4:9          ‘lest ye forget’ – also found in Deut 4:23, 6:12 is the reason for the writing of Deuteronomy. Israel soon forgot their God who brought them out of Egypt. Moses is now concerned that they would not soon forget the God who had brought them through the wilderness as soon as they got into the land of Canaan.

V.15 This warning was necessary because of the proneness of the Children of Israel to idolatry, from their position in the midst of surrounding nations, they had already fallen to its seductions, accounts for their attention being repeatedly drawn to the fact that God did not appear at Sinai in any visable, and an earest caution, founded on that circumstance, is given to beware, not only of making reprentations of false gods, but also any fancied representation of the true god of Israel.

4:25-31 - this prophesy was fulfilled in AD 70-73 when Rome sacked Jerusalem and scattered the Jews throughout the Roman Empire and then in 1948 when the Jews were regathered to form the nation of Israel.

4:39 - "the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below" (NIV) - this was quoted by Rahab in Josh 2:11.

4:12 ‘but ye saw no similitude’ and ‘heard a voice’ are picked up in John 5:37. Jesus reminded the leaders of his day that whilst their fathers, and themselves by implication, had not seen God He was now manifest in the person of Jesus standing before them. Though they would not acknowledge that.

4:20,21,38    The repeated use of ‘inheritance’  is consistent with the use of ‘great nation’ (vs. :6,7,8) showing that Israel were to enter the land in fulfilment of the promises to Abraham.

4:2 The injunction not to add to or take from the commandments of God is a powerful warning to us. We may well respond that we would not take from Bible teaching but could we be as confident about not adding to the teaching of Scripture? This was one of Jesus’ big issues with the scribes and Pharisees. – and they thought the things they were expecting the people to do were God's will.

31:8 In opening one’s mouth for the dumb the record is telling us that we should care for those who cannot care for themselves. In a spiritual context that is those who are young in the faith or weak in the faith. Whereas we would doubtless prefer to spend time with those who are as we are we must take time to look after those who we would not naturally spend time with.

31:4 The injunction to kings that they do not drink wine or strong drink echoes the restrictions placed upon the Nazarite Numbers 6:3 showing that the king is separated to a job and should appreciate his position. This is our position. Called to be kings and priests – Rev 5:10

31:15 The ‘giving meat’ is not simply speaking of natural food. Rather the emphasis is upon the fact that the ‘virtuous woman’ will care for the spiritual needs of her children. We, the ecclesia, should be a ‘virtuous woman’ – being the bride of Christ – and so have the responsibility of feeding others with the teaching of the Scriptures.

Lemuel means belonging to God. It could have been a pet-name given to Solomon by his mother Bathsheba. That, of course, is speculation since there is no proof. Lemuel might just have been another person altogether.

V.30 Babies look like prunes when they are first born, and old people regress to prune-hood. We should not put much stock in the in-between physical beauty, which is vain and transitory. Rather, we should appreciate what Yahweh looks for, that is character.

31:2 There was a woman who made a vow to God about her son – it was Hannah. Her vow was to delicate him to God -1Sam 1:11 - but of course that required input from her. There was no value in dedicating a son to God who had not been instructed in the things of God from his birth.

31:13,16,18,19,20 Notice that the virtuous woman is a woman of activity – she uses her ‘hands’.

15:4 The Greek word 3306 is used repeatedly in this section in John's gospel John 14:10,16,17,25 15:4,5,6,7,9,10,11,16 The theme of 'abiding' in Jesus is continued by John in his letters 1 John 2:6,10,14,17,19,24,27,28 3:6,9,14,15,17,24 4:12,13,15,16 2John 1:2,9

16:1 If we think of Jesus as being one who went about bending over backwards in order to please men we would be mistaken. Matthew 11:6 13:21 57 Mark 6:3 John 6:61 Whilst Jesus knew that what he had to say would offended many he was concerned that his followers would not be so dismayed. Matthew 11:6 Luke 7:23 His concern was that his Father's will might be known. This is offensive to the flesh - therefore he prayed that his disciples would not be caused to stumble as did his adversaries. John 16:1

15:3 Being 'clean through the word' quotes Psalm 119:9 where David asks and then answers the question as to how a young man might cleanse his ways. So simple isn't it - yet so difficult to put into practice.
Likewise 'remember the word' quotes Psalm 119:49 - another instruction about how to be Godly in our manner of life.

16:12 Clearly Jesus was unable to instruct the disciples in all the things that he wanted to teach them. This must be due to the blindness of the disciples. We noticed in chapter 14 the repeated questioning of the disciples showing that even so late in the life of the Lord they did not understand his mission fully. We are in a wonderfully privileged position understanding the things we do.

15:26 In speaking of the comforter as 'the spirit of truth' we see that Jesus is speaking of something other than the Holy Spirit gifts for nowhere do we find the Holy Spirit gifts being presented as ensuring that the brethren would never err in their judgement. In fact it is clear (1 Corinthians 14) that it was possible for the Holy Spirit gifts to be misused.

16:33 When Jesus said 'I have overcome the world' he was still mortal. Such was his resolve at this time that, as far as he was concerned, the end was certain. This conviction that Jesus had is presented to us as a comfort to us in our times of difficulty.

15:1 The words in this chapter - and 16 and 17 - were spoken by Jesus as he walked from the upper room in the city to the Kidron valley. There was a large gold vine over the entrance to the temple. It may well be that Jesus spoke the words of this chapter as he and the disciples passed the entrance to the temple. If this is so the large golden vine would provide a powerful visual image for the disciples.

16:2 These chilling words were fulfilled with Saul of Tarsus (Acts 8:3)

15:8     In saying that the father will be glorified in them that ‘bear much fruit’ Jesus is quoting Eze 17:8 which speaks of what God was looking for in Israel.

15:2 We tend, when our children respond to ‘chastening’ and do the right thing, to ease up on them. Not so the Father with us. Having developed a degree of obedience he seeks to build upon that. An evidence that the Father is concerned that we truly develop His character.

16:3  In saying ‘because they have not known the father’ Jesus forces home the point that the opponents of him and his teaching did not realise. They thought that they did know God and so behaved as they did. Resistance to change against the evidence is a common human trait. We are no better than the Jewish leaders in principle. We tend not to review evidence but rely upon our own personal cherished views.

15:4-6 We have all seen how a branch cut from a tree quickly withers and dies. Jesus’ teaching here is clear to see – but do we really believe it? Often our behaviour indicates that we do nt.

15:25 The ‘law’ where it was written that Jesus would be hated without cause is Psalm 69:4 – a Psalm which is full of prophecies about Jesus, especially the time of his rejection and death. It speaks ominously of the way in which the disciples will also fail him – Psa 69:8,20