Deuteronomy 26:16 - Meaning and Application

Moses presses two reasons here to strengthen all these commands. First, these were the commands of God himself, not the ideas of Moses’ own wisdom, and not laws made by his own authority. Infinite wisdom framed them, and the power of the King of kings made them binding. “The Lord your God commands you,” so you are bound by duty and gratitude to obey him, and it is dangerous to disobey. They are his laws, so you must do them, because that is why they were given to you. Do them, and do not argue against them. Do them, and do not shrink back from them. Do them, too, not carelessly or in a hypocritical way, but with your whole heart and whole soul.

Second, their covenant with God required them to keep these commands. Moses does not only point to God’s authority over them, but also to God’s claim on them and the close relationship they had with him. A covenant is a two-sided bond, and it calls for obedience from both sides. They had already confessed the Lord Jehovah to be their God, their ruler, and their King. He was their God by his rightful claim, and also by their own consent.

They had done this in a general way by hearing and following his word, and they had done it openly before at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24). They were to do it again before they moved on (Deuteronomy 29:1). That commitment binds us to keep his statutes and commands, both because we promised and because we owe loyalty to our sovereign. We break faith and dishonor our own most serious promises if we take the Lord as our God and still ignore his commands.

God’s part of the covenant must also be kept, and its purpose must be fulfilled. The Lord had publicly owned them as his special people, his peculiar treasure, just as he had promised. That promise was meant to be taken in its full and true sense. Their obedience was not only the condition for receiving this favor and keeping it, since disobedience would bring rejection. It was also the main reason for the favor in the first place.

He had owned them so that they would keep his commandments, and so they would have the best guidance and the best encouragement in religion. In the same way, we are chosen to obey (1 Peter 1:2). We are chosen to be holy, made clean and set apart for God (Ephesians 1:4). We are purified as a special people so that we do not only do good works, but are eager to do them (Titus 2:14).

God is said here to design two things in making them his special people: to make them high, and, in order to that, to make them holy. Holiness is true honor, and it is the only road to lasting honor. The greatest honor we can have in this world is to be brought into covenant with God and to serve him.

They should be high in praise, because God would accept them, and that is true praise (Romans 2:29). Their friends would admire them (Zephaniah 3:19-20). They should also be high in name, which some understand as the lasting and unending nature of that praise, a name that will not be cut off. They would be high in honor, meaning in every advantage of wealth and power that would make them greater than the nations around them (Jeremiah 13:11).

God also meant them to be a holy people, set apart for himself, devoted to him, and always employed in his service. This was his purpose in taking them as his people. So if they did not keep his commandments, they would receive all this grace in vain.