Deuteronomy 10:12

10:12-22 We are here taught our duty to God in our principles and our practices. We must fear the Lord our God. We must love him, and delight in communion with him. We must walk in the ways in which he has appointed us to walk. We must serve him with all our heart and soul. What we do in his service we must do cheerfully, and with good will. We must keep his commandments. There is true honour and pleasure in obedience. We must give honour to God; and to him we must cleave, as one we love and delight in, trust in, and from whom we have great expectations. We are here taught our duty to our neighbour. God's common gifts to mankind oblige us to honour all men. And those who have themselves been in distress, and have found mercy with God, should be ready to show kindness to those who are in the like distress. We are here taught our duty to ourselves. Circumcise your hearts. Cast away all corrupt affections and inclinations, which hinder you from fearing and loving God. By nature we do not love God. This is original sin, the source whence our wickedness proceeds; and the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, Ro 8:5-9. Let us, without delay or reserve, come and cleave to our reconciled God in Jesus Christ, that we may love, serve, and obey him acceptably, and be daily changed into his image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

Consider the greatness and glory of God; and his goodness and grace; these persuade us to our duty. Blessed Spirit! Oh for thy purifying, persevering, and renewing influences, that being called out of the state of strangers, such as our fathers were, we may be found among the number of the children of God, and that our lot may be among the saints.

Deuteronomy 10:12 . What doth he require? — By way of duty and gratitude for such amazing mercies? But to fear the Lord thy God, &c. — When Jehovah is our God in Christ, pacified toward us after all we have done, and has received us for his adopted children, then, and not before, are we qualified to comply with his will as here enjoined, to love as well as fear him, and to walk in all his ways, yea, to serve him, as it is here expressed, with all our heart and all our soul. For then, beholding what manner of love be hath bestowed upon us, in making us his children, we love him because he hath first loved us, and that love becomes a source of never failing obedience in our souls: it makes the tree good, and then the fruit is good also. Reader, consider this well, lest thy religion be mere formality and hypocrisy, and while thou hast a name to live, thou be dead to God and things divine!

(12) And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee. —“Although ye have done all this, still His tender mercies and His affection are set upon you, and after all that ye have sinned before Him, He doth not ask anything of you but to fear,” &c. (Rashi). The Rabbis have drawn this exposition from hence: “Everything is in the hand of Heaven (to bestow), save only the fear of Heaven.” But it is written elsewhere, “I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.” (Comp. also Micah 6:8 ; Matthew 23:23 .)

Verses 12, 13. - God had showed great favor to Israel; what return did he require? Only what, without any prescription, they were bound to render - fear, love, and obedience (comp. Micah 6:8 ). To fear the Lord thy God (cf. Deuteronomy 6:2, 13 ). To walk in all his ways ; to receive his truth, accept his law, and follow the course of conduct which he prescribes (cf. Genesis 18:19 ; Psalm 25:4, 5 ; Psalm 67:2 ; Acts 18:25, 26 ). To love him (cf. Exodus 20:6 ). "Fear with love! Love without fear relaxes; fear without love enslaves, and leads to despair" (J. Gerhard). There is a fear with which love cannot coexist - a fear which hath torment, and which love casts out as its antagonist ( 1 John 4:18 ); but the fear of God which he requires is that pious reverence which not only can coexist with love to him, but is not where love is not. And to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Love prompts to service. Wherever love fills the heart, it seeks expression in acts of service to its object; and where no such expression comes forth, the evidence is wanting of the existence of the emotion in the bosom (cf. John 14:15, 23 ; Galatians 5:13 ; 1 John 3:18 ). For thy good (cf.

Deuteronomy 5:29 ; Deuteronomy 6:24 ). "In serving the Lord the glory redoundeth unto him, the benefit to ourselves; for them that honor him he will honor ( 1 Samuel 2:30 ), and 'godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come' ( 1 Timothy 4:8 )" (Ainsworth). Deuteronomy 10:12

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God {f} require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, (f) For all our sins and transgressions God requires nothing but to turn to him and obey him.

After these emphatic warnings against self-righteousness the principal topic is resumed from Deuteronomy 6 , and this division of the discourse is drawn to a conclusion in the next two chapters by a series of direct and positive exhortations to a careful fulfillment of the duties prescribed in the first two of the Ten "Words." Deuteronomy 10:12 What doth the Lord thy God require ... - A noteworthy demand. God has in the Mosaic law positively commanded many things. However, these relate to external observances, which if need be can be enforced. But love and veneration cannot be enforced, even by God himself. They must be spontaneous. Hence, even under the law of ordinances where so much was peremptorily laid down, and omnipotence was ready to compel obedience, those sentiments, which are the spirit and life of the whole, have to be, as they here are, invited and solicited.

12 . And now ] in conclusion; in the same way opened the concluding stage of the first discourses, Deuteronomy 4:1 . What doth … require of thee ] what is … asking of thee . Cp. Micah 6:8 , seeking from thee . The force of the question lies in this, that it is nothing impossible or extraordinary or complicated, that God demands, but what is simple and within the people’s duty. to fear ] Deuteronomy 4:10 ( q.v. ), Deuteronomy 6:2 ; Deuteronomy 6:13 , Deuteronomy 10:20 . to walk in all his ways ] See on Deuteronomy 5:33 . to love him … with all thy heart , etc.] See on Deuteronomy 6:5 . to serve ] or worship ; see on Deuteronomy 4:19 , Deuteronomy 6:13 ; combined with love or fear, Deuteronomy 10:20 , Deuteronomy 11:13 , Deuteronomy 13:4 , etc., and deuteronomic passages in other books. 13 . to keep ] or in that thou keepest , for this is how they are to fear and love Him. commandments … and statutes ] Varied from Deuteronomy 7:11 . for thy good , Deuteronomy 6:24 . That the verse is made up of formulas does not necessarily prove its secondary character (Steuern.). 12, 13 sum up once more the main demand of the discourses. Chs. Deuteronomy 10:12 to Deuteronomy 11:32 .

Final Exhortations, Introductory to the Laws Enforced by the preceding Retrospect, the discourse continues to urge its practical conclusions of full fear and love to God, by worshipping and obeying Him ( Deuteronomy 10:12-13 ); because, though all heaven and earth is His, He was pleased to love the fathers of Israel and to choose their posterity ( Deuteronomy 10:14-15 ). Changing to the Pl. address the discourse urges Israel to circumcise their hearts and be no more stiffnecked, for their God is the greatest God and Lord, mightiest and most terrible and absolutely impartial ( Deuteronomy 10:16-17 ). He secures justice for the widow and orphan and loves the stranger, as Israel, themselves strangers in Egypt, must do ( Deuteronomy 10:18-19 ). Returning to the Sg. exhortations follow to fear, worship, and cleave to Jehovah, for He is Israel’s God who has done all these mighty things for the people, and out of seventy individuals who went down to Egypt, made them a multitude like to the stars; therefore loving God they shall keep His commandments ( Deuteronomy 10:20 to Deuteronomy 11:1 ). Once more in the Pl., Israel are reminded of the discipline of God, which they themselves have experienced in their deliverance from Egypt and guidance through the desert, and in the punishment for rebellion of Dathan and Abiram ( Deuteronomy 10:2-7 ); therefore they shall keep the commandment, that they may be strong, possess the land and prolong their days upon it ( Deuteronomy 10:8-9 ).