Another Exhortation to Obedience and What to Teach Their Children

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Deuteronomy 6:1) "Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go to possess it."

In the last chapter and post, Moses had given a review of the Ten Commandments.  In the following chapters he continued with a review of all the other laws, statutes, and judgments, that the Lord had given him to teach to the children of Israel that they might live according to them in their promised land.

(2) "That you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged."

Moses continued.  Learning all the commands, statutes, and judgments of the Lord would also teach the people a reverential fear for their awesome God, a respect for His sovereign authority as lawgiver, and make them feel ever bound to obey Him, and to teach that to the generations that came after them.  By doing this their days might be long in this world.

(3) "Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey."

Moses continued his exhortation to the people of Israel to really listen, understand, and perform the commandments as given, that it might go well with them and that they might increase mightily in wealth and numbers, just as their Lord had promised in their land abundant with all good things.

(4) “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD."

Moses drew the people's attention to the fact that their Lord Jehovah was the one and only true God, and there was no other.

(5) "And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might."

Since there was only one God and that was the God of Israel, they were to love Him alone completely with all they had.  Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, described it this way:  "The 'heart' is mentioned as the seat of the understanding; the 'soul' as the center of will and personality; the 'might' as representing the outgoings and energies of all the vital powers."

(6) “And these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart."

Loving the Lord with all their hearts, they should also love His word and commandments and hold them dear to their hearts.

(7) "And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."

The children of Israel were to teach the commandments diligently to their children.  The original word translated "diligently" was "shanan" and meant more precisely "sharpen, pierce, whet".  They were to teach their children again and again and again, sharpening or refining them, as the Lord spoke of refining His people as silver (Zechariah 13:9, Malachi 3:3).  The commandments should be taught and discussed in the home, and outside the home, in the public square, if you will.  The people should begin and end the day with the Lord's word.

(8) "And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."

Just as one might tie a string around a finger or a cord around the wrist to help him remember something, so should the people do to always remember the commands of their Lord.  Figuratively, they were always to be on the minds of the people.  Literally, the Jewish people wore phylacteries with a piece of inscribed parchment on their foreheads and on their arms; the word was literally bound on their hands and as frontlets between their eyes, certainly constant reminders of the Lord's commands.

(9) "And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Let the commandments of the Lord be written on the doorposts of their houses and on their gates to be reminders as they left and came back.  It would also surely serve as a sign to anyone who passed by that they were children of the one true God and were not ashamed of Him or His word.

(10) "And it shall be, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you great and goodly cities which you did not build, (11) And houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant; when you have eaten and are full, (12) Beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."

Moses exhorted the people to always remember their Lord who brought them out of bondage in Egypt.  When they had settled in their promised land with all the great things around them that they themselves did not have to build or furnish, Moses warned them not to forget their Lord who was the One who brought them out of bondage and misery to give them this wealth and ease.

(13) “You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall swear by His name."

The people were to revere their Lord and serve only Him.  They were to swear oaths in His name only.  The original word translated as "swear" was "shaba", and Strong's defines it literally as "to seven oneself, that is, swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times)."  Seven in the Bible represents completeness, perfection.  Therefore the meaning of the scripture might actually be, rather than about swearing oaths, about completely recognizing and openly confessing that their Lord alone was the one true God of the universe, and there was no other.  Consider Isaiah 45:23 when the Lord said, "every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."  When that scripture was referenced in the New Testament, it was written, "every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

Albert Barnes pointed out that in Matthew 5:34, Jesus said, "Swear, not at all."  However, it must be noted that He went on to expand on this that people should not swear by heaven, for it was God's throne; not by the earth, for it was God's footstool; not by Jerusalem, for it was the city of God; not even by their own bodies or lives, for they were not the authors of their own lives, but only God was.  This seems consistent with Moses's declaration that there was only one God that was to be feared, served, and confessed to Him alone.  As with so many of the laws that had been given in the Old Testament, the people had veered from the spirit of the law.  Jesus was all about teaching the heart of the law.  He said He came not to change one bit of the law, but He often pointed out the spirit of the law and how people had transgressed.  In this case, people had turned to the practice of swearing by anything other than God, because they had no intention of keeping their oath.  Jesus said they should not be swearing at all, because it was all God's, and that they should let their "yes" mean "yes", and their "no" mean "no".  Jesus was not referring to oaths sworn before a court; He was once again correcting a false interpretation of the law.  People were to always speak the truth, and swearing by something other than God did not give them an excuse to lie.

