torah — and its promises, is crucial to understanding who Jesus is. He is the culmination of this nation, his race, and the chosen people of Yahweh God. This is the Genesis of Jesus. As a Jew Matthew thinks, breathes, and lives in the shadow and the light of the Torah. Genesis first recounts creation, the beginnings of the heavens and the earth, then the generations of humankind (see Gn 4 and 5). Just so, Matthew’s Gospel begins with Jesus’ own roots in this people: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham….” He is the offspring of all these people. “Genealogy” signifies “origin,” “beginnings.” And Jesus himself will generate and bring forth a new people of God, those born again in his Spirit as his brothers and sisters, to the glory of our one Father.”
McKenna Megan. Matthew : The Book of Mercy. New City Press 2007. p. 34.
“The fact that Matthew never explicitly refers to Joseph as Jesus’ father reminds us that Jesus was born to an adoptive father. After being named and taken into the family by Joseph, legally, Jesus is Joseph’s son. And being Joseph’s son means that this adoption ties Jesus to the line of David as a royal son. Finally, in terms of how Jesus came, Matthew tells us that all of these things happened amidst a fallen world. Jesus came to a world of sin in need of salvation, which is why it is crucial to see that ultimately, Jesus is God’s Son. The problem of sin needed a divine solution.”
Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Matthew. , 2013. p. 20.
“Herod made many wrong choices. Although he built fortresses and palaces, he destroyed lives. And other people paid dearly for his bad choices. In contrast, Jesus made the right choices. Even though the devil tempted him directly and tried to lure him with offers of fame, power, and authority, Jesus chose correctly in every decision. Likewise, Joseph had only one desire whenever he was faced with decisions: to do what God wanted. Whatever God desired was Joseph’s desire. We learn from these examples that every opportunity to make a wrong choice is also an opportunity to make a right choice. The right choice will always honor God. How often do you consider God in your day-to-day choices?”
Wilson, Neil S. Matthew : Life Application Bible Studies. Tyndale, 2009. p. 92.
“Joseph was a righteous man, but he was also a compassionate man. He cared for Mary. He could not treat this matter lightly, and neither would he act vindictively. He demonstrates the struggle of a soul trying to be faithful. When a person has both convictions about principles and compassion for people, he or she often faces painful choices. At times neither side of a decision seems to be totally good. Joseph could not figure out how to move through this dilemma in a way that would settle his soul. He needed saving.”
Younger, Carol D. The Gospel of Matthew: Hope in the Resurrected Christ : Adult Bible Study Guide. Dallas, Tex: BaptistWay Press, 2008. p. 28.
Deuteronomy 4:1 “Now, Israel, listen to the prescriptions[1] and rules I am teaching you to follow so that you may stay alive,[2] enter, and take possession of the land Yahveh, the God of your fathers is giving you.
Deuteronomy 4:2 You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it so that you may watch the commands of Yahveh, your God I am giving you.
Deuteronomy 4:3 Your eyes have seen what Yahveh did at Baal-Peor, for Yahveh your God exterminated every one of you who followed Baal of Peor.
Deuteronomy 4:4 But you who have remained faithful to Yahveh your God are all alive today.
Deuteronomy 4:5 Look, I have taught you prescriptions and rules as Yahveh my God has commanded me so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of.
Deuteronomy 4:6 Be careful and do them, because this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the people. When they hear about all these prescriptions, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’
Deuteronomy 4:7 For what great nation is there that has a god near to it like Yahveh our God is to us whenever we call to him?
Deuteronomy 4:8 And what great nation has righteous prescriptions and rules like this entire instruction I set before you today?
Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only be careful and diligently watch your throats,[3] or else[4] you will forget the things your eyes have seen and they will slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.
Deuteronomy 4:10 The day you stood before Yahveh your God at Horeb, Yahveh said to me, ‘Collect[5] the people before me, and I will let them hear my words so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the land and may instruct their children.’
Deuteronomy 4:11 You came near and stood below the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire into the heart[6] of the sky and enveloped in a totally black cloud.
Deuteronomy 4:12 Then Yahveh spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice.
Deuteronomy 4:13 He declared his covenant to you. He commanded you to do the Ten Words,[7] which he wrote on two stone tablets.
Deuteronomy 4:14 At that time, Yahveh commanded me to teach you prescriptions and rules for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and take possession of.
Deuteronomy 4:15 “Diligently watch your throats – because you did not see any form on the day Yahveh spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb –
Deuteronomy 4:16 or else you will act corruptly[8] and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of some figure: a male or female form,
Deuteronomy 4:17 or the form of some animal on the land, some winged creature that flies in the sky,
Deuteronomy 4:18 some creature that crawls on the ground, or some fish in the water under the land.
Deuteronomy 4:19 When you look to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars – all the stars in the sky – or else you might be led astray to bow in worship to them and serve them. Yahveh your God has provided them for all people everywhere under the sky.
Deuteronomy 4:20 But Yahveh selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.
Deuteronomy 4:21 “Yahveh was angry with me because of your thing. He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land Yahveh your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 4:22 I won’t be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land. But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land.
Deuteronomy 4:23 Be careful, or else you will forget the covenant of Yahveh your God that he established[9] with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything he has forbidden you
Deuteronomy 4:24 because Yahveh, your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:25 “When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of Yahveh your God, angering him,
Deuteronomy 4:26 I call sky and land as witnesses against you today that you will rapidly[10] be destroyed[11] from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to take possession of. You will not live long there, but you will indeed be exterminated.
Deuteronomy 4:27 Yahveh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where Yahveh, your God, will drive you.
Deuteronomy 4:28 There you will worship human-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell.
Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there, you will search for Yahveh, your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your throat.
Deuteronomy 4:30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future, you will return to Yahveh, your God, and obey him.
Deuteronomy 4:31 He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them by oath because Yahveh, your God, is a compassionate God.
Deuteronomy 4:32 “Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created humankind on the land and from one end of the sky to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of?
Deuteronomy 4:33 Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and stayed alive?
Deuteronomy 4:34 Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as Yahveh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
Deuteronomy 4:35 You were shown these things so that you would know that Yahveh is God; there is no other besides him.
Deuteronomy 4:36 He let you hear his voice from the sky to instruct you. He showed you his great fire on the land, and you listened to his words from the fire.
Deuteronomy 4:37 Because he cared about[12] your fathers, he chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by his presence and great power,
Deuteronomy 4:38 to take possession from nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is now taking place.
Deuteronomy 4:39 Today, recognize and keep in mind that Yahveh is God in the sky above and on the land below; there is no other.
Deuteronomy 4:40 Watch his prescriptions and commands, which I am giving you today so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land Yahveh your God is commanding you for all the days.”
Deuteronomy 4:41 Then Moses separated[13] three cities across the Jordan to the east.
Deuteronomy 4:42 Someone could flee there who committed manslaughter, killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could escape to one of these cities and stay alive:
Deuteronomy 4:43 Bezer in the open country on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites.
Deuteronomy 4:44 This is the instruction Moses placed before the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 4:45 These are the reminders,[14] prescriptions, and rules Moses proclaimed to them after they came out of Egypt,
Deuteronomy 4:46 across the Jordan in the valley facing Beth-Peor in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites. He lived in Heshbon, and Moses and the Israelites defeated him after they came out of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 4:47 They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan to the east,
Deuteronomy 4:48 from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon)
Deuteronomy 4:49 and all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.
“Deut. 4 is in essence a miniature sermon on the covenant and the law, in which historical recollection is employed in a more general didactic fashion. The “sermon” prepares the way for the presentation of the Decalog and the other laws which begins in ch. 5.”
Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 129.
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