◄ Deuteronomy 4:36 ►
He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.
Study Bible
He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you
This phrase emphasizes God's direct communication with the Israelites, highlighting His authority and the seriousness of His covenant. The voice from heaven signifies divine revelation, as seen in other instances like the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:17). The purpose of this communication was to discipline, which in biblical terms often means to instruct or correct. This reflects God's desire for His people to follow His commandments and live righteously. The discipline here is not punitive but corrective, aiming to guide the Israelites in their faith journey.

and on earth He showed you His great fire
The reference to "His great fire" recalls the theophany at Mount Sinai, where God manifested His presence through fire (Exodus 19:18). Fire in the Bible often symbolizes God's holiness, purity, and power. It serves as a visual representation of God's presence and a reminder of His covenant with Israel. This event was a pivotal moment in Israel's history, reinforcing the seriousness of God's laws and the need for obedience. The fire also prefigures the Holy Spirit, who appeared as tongues of fire at Pentecost (Acts 2:3), symbolizing God's presence and empowerment for His people.

and you heard His words out of the fire
Hearing God's words directly from the fire underscores the unique relationship between God and Israel. It signifies the direct revelation of God's law, which was given to guide and govern the nation. This moment is foundational for understanding the covenant relationship, as it establishes the law as divinely ordained. The words from the fire also connect to the concept of God's Word being a refining fire, purifying and transforming those who receive it (Jeremiah 23:29). This phrase highlights the importance of listening to and obeying God's Word, which is central to the life of faith.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites who is delivering this message to the people, reminding them of God's revelation and commandments.

2. Israelites
The chosen people of God who experienced His voice and presence at Mount Sinai.

3. Mount Sinai
The place where God revealed Himself to the Israelites, giving them the Ten Commandments.

4. God's Voice
Represents divine communication and authority, heard by the Israelites from the heavens.

5. The Great Fire
A manifestation of God's presence and power, symbolizing His holiness and the seriousness of His covenant.
Teaching Points
The Importance of Hearing God's Voice
God communicates with His people to guide, instruct, and discipline them. We must be attentive and responsive to His voice in our lives.

The Holiness of God
The great fire symbolizes God's holiness and purity. We are called to approach Him with reverence and awe, recognizing His majesty.

Discipline as a Sign of Love
God's discipline is an expression of His love and care for His people. It is meant to correct and guide us back to His path.

The Covenant Relationship
The events at Mount Sinai remind us of the covenant relationship between God and His people. We are called to live in obedience to His commandments.

The Continuity of God's Revelation
From the Old Testament to the New Testament, God continues to reveal Himself and His will. We must seek to understand and apply His Word in our lives.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the experience of hearing God's voice at Mount Sinai shape the Israelites' understanding of His authority and holiness?

2. In what ways can we discern and respond to God's voice in our daily lives today?

3. How does the concept of God's discipline as an act of love challenge or encourage you in your spiritual journey?

4. What are some practical ways we can demonstrate reverence for God's holiness in our worship and daily conduct?

5. How does the revelation of God at Mount Sinai connect to the revelation of God through Jesus Christ in the New Testament?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 19-20
These chapters describe the events at Mount Sinai, where God spoke to the Israelites from the mountain, emphasizing His holiness and the giving of the Law.

Hebrews 12:18-29
This passage contrasts the terrifying experience at Mount Sinai with the new covenant through Jesus, highlighting the importance of listening to God's voice.

Psalm 29
This psalm speaks of the power and majesty of God's voice, reinforcing the awe and reverence due to Him.
Sermons
God's Dealings with His PeopleH. J. Hastings, M. A.Deuteronomy 4:1-40
HearkenJ. Parker, D. D.Deuteronomy 4:1-40
Moses' DiscourseHenry, MatthewDeuteronomy 4:1-40
The Bible the Wisdom of NationS. Hayman, B. A.Deuteronomy 4:1-40
The Mercy of GodD. Davies Deuteronomy 4:29-40
The Deliverance of the Lord's People UnparalleledR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 4:32-40
The Wonderfulness of Israel's HistoryJ. Orr Deuteronomy 4:32-41
People
Amorites, Baalpeor, Bezer, Gadites, Israelites, Manasseh, Manassites, Moses, Og, Reubenites, Sihon
Places
Arabah, Aroer, Bashan, Beth-baal-peor, Bezer, Egypt, Gilead, Golan, Hermon, Heshbon, Horeb, Jordan River, Mount Sion, Peor, Pisgah, Ramoth, Sea of the Arabah, Valley of the Arnon
Topics
Caused, Discipline, Ears, Fire, Hast, Heardest, Heardst, Heart, Heaven, Heavens, Instruct, Itself, Midst, Shewed, Showed, Teaching, Voice
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 4:36

