Original Meaning
The History Lesson, Part I (4:32–34)
A CENTRAL HISTORICAL FACT drives the first paragraph: Israel’s experience of salvation is without parallel or analogy in all of human history. With the opening imperative, “Ask,” Moses invites his audience to engage in exhaustive historical research2 in pursuit of the answers to four questions. The first two questions are general; the third and fourth are more specific. (1) Has any great event like this ever happened before?3 (2) Has anybody ever heard about anything like this? (3) Has any people ever heard the voice of God? And having heard it have they lived to tell about it?4 (4) Has any god dared to do what Israel’s God has done in taking for himself one nation from the midst of another nation?”
The last question, of course, is purely hypothetical, since there are no other gods (v. 35). Even if there were, this is not how ancient Near Eastern gods typically behaved. In self-interest they would indeed battle other nations and their gods, but not to rescue people; their goal was expanding their own territory. In an unprecedented act Yahweh had invaded Egypt, snatched Israel from the clutches of Pharaoh and Egypt’s gods, and brought them to himself (Ex. 19:4). The verb nissâ (“to test”) captures the nature and significance of Yahweh’s actions (v. 34):5 They challenged both human powers and the gods of the land where the people were enslaved.
Moses describes Yahweh’s valorous acts with seven expressions: “daring acts” (NIV “testings”), “miraculous signs and wonders,” “war,” “a strong hand and an outstretched arm,” and “great and awesome deeds.” With these four questions and this catalogue of divine actions Moses declares that Yahweh’s rescue of Israel from Egypt is unparalleled either in historical records or in fictional portrayals; the notion is unheard of, the experience is intolerable, and the divine power displayed is awesome.
Bridging Contexts
FEW TEXTS IN SCRIPTURE are more profound or exhilarating than verses 32–40. We hear echoes of Moses’ reminiscences of Yahweh’s mighty acts repeatedly in Deuteronomy11 and throughout the Scriptures. While later poets pick up the motif of “signs and wonders” and flesh it out with recollections of the fate of Pharaoh and his forces,12 Jeremiah 32:20–22 provides the clearest echo of the present passage:
You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
In context Jeremiah observes that Israel has wasted these memories of Yahweh’s mighty acts by failing to draw the theological conclusions and practical implications spelled out in Deuteronomy 4:40 and refusing to live according to God’s will. Yahweh’s past signs and wonders provide the backdrop for answering the question, “Is anything too hard for [Yahweh]?” (Jer. 32:27). For Jeremiah the specific issue is Israel’s ultimate restoration to the land, a hope symbolized by the prophet’s purchase of the plot of land in Anathoth. In a manner similar to the later rabbinic method of arguing from the greater to the lesser, he declares that if Yahweh could rescue the Israelites from Egypt and deliver Canaan into their hands in the first place, surely he is able to rescue his people from exile and restore their fortunes in the land promised to their ancestors.
But allusions to the motifs of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 are common elsewhere in the Old Testament as well. The linkage of the notion of exodus with a polemic against idolatry are especially striking in Isaiah 40. Moreover, the motif of divine signs and wonders carries over into the New Testament. Increasingly scholars are recognizing that one of the fundamental agendas of the Gospels is to present Jesus as Yahweh, who ushers in the kingdom of God with signs and wonders that climax in his resurrection.13 References to signs and wonders occur repeatedly in the book of Acts as signs of the dawning of the new eschatological age,14 validating the work of the apostles as a continuation of the work of Jesus. While Isaiah’s and other prophets’ use of exodus language to describe the return of Israel from captivity in Babylon and her restoration to the Promised Land obviously inspired New Testament authors, ultimately these notions derive from the exodus narratives themselves and from Moses’ reflections on those narratives, as in our passage.
Contemporary Significance
TEXTS LIKE DEUTERONOMY 4:32–40 should be as inspiring to Christian readers today as they were to Moses’ original hearers, not only because of their vibrant style, but especially because of the eternal lessons they teach.
(1) God’s salvation is achieved at great expenditure of divine energy and power. For Israel, God’s saving actions involved the plagues of Egypt, through which he not only declared Israel to be his chosen people but also revealed to the watching world his glory and grace. But what he did for this nation of slaves is paradigmatic for what God has done for sinners, enslaved not to an evil earthly empire but to sin. In fact, in the death and resurrection of Christ, we witness a surpassing demonstration of power and glory by which he proves that he is indeed supreme over all. In 2 Peter 1:16–17, Peter gathers the motifs of story and power, divine majesty, honor, glory, and the voice of revelation from heaven on the sacred mountain. But in Christ, God’s glory and grace are revealed even more dramatically. Paul adds his insight concerning the surpassing power demonstrated in the gospel of Christ in Romans 1:16–17:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” [italics mine]
If the exodus represented the supreme moment of divine revelation and founding event of Israel’s history, this is what the cross is for New Testament believers.
(2) In this brief sermon on “the grace of salvation,” Moses demonstrates how saving grace always works. Of his own free choice and by his own power, God delivers captives from their bondage and ushers them into a new life of freedom and celebration. However, while the call to salvation is without preconditions, the fulfillment of God’s calling for his people is contingent on grateful obedience to his will. Unlike the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, the response demanded by the Savior is not defined primarily in liturgical and cultic obligations (like the “care and feeding of the gods”), but through moral obedience. This is how his people render to God sacrifices of praise and proclaim his grace to the watching world.
(3) This passage offers pastors a paradigm for preaching, not only in its content, but also in its proportion. In a text consisting of 163 words, Moses uses 109 to tell the story of Israel’s historical experience of grace; he uses 26 to reflect theologically on those events; and then he concludes with 26 words of application. This paradigm contrasts with much contemporary evangelical preaching, which, in its drive to be practical, fails to develop the story of God’s gracious redemption (or tells it in hurried and passionless tones) and consequently also fails to show the theological implications of that story. Instead we spend our time on pointed but trite and facile application.
This text reminds us that our ethic must derive from our theology, which in turn derives from the memory of God’s gracious intervention in human history. Tragically, the evangelical church is not only losing its theology; it is losing the story. For this reason we must continue boldly proclaiming God’s amazing acts of redemption. This is why we preach Christ and him crucified. In the cross alone is there any hope of salvation for anyone.
But the crucifixion of Christ was not simply an interesting and unprecedented historical event. It was also a profoundly theological event, for through the death and resurrection of Jesus his supreme divinity is proclaimed (Rom. 1:2–6). Concerning Christ Jesus Paul writes in Philippians 2:7–11:
[He] made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God has exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [Yahweh],
to the glory of God the Father.
Through his death and resurrection Jesus proves his identity with Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel. If Yahweh’s rescue of the Israelites from their bondage to Pharaoh and his kingdom demanded a tremendous act of divine power, how much more our rescue from sin and the dominion of darkness. But this is what Jesus has accomplished for us, and in so doing he has demonstrated that he alone is God; there is no other.
The implications of God’s gracious acts of deliverance for Israel and for us are the same. Having been redeemed, why would we not commit ourselves to joyful obedience? This was and remains the key to the Lord’s blessing on our lives. Jesus himself instructs us, “If you love me (that is, if you are covenantally committed to me), you will keep my commands” (John 14:15 [pers. trans.]). To paraphrase Jesus’ words in John 14:21, “Those who have my commands and keep them are those is who are covenantally committed to me. And those who are covenantally committed to me will be the object of my Father’s covenantal commitment, and I will be covenantally committed to him and manifest myself to him.” And again, “If any are covenantally committed to me, they will keep my word, and my Father will demonstrate his covenantal commitment to them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever is not covenantally committed to me does not keep my words” (John 14:23–24; cf. 15:10–11). It is all part of this same wonderful picture. Indeed we may bring out the relevance of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 for us who have experienced the grace of God in Christ by recasting this entire section from Deuteronomy in Christian vocabulary:
Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever encounter their gods directly, as you have encountered him, and still live? Or has any god ever dared to invade the kingdom of darkness and take for himself a people from the midst of that kingdom by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which Jesus Christ your God has done for you on the cross before your eyes?
To you it was shown, that you might know that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he came as the divine Word, that he might reveal the Father to you, and on earth he revealed his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
And he loved the ancestors and chose their spiritual offspring after them and brought you out of the kingdom of darkness by his great power, disarming the rulers and authorities and putting them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (Col. 2:15), in order to grant us an inheritance, since we have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11).
Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that Jesus Christ is Yahweh; he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Therefore walk in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ the LORD, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, and giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 1:10–12).
Original Meaning
The Theology Lesson, Part I (4:35)
A CENTRAL THEOLOGICAL FACT drives this paragraph: The God of Israel is sui generis—in a class all his own. Having ended verse 34 with a reminder that these acts were all performed for Israel’s sake, he reiterates this point in verse 35: “You were shown . . . so that you might know.”6 The purpose of Yahweh’s awesome acts was revelatory: these events demonstrated that he alone deserves the title God (ʾ elōhîm) and that there is no other in his class. He is indeed “God of gods” (10:17).
Bridging Contexts
FEW TEXTS IN SCRIPTURE are more profound or exhilarating than verses 32–40. We hear echoes of Moses’ reminiscences of Yahweh’s mighty acts repeatedly in Deuteronomy11 and throughout the Scriptures. While later poets pick up the motif of “signs and wonders” and flesh it out with recollections of the fate of Pharaoh and his forces,12 Jeremiah 32:20–22 provides the clearest echo of the present passage:
You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
In context Jeremiah observes that Israel has wasted these memories of Yahweh’s mighty acts by failing to draw the theological conclusions and practical implications spelled out in Deuteronomy 4:40 and refusing to live according to God’s will. Yahweh’s past signs and wonders provide the backdrop for answering the question, “Is anything too hard for [Yahweh]?” (Jer. 32:27). For Jeremiah the specific issue is Israel’s ultimate restoration to the land, a hope symbolized by the prophet’s purchase of the plot of land in Anathoth. In a manner similar to the later rabbinic method of arguing from the greater to the lesser, he declares that if Yahweh could rescue the Israelites from Egypt and deliver Canaan into their hands in the first place, surely he is able to rescue his people from exile and restore their fortunes in the land promised to their ancestors.
