“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.” Deuteronomy 4:5.

(Note “Deuteronomy 4:5” is a reference to the Bible, which is a collection of books. It means that the quotation above referred to as “Deuteronomy 4:5” is taken from the book of Deuteronomy in the Bible, the 4^th chapter, and the 5^th verse, where a chapter consists of numbered sections called verses.)

The Bible verse, Deuteronomy 4:5, has two applications which we will discuss in this post. God spoke these words in the context of what is known as the “gospel” at a time when the nation of Israel had left behind a life of slavery in Egypt under the leadership of a man named Moses. Why did God speak to Israel according to these words? To understand God’s reason we need to look at what is God’s law and to whom it applies.

God’s Law

God is a Family of three divine Persons, namely, the Father, the Son called Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This Family is collectively known as “the Godhead.” Acts 17:29. What is God like? “God is love.” 1 John 4:8.

Each of the three members of the Godhead say of the other two members, “I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” Proverbs 8:30. “How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!” Song of Solomon 7:6. Thus, each divine Person love the other Persons in the Godhead and they delight in each other. They “all speak the same thing, and…there be no divisions among…[them]; but…[they are] perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Corinthians 1:10. Love, joy, peace, and harmony, therefore, characterise the Godhead.

But what is love? God describes His heart of love to be as follows. (The King James Version of the Bible uses the old English word “charity” which in modern English is the word “love.”)

“Charity [love] suffereth long, and is kind; charity [love] envieth not; charity [love] vaunteth not itself [is not boastful], is not puffed up [is not haughty], Doth not behave itself unseemly [improperly], seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity [wickedness], but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity [love] never faileth.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

God is “a God of truth and without iniquity [evil], just and right is he.” Deuteronomy 32:4. “Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity [evil].” Job 34:10.

As it is, “before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Psalm 90:2. That is, God is eternal. God is also self-existent in that God has life that is derived from  no one else.

And there came a time when the Godhead decided to extend their Family by creating intelligent beings. For these intelligences, God has prescribed His law of love as their rule of conduct. “God’s law” (Nehemiah 10:29) states: “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Deuteronomy 6:5. “This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it” (Matthew 22:38, 39), namely, “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Leviticus 19:18.

Thus, God’s law is designed to ensure that love, joy, peace, and harmony would reign among the created intelligences throughout the universe. For God has “made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:2) and God says, ““I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.” Isaiah 45:12.” So, God is “the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator” (Isaiah 40:28) of all that there is in the universe.

We may say of God in truth, “Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.” Psalm 93:2. “The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” Psalm 103:19.

The Entrance of Evil into the Universe

All was bliss and harmony in the universe because God’s created intelligences were all created holy, pure, and righteous in that they had a character of love identical to that of the Godhead. However, there came a time when some of the intelligences, the “angels” (Genesis 19:1), did evil which is to commit what is known as “sin” (Genesis 4:7), “iniquity” (Genesis 15:16), and “transgression.” Exodus 34:7. The angels live in “heaven thy [God’s] dwelling place” (1 Kings 8:30) and so it was in heaven that evil first entered into the universe at the instigation of a leading angel named “Lucifer.” Isaiah 14:12.

Subsequently, in the course of time, “there was war in heaven: Michael [Christ] and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan…he was cast out…and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:7-9. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer.” Isaiah 14:12.

Why did God cast out Lucifer, now known as Satan after his rebellion against God, out of heaven? It can be said of God in truth, “Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.” Psalm 5:4. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth [breaks] also the law: for sin is the transgression [breaking] of the law.” 1 John 3:4.

“For the wages of sin is [eternal] death” (Romans 6:23), therefore, “God shall…destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living.” Psalm 52:5. “God spared not the angels that sinned, but…delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4.

So, the angels that sinned were not immediately annihilated because God want to place the universe on a secure footing so that sin would never arise again after being eliminated from the universe. Therefore, God has given Satan and his evil angels time to carry out their plans and, hence, be unmasked by God as evil before the onlooking universe. This was necessary since Satan hid his real object in his rebellion by a pretense of seeking to improve the lot of all the intelligences.

