Deuteronomy 5:1-5 – The importance of obeying God’s Word

In Deuteronomy 5:1-5, Moses emphasized to the Israelites the importance of the commandments of God which were received at Mount Sinai and all the subsequent instructions given to them.  Here Moses summoned all of Israel together to remind them of the importance of knowing those commandments and instructions so that they would take care to obey them. He wanted everyone to personally hear the commandments and instructions of God directly from him and not from a third party. This would prevent anyone from giving any excuse of not knowing these commandments and instructions.

Moses specifically referred to the moment the covenant was made with them at Horeb. And just in case anyone of them should dismiss them, thinking that the covenant was only relevant to their fathers, he debunked that thought. Moses told them that while the covenant was promised to their fathers, it was with them who were still alive and listening to him then that God had made the covenant. Hence the covenant conditions would be relevant to them.

In verses  4-5, Moses reminded them of that awesome sight as God spoke to them. When he said that God spoke to them “face to face,” he was simply saying that they heard from God personally and not literally seeing the face of God. He reminded them that God spoke with them from the midst of the fire. All those times Moses was acting as the intermediary between God and them. They did not go up to the Mountain because they were terrified by the awesome sight of God’s presence.   

Here are some thoughts for our application of these verses. If we are to obey God, we need to know what He is saying. We can only know what He is saying when we make time to study His Word and discern His voice through it. The word is discerning and not extrapolating, speculating, or imagining. We need to rightly handle the Word of truth. That would require us to be accurate and clear with the Word of God. From God’s Word, we must learn to cut out a straight path for living so that we can reach His desired goal for our lives. God speaks to us personally!