But allusions to the motifs of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 are common elsewhere in the Old Testament as well. The linkage of the notion of exodus with a polemic against idolatry are especially striking in Isaiah 40. Moreover, the motif of divine signs and wonders carries over into the New Testament. Increasingly scholars are recognizing that one of the fundamental agendas of the Gospels is to present Jesus as Yahweh, who ushers in the kingdom of God with signs and wonders that climax in his resurrection.13 References to signs and wonders occur repeatedly in the book of Acts as signs of the dawning of the new eschatological age,14 validating the work of the apostles as a continuation of the work of Jesus. While Isaiah’s and other prophets’ use of exodus language to describe the return of Israel from captivity in Babylon and her restoration to the Promised Land obviously inspired New Testament authors, ultimately these notions derive from the exodus narratives themselves and from Moses’ reflections on those narratives, as in our passage.
Contemporary Significance
TEXTS LIKE DEUTERONOMY 4:32–40 should be as inspiring to Christian readers today as they were to Moses’ original hearers, not only because of their vibrant style, but especially because of the eternal lessons they teach.
(1) God’s salvation is achieved at great expenditure of divine energy and power. For Israel, God’s saving actions involved the plagues of Egypt, through which he not only declared Israel to be his chosen people but also revealed to the watching world his glory and grace. But what he did for this nation of slaves is paradigmatic for what God has done for sinners, enslaved not to an evil earthly empire but to sin. In fact, in the death and resurrection of Christ, we witness a surpassing demonstration of power and glory by which he proves that he is indeed supreme over all. In 2 Peter 1:16–17, Peter gathers the motifs of story and power, divine majesty, honor, glory, and the voice of revelation from heaven on the sacred mountain. But in Christ, God’s glory and grace are revealed even more dramatically. Paul adds his insight concerning the surpassing power demonstrated in the gospel of Christ in Romans 1:16–17:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” [italics mine]
If the exodus represented the supreme moment of divine revelation and founding event of Israel’s history, this is what the cross is for New Testament believers.
(2) In this brief sermon on “the grace of salvation,” Moses demonstrates how saving grace always works. Of his own free choice and by his own power, God delivers captives from their bondage and ushers them into a new life of freedom and celebration. However, while the call to salvation is without preconditions, the fulfillment of God’s calling for his people is contingent on grateful obedience to his will. Unlike the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, the response demanded by the Savior is not defined primarily in liturgical and cultic obligations (like the “care and feeding of the gods”), but through moral obedience. This is how his people render to God sacrifices of praise and proclaim his grace to the watching world.
(3) This passage offers pastors a paradigm for preaching, not only in its content, but also in its proportion. In a text consisting of 163 words, Moses uses 109 to tell the story of Israel’s historical experience of grace; he uses 26 to reflect theologically on those events; and then he concludes with 26 words of application. This paradigm contrasts with much contemporary evangelical preaching, which, in its drive to be practical, fails to develop the story of God’s gracious redemption (or tells it in hurried and passionless tones) and consequently also fails to show the theological implications of that story. Instead we spend our time on pointed but trite and facile application.
This text reminds us that our ethic must derive from our theology, which in turn derives from the memory of God’s gracious intervention in human history. Tragically, the evangelical church is not only losing its theology; it is losing the story. For this reason we must continue boldly proclaiming God’s amazing acts of redemption. This is why we preach Christ and him crucified. In the cross alone is there any hope of salvation for anyone.
But the crucifixion of Christ was not simply an interesting and unprecedented historical event. It was also a profoundly theological event, for through the death and resurrection of Jesus his supreme divinity is proclaimed (Rom. 1:2–6). Concerning Christ Jesus Paul writes in Philippians 2:7–11:
[He] made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God has exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [Yahweh],
to the glory of God the Father.
Through his death and resurrection Jesus proves his identity with Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel. If Yahweh’s rescue of the Israelites from their bondage to Pharaoh and his kingdom demanded a tremendous act of divine power, how much more our rescue from sin and the dominion of darkness. But this is what Jesus has accomplished for us, and in so doing he has demonstrated that he alone is God; there is no other.
