Deuteronomy 4:1, commentary and pictures

Moses calls Israel on the borders of the promised land to listen to and do the statutes and judgments God taught them through him, that they may live and go in and possess the land the Lord God of their fathers gives them. Hearkening means doing, not merely hearing or professing, keeping His word without adding to it or diminishing from it with full purpose of heart. Obedience is the named condition for life and blessing in the land, bringing well-being, peace, protection and happiness, while disobedience brings curse, disease and destruction, as seen when all who followed Baal-peor died but all who cleaved to the Lord remained alive. Keeping and doing them is Israel's wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations, showing God nigh to them and His law righteous, as a holy and separate people who represent His character. The call still speaks to God's people now seeking entrance into the heavenly Canaan, where only those who hear and obey will enter to live forever, which makes daily obedience, teaching it diligently to children, and honoring all He commands including the true Sabbath the way to life.

Words and Historical Setting

Moses spoke to Israel near the close of the wilderness wandering at Baal-peor on the very borders of the promised land as they stood ready to enter, after many had fallen prey to subtle temptation and those who remained faithful renewed their vows of allegiance. The law was recounted to the generation preparing to enter Canaan because many had not witnessed its giving and needed to understand the importance of obedience. The instruction was given with awe-inspiring signs at Sinai, where the Lord came down before the mighty host with divine presence and power to give His law with wonderful promises if His commandments would be observed. Israel's history then showed both the consequence of turning away from God and the life of those who remained faithful to Him.

The statutes and judgments taught through Moses are God's own instruction, to be heeded, practiced and put into daily life in order to live and to enter and possess the land God gives. They give the principles of the Ten Commandments in clear, practical directions about duties to God, to one another, and to strangers, setting a high standard that provides safety, peace and prosperity. They are good for the obedient, who live in them, while penalties were attached to transgression so that wrongdoing would be restrained, and under the civil law punishment was inflicted on the transgressor even unto death that others might be restrained by fear.

Hearkening means doing, not merely hearing the Word or professing obedience. Hearing means diligently searching the Scriptures to see and obey the living Word, keeping God's goodness and mercy and love in mind and serving Him with full purpose of heart. Its blessing rests on those who carry it out in daily life by joining faith with works in practical service for the Lord, such as medical missionary work and training others to serve, walking in the light given instead of resting in merely theoretical belief and carelessly neglecting the light.

Doing means keeping the word commanded without adding to it or diminishing from it, that the commandments may be kept. Obedience is the response to God's deliverance and care and is for the people's good, and is to be honored as God's living word and instruction. The land to be entered and possessed is the gift of the Lord God of their fathers, and obedience is the named condition for enjoying life in it.

Life Through Obedient Doing

Israel must listen to the statutes and judgments taught them and do them, that they may live and go in and possess the land the Lord God of their fathers gives them. Obedience to that instruction is the named condition for enjoying life in the land, and the promises are not fulfilled apart from obedience. The verse is the word of God to be taken as counselor and studied as words of truth and righteousness, for it is true science and not false science.

Obedience brings God's care, blessing and continued life in the land, for keeping His commandments is for the people's good. It brings well-being and long life for the people and their children, with safety, peace and prosperity, protection and happiness, and divine strength for living in harmony with God's law. Disobedience brings the warned-of harmful consequences shown in Israel's later experience, disaster under God's curse, disease and suffering, and finally being blotted out of existence. It makes every difference whether a person is obedient or disobedient, set before each as a daily choice in this probationary life between obeying and living or transgressing and perishing, while the joy of the life to come surpasses this life's pleasures.

What the Lord did because of Baal-peor proves the decided difference made between the obedient and the disobedient. All the men who followed Baal-peor were destroyed from among the people with disease and death, while all who cleaved unto the Lord remained alive to that day. The Lord does not immediately execute His judgments but gives time to come back to a knowledge of the truth. Israel's wilderness experience likewise warns that all but two of the adults who left Egypt died before entering Canaan, and God will uphold His word if leaders depart from His commandments.

The law is not given as a curse but as the way to escape the curse of all sin, to be righteous to stand before Him, to be holy, to be happy, to have communion with God, and to know that He is God and they are His children. The commandments are not a yoke of bondage, and are not grievous or impossible to keep or unendurable. While the people are firm in allegiance to God the law is their delight, and hearing and doing the statutes and judgments gives life, protection and prosperity so that no harm befalls the obedient. When they separate from God and give themselves to self-indulgence and the service of evil they lose His love and power, and then the same law becomes an unendurable weight because they cannot execute it.

