Salvation By Grace

4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

From Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

• 1.) The hearing ear, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of God.
  • All that have them have them from him.
• (2.) God gives not only food and raiment (fine clothing), but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom he does not give grace.
  • Many enjoy the gifts who have not hearts to perceive the giver, nor the true intention and use of the gifts.

ESVStudy Bible Notes:

• The heart is the organ of understanding and will in the OT; Deuteronomy focuses on the heart as the center of morality.
• Despite the emphasis on physical sight (vv. 2–3), real “sight” is with the eyes of faithful obedience.
• The heart must respond correctly to God (e.g., 6:5), but Israel’s heart is unlikely to respond to God in the right way (e.g., 5:29; 8:17; 9:4).
• Israel needs God to correct its lack of right heart, eyes, and ears. See 30:6 and note.
• In Rom. 11:8 Paul combines this text with Isa. 29:10 to explain why many of his Jewish contemporaries do not believe in Jesus.
  • Rom. 11:8 - as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
  • Isa. 29:10 – For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).

Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

• IV. By way of inference from these memoirs,
• 1. Moses laments their stupidity: Yet the Lord has not given you, a heart to perceive, v 4.
  • This does not lay the blame of their senselessness, sottishness (drunkedness), and unbelief, upon God, as if they had stood ready to receive his grace and had begged for it, but he had denied them; no, but it fastens the guilt upon themselves.
  • “The Lord who is the Father of spirits, a God in covenant with you, and who had always been so rich in mercy to you, no doubt would have crowned all his other gifts with this, he would have given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see if you had not by your own frowardness and perverseness frustrated his kind intentions, and received his grace in vain.”
  • Note:
    • (1.) The hearing ear, the seeing eye, and the under, standing heart, are the gift of God.
      • All that have them have them from him.
    • (2.) God gives not only food and raiment, but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom he does not give grace.
      • Many enjoy the gifts who have not hearts to perceive the giver, nor the true intention and use of the gifts.
    • (3.) God’s readiness to do us good in other things is a plain evidence that if we have not grace, that best of gifts, it is our own fault and not his; he would have gathered us and we would not.

• 2. Moses charges them to be obedient: Keep therefore, and do, v. 9. Note, We are bound in gratitude and interest, as well as duty and faithfulness, to keep the words of the covenant.

This entry was posted on July 1, 2009 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Deuteronomy, Regeneration with tags Heart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.