The Great Shema that Jesus quoted to his lawyer friend.

Deuteronomy Chapter 6: The Command to Teach the Law

Deuteronomy 6:1-25 – Highlights of The Passage and Some Thoughts

In verses 1-3, Moses tells the children of Israel that he will share with them the laws that God commanded him to teach them. And again, he gives them the reasons as to why God did this and why they should obey these laws. In particular, God intended these laws to be passed on by parents and grandparents (verse 2).

In this chapter, we have what many call the great Shema or the great commandment. I remember we learned this by heart on our trip to Israel. Verses 4 and 5:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all they soul, and with all they might.”
Jesus quoted this very verse in Matthew chapter 22 when the lawyer asked Him “Which is the greatest commandment?”  Chuck Smith calls this almost the Magna Carta for the Jew. They would say this whenever they got together.

David Guzik points out that these verses clearly show that God wants a complete love from us. Which makes sense given His complete love for us as exhibited in a myriad of ways, not the least of which was through the cross.

Verses 4-9 also make it clear that the community (not just parents) have a responsibility in that regard.  Yes, these are to be taught by family members to their younger members, but verse 7 also says to sons of Israel to talk of these laws “when you walk by the way”. In verse 8, we are told that they are to show others that they follow these laws by signs on their hands and by the frontals on their foreheads. Furthermore, in verse 9, these laws were to be written on the doorposts of their houses and on their gates. All in all, a very public testimony of their adherence to the laws. These little pouches or receptacles were everywhere.

In verses 10-16 he warns the sons of Israel not to forget God and His laws once they take over the cities they did not build, the vineyards they did not plant, etc., because God just gave these to them out of His love for them, and because He is a Jealous God.

The caution was particularly aimed at not forgetting God in their prosperity and plenty as Matthew Henry says in his commentary. And isn’t that when we forget God? We are most likely to do it in our prosperity and plenty. And we return to Him in our time of deepest need. I like the phrase Moses uses at the beginning of verse 12. He says, “then watch yourself”. Wow. That’s what we need to do; we need to watch ourselves and make a special effort not to forget God, especially in our prosperity and times of worldly success.

Furthermore, if His anger were to be kindled, He could wipe the Israelites “off the face of the earth.” And here I thought this is a phrase only used by terrorists and the Iranian leaders, and the Palestinians today who want to eliminate Israel and “wipe her off the face of the earth.”  I guess they stole the idea from God.

Now one would think that if one loved the place he/she lived, all the blessings he/she enjoyed, and all the promises your God was bringing to pass on you, that you would want to make sure you obeyed His rules and laws. This is especially true if you knew He was a Jealous God, that He could easily get angry, and once angry, could wipe you “off the face of the earth”. I mean you would think. You would think you wouldn’t “test” God. You would think.

And in verse 16, Moses reminds them of just that – don’t test God.

Now I really think we need to pay attention to verse 19. Moses says in verse 18 that we “do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord,” . . . by (here comes verse 19) “driving out all your enemies from before you,” and adds, “as the Lord has spoken”.

Can we get serious for a moment here? How is it that we Christians are just sitting quietly around these days letting godless politicians, godless terrorists, and godless aliens in our lands just take over things and force us to do what they want, and we even end up apologizing to them for the atrocities they commit against us?  How is that possible? Can some pastor please explain that to me, because I don’t think that this is what God wants for us.

Now I know that we are still studying the Old Testament and Jesus’ teachings are all in the New Testament. I get that. But I don’t believe that God the Father (Who is the same in both Testaments) really changed that much between Malachi and Matthew. I think it is us that are having the trouble of lining up Christ’s teachings with God’s directions to the Israelites. I’d love to hear your perspective.

The rest of the chapter describes Moses’ instructions to the children of Israel with respect to what they should tell their children about the laws that they see all over the place and that they hear about all the time. The bottom line is that these laws are the laws of God Who delivered them from slavery in Egypt and by opening these laws, it will be counted as “righteousness” for them. If our children are not asking us about the laws we are to follow – the commandments of Christ – it is likely because we don’t teach them to them, we don’t display them, and we don’t demonstrate them in our lives.

Wrap-up

Here’s the summary:

1.     Know the laws of God.

2.     Learn the laws of God.

3.     Teach them to your youth.

4.     Display them inside the house and out.

5.     Practice them.

Why?

1.     That you may be blessed as a people.

2.     That you may live long as a family.

3.     That it may be counted unto you as righteousness.

Now how hard is that?

