“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.”
My Notes
What Does Deuteronomy 5:27 Mean?
The people repeat the request from Exodus 20:19: "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." They want Moses as mediator — they'll hear and obey God's word through Moses rather than receiving it directly.
The promise — "we will hear it, and do it" — is a solemn commitment to obey whatever God says through Moses. The irony is sharp: this is the same generation (or their children) who repeatedly failed to hear and do. The promise sounds sincere. The track record says otherwise. The commitment to obey through a mediator is no more reliable than the commitment to obey without one.
God's response (verse 28-29) is both approval and grief: "they have well said... O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always." God acknowledges the good request while grieving that the heart to fulfill it doesn't exist. The people said the right thing. God wishes they meant it.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where does your promise to obey ('we will hear and do') exceed your heart's capacity to follow through?
- 2.What does God's sigh ('O that there were such a heart') reveal about divine longing for human faithfulness?
- 3.How does this verse preview the new covenant's solution (new hearts that can obey 'always')?
- 4.What's the gap between your words of commitment and your heart's actual condition — and who bridges it?
Devotional
"We will hear it, and do it." The people make a solemn promise. And God, who can see their hearts, says: I wish they meant it. O that there were such a heart in them.
The request for mediation is reasonable — God's direct voice was terrifying (Exodus 20:18-19). They want Moses to be the buffer. Fine. God approves the arrangement (verse 28: "they have well said"). But then the grief: "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always."
God wishes for a heart they don't have. The divine sigh — "O that" (mi yitten — who will give, if only) — is the language of unfulfilled longing. God wants them to mean what they said. He wants the promise to reflect reality. He wants the heart to match the words. And it doesn't. The promise is sincere but the heart is incapable.
This verse previews the new covenant's necessity: if God wishes for a heart that fears him always, and the current hearts can't produce that fear consistently, then new hearts are needed. The wish expressed here is fulfilled in Ezekiel 36:26 ("I will give you a new heart") and Jeremiah 31:33 ("I will put my law in their inward parts"). What God longed for in Deuteronomy 5, he provides in the new covenant.
The saddest word in this verse is "always." God doesn't just want occasional obedience. He wants always-obedience. And the human heart, as currently constructed, can't deliver always. It delivers sometimes. Mostly. When motivated. When scared. But always? That requires a heart transplant.
God's wish became God's gift. The heart he longed for in verse 29, he provides through Christ.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Go say to them, get you into your tents again. Which they had left, being brought by Moses, at the direction of God, to…
These verses contain a much fuller narrative of the events briefly described in Exo 20:18-21. Here it is important to…
Here, I. Moses reminds them of the agreement of both the parties that were now treating, in the mediation of Moses.
1.…
Go thou near The technical term for approach to the Deity, and to His representatives (Deu 5:5 and Deu 1:22). E, using…