The implications of God’s gracious acts of deliverance for Israel and for us are the same. Having been redeemed, why would we not commit ourselves to joyful obedience? This was and remains the key to the Lord’s blessing on our lives. Jesus himself instructs us, “If you love me (that is, if you are covenantally committed to me), you will keep my commands” (John 14:15 [pers. trans.]). To paraphrase Jesus’ words in John 14:21, “Those who have my commands and keep them are those is who are covenantally committed to me. And those who are covenantally committed to me will be the object of my Father’s covenantal commitment, and I will be covenantally committed to him and manifest myself to him.” And again, “If any are covenantally committed to me, they will keep my word, and my Father will demonstrate his covenantal commitment to them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever is not covenantally committed to me does not keep my words” (John 14:23–24; cf. 15:10–11). It is all part of this same wonderful picture. Indeed we may bring out the relevance of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 for us who have experienced the grace of God in Christ by recasting this entire section from Deuteronomy in Christian vocabulary:
Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever encounter their gods directly, as you have encountered him, and still live? Or has any god ever dared to invade the kingdom of darkness and take for himself a people from the midst of that kingdom by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which Jesus Christ your God has done for you on the cross before your eyes?
To you it was shown, that you might know that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he came as the divine Word, that he might reveal the Father to you, and on earth he revealed his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
And he loved the ancestors and chose their spiritual offspring after them and brought you out of the kingdom of darkness by his great power, disarming the rulers and authorities and putting them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (Col. 2:15), in order to grant us an inheritance, since we have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11).
Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that Jesus Christ is Yahweh; he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Therefore walk in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ the LORD, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, and giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 1:10–12).
Original Meaning
The History Lesson, Part II (4:36–38)
MOSES BEGINS TO ADDRESS the second pair of rhetorical questions from verses 33 and 34 by affirming that Yahweh is both in heaven, his true residence, and on earth in the very midst of the fire (cf. vv. 11–15). Indeed, the fire serves as the visible symbol of his presence.7 Although unstated here (cf. 8:5), based on verses 10 and 35, his goal was obviously to promote fear of Yahweh and demonstrate that Yahweh alone is God.
In verses 37b–38 Moses addresses the fourth question, summarizing again Yahweh’s great past and anticipated future acts on Israel’s behalf: (1) He chose Israel; (2) he personally and with his own great strength brought his people out of Egypt; (3) he will drive out greater and stronger nations than Israel; (4) he will deliver their land over to the Israelites as their “special grant” (naḥalâ, NIV “inheritance”). This is the first reference to Yahweh’s prior election of Israel in the book. The objects of his election are the “descendants” of the ancestors, that is, the Israelites as a people (cf. Gen. 17:7).
Moses’ declaration that Yahweh has chosen Israel and is acting on the nation’s behalf “because he loved your forefathers” introduces us for the first time to a key theological motif in Deuteronomy. Although in the Old Testament the term ʾāhab (“to love”) may bear a wide range of meanings,8 in Deuteronomy “love” denotes “covenant commitment demonstrated in actions that serve the interests of the other person.”9 This statement is revolutionary, since the notion of love is virtually absent from the vocabulary of divine-human relationships in the ancient orient.
Bridging Contexts
FEW TEXTS IN SCRIPTURE are more profound or exhilarating than verses 32–40. We hear echoes of Moses’ reminiscences of Yahweh’s mighty acts repeatedly in Deuteronomy11 and throughout the Scriptures. While later poets pick up the motif of “signs and wonders” and flesh it out with recollections of the fate of Pharaoh and his forces,12 Jeremiah 32:20–22 provides the clearest echo of the present passage:
You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
In context Jeremiah observes that Israel has wasted these memories of Yahweh’s mighty acts by failing to draw the theological conclusions and practical implications spelled out in Deuteronomy 4:40 and refusing to live according to God’s will. Yahweh’s past signs and wonders provide the backdrop for answering the question, “Is anything too hard for [Yahweh]?” (Jer. 32:27). For Jeremiah the specific issue is Israel’s ultimate restoration to the land, a hope symbolized by the prophet’s purchase of the plot of land in Anathoth. In a manner similar to the later rabbinic method of arguing from the greater to the lesser, he declares that if Yahweh could rescue the Israelites from Egypt and deliver Canaan into their hands in the first place, surely he is able to rescue his people from exile and restore their fortunes in the land promised to their ancestors.
But allusions to the motifs of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 are common elsewhere in the Old Testament as well. The linkage of the notion of exodus with a polemic against idolatry are especially striking in Isaiah 40. Moreover, the motif of divine signs and wonders carries over into the New Testament. Increasingly scholars are recognizing that one of the fundamental agendas of the Gospels is to present Jesus as Yahweh, who ushers in the kingdom of God with signs and wonders that climax in his resurrection.13 References to signs and wonders occur repeatedly in the book of Acts as signs of the dawning of the new eschatological age,14 validating the work of the apostles as a continuation of the work of Jesus. While Isaiah’s and other prophets’ use of exodus language to describe the return of Israel from captivity in Babylon and her restoration to the Promised Land obviously inspired New Testament authors, ultimately these notions derive from the exodus narratives themselves and from Moses’ reflections on those narratives, as in our passage.
Contemporary Significance
TEXTS LIKE DEUTERONOMY 4:32–40 should be as inspiring to Christian readers today as they were to Moses’ original hearers, not only because of their vibrant style, but especially because of the eternal lessons they teach.
(1) God’s salvation is achieved at great expenditure of divine energy and power. For Israel, God’s saving actions involved the plagues of Egypt, through which he not only declared Israel to be his chosen people but also revealed to the watching world his glory and grace. But what he did for this nation of slaves is paradigmatic for what God has done for sinners, enslaved not to an evil earthly empire but to sin. In fact, in the death and resurrection of Christ, we witness a surpassing demonstration of power and glory by which he proves that he is indeed supreme over all. In 2 Peter 1:16–17, Peter gathers the motifs of story and power, divine majesty, honor, glory, and the voice of revelation from heaven on the sacred mountain. But in Christ, God’s glory and grace are revealed even more dramatically. Paul adds his insight concerning the surpassing power demonstrated in the gospel of Christ in Romans 1:16–17:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” [italics mine]
If the exodus represented the supreme moment of divine revelation and founding event of Israel’s history, this is what the cross is for New Testament believers.
(2) In this brief sermon on “the grace of salvation,” Moses demonstrates how saving grace always works. Of his own free choice and by his own power, God delivers captives from their bondage and ushers them into a new life of freedom and celebration. However, while the call to salvation is without preconditions, the fulfillment of God’s calling for his people is contingent on grateful obedience to his will. Unlike the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, the response demanded by the Savior is not defined primarily in liturgical and cultic obligations (like the “care and feeding of the gods”), but through moral obedience. This is how his people render to God sacrifices of praise and proclaim his grace to the watching world.
(3) This passage offers pastors a paradigm for preaching, not only in its content, but also in its proportion. In a text consisting of 163 words, Moses uses 109 to tell the story of Israel’s historical experience of grace; he uses 26 to reflect theologically on those events; and then he concludes with 26 words of application. This paradigm contrasts with much contemporary evangelical preaching, which, in its drive to be practical, fails to develop the story of God’s gracious redemption (or tells it in hurried and passionless tones) and consequently also fails to show the theological implications of that story. Instead we spend our time on pointed but trite and facile application.
This text reminds us that our ethic must derive from our theology, which in turn derives from the memory of God’s gracious intervention in human history. Tragically, the evangelical church is not only losing its theology; it is losing the story. For this reason we must continue boldly proclaiming God’s amazing acts of redemption. This is why we preach Christ and him crucified. In the cross alone is there any hope of salvation for anyone.
But the crucifixion of Christ was not simply an interesting and unprecedented historical event. It was also a profoundly theological event, for through the death and resurrection of Jesus his supreme divinity is proclaimed (Rom. 1:2–6). Concerning Christ Jesus Paul writes in Philippians 2:7–11:
[He] made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God has exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [Yahweh],
to the glory of God the Father.
Through his death and resurrection Jesus proves his identity with Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel. If Yahweh’s rescue of the Israelites from their bondage to Pharaoh and his kingdom demanded a tremendous act of divine power, how much more our rescue from sin and the dominion of darkness. But this is what Jesus has accomplished for us, and in so doing he has demonstrated that he alone is God; there is no other.
The implications of God’s gracious acts of deliverance for Israel and for us are the same. Having been redeemed, why would we not commit ourselves to joyful obedience? This was and remains the key to the Lord’s blessing on our lives. Jesus himself instructs us, “If you love me (that is, if you are covenantally committed to me), you will keep my commands” (John 14:15 [pers. trans.]). To paraphrase Jesus’ words in John 14:21, “Those who have my commands and keep them are those is who are covenantally committed to me. And those who are covenantally committed to me will be the object of my Father’s covenantal commitment, and I will be covenantally committed to him and manifest myself to him.” And again, “If any are covenantally committed to me, they will keep my word, and my Father will demonstrate his covenantal commitment to them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever is not covenantally committed to me does not keep my words” (John 14:23–24; cf. 15:10–11). It is all part of this same wonderful picture. Indeed we may bring out the relevance of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 for us who have experienced the grace of God in Christ by recasting this entire section from Deuteronomy in Christian vocabulary:
Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever encounter their gods directly, as you have encountered him, and still live? Or has any god ever dared to invade the kingdom of darkness and take for himself a people from the midst of that kingdom by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which Jesus Christ your God has done for you on the cross before your eyes?
To you it was shown, that you might know that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he came as the divine Word, that he might reveal the Father to you, and on earth he revealed his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
And he loved the ancestors and chose their spiritual offspring after them and brought you out of the kingdom of darkness by his great power, disarming the rulers and authorities and putting them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (Col. 2:15), in order to grant us an inheritance, since we have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11).
Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that Jesus Christ is Yahweh; he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Therefore walk in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ the LORD, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, and giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 1:10–12).
