“These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me” (Deuteronomy 5:22).

When it comes to Pastoring it’s not the kind of job that you can put a time limit on. I remember having a conversation with a fellow Pastor and we reached this conclusion. When is the sermon preparation finished? When it has been preached! When is the pastoral visit or counselling over? When all aspects of the visit had been completed, or the person being counselled has come under the authority of Scripture and starts to see a way through their problem. Once you have got to that stage in the process of your sermon or visiting, you might be in the position to thank the Lord for His wisdom and be able to say, “job done”, and hope the phone does not ring so you are finished for the day and can put your feet up. That said, in v22 of Deuteronomy chapter 5 we come to a very definite finish!

Moses’ opening words in this verse give it an air of finality. ‘These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain.’ There is a real sense that God had finished speaking. This is reinforced by Moses stressing to the people that: ‘he (God) added no more’. His words were now complete and finished. It is sad to see so many today, who call themselves Christians, questioning  God’s Word. Of course it is not called that, it is called reinterpreting it for our day and age. In a society which is increasingly anti-authoritarianism and post-modernism some people have lost their nerve and try and soften the God’s Word in the hope it will be more acceptable and attract more people into church.

Deuteronomy is a good book to turn to in such a day and age. It reminds us that God had spoken to His people and that the Law was given for their benefit, and out of love for them. It was not up to then to decide what they thought of it, but to obey out of gratitude for all the Lord had done. The consequences of messing with God’s Word is that we end up with an ineffective Gospel that will not save anyone and will leave the church open to judgement due to its lack of faithfulness to God’s Word.

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatian church reminds us of the consequences of departing from the message of the cross. Here was a church that had added something to the very essence of the Gospel. So tragic is this that they get a letter from one very angry Apostle! Paul is so ‘hopping mad’ with those who: ‘distort the Gospel of Christ’ (Galatians 1:7) that after his greeting , he gets straight into the main theme of the letter rather than give his customary words of encouragement or thanksgiving! Paul had received the Gospel: ‘through a revelation from Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 1:12) and what we have received in the Bible was written down by the same process. 2 Peter 1:20 reminds us that: ‘that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.’ The point is a simple one, if God has spoken to His people through the Bible, are we really in a position to know better?

The answer is of course no! Verse 22 ends stressing the finality of God’s Word. The words were written down on the: ‘two tablets of stone’ and given to Moses. So, they were not to be messed with, they were not  to be modified.  I will let those saints of yesteryear Henry and Scott have the last word: ‘God added no more. What other laws he gave, were sent by Moses, but no more was spoken in the same manner.  He added nothing more, therefore we must not add. The law of the Lord is perfect.’[1]

[1]  Henry and Scott. A Commentary upon the Holy Bible, Genesis to Deuteronomy (London, The Religious Tract Society, 1833) 380-381.