The Unanswerable Question Text: Deuteronomy 4:32-40
Introduction: A Worldview on Trial
We are living in a time of rampant historical amnesia. Our generation believes that history began yesterday, and that wisdom was born with them. We are encouraged to look forward, to innovate, to disrupt, but we are actively discouraged from looking back. To look back is to be regressive, unenlightened, and on the "wrong side of history." But this is a profound and suicidal error. A man who does not know where he came from cannot possibly know where he is going. He is a leaf blown about by every cultural gust of wind, because he has no roots.
Moses, standing on the plains of Moab, is addressing a new generation. The generation that came out of Egypt, the one that saw the raw power of God with their own eyes, had perished in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Now their children are poised to enter the Promised Land. And Moses knows that their greatest danger is not the Canaanite armies, formidable as they are. Their greatest danger is forgetfulness. Their greatest danger is that they will settle into the land, grow fat and happy, and begin to think that their prosperity is their own doing. They will forget the God who is utterly unique, the God who acts in history in ways that have no parallel.
So Moses puts the entire history of the world on trial. He issues a challenge, a great rhetorical question that is designed to echo through the ages and land with full force on the hearts of these Israelites, and on ours. He is not just giving them a history lesson; he is forging a worldview. He is teaching them how to think about God, about themselves, and about the world. He is demonstrating that their God, Yahweh, is not one deity among many. He is in a category all by Himself. And the proof is not in abstract philosophical arguments, but in the brute facts of history. God has acted. God has spoken. God has saved. And no one else has ever done anything remotely like it.
This passage is a call to remember, to know, and to obey, based on the absolute uniqueness of God's actions in history. It is a polemic against all forms of idolatry, which is always an attempt to domesticate God, to make Him manageable, predictable, and less terrifyingly holy. But the God of the Exodus cannot be domesticated. He is fire, and He is love, and there is no other.
The Text
"Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and lived? Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation with trials, with signs and wonders and with war and with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terrors, as Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown that you might know that Yahweh, He is God; there is no other besides Him. Out of the heavens He caused you to hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He caused you to see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, dispossessing before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days on the land which Yahweh your God is giving you for all the days.” (Deuteronomy 4:32-40 LSB)
The Cosmic Challenge (vv. 32-34)
Moses begins with a challenge of cosmic proportions.
"Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?" (Deuteronomy 4:32 LSB)
This is a gauntlet thrown down. Moses tells Israel to become historians and cosmologists. Search the records. Poll the nations. Scan the entire timeline of human existence, from the creation of Adam until now. Search the entire breadth of the created order, from one horizon to the other. And what are you looking for? You are looking for a parallel. You are looking for an analogy. You are looking for any event, any story, any myth, any claim that can stand in the same room with what you have experienced.
The question is rhetorical, because the answer is a resounding, deafening silence. There is nothing. The pagan myths are filled with petty, carnal gods who bicker and fight like a dysfunctional school board. They are born, they scheme, they bleed, they die. They are magnified projections of fallen human desire. But Yahweh is not like them. He is the Creator, not a creature. And His actions in history are as unique as His being.
Moses then specifies two unprecedented events.
"Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and lived? Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation with trials, with signs and wonders and with war and with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terrors, as Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?" (Deuteronomy 4:33-34 LSB)
First, the Theophany at Sinai. No other nation claimed that their god had spoken to the entire assembly of the people out of a terrifying display of fire, smoke, and earthquake. The pagan gods whispered to oracles in dark caves or gave ambiguous signs. But Yahweh thundered His law for all to hear. The experience was so terrifying that the people begged Moses to be their mediator, lest they die. The unmediated holiness of God is lethal to sinners. That they heard His voice and lived was itself a miracle of grace, a testimony to the fact that God was making a way to dwell with His people without consuming them.
Second, the Exodus from Egypt. This was not a quiet migration. This was a divine invasion and a cosmic jailbreak. Notice the language. Has any "god" even "tried" to do this? The pagan gods were territorial. Chemosh belonged to Moab, Molech to the Ammonites. They were stuck to their geography. But Yahweh is the God of all the earth. He strode into Egypt, the superpower of the ancient world, and took on their entire pantheon. He systematically dismantled their gods through the plagues. He judged the god of the Nile, the god of the sun, the god of the crops. And then He took His people, not by negotiation, but by "a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terrors." This was divine warfare. It was a public, historical, verifiable act of redemption that had no precedent and has had no sequel.
The Divine Purpose: To Know (vv. 35-36)
Why did God do all this? Why the unprecedented pyrotechnics at Sinai and the overwhelming display of power in Egypt? Verse 35 gives us the central purpose.
"To you it was shown that you might know that Yahweh, He is God; there is no other besides Him." (Deuteronomy 4:35 LSB)
God's actions were not random displays of power. They were revelation. They were designed to teach. The goal of all this historical drama was theological knowledge. God acted in this unique way so that Israel would have an unshakable, empirically grounded conviction of two things: Yahweh's identity and Yahweh's exclusivity. "Yahweh, He is God." That is His identity. "There is no other besides Him." That is His exclusivity. This is the bedrock of biblical monotheism. It is not a philosophical speculation; it is the conclusion drawn from God's mighty acts.
