Deuteronomy 4:8

Deu 4:8 And what nation [is there so] great, that hath statutes and judgments [so] righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

Ver. 8. So righteous.] {See Trapp on "Deu 1:1"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:8 Israel’s laws were righteous and fair because they originated with God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(8) What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous?—These words direct our attention to the law of Moses, as distinctly in advance of the time when it was given.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. And what great nation … hath statutes … so righteous] This challenge is as just as the preceding. Other great codes and systems of ethics there undoubtedly were in Israel’s world (e.g. the Code of Ḫammurabi and various systems in Egypt). But the deuteronomic Torah is rightly exalted above them—because of its pure religious fervency, its revelation of the Divine character, and its enforcement, in the details of human conduct, of the example of God Himself. Moreover, the Law of no other nation in Israel’s world has exerted so practical an influence on the ethics of mankind. How necessary it was to impress Israel, both immediately before and during the Exile, with the distinction which the Law gave them among the nations is seen from such passages as Eze_20:32; Eze_25:8. The heathen said Israel is like all the nations, and Israelites were tempted to fall back upon the easier ethics of their neighbours, we will be as the heathen. This is the temptation of all recipients of high ideals and duties; none are more exposed to it than Christians; they must remind themselves, as this discourse insists, of the privilege and responsibility of those who having known the better dare not be content with the easier. The substance of these verses then is, Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye have been called. The abuse of such a conscience is the self-righteousness born of a merely formal fulfilment of the Law (Luk_18:11). ‘Pharisaism and Deuteronomy came into the world the same day’ (A. B. Davidson, Hastings DB. ii. 577).

set before you] Not prescribe or enforce; but offer for your decision and acceptance. So Deu_11:26; Deu_11:32; Deu_30:1; Deu_30:15; Deu_30:19. The affirmation of the people’s responsibility is characteristic of D.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous,.... Founded in justice and equity, and so agreeable to right reason, and so well calculated and adapted to lead persons in the ways of righteousness and truth, and keep them from doing any injury to each other's persons and properties, and to maintain good order, peace, and concord among them:

as all this law which I set before you this day? which he then repeated, afresh declared, explained and instructed them in; for otherwise it had been delivered to them near forty years ago. Now there was not any nation then in being, nor any since, to be compared with the nation of the Jews, for the wise and wholesome laws given unto them; no, not the more cultivated and civilized nations, as the Grecians and Romans, who had the advantage of such wise lawgivers as they were accounted, as Solon, Lycurgus, Numa, and others; and indeed the best laws that they had seem to be borrowed from the Jews.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Eyes. Most of these laws had been already promulgated, so that the people could set a just value upon them. But Moses undertakes to place the in a more beautiful point of view, as it were altogether, and accompanied with some fresh regulations. How imperfect are all the codes of the ancient lawgivers, when compared with this of Moses! (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whereby he implies that the true greatness of a nation doth not consist in pomp or power, or largeness of empire, as commonly men think, but in the righteousness of its laws.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

So righteous - Whereby he implies that the true greatness of a nation doth not consist in pomp or power, or largeness of empire, as commonly men think, but in the righteousness of its laws.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

חקים ומשפטים צדיקים STATUTES AND RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENTS — i.e. proper and acceptable ones.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.