Deuteronomy 4:37

37 for he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he led thee out of Egypt, and went before thee in his great strength,

Deuteronomy 4:37 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:37

And because he loved thy fathers
Not their immediate fathers, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and entered not into the good land because of their unbelief, but their more remote fathers or ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had some singular testimonies of the love of God to them, Abraham is called their friend of God, and Isaac was the son of promise in whom the seed was called; and Jacob is particularly said to be loved by God, when Esau was hated:

therefore he chose their seed after them;
not to eternal life and salvation, but to the enjoyment of external blessings and privileges, to be called by his name, and to set up his name and worship among them, and to be a special people to him above all people on the earth, as to outward favours, both civil and ecclesiastical:

and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
which was done not only in the sight of the Egyptians openly, they not daring to hinder them, as the wonders wrought to oblige them to let them go out, done in the sight of the Israelites as before observed, but in the sight of God, he going before them in the pillar of cloud and fire, smiling upon them the Israelites, and looking with a frown upon the host of the Egyptians, and conducting the people by the angel of his presence.

Deuteronomy 4:37 In-Context

35 that thou shouldest know, that the Lord himself is God, and none other is, besides (this) one. (so that thou wouldest know, that the Lord himself is God, and there is no other besides him.)
36 From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he should teach thee; and in [the] earth he showed to thee his full great fire (and on the earth he showed thee his very great fire), and thou heardest his words from [the] midst of the fire;
37 for he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he led thee out of Egypt, and went before thee in his great strength,
38 that he should do away the greatest nations, and stronger than thou, in thine entering, and that he should lead thee in, and should give to thee their land into possession (and should give thee their land for a possession), as thou seest in (this) present day.
39 Therefore know thou today, and think in thine heart, that the Lord himself is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath, and none other is. (And so know thou today, and take to thy heart, that the Lord himself is God in heaven above, and on the earth beneath, and there is no other.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.