Deuteronomy 4:13

his covenant, which he commanded you Heb. berîth(prob. from a root = to bind) meant any compact, contract or bargain: between friends, 1 Samuel 18:3; man and wife, Proverbs 2:17; master and servant, Job 41:4; king and people, 2 Samuel 5:3; former foes, whether individuals, id.Deuteronomy 3:12 f., or peoples, J, Exodus 23:32; Deuteronomy 7:2 (the only instance in D of its non-religious use); conqueror and conquered, 1 Samuel 11:1. Berîthmight apply either to the transaction or to the binding conditions on which it was based; the covenant or the terms of the covenant, i.e. ordinance or constitution. When the parties were of unequal power the terms were imposed by the stronger. So between God and Israel; His covenant which He commanded, here and Deuteronomy 29:1. Used first in a religious sense by JE, Genesis 15:18, etc. of God's covenant with the patriarchs; Exodus 19:5; Exodus 24:7 ff. etc. with Israel at Ḥoreb; less used by the prophets, e.g. Hosea 6:7; Hosea 8:1; Jeremiah 11:10; Jeremiah 31:32; but very frequent in Deuteronomy 4:31; Deuteronomy 7:12; Deuteronomy 8:18, etc., with patriarchs (cp. Deuteronomy 6:18; Deuteronomy 9:5; Deuteronomy 11:9, etc.); Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 4:23; Deuteronomy 5:2; Deuteronomy 9:9; Deuteronomy 9:11; Deuteronomy 9:15, at Ḥoreb; Deuteronomy 17:2 (?), Deuteronomy 29:1; Deuteronomy 29:9; Deuteronomy 29:12; Deuteronomy 29:14; Deuteronomy 29:21; Deuteronomy 29:25 renewed in Mo-ab. The terms commandedby God were the words of the covenant, J, Exodus 34:28, or the covenantalone as here, i.e. the Decalogue, but in Deuteronomy 29:1 the whole Deuteronomic Code; book of the covenant, E, Exodus 24:7, the Ḥoreb legislation, but in 2 Kings 23:2 f., 2 Kings 23:21, cp. Deuteronomy 29:21, the Deuteronomic Code. The tables of the Decalogue were the tables of the covenant, Deuteronomy 9:9; Deuteronomy 9:11; Deuteronomy 9:15; hence D's characteristic name for the Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 31:9; Deuteronomy 31:25 and in Josh. A covenant was solemnised by a sacrificial feast, Genesis 21:28 ff; Genesis 31:46; Genesis 31:54. Hence probably the phrase to cutor strike a covenant (karath berîth), cp. ὅρκια τέμνειν. Beyond the frequent use of this phrase, e.g. Deuteronomy 4:23, D nowhere associates the covenant with sacrifice. God makes (karath) it and it is His; swears to it; forgets it not, keeps, fulfilsand establishes it, Deuteronomy 4:31; Deuteronomy 7:12; Deuteronomy 8:18, etc.; keeping covenant and true love, Deuteronomy 7:9; Deuteronomy 7:12. Israel enters into it, Deuteronomy 29:12, and is bound to keepand to do it, passim.

the ten commandments Words. So also Deuteronomy 10:4. E, Exodus 20:1, all these words. A gloss in Exodus 34:28 has the ten words. See Driver's note on both passages; and below on Deuteronomy 5:5, -The Ten Words."

he wrote them upon two tables of stone See below on Deuteronomy 5:22. On the -covenants" mentioned in the Pentateuch see Driver, Exod.p. 175.