Original Meaning
The Theology Lesson, Part II (4:39)
REITERATING THE STATEMENT OF verse 35, Moses heightens the urgency and relevance of acknowledging Yahweh for the Israelites poised to cross the Jordan by adding “this day” (hayyôm). What the people had witnessed at Sinai has enduring significance. The people may cross the Jordan confidently, knowing that though Yahweh is supreme in heaven, he is present with them on earth.
Bridging Contexts
FEW TEXTS IN SCRIPTURE are more profound or exhilarating than verses 32–40. We hear echoes of Moses’ reminiscences of Yahweh’s mighty acts repeatedly in Deuteronomy11 and throughout the Scriptures. While later poets pick up the motif of “signs and wonders” and flesh it out with recollections of the fate of Pharaoh and his forces,12 Jeremiah 32:20–22 provides the clearest echo of the present passage:
You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
In context Jeremiah observes that Israel has wasted these memories of Yahweh’s mighty acts by failing to draw the theological conclusions and practical implications spelled out in Deuteronomy 4:40 and refusing to live according to God’s will. Yahweh’s past signs and wonders provide the backdrop for answering the question, “Is anything too hard for [Yahweh]?” (Jer. 32:27). For Jeremiah the specific issue is Israel’s ultimate restoration to the land, a hope symbolized by the prophet’s purchase of the plot of land in Anathoth. In a manner similar to the later rabbinic method of arguing from the greater to the lesser, he declares that if Yahweh could rescue the Israelites from Egypt and deliver Canaan into their hands in the first place, surely he is able to rescue his people from exile and restore their fortunes in the land promised to their ancestors.
But allusions to the motifs of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 are common elsewhere in the Old Testament as well. The linkage of the notion of exodus with a polemic against idolatry are especially striking in Isaiah 40. Moreover, the motif of divine signs and wonders carries over into the New Testament. Increasingly scholars are recognizing that one of the fundamental agendas of the Gospels is to present Jesus as Yahweh, who ushers in the kingdom of God with signs and wonders that climax in his resurrection.13 References to signs and wonders occur repeatedly in the book of Acts as signs of the dawning of the new eschatological age,14 validating the work of the apostles as a continuation of the work of Jesus. While Isaiah’s and other prophets’ use of exodus language to describe the return of Israel from captivity in Babylon and her restoration to the Promised Land obviously inspired New Testament authors, ultimately these notions derive from the exodus narratives themselves and from Moses’ reflections on those narratives, as in our passage.
Contemporary Significance
TEXTS LIKE DEUTERONOMY 4:32–40 should be as inspiring to Christian readers today as they were to Moses’ original hearers, not only because of their vibrant style, but especially because of the eternal lessons they teach.
(1) God’s salvation is achieved at great expenditure of divine energy and power. For Israel, God’s saving actions involved the plagues of Egypt, through which he not only declared Israel to be his chosen people but also revealed to the watching world his glory and grace. But what he did for this nation of slaves is paradigmatic for what God has done for sinners, enslaved not to an evil earthly empire but to sin. In fact, in the death and resurrection of Christ, we witness a surpassing demonstration of power and glory by which he proves that he is indeed supreme over all. In 2 Peter 1:16–17, Peter gathers the motifs of story and power, divine majesty, honor, glory, and the voice of revelation from heaven on the sacred mountain. But in Christ, God’s glory and grace are revealed even more dramatically. Paul adds his insight concerning the surpassing power demonstrated in the gospel of Christ in Romans 1:16–17:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” [italics mine]
If the exodus represented the supreme moment of divine revelation and founding event of Israel’s history, this is what the cross is for New Testament believers.
(2) In this brief sermon on “the grace of salvation,” Moses demonstrates how saving grace always works. Of his own free choice and by his own power, God delivers captives from their bondage and ushers them into a new life of freedom and celebration. However, while the call to salvation is without preconditions, the fulfillment of God’s calling for his people is contingent on grateful obedience to his will. Unlike the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, the response demanded by the Savior is not defined primarily in liturgical and cultic obligations (like the “care and feeding of the gods”), but through moral obedience. This is how his people render to God sacrifices of praise and proclaim his grace to the watching world.
(3) This passage offers pastors a paradigm for preaching, not only in its content, but also in its proportion. In a text consisting of 163 words, Moses uses 109 to tell the story of Israel’s historical experience of grace; he uses 26 to reflect theologically on those events; and then he concludes with 26 words of application. This paradigm contrasts with much contemporary evangelical preaching, which, in its drive to be practical, fails to develop the story of God’s gracious redemption (or tells it in hurried and passionless tones) and consequently also fails to show the theological implications of that story. Instead we spend our time on pointed but trite and facile application.
This text reminds us that our ethic must derive from our theology, which in turn derives from the memory of God’s gracious intervention in human history. Tragically, the evangelical church is not only losing its theology; it is losing the story. For this reason we must continue boldly proclaiming God’s amazing acts of redemption. This is why we preach Christ and him crucified. In the cross alone is there any hope of salvation for anyone.
