The Greatest Commandment

Love the LORD Your God

1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.[a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not put the LORD your God to the test as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors, 19thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.

20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?” 21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the LORD sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

Deuteronomy 6 (NIV)

The title of this chapter brings to light the topic of the scripture, but I find that it has more meaning than to just simply love God. Moses is talking to the Israelite people just before they cross the Jordan to gain the land the Lord had promised to their forefathers. Verse one shows us that this conversation is directed by God in that Moses says that God has directed him to say these things, but for specific reasons. This whole opening statement from Moses is deliberate. It is for preparing the people for their dwelling in the new land, by commanding them to not forget what the Lord has done for them by leading them out of slavery in Egypt, and under the oppression of Pharaoh. By doing this, Moses instructs them to remember the commands God has given them and to continually talk about them with their children, in all situations. Teaching the kids the commands is implied, and for the purpose of not forgetting what God had done for them. It is also pass along to the children what was done for them by God. This is so that not only the current generation, but the younger generations of that day would continue to fear the Lord, and in return the Lord will bless them by giving them long and enjoyable life.

In verse 4 we find the Shema, which is a Jewish prayer that is very common today. “The Shema is an affirmation of Judaism and a declaration of faith in one God. The obligation to recite the Shema is separate from the obligation to pray and a Jew is obligated to saw the Shema in the morning and at night.” (www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org). The Shema is also mounted in the doorways of Jewish homes in what is called a Mezuzah which normally contains a piece of paper that has a name of God on it. This is also derived from the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6. It is designed to help people remember the commands of God through out the day, and to keep them on the heart. That takes us into verses 6-9. God commands that these decrees be kept on our hearts and that they are passed onto our children. Specifically in verse 9 we find the command or directive to place these on the doorposts of the home. Today when a Jew walks through the doorway, they touch the Mezuzah and then kiss the fingers that touched it as a reminder of God and to show respect to Him for what He has done.

I found the wording of verse 10 interesting in that it shows us that God didn’t just send the Israelites into lands to capture their reward, rather they were led there by God. Verse 10 says that, “When the Lord you God brings you into the land…” God is bringing them, which to me shows that God isn’t just sending them in blind to fight for themselves, He is making the provisions as they go and that he is ahead of them. Verses 10-12 show us that the people that inhabited that land either fled or were killed, but that the Israelite people didn’t have to build houses or plant for food, they simply took over what was already there, what was already built and planted. God provided abundantly for his people.

There is a main theme that seems to represent itself through out Deuteronomy and that is the directive for the people of Israel not to forget that God brought them out of Egypt and rescued them from slavery and has provided for them greatly. I stopped counting the times that Moses reminded the people that God brought them out of the land, however; I think this is good as I believe that God knew what kind of people they are and that they would soon forget all His great and mighty deeds.

Two final thoughts that present themselves through out this passage is that God did a great and mighty thing by rescuing them from slavery under Pharaoh and that they should not forget this. When they begin to forget, that is when they begin to wander and stray away from God and his commands and directives for a healthy and long life.

Some structural relationships I found were that of Purpose and Instrumentation in verses 2, 3, 18, 24. Again they all revolved around God’s desire and design for the people to remember what He had done. I think God understood that if they didn’t find ways to remember daily His blessings for them and to pass it along to their children, then it would only be a short matter of time before the people were a rebellious and terrible sinful nation/people.

Some implications arise from our failure to remember that God has blessed us as a grafted in people. If we start to forget what God has done through his son Jesus Christ, we may, like the Israelites, begin to forget and go astray in our sinfulness. I think that there are some practices that should be in place in every home across the world for those who profess Christ, and that if we don’t have something to remind us of God’s grace, and then we need to find something to remind us. Things like the Mezuzah are great tools because they provide teaching moments for our children.


References
Life application study Bible (New International Version). (2005). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
Schoenberg, S. (2010). The shema. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/shema.html