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Selected Verse: Deuteronomy 10:12 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| De 10:12 |
King James |
And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God 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, |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
After these emphatic warnings against self-righteousness the principal topic is resumed from Deut. 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."
Deu 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. |
| The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
fear
(See Scofield) - (Psa 19:9). |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The proof that Israel had no righteousness before God is followed on the positive side by an expansion of the main law laid down in Deu 6:4., to love God with all the heart, which is introduced by the words, "and now Israel," sc., now that thou hast everything without desert or worthiness, purely from forgiving grace. "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?" Nothing further than that thou fearest Him, "to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all the heart and all the soul." אם כּי, unless, or except that, presupposes a negative clause (cf. Gen 39:9), which is implied here in the previous question, or else to be supplied as the answer. The demand for fear, love, and reverence towards the Lord, is no doubt very hard for the natural man to fulfil, and all the harder the deeper it goes into the heart; but after such manifestations of the love and grace of God, it only follows as a matter of course. "Fear, love, and obedience would naturally have taken root of themselves within the heart, if man had not corrupted his own heart." Love, which is the only thing demanded in Deu 6:5, is here preceded by fear, which is the only thing mentioned in Deu 5:26 and Deu 6:24.
(Note: The fear of God is to be united with the love of God; for love without fear makes men remiss, and fear without love makes them servile and desperate (J. Gerhard).)
The fear of the Lord, which springs from the knowledge of one's own unholiness in the presence of the holy God, ought to form the one leading emotion in the heart prompting to walk in all the ways of the Lord, and to maintain morality of conduct in its strictest form. This fear, which first enables us to comprehend the mercy of God, awakens love, the fruit of which is manifested in serving God with all the heart and all the soul (see Deu 6:5). "For thy good," as in Deu 5:30 and Deu 6:24. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| What doth he require - By way of duty and gratitude for such amazing mercies. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Now, Israel, what doth the Lord - require of thee - An answer is immediately given. God requires,
1. That ye fear him as Jehovah your God; him who made, preserves, and governs you.
2. That ye walk in all his ways - that, having received his precepts, all of which are good and excellent, ye obey the whole; walking in God's ways, not your own, nor in the ways of the people of the land.
3. That ye love him - have confidence in him as your father and friend, have recourse to him in all your necessities, and love him in return for his love.
4. That you serve him - give him that worship which he requires, performing it with all your heart - the whole of your affections, and with all your soul - your will, understanding, and judgment. In a word, putting forth your whole strength and energy of body and soul in the sacred work. |
12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God 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,
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.