Deuteronomy 4:20

20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron-smelter, out of Egypt, to become a people of his very own possession, as you are now.

Deuteronomy 4:20 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:20

But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the
iron furnace
The allusion is to the trying and melting of metals, and fleeing them from dross, by putting them into furnaces strongly heated, some of which are of earth, others of iron; the word, as the Jewish writers F7 observe, signifies such an one in which gold and silver and other things are melted; see ( Psalms 12:6 ) ( Proverbs 17:3 ) even "out of Egypt"; which is here compared to an iron furnace, because of the cruelty with which the Israelites were used in it, the hardships they were put under, and the misery and bondage they were kept in; but out of all the Lord brought them, as he does all his people sooner or later out of their afflictions, sometimes called the furnace of affliction, ( Isaiah 48:10 ) where their graces are tried, and they are purged, purified, and refined from their dross and tin. This the Lord did to Israel, he brought them out of their distressed state and condition:

to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day:
to be the Lord's inheritance, as they now were, ( Deuteronomy 32:9 ) as well as they were quickly to inherit the land of Canaan, for which they were brought out of the land of Egypt; and indeed they were already, even that day, entered on their inheritance, the kingdom of the Amorites being delivered into their hands.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Celim. c. 8. sect. 9. & Jarchi in loc.

Deuteronomy 4:20 In-Context

18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.
19 And when you look up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, do not be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples everywhere under heaven.
20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron-smelter, out of Egypt, to become a people of his very own possession, as you are now.
21 The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he vowed that I should not cross the Jordan and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving for your possession.
22 For I am going to die in this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you are going to cross over to take possession of that good land.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.