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Moses Has a Word of Advice for Parents and Grandparents.

Deuteronomy Chapter 4 – Part Two: Moses Continues His Advice to the Next Generation by Reminding Them of What God Expects of Them and Us

Deuteronomy 4:9-14 -- The Passage and Some Thoughts

David Guzik points out how this passage starts off. It is with the words “Only give heed to yourself . . .”. The New Living Translation says, “But watch out.” The New International Version says, “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely.”

In verse 9, the sons of Israel are told to “keep their souls diligent” not to forget that they saw what God had done for them, to keep these things in their hearts, and to share them with their children and grandchildren. This concept of keeping our “souls diligent” is an interesting one. How well have we done in those four things? Well, I guess it depends in what ‘generation’ you lived in. Since God created what He created in Genesis, and assuming the average generation is 25 years (everything I could find ranges from 20 to 40 years), there have been as many as 240 generations that have come and gone. I regret to inform you that each ensuing generation is doing worse on this account. In my own generation, I feel that while we older ones are happy with our ability to keeps our souls diligent, to remember what God has done for us, to keep these things in our hearts, we have failed, for the most part, to pass these things on to our children and grandchildren. And one wonders why.

Let me suggest a few possibilities. Society seems to have adopted an overall pluralistic approach to life and faith. Multiculturalism within our communities has facilitated that. Our history as a People of God (Jew and Christian) is no longer the dominant history of the world to many. The educational system has challenged the Judeo-Christian principles, encouraging experimentation in other religions, or no religion, or worse still perhaps, that you are a ‘god’. The granting of rights to minorities has been extended to minors as well. Children have more power and encouragement now than ever before to ignore their parents. And heaven help you with your grandchildren if your children weren’t 120% satisfied with the way you brought them up – it’s their turn to treat their children much better. The nuclear family is no longer the family we grew up in. More divorces than ever mean more single-parent families, and that means the children have to split their available time with the two parents, and so on.  And so, the opportunity for sharing the history of our faith is minimal. We are relegated to the task of praying for them. But here’s the good news – that is an incredible responsibility and all that God needs to do His work with them.,

In verse 10, Moses reminds the sons of Israel of the day God had called them together at Horeb so they could hear His words and “learn to fear Him all the days they live” and to “teach their children the same”. Nowadays, fearing the Lord has become a thing to be avoided – because God loves us. Newsflash folks – a loving father is often feared by his children for they know that if they defy him, there will be a consequence. We’re not talking about making mistakes or not having yet learned a lesson – we’re talking about out and out disobedience. I have always feared the Lord God and I have always seen Him as a loving Father. The other day when we were taking care of our almost six-year grand-daughter and we were all playing in the backyard, we noticed that she was nowhere to be found. We were frantic for a moment (as most grandparents would be) and run around the front looking for her. She had decided to go and hide on us in front of the garage. Yes, I raised my voice and she knew I was angry with her. And she knew why. That was out and out disobedience. She had been warned before. But she soon got over it. Hopefully, it won’t happen again. My older grandson said, “You didn’t have to yell at her.” I chose to ignore him. He may have been right. But sometimes, a low quiet voice doesn’t always work with ‘children’ of any age.

In verses 11-13, Moses tells the sons of Israel how God had declared His covenant with them that they were to carry out and had given them the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone.

A number of commentators make the point that in verse 12 Moses reminded them that while they heard God’s voice in the fire, they did not see Him or a form of Him.  They contend that this is a reminder to them that they were not to make any graven images of God because they thought they knew what He looked like. This practice was left to the heathen and idolatrous nations all around them.

And verse 14 states that Moses reminded them how he was told to teach them those statutes and judgments, and the Ten Commandments, because they would need to follow those in the Promised Land, in order to be successful.

Here’s the funny thing. God expects the same of us. We’re failing. We need to figure out a way how we can take that up a notch.

Wrap-up

Here’s what I know for certain. God wanted the sons of Israel to learn what He wanted to teach them and to teach these things to their children and grandchildren. He wants the same for us. I also know that He does not want to live of life with our children that says, “just do as I say, not what I do”.

So, in a day and age when some of us find it hard to sit down with our children and grandchildren for the reasons noted above, not only can we and should we pray for them, but we also have the incredible opportunity to “model for them what they may hear us tell them”.  That’s big and great news for parents and for grandparents. Take heart. Your job is not finished yet.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.