Dt. 5: The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy 5:29 "Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!"

Moses hits the ten commandments in his Wandering In Review series. I can't really add any more to what was already said in that commentary.

Verse 3 makes me wonder though. Moses says that "It was not with our fathers that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today." These commandments were given to their fathers, but also, they were for everyone. Perhaps the verse says the same thing as "It was not just with our fathers..." I'm not sure.

Verse 15 is not duplicated in the original passage on the ten commandments in Exodus 20. With an "outstretched arm" God led the Israelites out of Egypt. God reached out from where He was, offering His hand.

Also, these commandments are given with an added reason, "that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you." God is giving them this land, but the land itself is not the entirety of the gift. A long, prosperous life is the true gift. Life has always been the gift! To Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to Joseph...

I want to get the instant replay on the blazing mountain in verse 23. Regardless of size, it would be sweet to see a mountain completely engulfed in flames. I wish I could have seen it. That would have given me a lot more to fear and believe about God, especially if I was an ignorant Israelite.

When Israel told Moses they would obey everything the LORD set down, God was moved by this. There seems to be a bit of longing emotion in God's words in verse 29. "Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands..." Not to please God. Not so they can earn rewards. Not so that God can boss people around. "..so that it might go well with them and their children forever!" That is unselfish. That is a giving, sympathatic God. I just love that part. If people would just walk straight, and not turn aside to the left or the right...