The Heart of the Matter Text: Deuteronomy 5:28-33
Introduction: The Great Disconnect
We live in an age that wants a tame God, a celestial guidance counselor who affirms our choices and never, ever frightens us. The modern conception of worship is something that ought to make us feel comfortable, accepted, and validated. But when the living God descended upon Mount Sinai, the people of Israel were not comfortable. They were terrified, and rightly so. The mountain was burning with fire, shrouded in darkness, gloom, and a tempest. And out of the fire, a voice spoke, and the people who heard it begged that not one more word be spoken to them, lest they die. They saw the disconnect between their own sinful frailty and the raw, unshielded holiness of God.
In our text today, God responds to their terror. And at first glance, His response is one of approval. They said the right thing. They recognized their place. They understood that a holy God cannot be approached casually. But then, in the very next breath, God puts His finger on the central problem of the entire Old Covenant, and indeed, the central problem of the human condition. It is the great disconnect between what we say with our lips, especially when we are scared, and what is actually in our hearts. They had a right response, but they did not have a right heart. And God's lament over this reality shows us precisely why the New Covenant was necessary, and what a gift it truly is.
This passage reveals the anatomy of true obedience. It is not simply about following rules. It is about the internal reality of the heart, the necessity of a mediator, and the narrow, straight path of blessing. If we misunderstand this, we will misunderstand both the Law and the Gospel.
The Text
And Yahweh heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and Yahweh said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments all the days, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.” But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.’ So you shall be careful to do just as Yahweh your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. In all the way which Yahweh your God has commanded you, you shall walk, that you may live and that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.
(Deuteronomy 5:28-33 LSB)
Right Words, Aching Void (v. 28-29)
We begin with God's assessment of the people's reaction.
"And Yahweh heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and Yahweh said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.'" (Deuteronomy 5:28 LSB)
God commends their words. Their reaction was appropriate. They recognized the infinite gulf between Creator and creature. They understood that sinful men cannot stand in the presence of a holy God and live. Their fear was a sane and healthy response to reality. So, externally, their posture was correct. They said all the right things. But God, who does not judge by outward appearances, immediately looks past their words and into their hearts, and what He sees there prompts a divine sigh.
"Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments all the days, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29 LSB)
This is one of the most tragic and revealing verses in all of Scripture. God says, in effect, "Their words are good, but if only their hearts matched their words." This is the core problem. The Law, which Moses is about to receive in full, is perfect, holy, and good. The promises of blessing for obedience are rich and wonderful. The warnings of curses for disobedience are stark and clear. The one faulty piece of equipment in this whole covenantal arrangement is the human heart. It is deceitful above all things and desperately sick (Jer. 17:9).
God desires a particular kind of heart. He wants a heart that would "fear Me." This is not the servile terror of a slave before a tyrant, but the filial, reverential awe of a son before a glorious and loving father. It is a fear that produces not flight, but faithfulness. And this faithful fear would cause them to "keep all My commandments all the days." Not just on feast days, not just when the mountain is smoking, but consistently, perpetually, as a way of life.
And notice the purpose of this obedience. It is not for God's benefit, as though He needed our compliance. It is "that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!" God's commandments are not arbitrary hoops to jump through. They are the owner's manual for the human machine. They are the blueprint for human flourishing. To walk in them is to walk in the path of life, peace, and blessing. To deviate is to walk into ruin. God is lamenting that their broken hearts will prevent them from enjoying the very goodness He wants to give them.
The Mediator's Place (v. 30-31)
Because the people cannot stand before God, a mediator is required. God formalizes this arrangement in the next two verses.
"Go, say to them, 'Return to your tents.' But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them..." (Deuteronomy 5:30-31 LSB)
The people are dismissed. They are sent away from the immediate presence of God, back to the safety of their ordinary lives. The terrifying holiness of God is too much for them. But Moses is commanded to do the opposite: "But as for you, stand here by Me." Here we see the profound role of the mediator. Moses stands in the gap. He can approach God when the people cannot. He represents God to the people, bringing them the law. And he represents the people to God.
This entire scene is a magnificent type, a foreshadowing of a greater Mediator to come. Moses was a faithful servant in God's house, but Christ is the faithful Son over God's house (Hebrews 3:5-6). We, like the Israelites, cannot stand before a holy God on our own merits. We would be consumed. But we have a Mediator, Jesus Christ the righteous, who not only stands by God for us, but who is God Himself. He did not just bring the law down from the mountain; He fulfilled it perfectly and bore its curse for us on the cross. Because of our Mediator, we are not sent back to our tents; we are invited to draw near with confidence to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).
The Unswerving Path (v. 32-33)
The final charge, delivered through Moses, is a call for total and precise obedience.
"So you shall be careful to do just as Yahweh your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left." (Deuteronomy 5:32 LSB)
The Christian life is not a broad meadow where you can wander about. It is a straight and narrow path. God's commands are specific. The warning here is not to deviate in any direction. We often think of turning to the left as liberalism or license, abandoning God's law for antinomianism. And it is. But turning to the right is just as dangerous. That is the ditch of legalism, self-righteousness, and adding man-made traditions to the commands of God. Both are forms of disobedience. Both are a failure to walk "just as Yahweh your God has commanded." The path of life is a straight line, and a ditch is a ditch, no matter which side of the road it is on.
"In all the way which Yahweh your God has commanded you, you shall walk, that you may live and that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess." (Deuteronomy 5:33 LSB)
Here again is the covenant promise for Israel in the land. The way of obedience is the way of life. It is the way of well-being. It is the way of stability and longevity. This was the deal for the nation. When they obeyed, they were blessed in the land. When they turned to the right or to the left, they were eventually vomited out of the land, just as God had warned. The entire history of Israel recorded in the Old Testament is the story of their failure to heed this charge because of the very heart problem God identified in verse 29.
The New Covenant Answer
So, does this leave us in despair? The command is for perfect obedience, but our hearts are corrupt. This is precisely why the Old Covenant was designed to be a tutor, to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). It showed us the perfect standard of God and our utter inability to meet it. It was a ministry of death and condemnation, written on stone (2 Corinthians 3:7), revealing our desperate need for a Savior and a new heart.
The divine lament of Deuteronomy 5:29 is answered in the promise of the New Covenant. God did not leave us with faulty hearts. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promised, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules" (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
This is the miracle of regeneration. When God saves a person, He performs a heart transplant. He takes out the rebellious, stony heart that cannot and will not obey, and He gives us a new, soft, living heart that desires to please Him. He puts His own Spirit within us, who then empowers us to do what we could never do on our own: to walk in His ways.
Therefore, for the Christian, the command to not turn aside to the right or the left is not a condition for earning our salvation, but rather the pattern of our grateful walk of salvation. We obey God, not in order to get a new heart, but because He has given us one. The lament of God over Israel is answered in the church of Jesus Christ. He has given us what He requires. He has provided both the map, which is His law, and the engine, which is His Spirit. Our task is to walk, by His grace, in the straight path of life, knowing that it is, and always will be, for our everlasting good.