Overview of Deuteronomy 5–7 — KJV

on November 15, 2025

Moses Addressing the Desert Gathering Deuteronomy 5–7 records Moses’ instruction to Israel as the nation prepares to enter the land which the LORD had promised. The immediate audience is Israel under the Mosaic covenant. These chapters emphasize the authority of God’s Word, exclusive worship of the LORD, obedience from the heart, diligent instruction of children, separation from idolatry, remembrance of God’s redemption, and confidence in His covenant faithfulness.

The broader setting is stated earlier in Deuteronomy:

“On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law.”
— Deuteronomy 1:5

The plain reading therefore keeps Israel, the land, the covenant, and the nations of Canaan in their proper historical setting. The church is not Israel, and Israel’s national covenant promises and conquest commands should not be transferred directly to the church. Nevertheless, “all scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), so these chapters contain abiding instruction concerning God’s holiness, truth, faithfulness, obedience, worship, family instruction, and separation from false religion.

Chapter Summaries

Deuteronomy 5 — The Covenant Recalled and the Commandments Restated

Moses begins with a direct call to Israel:

“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.”
— Deuteronomy 5:1

The wording gives a clear pattern: Israel was to hear, learn, keep, and do what God had commanded.

Moses then reminds the people:

“The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.”
— Deuteronomy 5:2

He also states:

“I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD.”
— Deuteronomy 5:5

This establishes Moses’ role as the one through whom God’s words were communicated to Israel.

Deuteronomy 5:3 says:

“The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.”

The safest conclusion is the one directly stated: Moses emphasizes the responsibility of the living generation standing before him. Scripture does not require us in this verse to go beyond that statement and construct a more detailed identification of the “fathers” than the immediate text provides.

The LORD then restates the commandments given at Horeb.

He begins by identifying Himself as Israel’s Redeemer:

“I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”
— Deuteronomy 5:6

The commandments that follow include:

No other gods before the LORD.
No graven images for worship.
No taking the name of the LORD in vain.
Keeping the sabbath day as commanded to Israel.
Honoring father and mother.
No murder.
No adultery.
No stealing.
No false witness.
No coveting.

The order moves from Israel’s relationship with God to responsibilities toward other people. The final command concerning coveting also demonstrates that God’s standard reaches inward to the desires of the heart, not merely outward behavior.

The sabbath command is specifically connected with Israel’s deliverance from Egypt:

“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm.”
— Deuteronomy 5:15

This is important dispensationally. The sabbath ordinance in this passage belongs to Israel under the Mosaic covenant. The New Testament church is not placed under Israel’s sabbath law. Colossians 2:16 says:

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.”

The chapter then recalls the solemnity of God speaking from the mount:

“These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice.”
— Deuteronomy 5:22

The people asked Moses to receive the words of God for them:

“Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.”
— Deuteronomy 5:27

The LORD responded:

“They have well said all that they have spoken.”
— Deuteronomy 5:28

One of the central verses of the chapter follows:

“O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always.”
— Deuteronomy 5:29

The text joins together the heart, the fear of God, and obedience.

The chapter closes with the command:

“Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you.”
— Deuteronomy 5:33

Israel was not authorized to obey selectively. God’s commandments were to govern the whole course of their national and personal life.

Deuteronomy 6 — Love for God, His Word in the Heart, and Teaching the Next Generation

Deuteronomy 6 emphasizes wholehearted devotion to the LORD and the responsibility to keep His words continually before the family.

Moses says that Israel was to learn God’s commandments:

“That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments.”
— Deuteronomy 6:2

In this context, the fear of the LORD is repeatedly connected with obedience.

The great declaration of this chapter is:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”
“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
— Deuteronomy 6:4–5

The LORD alone was to receive Israel’s worship and devotion.

The command is not merely to acknowledge that God exists. Israel was commanded to love Him wholly and without divided allegiance.

The next verse establishes an important order:

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.”
— Deuteronomy 6:6

Before the words were taught to the children, they were first to be in the heart of the one doing the teaching.

Then comes the direct command:

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.”
— Deuteronomy 6:7

The instruction was to be woven into everyday life:

“when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

The text plainly places major responsibility for spiritual instruction within the home.

For believers today, the Mosaic covenant details remain distinct from the church, but the principle of parents instructing their children in the things of God is also taught in the New Testament:

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
— Ephesians 6:4

Moses then warns Israel concerning prosperity.

The LORD would bring them into cities they did not build, houses they did not fill, wells they did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees they did not plant.

The warning is:

“Then beware lest thou forget the LORD.”
— Deuteronomy 6:12

The text directly identifies forgetfulness of the LORD as a danger in the midst of abundance.

Israel is then commanded:

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him.”
— Deuteronomy 6:13

And:

“Ye shall not go after other gods.”
— Deuteronomy 6:14

The reason includes the truth that:

“the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you.”
— Deuteronomy 6:15

God’s jealousy here concerns His rightful demand for exclusive worship from His covenant people. It should not be confused with sinful human jealousy.

