Deuteronomy 6:1-25
1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye goa to possess it:
2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.b
13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
15 (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
19 To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.
20 And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?
21 Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:
22 And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore,c upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:
23 And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.
24 And the 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 it is at this day.
25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
The appeal of Moses was now elaborated in a great statement on the deepest value of the commandment and the corresponding responsibilities of the people Observe the peculiar form of the opening statement, "Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments." The very form suggested the unification of plurality and evidently was intended to do so, for it led to the statement, "Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." Here Jehovah was used as name and as title, its supreme value, of course, being that it postulated existence and revealed an attitude of grace.
Immediately following this announcement of the sublime and all\-inclusive principle of the unity of Jehovah, Moses dealt with the resulting responsibilities. First, personal love for God and His commandments was insisted upon Second, the family was in mind, for the children were to be diligently taught these things. Third, these words were to be the subject of conversation in all the activities of life, sitting in the house, walking by the way, lying down, or arising. Moreover, they were to be kept in mind by outward manifestation, bound upon the hand, and between the eyes; written upon the door posts, and upon gates.
The great lawgiver proceeded to make certain applications of these responsibilities of the life they would live when they had come into possession of the land. Three perils would then threaten them. The first would be the peril of prosperity. Moses charged them not to forget their relationship to God. The second would be the peril of adversity. They were not to tempt the Lord as they had at Massah Exodus 17:1). There they had committed the sin of murmuring and strife because of their difficulties. The third peril would be the neglect to keep their relation to God alive in the minds of their children He charged them, therefore, to take time to teach the children.