Here in Deuteronomy 6, Moses begins to speak of all the commandments that God has for the people, beginning with the greatest of them all, that the people should love YAHWEH with all their heart, all their soul and all their strength. He also tells the people to not forget YAHWEH and to teach their children of the great works of God.
Bible Passage:
6:1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which YAHWEH your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it; 2 that you might fear YAHWEH your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you, you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 Hear, O Israel! YAHWEH our God, YAHWEH is one. 5 You shall love YAHWEH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 These words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart; 7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the path, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for bands between your eyes. 9 You shall write them upon the doorposts of your house, and upon your gates.
10 And it shall be, when YAHWEH your God shall bring you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and pleasant cities, which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be full; 12 then beware lest you forget YAHWEH, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear YAHWEH your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you. 15 For YAHWEH your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of YAHWEH your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
16 You shall not tempt YAHWEH your God, as you tempted him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of YAHWEH your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of YAHWEH; that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which YAHWEH swore to your fathers, 19 to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as YAHWEH has spoken.
20 When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances mean which YAHWEH our God has commanded you?’ 21 Then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, and YAHWEH brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and YAHWEH showed signs and wonders, great and severe, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. 24 And YAHWEH commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear YAHWEH our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. 25 And it shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before YAHWEH our God, as he has commanded us.’
Reflection:
I think we, at the individual level, need to be better about reciting testimonies of YAHWEH’s faithfulness to us like the people are told to do at the end of this chapter. Clearly, we should tell of the great deeds God has accomplished for us in the context of salvation history, especially what God has done in Christ. But I think we should not neglect preparing the testimonies of our own lives. This does not simply mean a moment of conversion story. It means the personal chronicles of times God has protected you, taught you, led you through suffering, etc. Those things can be powerful to the hearer because it reminds new believers that God isn’t finished after you simply convert to Christianity. And it’s of particular importance in situations like this, where your kids may ask you these types of questions. Be prepared to answer them.
Questions and Answers:
Verses 4-5: I think these two verses are really good. [Gwendolyn, 9]
For sure. Two of the best verses there are. Jesus is going to say that this is the most important commandment in all of the Law. He is asked about what the greatest commandment in the Law is in Matthew 22 and Mark 12, responding with these verses and with Leviticus 19:18 as a second commandment that is like the first. In Luke 10, Jesus asks the expert what the greatest commandment in the Law is and the scribe replies with these two verses. Jesus confirms that the scribe is correct, and the scribe ends up getting Jesus to tell the greatest parable of all in The Good Samaritan.
So you are not alone in thinking these two verses are incredible. They are unbelievably important verses. They are also the first part of the prayer that the Jewish people would say at least twice a day every single day during their morning and evening prayers. The name of the prayer is the “Shema.” That is the Hebrew command that means to “listen” or “hear.” The prayer gets its name from the first word of Deuteronomy 6:4.
Verses 4-5: Other kids might think this is boring, but I don’t! [Elisha, 8]
I’m glad to hear that Elisha. I imagine you are right, most kids would find this boring. But you have been taught the value and nature of these words, and many people don’t really understand that. I think you are more attentive to the Bible than most adults would be walking through the Torah. Like I said though, you know that these words are the very words that contain life, and wisdom, and glory. And you also know that these are the very words of God spoken to humanity. You also have a heart that wants to hear what YAHWEH has to say, and even getting people to that place is often hard enough. Just to get the desire to hear instilled in them. And that is the point of this passage; everyone hear these words!
The words of Scripture should be saturating your life. They should be a normal fixture of how your family lives and what it does. It should set the rhythms of your life as a person and they should be close at hand and in heart.
Verses 7-9: What is the “them” he keeps referring to? [Monique, 33]
Go back to verse 6 and you can see the “them” he refers to is “these words,” which he is commanding them that day. He means the words of the Law that he is teaching them that same day in his final instruction before he goes up to Mt. Nebo to die there.
The Hebrew word for “words” is “devarim.” It’s an interesting connection to the whole book of Deuteronomy because the Hebrew name of the books of the Torah are based on the first word found in each book of the Torah. The Hebrew name for Deuteronomy is “Devarim,” because the book opens with the phrase “these are the words.” So probably, the reference here in Deuteronomy 6 actually refers to the entirety of this book being on the hearts of the people. Deuteronomy as the climax of the Pentateuch also uniquely restates the realities of Genesis through Numbers. It talks about major events in both Exodus and Numbers that happened, for example, the meeting with God at Sinai in Exodus 19 and the rejection at Kadesh-barnea in Numbers 14. It repeats the laws that are found in Leviticus to the new generation. And all that is going to happen for the people is said to be based on the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from the book of Genesis. So, in some ways, Deuteronomy encapsulates all of the Torah in it.
If you extend that principle further, and apply it to the modern Christian as well, I think that extends to knowing all of the Scriptures for the current believer. From Genesis all the way to Revelation. We should keep the words of all the Scriptures upon our minds and in our hearts.
Verse 8: What does frontals mean? [Gwendolyn, 9]
Frontals is what the NASB has in place of bands here. It’s a Hebrew word that is only used three times in the Bible to refer to something between the eyes to help one remember God’s word. Some translations use “frontals,” “frontlets,” or even “phylacteries.” In practice, it was meant to be a band worn on the head to remind the people to keep YAHWEH’s law. What is usually seen even today for modern Jews, is a band that is tied around the head with a small box in the center of it that rests on the forehead. In the box is usually some written portion of the Torah that acts as a literal piece of God’s word upon the head of the person praying.
In Matthew 23, Jesus himself will condemn the way the Pharisees use their phylacteries. He does not say that they should not be worn, but makes note of the fact that the heart behind the Pharisees wearing them was for people to see how righteous they were. He says how ostentatiously they were operating in obeying the law of Moses, and that it had nothing to do with honoring God, but was about being honored by men.
Verses 10-12: It is so moving, not only what he did for Israel, but how much he has done for all of us. It’s also sad how easy it is to forget what YAHWEH has done and yet, how often people do it. [Monique, 33]
You’re absolutely right. That is why “remember” becomes such an important word in the Bible. Not only is God often said to “remember” something, such as remembering Noah in the ark, but people will often plead with God that he “remember” the covenant, or that he “remember” the nation. The difference between what we normally mean when we speak of remembering in English and what remember means in the Bible are very different though.
In English, we use it to just mean “recall to mind.” To remember biblically is to be moved to action based on the remembrance. So, when God remembers Noah, the flood waters start to recede. When the Psalmists cry out for God to remember, they are asking for him to act on their behalf.
And so a fundamental goal for the Christian is to “remember” the Lord. Again, this shouldn’t just be a recalling to mind, but remembering who our God is should spur us on to be obedient when we remember him. It should encourage us to follow his ways and to become more like him. We should not forget him, because he has been faithful to remember us.
Recording of the Passage:
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