The statutes and judgments give the principles of the Ten Commandments in clear, practical directions about duties to God, to one another, and to strangers. They are good for the obedient, who live in them, but for the transgressor they are not good, because under the civil law punishment even unto death is inflicted to restrain others by fear. Hearkening and doing gives life and entrance into and possession of what the Lord gives, and being obedient children of God is life itself and the highest education. That instruction is part of the living Word of God which His people must keep in mind, honoring it in response to His deliverance and care as for their good.

God keeps account with His people in this matter, and hearkening to His statutes and judgments and doing them decides whether they live and possess what He gives. His eye is over the obedient who walk in humility of mind before Him, with His angels guiding and protecting them, while carelessness and failure to keep the fear of God before them cuts them off from that care. Each one must now stand in right relation to God, remembering that He watches and guards the people who follow in obedience to His will.

Wisdom Before the Nations

Keeping and doing the statutes and judgments taught by Moses is Israel's wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations. The nations hearing all these statutes will confess that surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. They will see that God is nigh to Israel in all they call upon Him for, and that their statutes and judgments are as righteous as all His law. Faithfulness in this obedience shows His religion to be wise and elevating, and makes known that the Lord has power to shield and guard those who keep His commandments.

This witness requires taking heed to themselves and keeping the soul diligently. They must not forget what their eyes have seen nor let it depart from the heart, but hold fast the faith and keep the living Word in mind. They must teach it to sons and sons' sons, learning from the wilderness experience as they seek entrance into the land and, in the last days, into the heavenly Canaan. The facts about departure from the Lord's commandments, as seen at Baal-peor, were to be repeated from time to time lest they be forgotten.

The command teaches separation as a holy and special people chosen and redeemed by the Lord. They were to remain separate from the surrounding nations and from the world, to worship God alone, and to remain distinct in life and worship. Obedience included acting righteously in dealings with one another, and Christ who led and taught Israel in the wilderness forty years commanded every requirement to be taught by example as well as instruction. The claims of the law are plain, yet those who love the world may refuse them because obedience requires sacrifice and sets them apart from the world.

Disobedience put their continued standing as a nation in danger, for God could not sustain them while they transgressed. God's directions are sacred expressions of His mind, to be obeyed in practical conduct and religious service. Their principles require justice, love, liberality, tenderness, compassion, and true courtesy toward God and others, and they remain binding with every word to be cherished. Obedience represents His character while departing from His word misrepresents Him, and if His commandments had been kept the state of things existing in the world today would be different.

Guidance for Today

The call to hearken to the statutes and judgments and do them that life may be given still has an Israel to hear it, and it describes the obedience God desires throughout history including the last days. It warns and instructs God's people as they learn from the wilderness experience, hold fast the faith, and seek entrance into the heavenly Canaan, where only those who hear and obey will enter into a kingdom with no going out and no danger. Earthly life is probation with a daily choice between obeying and living or transgressing and finally being blotted out, while keeping God's commandments brings well-being and long life for the people and their children. The joy of the life to come surpasses this life's pleasures, and obedience is the way to escape the curse of all sin, to be righteous to stand before Him, to be holy and happy, to have communion with God, and to know Him as God and themselves as His children.

The chapter belongs to careful study and obedience of the law He came down from heaven to Mount Sinai to proclaim, and it is especially relevant to the Sabbath commandment. Doing that law, including the true Sabbath He gave men to keep holy, is what identifies a person with the people of God and numbers him among God's covenant-keeping people. God commands the seventh day, not Sunday, and people must not replace His stated requirement with a different one. The command is urgent because the end is nearer than when first believed, while Satan is working to block the message and to bring a Sunday law that would bring slavery in the Southern field and shut the door to keeping the true Sabbath.

Those with charge of the work are to tell these requirements over and over to the children being prepared for entrance into the heavenly kingdom, teaching them Bible truth and keeping them apart from corrupting influences. These words are important enough to be placed before the people where they can teach them, and the principle applies to displaying God's commandments prominently so they instruct all who see them. The law spiritually inscribed on the heart draws the affections toward God, and obedience brings blessing, life, and happiness in which parents also share.

Its directions matter to those carrying responsibilities in sacred work, and God's instructions are to be observed carefully, from the greatest to what may seem least. All the Lord's commandments are to be treated as important, His directions followed in simple obedience, and His Word studied so as not to fall into rebellion, for the truth is not to be put on for a time and laid aside at will. They give the reasons why God's people are denominated people of God, which are Bible present truth to be repeated in short, pointed articles with actual experiences so that light shines forth as a lamp to many more families in many places, and to be framed into song and sung in the congregations lest they be forgotten. Hearkening means doing in practical service for the Lord, such as medical missionary work and training others to serve, joining faith with works instead of resting in merely theoretical belief, and the link of obedience with life and divine strength supports teaching patients that living in harmony with God's law matters alongside the natural remedies used against disease.