(14) “You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people all around you, (15) (For the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth."

Moses warned the people not to walk in the ways of the false gods of the people they would find all around them.  As their Lord had betrothed the children of Israel to Himself as a bride is to her husband, He was zealous and ever vigilant of their faithfulness, and would not tolerate their "whoring" after false gods.  Once again, God is life, and the world with its false gods is death.  Additionally, one cannot serve two different masters (Matthew 6:24).  Once one starts dabbling in the ways of false gods, he has denied that his God is the one and only God of the universe.  If the people chose the ways of death, they would necessarily be destroyed from the face of the earth.

(16) “You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah."

In Exodus 17:7 the people were said to have tempted (or tested) the Lord by asking if He was with them or not.  The place was called Massah, which meant "temptation".

(17) “You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you."

Moses exhorted the people to diligently keep all the commandments, statutes, and judgments of the Lord, not only the Ten Commandments, but the other commands that were to follow.

(18) “And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to your fathers, (19) To cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken."

Moses told the people they were to do what was right and good in the sight of the Lord, meaning what the Lord Himself told them to do.  If they obeyed Him, it would go well for them and they would be able to go in and possess the land the Lord had sworn to their patriarchs.  Following the Lord's commands, their enemies would be cast out from before them.

(20) “And when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’ (21) Then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.'"

When in time their children asked them what the meaning of the testimonies, statutes, and judgments were, or perhaps more precisely why they did the things they did, the people would describe to them how they had been in cruel bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt, and that it was their Lord who brought them out with His mighty power.

(22) "'And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and severe, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes. (23) And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He swore to our fathers.'"

They would tell their children about all the terrible plagues the Lord had brought upon Egypt and on Pharaoh and his household that they had witnessed, in order to bring them out of bondage to bring them to the land they now possessed which He had long before sworn to their patriarchs.

(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 this day.'"

After bringing them to their promised land, they would explain to their children that the Lord gave the people these statutes to revere and respect their Lord, and that they were designed by Him for their ultimate good that they might live.

(25) "'And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.'"

It would be reckoned as righteousness, they would tell their children, if the people observed and performed the commandments of the Lord as He had commanded them.  No one mortal man can really be totally righteous in the eyes of the Lord, but He would count it as righteousness if they observed His commandments.

I found these words of the Biblical scholar Adam Clarke very interesting and profound, especially considering he lived from 1762 to 1832.  Even way back then, people had these notions!

A most injurious and destructive maxim has lately been advanced by a few individuals, which it is to be hoped is disowned by the class of Christians to which they belong, though the authors affect to be thought Christians, and rational ones, too; the sum of the maxim is this: “Children ought not to be taught religion for fear of having their minds biased to some particular creed, but they should be left to themselves till they are capable of making a choice, and choose to make one.” This maxim is in flat opposition to the command of God, and those who teach it show how little they are affected by the religion they profess. If they felt it to be good for any thing, they would certainly wish their children to possess it; but they do not teach religion to their children, because they feel it to be of no use to themselves. Now the Christian religion properly applied saves the soul, and fills the heart with love to God and man; for the love of God is shed abroad in the heart of a genuine believer, by the Holy Ghost given to him. These persons have no such love, because they have not the religion that inspires it; and the spurious religion which admits of the maxim above mentioned, is not the religion of God, and consequently better untaught than taught. But what can be said to those parents who, possessing a better faith, equally neglect the instruction of their children in the things of God! They are highly criminal; and if their children perish through neglect, which is very probable, what a dreadful account must they give in the great day! Parents! hear what the Lord saith unto you: Ye shall diligently teach your children that there is one Lord, Jehovah, Elohim; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: and that they must love him with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their might. And as children are heedless, apt to forget, liable to be carried away by sensible things, repeat and re-repeat the instruction, and add line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, carefully studying time, place, and circumstances, that your labor be not in vain: show it in its amiableness, excite attention by exciting interest; show how good, how useful, how blessed, how ennobling, how glorious it is. Whet these things on their hearts till the keenest edge is raised on the strongest desire, till they can say, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth I desire besides thee!”