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.
Deuteronomy 6:4. יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד, Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah. There is uniformly an elision of the letter ם mem, when the plural is associated with the noun; and the י yod is not used in the paradigm of Hebrew verbs to designate the plural noun. The name of the Divinity being here used three times, as in Psalms 33:6, Isaiah 49, 63., and the central name or noun, Elohinu, being in the plural number, indicates to us that mysterious sociality in the Trinity in unity, known to us by the adorable names of Father; Son, Word, Wisdom, or Messiah; and Spirit. This text is sublimely introduced, Hear, oh Israel; the more divinely to impress the heart with the consequent duties of love, obedience, and adoration; yea, of utter abhorrence of all idols which would share the heart, and estrange it from the knowledge and love of the one true and eternal God. In Eusebius we have many heathen testimonies which coincide with this text. See Isaiah 56:17.
Deuteronomy 6:13. And serve him. The LXX read, And him only, αυτω μονω, shalt thou serve; and so quoted by our Lord. Matthew 4:10.
Deuteronomy 6:25. It shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do, &c. The Hebrew reads, righteousness shall be to us; that is, all covenant mercies shall be ours. The LXX, followed by the Vulgate, read, mercy shall be to us. So is the running language of the holy scriptures. The merciful shall obtain mercy. Righteousness cannot come by the deeds of the law.
REFLECTIONS.
To know the true God is everlasting life; because we cannot know him without loving, nor love without desire and delight to please him. Moses therefore teaches them what God is. One in essence, in opposition to the gods many, and lords many of the heathen: the self-existent, eternal, omnipotent Jehovah, besides whom there is and can be no other. Happy the man that hath the Lord for his God.
He urges the duty of loving him: this is the first and great commandment, and it contains all the rest; for then we cannot but delight in what he commands, and rely on what he promises; and most deserving he is of our warmest affection, since he is in himself so transcendently excellent and kind. Well may he challenge our heart, our whole heart, in sincerity that knows no reserve; with supreme affection, which admits no rival; with ardency stronger than death, and with permanence equal to the days of eternity. Lord, shed abroad that love in our hearts.
The means prescribed to maintain and increase this love are, that they store up God's words in their mind and memory; that they instruct their children, by frequently inculcating the commandments upon them; that they make them the subject of daily conversation, and write select portions of them upon parchment and on the posts of their houses, that they may be reminded of them whenever they go out or come in.
God's word should be read with seriousness every day. Our hearts should be employed in meditation, that we may inwardly digest it for our spiritual food. We should delight to make it the subject of our discourse; not to dispute on what is abstruse, but to build up one another in love and obedience.
Special care should be taken early to acquaint our children and servants with the invaluable knowledge, which alone is able to make them wise unto salvation. Such attention to the divine precepts would preserve them from forgetting God in a day of prosperity. No state is so dangerous to the soul; no state calls for greater fear and trembling, than when the world smiles, when abundance surrounds us, and every earthly blessing tempts the idolatrous heart to take up its rest below. No mention of idol gods must come into their mouths, but when they swear, it must be an appeal to the true and only heart searching God. As the great danger of Israel arises from their idolatrous neighbours, they must carefully avoid going after their gods, for that would infallibly bring down upon them the wrath of heaven to consume them.
Israel must embrace every opportunity to instruct their children, that their religion, and the deep remembrance of God's dealings with them, may be transmitted to the latest posterity. Hearing the law so often read and taught, and seeing so many ceremonies performed, their children would be naturally inquisitive into the meaning of them. They must then seize the good opportunity to inform them of their former deplorable estate in Egypt, the great deliverances wrought for them, and the favours conferred in these institutions, in the perfect observance of which they might attain righteousness and life. It should be highly pleasing to parents to hear children's inquiries about the things of God. It is their duty to inform them, even when averse to instruction; and how much more so, when teachable, and desirous to learn.