But the crucifixion of Christ was not simply an interesting and unprecedented historical event. It was also a profoundly theological event, for through the death and resurrection of Jesus his supreme divinity is proclaimed (Rom. 1:2–6). Concerning Christ Jesus Paul writes in Philippians 2:7–11:
[He] made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God has exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [Yahweh],
to the glory of God the Father.
Through his death and resurrection Jesus proves his identity with Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel. If Yahweh’s rescue of the Israelites from their bondage to Pharaoh and his kingdom demanded a tremendous act of divine power, how much more our rescue from sin and the dominion of darkness. But this is what Jesus has accomplished for us, and in so doing he has demonstrated that he alone is God; there is no other.
The implications of God’s gracious acts of deliverance for Israel and for us are the same. Having been redeemed, why would we not commit ourselves to joyful obedience? This was and remains the key to the Lord’s blessing on our lives. Jesus himself instructs us, “If you love me (that is, if you are covenantally committed to me), you will keep my commands” (John 14:15 [pers. trans.]). To paraphrase Jesus’ words in John 14:21, “Those who have my commands and keep them are those is who are covenantally committed to me. And those who are covenantally committed to me will be the object of my Father’s covenantal commitment, and I will be covenantally committed to him and manifest myself to him.” And again, “If any are covenantally committed to me, they will keep my word, and my Father will demonstrate his covenantal commitment to them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever is not covenantally committed to me does not keep my words” (John 14:23–24; cf. 15:10–11). It is all part of this same wonderful picture. Indeed we may bring out the relevance of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 for us who have experienced the grace of God in Christ by recasting this entire section from Deuteronomy in Christian vocabulary:
Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever encounter their gods directly, as you have encountered him, and still live? Or has any god ever dared to invade the kingdom of darkness and take for himself a people from the midst of that kingdom by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which Jesus Christ your God has done for you on the cross before your eyes?
To you it was shown, that you might know that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he came as the divine Word, that he might reveal the Father to you, and on earth he revealed his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
And he loved the ancestors and chose their spiritual offspring after them and brought you out of the kingdom of darkness by his great power, disarming the rulers and authorities and putting them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (Col. 2:15), in order to grant us an inheritance, since we have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11).
Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that Jesus Christ is Yahweh; he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Therefore walk in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ the LORD, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, and giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 1:10–12).
Original Meaning
The Practical Lesson (4:40)
A SINGLE PRACTICAL FACT drives the final verse: awareness of the history of Yahweh’s actions on Israel’s behalf and knowledge of his status as supreme over all must inspire behavior in line with the will of this gracious God. Moses appeals to his people to obey the will of Yahweh for their own good and for the good of their descendants. If they will keep alive the memory of Yahweh’s gracious actions, if their theology remains pure, and if their response is right, God’s mission for them will be fulfilled. The land has indeed been promised them as an eternal possession, but enjoyment of the promise is conditional.10 Each generation must commit itself anew to being the people of God in God’s land for God’s glory.
Bridging Contexts
FEW TEXTS IN SCRIPTURE are more profound or exhilarating than verses 32–40. We hear echoes of Moses’ reminiscences of Yahweh’s mighty acts repeatedly in Deuteronomy11 and throughout the Scriptures. While later poets pick up the motif of “signs and wonders” and flesh it out with recollections of the fate of Pharaoh and his forces,12 Jeremiah 32:20–22 provides the clearest echo of the present passage:
You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
In context Jeremiah observes that Israel has wasted these memories of Yahweh’s mighty acts by failing to draw the theological conclusions and practical implications spelled out in Deuteronomy 4:40 and refusing to live according to God’s will. Yahweh’s past signs and wonders provide the backdrop for answering the question, “Is anything too hard for [Yahweh]?” (Jer. 32:27). For Jeremiah the specific issue is Israel’s ultimate restoration to the land, a hope symbolized by the prophet’s purchase of the plot of land in Anathoth. In a manner similar to the later rabbinic method of arguing from the greater to the lesser, he declares that if Yahweh could rescue the Israelites from Egypt and deliver Canaan into their hands in the first place, surely he is able to rescue his people from exile and restore their fortunes in the land promised to their ancestors.
But allusions to the motifs of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 are common elsewhere in the Old Testament as well. The linkage of the notion of exodus with a polemic against idolatry are especially striking in Isaiah 40. Moreover, the motif of divine signs and wonders carries over into the New Testament. Increasingly scholars are recognizing that one of the fundamental agendas of the Gospels is to present Jesus as Yahweh, who ushers in the kingdom of God with signs and wonders that climax in his resurrection.13 References to signs and wonders occur repeatedly in the book of Acts as signs of the dawning of the new eschatological age,14 validating the work of the apostles as a continuation of the work of Jesus. While Isaiah’s and other prophets’ use of exodus language to describe the return of Israel from captivity in Babylon and her restoration to the Promised Land obviously inspired New Testament authors, ultimately these notions derive from the exodus narratives themselves and from Moses’ reflections on those narratives, as in our passage.
