Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Practical Exhortations

To the repetition of the Decalogue Moses adds in the following Chapter s a practical exhortation to obedience founded on the special relation of Jehovah to Israel as their Redeemer (6-11). Deuteronomy 6 particularly insists upon the remembrance of God's statutes and the training of the children in them.

4, 5. Our Lord calls these words 'the first and great commandment.' They express the highest truth and duty revealed to the Hebrew nation: the truth of God's unity and uniqueness; the duty of loving and serving Him with every faculty of the being. Consequently they became the Jewish Confession of Faith; and under the name of the 'Shema' (the first word of Deuteronomy 6:4 in the Hebrew) are still recited, along with Deuteronomy 11:13 and Numbers 15:37, as the first act of worship in the Jewish synagogue, and twice a day by every adult male Jew.