God wants to be known. He does not hide in obscurity. He reveals Himself, and He does so in a way that is meant to be understood. The plagues, the parting of the sea, the voice from the fire, were all part of a divine curriculum. They were God's object lessons, designed to imprint His reality onto their hearts.
"Out of the heavens He caused you to hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He caused you to see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire." (Deuteronomy 4:36 LSB)
The revelation came from both heaven and earth, encompassing all reality. He spoke from heaven, and the purpose of His voice was "to discipline you." The Hebrew word here can also mean to instruct or to correct. The law of God is a form of divine discipline. It hedges us in, it corrects our wandering, it teaches us the shape of righteousness. And on earth, they saw the fire. This is the pattern of God's revelation: Word and sign, hearing and seeing. God does not just give us abstract propositions; He gives us a story, a history, tangible events that confirm His Word.
The Divine Motive: Electing Love (vv. 37-38)
But what motivated God to do all of this for this particular people? Was it because they were more numerous, more righteous, more intelligent? Not at all. The motive was found entirely within God Himself.
"Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, dispossessing before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today." (Deuteronomy 4:37-38 LSB)
Here is the heart of the matter. The ultimate reason for the Exodus and the conquest is the electing love of God. The causal chain is clear: "Because He loved... therefore He chose." This is sovereign, unconditional election. God did not love the patriarchs because they were lovely. He loved them because He loved them. His love is not a response to our goodness; it is the source of any goodness we might ever have. He set His affection on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and because of that covenant love, He remained faithful to their descendants.
This love is not a sentimental, abstract feeling. It is a powerful, active, history-shaping force. Because He loved them, He personally brought them out of Egypt. The language suggests His direct, unmediated presence. This was not a delegated task. And this love is a conquering love. He goes before them to dispossess nations "greater and mightier" than they are. This is to ensure that when they stand in the land, they will have no grounds for boasting. They will know that they did not get this land by their own strength or the might of their hand, but by the free, unmerited, powerful, loving grace of God.
The Human Response: Know and Obey (vv. 39-40)
Given God's unprecedented actions, His clear purpose, and His loving motive, what is the required response? Moses brings it all to a sharp, personal point.
"Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other." (Deuteronomy 4:39 LSB)
The response begins with the mind and descends into the heart. "Know therefore today..." This is not a vague, mystical feeling. It is a firm, cognitive grasp of the truth, based on the evidence God has provided. And the truth is a reaffirmation of verse 35: Yahweh is the exclusive and universal God. He is not just the God of the hills or the God of Israel. He is God "in heaven above and on the earth below." His jurisdiction is total. There are no other divine powers, no rival jurisdictions. All authority in all places belongs to Him.
But this knowledge must not remain a sterile, academic fact. Moses commands them to "take it to your heart." This means to internalize it, to embrace it, to let it become the central, animating conviction of your entire being. It is the difference between knowing about fire and being warmed by it. True faith is this heartfelt knowledge, this personal appropriation of the truth.
And what is the fruit of this heartfelt knowledge? It is obedience.
"So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days on the land which Yahweh your God is giving you for all the days.” (Deuteronomy 4:40 LSB)
Obedience is the necessary consequence of truly knowing God. If you know that He is the sole sovereign of heaven and earth, and that He has rescued you out of sheer, electing love, then the only sane and rational response is to do what He says. To disregard His commandments is to declare that you do not really believe what you claim to know.
And this obedience is not a grim duty. It is the path of blessing. "That it may go well with you and with your children after you." God's laws are not arbitrary restrictions designed to ruin our fun. They are the manufacturer's instructions for human flourishing. They are given for our good. When we live within the boundaries of His created order, we find life and peace. When we transgress them, we find chaos and death. The promise is for long life in the land, for generational faithfulness and stability. This is the covenantal logic: God's grace precedes our obedience, and our obedience leads to God's blessing.
The Greater Exodus
As Christians, we read this passage and we cannot help but see that Moses' unanswerable question has been answered, but not in the way he expected. He asked, "Has anything been done like this great thing?" And for centuries, the answer was no. The Exodus stood as the pinnacle of God's redemptive work.
But then God did something even greater. He did something that makes the Exodus from Egypt look like a preliminary sketch, a foreshadowing. The Son of God Himself came, not to take a nation from within a nation, but to take a people for Himself from every nation, tribe, and tongue.
Has any people heard the voice of God and lived? Yes. We have heard the voice of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, and in hearing Him, we have found eternal life. "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (John 6:63).
Has a god tried to take a people for himself with a mighty hand? Yes. But this time, the mighty hand was pierced with nails. The outstretched arm was stretched out on a cross. The great terrors were absorbed by the Son of God Himself as He faced the full wrath of the Father against our sin. The ultimate sign and wonder was not a river turned to blood, but an empty tomb. Jesus Christ accomplished a greater Exodus, not from bondage to Pharaoh, but from bondage to sin, death, and the devil.
And why did He do it? For the same reason. "Because He loved..." God's electing love found its ultimate expression at the cross. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). To us it has been shown, in the face of Jesus Christ, that Yahweh, He is God, and there is no other. Therefore, let us know this, take it to our hearts, and keep His commandments. For in Christ, we have been given a better inheritance, a heavenly country, and the promise of life that will last not just "for all the days," but for all eternity.