     4826   fire
     5484   punishment, by God
     8231   discipline, divine
     9411   heaven

Library
February the Sixteenth Crowding Out God
"Lest thou forget." --DEUTERONOMY iv. 5-13. That is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a man and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may ignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him! Opposition, injury, contempt, neglect, forgetfulness! Surely this is a descending scale, and the last is the worst. And yet we can forget the Lord God. We can forget all His benefits. We can easily put Him out of mind. We can live as though He were …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Deuteronomy
(Third Sunday after Easter.) Deut. iv. 39, 40. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shall keep therefore his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever. Learned men have argued much of late as to who wrote …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch

Political and Religious Life of the Jewish Dispersion in the West - their Union in the Great Hope of the Coming Deliverer.
It was not only in the capital of the Empire that the Jews enjoyed the rights of Roman citizenship. Many in Asia Minor could boast of the same privilege. [327] The Seleucidic rulers of Syria had previously bestowed kindred privileges on the Jews in many places. Thus, they possessed in some cities twofold rights: the status of Roman and the privileges of Asiatic, citizenship. Those who enjoyed the former were entitled to a civil government of their own, under archons of their choosing, quite independent …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Of the Cities of Refuge.
Hebron, the most eminent among them, excites us to remember the rest. "The Rabbins deliver this; Moses separated three cities of refuge beyond Jordan, [Deut 4:41-43;] and, against them, Joshua separated three cities in the land of Canaan, [Josh 20:7,8]. And these were placed by one another, just as two ranks of vines are in a vineyard: Hebron in Judea against Bezer in the wilderness: Shechem in mount Ephraim against Ramoth in Gilead: Kedesh in mount Napthali against Golan in Basan. And these three …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

That the Devout Soul Ought with the Whole Heart to Yearn after Union with Christ in the Sacrament
The Voice of the Disciple Who shall grant unto me, O Lord, that I may find Thee alone, and open all my heart unto Thee, and enjoy Thee as much as my soul desireth; and that no man may henceforth look upon me, nor any creature move me or have respect unto me, but Thou alone speak unto me and I unto Thee, even as beloved is wont to speak unto beloved, and friend to feast with friend? For this do I pray, this do I long for, that I may be wholly united unto Thee, and may withdraw my heart from all created …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The First Covenant
"Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me."--EX. xix. 5. "He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments."--DEUT. iv. 13.i "If ye keep these judgments, the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant,"--DEUT. vii. 12. "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, which My covenant they brake."--JER. xxxi. 31, 32. WE have …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

The Unity of God
Q-5: ARE THERE MORE GODS THAN ONE? A: There is but one only, the living and true God. That there is a God has been proved; and those that will not believe the verity of his essence, shall feel the severity of his wrath. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' Deut 6:6. He is the only God.' Deut 4:49. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else.' A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Northern Coasts of Galilee. Amanah. The Mountain of Snow.
This coast is described by Moses, Numbers 34:7: "From the Great Sea to mount Hor: from mount Hor to the entrance of Hamath," &c. Mount Hor, in the Jewish writers, is Amanah; mention of which occurs, Canticles 4:8, where R. Solomon thus: "Amanah is a mount in the northern coast of the land of Israel, which in the Talmudical language is called, The mountainous plain of Amanon; the same with mount Hor." In the Jerusalem Targum, for mount 'Hor' is the mount Manus: but the Targum of Jonathan renders it …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10, 6-13. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Epistle cxxvii. From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory .
From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory [89] . To the holy lord, and father in Christ, the Roman [pope], most fair ornament of the Church, a certain most august flower, as it were, of the whole of withering Europe, distinguished speculator, as enjoying a divine contemplation of purity (?) [90] . I, Bargoma [91] , poor dove in Christ, send greeting. Grace to thee and peace from God the Father [and] our [Lord] Jesus Christ. I am pleased to think, O holy pope, that it will seem to thee nothing extravagant …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

"They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

A Reformer's Schooling
'The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2. That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Second visit to Nazareth - the Mission of the Twelve.
It almost seems, as if the departure of Jesus from Capernaum marked a crisis in the history of that town. From henceforth it ceases to be the center of His activity, and is only occasionally, and in passing, visited. Indeed, the concentration and growing power of Pharisaic opposition, and the proximity of Herod's residence at Tiberias [3013] would have rendered a permanent stay there impossible at this stage in our Lord's history. Henceforth, His Life is, indeed, not purely missionary, but He has …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.
If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Wisdom and Revelation.
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

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