The Spread of Evil in the Universe

Having been cast out of heaven with his angels, Satan scoured the universe seeking to get the other intelligences to join him in his rebellion against God. He met with no success in this wicked mission until he came to the earth to the first human pair that God had created, Adam and Eve.

This human pair, a man and a woman, namely, Adam and Eve, who were created sinless by God, Satan enticed to sin and they both yielded to Satan’s temptation and, therefore, they sinned. Both Adam and Eve were not destroyed immediately upon sinning because God gave the human race a second chance through the provisions of the gospel. For if Adam and Eve had been annihilated immediately the human race would have become extinct since they had no offspring as yet.

“Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12. By the great law of heredity, all of Adam and Eve’s descendants have inherited their sinful nature and, hence, “all [humanity] have sinned.” Romans 5:12.

God’s Law of Love Restated

To meet Adam and Eve in their sinful condition, God restated His law of love as “ten commandments” (Exodus 34:28), a brief, authoritative, and comprehensive statement of love. This was necessary “for they know not to do right, saith the LORD” (Amos 3:10), therefore, “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20. All humanity, born with their sinful nature, “are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” Jeremiah 4:22. Without God spelling out what love is, no human being would have a knowledge of the requirements of God’s law of  love which is to do good, and only good, at all times.

The Literal Meaning of Deuteronomy 4:5

So, from generation to generation, God has proclaimed his law, the ten commandments, to humanity with added “statutes and judgments” (Deuteronomy 4:5) to further amplify the requirements of God’s law of love.

I have outlined the history of the earth up to the time of the nation of Israel in a previous post. It was to Israel that their leader, Moses, spoke the words of Deuteronomy 4:5: “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.” Deuteronomy 4:5. Thus, God commanded Israel that they were to be holy, upright, and good in the land to which they were going which was the land of Canaan, the land which God had promised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This then is the literal meaning of Deuteronomy 4:5.

The Symbolic Meaning of Deuteronomy 4:5

Speaking of holy men and women who claimed God’s promises made to humanity through the provisions of the gospel, God says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” Hebrews 11:13-16.

That is, just as the literal nation of Israel left a life of slavery, having been freed from bondage by God, and they journeyed to the promised land, the land of Canaan, likewise, the symbolic “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16), all those who were made holy by God, are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13. The Israel of God “are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9) who have been freed by God from bondage to sin wherein they were such “that cannot cease from sin.” 2 Peter 2:14.

As “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13), the Israel of God journeys to the heavenly Canaan, “to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for…[them].” 1 Peter 1:4. On earth, each person in the Israel of God have been such that he or she “keepeth the law.” Proverbs 28:7.

Thus, they are prepared to obey the words of God given through Moses, “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it” (Deuteronomy 4:5) when they get to heaven. Only those among humanity who are free from sin, the redeemed, will God allow to enter heaven to live forever in His presence and to live with the holy angels. For heaven is a holy place where there is no sin, where God’s law of love reigns.

Likewise, will the redeemed be admitted to the fellowship of the inhabitants of the worlds for they had never fallen into sin, they are sinless. After God has annihilated Satan, his evil angels, and the wicked among mankind, the love, joy, peace, and harmony of the universe will be restored because sin would have been eradicated.

This then is the symbolic meaning of Deuteronomy 4:5. So we see that Deuteronomy 4:5 has two applications—one application to the literal nation of Israel and the second application to the symbolic Israel of God or what we may call “spiritual Israel.”

How This Blog Teaches Bible Study

My blog posts take one or more Bible verses and unpack what is often the hidden meaning in them, to help you to gain in your understanding of the Bible, and to receive insights into how to study it. For God says, “Study [the Bible] to shew [show] thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing [interpreting] the word of truth [the Bible].” 2 Timothy 2:15. There are new blog posts every two weeks on a Monday at 12:01 a.m. in timezone UTC-5 (GMT-5).

Further Reading

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