Contemporary Significance
TEXTS LIKE DEUTERONOMY 4:32–40 should be as inspiring to Christian readers today as they were to Moses’ original hearers, not only because of their vibrant style, but especially because of the eternal lessons they teach.
(1) God’s salvation is achieved at great expenditure of divine energy and power. For Israel, God’s saving actions involved the plagues of Egypt, through which he not only declared Israel to be his chosen people but also revealed to the watching world his glory and grace. But what he did for this nation of slaves is paradigmatic for what God has done for sinners, enslaved not to an evil earthly empire but to sin. In fact, in the death and resurrection of Christ, we witness a surpassing demonstration of power and glory by which he proves that he is indeed supreme over all. In 2 Peter 1:16–17, Peter gathers the motifs of story and power, divine majesty, honor, glory, and the voice of revelation from heaven on the sacred mountain. But in Christ, God’s glory and grace are revealed even more dramatically. Paul adds his insight concerning the surpassing power demonstrated in the gospel of Christ in Romans 1:16–17:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” [italics mine]
If the exodus represented the supreme moment of divine revelation and founding event of Israel’s history, this is what the cross is for New Testament believers.
(2) In this brief sermon on “the grace of salvation,” Moses demonstrates how saving grace always works. Of his own free choice and by his own power, God delivers captives from their bondage and ushers them into a new life of freedom and celebration. However, while the call to salvation is without preconditions, the fulfillment of God’s calling for his people is contingent on grateful obedience to his will. Unlike the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, the response demanded by the Savior is not defined primarily in liturgical and cultic obligations (like the “care and feeding of the gods”), but through moral obedience. This is how his people render to God sacrifices of praise and proclaim his grace to the watching world.
(3) This passage offers pastors a paradigm for preaching, not only in its content, but also in its proportion. In a text consisting of 163 words, Moses uses 109 to tell the story of Israel’s historical experience of grace; he uses 26 to reflect theologically on those events; and then he concludes with 26 words of application. This paradigm contrasts with much contemporary evangelical preaching, which, in its drive to be practical, fails to develop the story of God’s gracious redemption (or tells it in hurried and passionless tones) and consequently also fails to show the theological implications of that story. Instead we spend our time on pointed but trite and facile application.
This text reminds us that our ethic must derive from our theology, which in turn derives from the memory of God’s gracious intervention in human history. Tragically, the evangelical church is not only losing its theology; it is losing the story. For this reason we must continue boldly proclaiming God’s amazing acts of redemption. This is why we preach Christ and him crucified. In the cross alone is there any hope of salvation for anyone.
But the crucifixion of Christ was not simply an interesting and unprecedented historical event. It was also a profoundly theological event, for through the death and resurrection of Jesus his supreme divinity is proclaimed (Rom. 1:2–6). Concerning Christ Jesus Paul writes in Philippians 2:7–11:
[He] made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God has exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [Yahweh],
to the glory of God the Father.
Through his death and resurrection Jesus proves his identity with Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel. If Yahweh’s rescue of the Israelites from their bondage to Pharaoh and his kingdom demanded a tremendous act of divine power, how much more our rescue from sin and the dominion of darkness. But this is what Jesus has accomplished for us, and in so doing he has demonstrated that he alone is God; there is no other.
The implications of God’s gracious acts of deliverance for Israel and for us are the same. Having been redeemed, why would we not commit ourselves to joyful obedience? This was and remains the key to the Lord’s blessing on our lives. Jesus himself instructs us, “If you love me (that is, if you are covenantally committed to me), you will keep my commands” (John 14:15 [pers. trans.]). To paraphrase Jesus’ words in John 14:21, “Those who have my commands and keep them are those is who are covenantally committed to me. And those who are covenantally committed to me will be the object of my Father’s covenantal commitment, and I will be covenantally committed to him and manifest myself to him.” And again, “If any are covenantally committed to me, they will keep my word, and my Father will demonstrate his covenantal commitment to them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever is not covenantally committed to me does not keep my words” (John 14:23–24; cf. 15:10–11). It is all part of this same wonderful picture. Indeed we may bring out the relevance of Deuteronomy 4:32–40 for us who have experienced the grace of God in Christ by recasting this entire section from Deuteronomy in Christian vocabulary:
Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever encounter their gods directly, as you have encountered him, and still live? Or has any god ever dared to invade the kingdom of darkness and take for himself a people from the midst of that kingdom by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which Jesus Christ your God has done for you on the cross before your eyes?
To you it was shown, that you might know that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he came as the divine Word, that he might reveal the Father to you, and on earth he revealed his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
And he loved the ancestors and chose their spiritual offspring after them and brought you out of the kingdom of darkness by his great power, disarming the rulers and authorities and putting them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (Col. 2:15), in order to grant us an inheritance, since we have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11).
Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that Jesus Christ is Yahweh; he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Therefore walk in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ the LORD, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, and giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 1:10–12).