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Moses is speaking to Israel on the plains of Moab, at the edge of the land they are about to enter. The generation that left Egypt has died in the wilderness, and their children must now carry the covenant forward. Verses 4 and 5 became the Shema, the confession Israel's faithful still pray morning and evening, and the words Jesus named as the greatest commandment. The chapter moves from that call to love God wholly, to a warning, to a child's question and a parent's answer. Keep an eye on the warning in verses 10 to 12: the danger is not hunger but plenty.
1Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you go over to possess;
2that you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.
3Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one.
5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
6These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart;
7and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
9You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.
10It shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities which you didn’t build,
11and houses full of all good things which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full;
12then beware lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
13You shall fear the LORD your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.
14You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you,
15for the LORD your God among you is a jealous God, lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
16You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him in Massah.
17You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you.
18You shall do that which is right and good in the LORD’s sight, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to your fathers,
19to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.
20When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God has commanded you mean?”
21then you shall tell your son, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;
22and the LORD showed great and awesome signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes;
23and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers.
24The LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are today.
25It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.”
Meditate
Israel is called to love God wholly and to speak of his words at home, on the road, at bedtime. What story of his faithfulness could you tell someone today?
Read it slowly, then sit with the prompt. Free: stillingwaves.com/bible/deuteronomy/6/
Scripture: World English Bible (public domain).Scripture: King James Version (1769 text), public domain outside the United Kingdom; in the United Kingdom under Crown patent.
Stay for a while with verses 10 and 11. Cities you did not build, wells you did not dig, vines you did not plant. Much of what holds up your life was given before you arrived: a language, a faith handed on, kindness from people you may never thank. Moses knows that comfort can do what hardship could not, and make God easy to forget. Then come back to verse 5. The love asked for is whole, not divided into a Sunday portion and a weekday portion. Which good things in your life did you not make yourself? Where has ease, rather than trouble, drawn your heart away? What would it be like to love God with the strength you actually have today, not the strength you wish you had? Give thanks, and ask him for an undivided heart.
A journal for this chapter
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