Archives

Chapter Introduction:

The giving of the Ten Commandments was an entry point into the greater discussion of the book of Deuteronomy.  They provide the need for obedience, but that obedience was to be born of loyalty and trust. In chapters 6-11 we’ll find the reasons for their loyalty and provide context for the other aspects of a relationship with Him.  All this together, then, shows the importance that this would be passed from generation to generation.

Deuteronomy 6:1-3

The statutes and judgments are the regulations and customs that the Lord would teach them.  Long life in the land is linked to fear of the Lord and keeping the statutes and judgments.  It was critical these be passed to the next generations. 

Note that the men were to possess these things, guide their family in fear and obedience and ensure their sons and grandsons grew up with the same understanding. 

The warning is repetitive.  Be careful.  Observe the commands.  It will go well.  The multiplying of the family and tribe is added to the idea when these go from generation to generation.  This is a fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when they came into the land of milk and honey. 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

The Shema is an affirmation of loyalty to Yahweh.  This passage reflects the greatest commandment of Judaism.  It later became the greatest commandment of Christianity.  The concept was understood as Yahweh being the one and only God.  We know the “One” Lord speaks of a compound unity that we understand as the trinity.

This loyalty is defined by the extent to which God’s people would love Him.  The synoptic gospels all include Jesus conveying this as the greatest commandment path to eternal life (Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27).  To love the Lord is to believe, trust, and obey Him.  John wrote it this way:

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. (1 John 2:3)

The Ten Commandments were a summary of God’s law.  They put a fence around our sins and kept us safe from the harm sin would bring to our relationship with God.  These things were to be upon our hearts.  The heart was the center of being, volition, emotion, and knowledge of right and wrong.  This is to say that God and His ways were to be present in all aspects of our life.  The practicality of this is seen in these ways:

• We will diligently teach them to our children.  To do so diligently means to press it into their life through frequent repetition and admonition.  Parents are the source of law being given to the next generation.
• Talk about God’s ways when you sit in your house.  Out of home or in our home, we are to be constantly aware of God’s ways.  Lying down or rising up, sitting or walking.  The entirety of our life is lived in obedience to the Lord.
• Fasten them to your hand, between your eyes.  The obedience of God should be seen in how we work and our attitude toward the work of our hands.  The ethics and morals of God ought to be what guides us.  Between our eyes might be more thought of as our mind.  Memorization of scripture changes out mind.  It will come out in our words and ways. 
• Write them on the doorpost and gates of your home.  Our home is marked as being God’s home.  Not only is He welcome, but He rules and reigns.  To have the gates and doorposts marked might serve as a reminder to us as we come and go, but also as a warning to those who pass by or might come with evil intent. 
  • The death angel passed over the homes of the Israelites whose doorposts were marked with the blood of the lamb.

Deuteronomy 6:10-15

We are prone to forget.  This is especially true when we are surrounded by the many blessings of the Lord.  He wants to bless us and will continue to do so until those blessings cause us to wander off from Him.  We begin to think we’ve earned those blessings or have a fundamental right to being blessed as though God owed something to us. 

This would be especially true to this generation that would take the land that God had promised them for generations.  They would inherit cities, homes, wells, vineyards, olive trees, and more.  They were to remember where they came from and the source of the blessings.  They were to remember how they got to the Promised Land and Who brought them there.

The greatest offense of all would be to fall to idolatry and give Yahweh’s glory to another.  God is jealous of His children.  Jealously is often seen as a negative attribute.  However, if someone took your children and began to act as their parent and teach them things you didn’t want them exposed to, then you would act as a jealous parent to your children.  This is what God is warning about.  He will be their only Heavenly Father.

If His children, in His land, enjoying His blessings, do not remain loyal to Him and follow other Gods, He will be angered and destroy them.

Deuteronomy 6:16-19

God’s children we not to test God.  They were not to discard their loyalty and trust as they did in Massah (the place where water came from the rock – Ex 17:7).

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord!

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,

Who seek Him with the whole heart!

They also do no iniquity;

They walk in His ways.

You have commanded us

To keep Your precepts diligently.

Oh, that my ways were directed

To keep Your statutes!

Then I would not be ashamed,

When I look into all Your commandments.

I will praise You with uprightness of heart,

When I learn Your righteous judgments.

I will keep Your statutes;

Oh, do not forsake me utterly! (Psalm 119:1-8)

God wants to abide in us and we in Him.  He is almighty.  We don’t have to pout, rebel, stamp our feet, or hold our breath to get something from Him.  He promises to meet our needs and be our Father.

He did not bring His children all that way just to abandon them and make them and make them fend for themselves.  The same is true for us.  He promised to be with us, never to forsake or abandon us.

Deuteronomy 6:20-25

The children weren’t just taught the law as a list of rules to live by.  They were to be taught of the source and the beginning of their journey.  They were enslaved without hope, but God rescued them, brought them out, mad them a nation and gave them a land.  He would be their God and they His people.

We were all in bondage to our sins.  We were dead in our trespasses and without hope.  But God, who is rich in mercy came and rescued us.  He purchased us out of bondage by His blood.  We are free because of Him.  Our right response then is to give our lives over to Him.  We trust Him and love Him in obedience and faith. 

The children of Israel were to teach their sons to observe these things and fear the Lord.  This obedience and fear is the product of loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength (6:5).  The righteousness is from faith, not the keeping of the law. 

Scripture consistently speaks of care and diligence in the keeping of the law.  This speaks of consistency and being uncompromising.  It points to the heart of the law, not the letter of it.  The law is kept out of love and in its keeping love and fear are displayed.  One doesn’t keep the law to attain love.

©2007, 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater