Love the Lord Your God

A new book. Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Bible. It records Moses' last words to Israel before they entered the Promised Land. A new generation. The people who left Egypt had died in the wilderness (Numbers 14). Their children were now grown up and ready to go in. The commandment. Moses said, “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you” (6:1). Statutes and judgments are rules and laws. For the whole family. God's word was for “you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life” (6:2). Every generation needed it. Fear the Lord. To “fear the Lord your God” (6:2) means to honor and respect Him as the great and holy God. Hear and obey. “Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you” (6:3). A good land. God had promised “a land flowing with milk and honey” (6:3). That means a land with plenty of food. What we learn. God's commands are not meant to spoil life. He gives them because He loves His people and wants good for them.

The book's name. Deuteronomy means second law, from the Greek translation. It is not a different law but the same covenant explained again to a new generation on the plains of Moab. Moses' sermons. Most of the book is a series of speeches Moses gave just before his death (Deuteronomy 1:1-5; 34:5). Chapters 5-11 explain the heart behind the commandments. Right after the Ten Commandments. Chapter 5 repeats the Ten Commandments. Chapter 6 then shows what lies beneath them: love for God. Three kinds of law (6:1). Commandment, statutes and judgments together describe the whole of God's instruction for Israel's life in the land. Fear and love together (6:2, 5). In Deuteronomy, fearing the Lord and loving Him are not opposites. Reverence and devotion belong together. For our good (6:24). Moses says God commanded these things “for our good always, that He might preserve us alive.” God's law flows from His care. A covenant for generations. “You and your son and your grandson” (6:2) shows that faith was meant to be passed down, not kept to one generation.

God's people had walked in the desert for forty years. Now they camped beside the Jordan River. Across the river was the land God had promised them. Moses was very old, and he knew he would not cross over. So he gathered everyone to hear some last important words. Most of these people were children when they left Egypt. Some were born in the desert. They needed to know who God is. They also had to learn how to live in the new land. Moses gave them the commands of the Lord their God. They must obey them in the land. Their children and grandchildren must respect the Lord too. Then things would go well for them. The book of Deuteronomy is the record of what Moses said.

Israel camped by the Jordan River. Moses was very old. He gave the people God's words. He wanted them to remember God always.

Listen! “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” (6:4). This is one of the most famous sentences in the whole Bible. Its name. These words are called the Shema, from the first word, hear. Jewish families have said them every morning and evening for thousands of years. Only one. The nations around Israel worshiped many gods. Moses said there is only one true God. Paul agrees. “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things… and one Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 8:6). Jesus said it too. When asked which commandment is first, Jesus answered, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Mark 12:29). A scribe agreed. The scribe said, “You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He” (Mark 12:32). Knowing Him. Jesus prayed, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). What we learn. There is only one true God, and He wants us to know Him.

The Shema (6:4). The name comes from the first Hebrew word, shema (say: sh-MAH), meaning hear. Hearing in Hebrew includes obeying. “The Lord is one.” The word echad (say: eh-KHAHD) means one. It declares that Israel's God is the only God, unlike the many gods of Canaan. Jesus and the Shema. Jesus quoted 6:4-5 as “the first of all the commandments” (Mark 12:29-30). He did not replace the Shema; He affirmed it. One God in three persons. Christians believe the one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit (compare Matthew 28:19). The New Testament never weakens the Shema; it shows how Jesus fits within it (1 Corinthians 8:6). One Mediator. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). A daily prayer. Jewish tradition made the Shema a prayer said morning and evening, following 6:7, “when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Why it matters. If there is only one God, then He deserves all our loyalty. That is why the very next verse says to love Him with everything.

Moses said, “Listen, people of Israel! The Lord is our God. He is the only Lord.” This was very important for Israel to know. The nations around them worshiped many different gods. They made statues of wood and stone and bowed down to them. But those gods were not real. They could not see, hear or help anyone. The Lord is the one true God. He made the heavens and the earth. He brought Israel out of Egypt with His great power. No one else is like Him. Many years later, Jesus said these same words. Jesus taught that loving this one true God matters most.

Moses said, “Listen, people of Israel! The Lord is our God.” There is only one God. He is the true God.

The greatest command. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (6:5). This is the memory verse. Heart. In the Bible the heart means your thinking, choosing and feeling. God wants your mind and your will. Soul. Your soul means your whole life, the real you. God wants every part of you. Strength. Strength means all your energy and everything you have. Nothing is left out. In your heart. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart” (6:6). God's word is meant to live inside us. Hidden in my heart. The psalmist wrote, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11). Jesus' answer. Jesus called this “the first and great commandment” and added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:38-39). What we learn. God wants all of our love, not just a part. We need His help to love Him like that.

Three words (6:5). Heart (lev, say: LAYV), soul (nephesh, say: NEH-fesh) and strength (meod, say: meh-ODE). Meod usually means very or much; here it means with all your muchness, every ounce of you. Love commanded. Love here is more than a feeling. In covenant language it means loyal, wholehearted devotion that shows itself in obedience. Jesus' version. In Mark 12:30 Jesus adds “with all your mind.” He shows that the Hebrew heart includes the thinking life. The second command. Jesus joins Deuteronomy 6:5 to Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40). Words in the heart (6:6). God's word was not only for stone tablets. It was meant to be inside His people. Jeremiah 31:33 promises a day when God will write His law on their hearts. The problem. No one but Christ has kept this command fully. “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). The Shema shows us how much we need grace.

Then Moses gave the greatest command. God's people must love the Lord with all their heart. They must love Him with all their soul and strength. Your heart is your thoughts and feelings. Your soul is your whole life, the real you. Your strength is everything you have and can do. God does not want only a little bit of our love. He wants all of it. Moses also said, “Always remember these commands I give you today.” God's words should be deep inside our hearts. But none of us loves God perfectly. We all fall short. Only Jesus ever loved God with all His heart. Jesus came to give us new hearts that can love God.

Love God with all your heart. Love Him with all your soul. Give Him all your strength. God loves you first!

Teach diligently. “You shall teach them diligently to your children” (6:7). Diligently means carefully and without giving up. All day long. Talk of them “when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (6:7). On your hand. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand” (6:8). Your hand stands for what you do. Between your eyes. “They shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (6:8). Frontlets were bands worn on the forehead. Your eyes stand for what you see and think. On the doorposts. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (6:9). Every coming and going was a reminder. A child's question. “When your son asks you in time to come” (6:20), the answer begins, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out” (6:21). Timothy's family. Paul wrote that Timothy's faith “dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice” (2 Timothy 1:5). What we learn. God's word belongs in every part of the day, and families pass it on.

Repeat them (6:7). The verb behind diligently means to sharpen or repeat. Teaching here is steady, repeated conversation, not a single lesson. All of life. Sitting and walking, lying down and rising up are pairs of opposites. Together they mean all of life, everywhere and always. Hand and eyes (6:8). Later Jewish practice took this literally with small boxes called tefillin (say: teh-fee-LEEN) worn on the arm and forehead. Jesus warned against wearing them just to be seen by people (Matthew 23:5). The heart of the command is that God's word should shape what we do (the hand) and what we think (the eyes). Doorposts (6:9). Jewish homes still fix a small case called a mezuzah (say: meh-ZOO-zah), which means doorpost, by the door. It recalls the Passover blood on the doorposts (Exodus 12:7). The family question (6:20-25). The answer to a child's question is a story of rescue. God's commands make sense only in light of what He has done. Said again (11:18-19). Moses repeats the same instructions later, because they mattered so much. The New Testament. “Bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Scripture can make a child “wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

Moses told parents to teach God's words to their children. They should talk about them when they sit at home. They can share them while walking along the road. Families can say them when they lie down at night. They can remember them each morning. That means talking about God all day long! Moses said to tie God's words to their hands. They should tie them on their foreheads too. They must write them on their doors and gates. God's words should be everywhere in our lives. Someday their children would ask what these laws meant. Then parents should tell how God saved them from Egypt. God's people should always tell what God has done. We can tell others what Jesus has done for us too.

Teach God's words at home. Talk about them on walks. Pray about them at bedtime. Write them on the door!

Love the Lord Your God

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