Verse 16 commands:

“Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.”

This verse is later quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ during His temptation:

“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”
— Matthew 4:7

The chapter then turns again to the instruction of children.

Moses anticipates the question:

“What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?”
— Deuteronomy 6:20

The answer begins with what God had done:

“We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.”
— Deuteronomy 6:21

The children were not merely to be told what God commanded. They were also to be taught how the LORD had delivered Israel.

The chapter closes:

“And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.”
— Deuteronomy 6:25

The immediate subject is Israel’s covenant obedience.

This verse must not be used to teach justification from sin by law-keeping. Scripture plainly teaches:

“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
— Genesis 15:6

And:

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
— Romans 3:28

Deuteronomy 6:25 therefore concerns Israel doing what was right under the covenant God had given them. It does not teach salvation by works.

Deuteronomy 7 — Separation From Idolatry and Confidence in the Faithful God

Deuteronomy 7 prepares Israel for contact with the nations dwelling in the land.

Seven nations are named:

Hittites
Girgashites
Amorites
Canaanites
Perizzites
Hivites
Jebusites

The text describes them as:

“seven nations greater and mightier than thou.”
— Deuteronomy 7:1

Israel’s coming victory therefore was not presented as the result of natural national superiority.

The LORD commands concerning those nations:

“thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them.”
— Deuteronomy 7:2

This was a specific command of divine judgment given to Israel concerning particular nations in Canaan.

It must not be transferred to the church as authorization for religious violence.

The New Testament states:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.”
— 2 Corinthians 10:4

The church’s commission is to preach the gospel, not to carry out Israel’s conquest of Canaan.

The reason for the removal of the Canaanite nations is further clarified later in Deuteronomy:

“for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”
— Deuteronomy 9:5

That explicit biblical statement should govern the interpretation rather than speculation about motives not stated in Scripture.

Israel was also commanded:

“Neither shalt thou make marriages with them.”
— Deuteronomy 7:3

The text immediately supplies the reason:

“For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods.”
— Deuteronomy 7:4

The stated danger is religious apostasy and idolatry.

The passage therefore does not authorize making race or ethnicity the central doctrinal issue. The concern explicitly stated in the text is being turned away from the LORD unto false gods.

For the believer today, the related New Testament principle is:

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.”
— 2 Corinthians 6:14

Israel was also commanded to destroy the instruments of false worship:

“Ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.”
— Deuteronomy 7:5

The LORD permitted no blending of His worship with Canaanite idolatry.

Verse 6 says:

“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself.”

The immediate subject is Israel as a covenant nation.

The verse does not state that every Israelite was individually regenerated or eternally saved. It therefore should not be used as proof of Calvinistic individual election unto salvation.

The text continues:

“The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people.”
— Deuteronomy 7:7

Instead:

“But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers.”
— Deuteronomy 7:8

Israel’s national position rested upon God’s love and His faithfulness to the oath He had made.

The great doctrinal declaration follows:

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God.”
— Deuteronomy 7:9

God is faithful to His Word and covenant.

The chapter then connects Israel’s obedience with covenant blessings in the promised land. Those blessings include fruitfulness, increase, health, and victory.

These promises belong directly to Israel in the Mosaic covenant and should not be automatically claimed as guarantees of material prosperity for the church.

Moses then addresses fear of the nations:

“If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?”
— Deuteronomy 7:17

The answer is remembrance:

“Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt.”
— Deuteronomy 7:18

Israel was to face the future by remembering what God had already done.

Verse 21 says:

“for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.”

The conquest would not occur all at once.

The text explicitly says:

“And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little.”
— Deuteronomy 7:22

The reason is also explicitly stated:

“lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.”

Because Scripture supplies the reason, there is no need to create an additional symbolic or allegorical meaning.

The chapter closes with a warning concerning the idols of the nations:

“Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee.”
— Deuteronomy 7:25

And:

“Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house.”
— Deuteronomy 7:26

Israel was not merely to reject the worship of idols publicly. They were forbidden even to covet and bring into their homes that which was connected with the abomination God had condemned.

Key People and Places

Moses

Moses is the human speaker and teacher throughout these chapters. He reminds Israel of Horeb, restates God’s commandments, commands wholehearted love for the LORD, warns against idolatry, and prepares the nation for entering the land.

The LORD God

The LORD is the central Person of the passage. He is presented as Israel’s Redeemer, Lawgiver, faithful God, jealous God, mighty God, and the only rightful object of worship.

Israel

Israel is the covenant nation directly addressed throughout Deuteronomy 5–7.

The Children of Israel

Deuteronomy 6 gives special attention to passing God’s words to the next generation. Parents were commanded to teach their children diligently.

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is mentioned in Deuteronomy 7:18 as part of Israel’s remembrance of the LORD’s mighty deliverance from Egypt.