Deuteronomy 6:1-25
Love the LORD Your God
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.
20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?" 21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."
Moses is given the laws that God directed...Moses writes down these laws and commandments in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy...The first five books of the Bible, including Genesis and Exodus are called the Law of Moses...These are the rules which the Israeli people are to live by...They are in essence God's moral laws...If they can follow these laws, and every rule in these books, then they would be perfectly moral...But sin gets in the way and the law, and God's moral law gets broken each day...Moses tells the Israelis that if they can keep all His decrees and commands they will enjoy a long life....If they can obey these laws then they may increase in the promised land flowing with milk and honey, just as God has promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and has promised you...
Moses tells the people, that the LORD our God, is one God...Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength...These commandments that are given are to be placed on and in our hearts...We are to teach and impress them on our children...We are to talk about them at home, and away from home, when we lie down and when we get up...Tie them on your hands and foreheads...We are to write them on our doorframes and door ways, and on our gates...We are not to forget them...We are not to forget Him...When our fields are full, and are yielding great crops, and we are eating from the olive groves and fruit trees we did not even plant, we must not forget the LORD...When we are enjoying things we did not even have a hand in creating, we must remember Him...The LORD our God brought us out of Egypt and brought us to the promised land of Abraham...
We are to fear the LORD, our God...We are to have no other Gods or idols...Our God is a jealous God, in this respect...We are not to test the LORD...We are to do what is right...We are to become better people, a better person...We are to be good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with us...
In the future, we are to remember what God commanded in the desert...We are to remember that God brought His people out of slavery, and out of Egypt with His mighty hand...If we fear the LORD and obey His commands we will always prosper, and be kept alive...And if we obey His commands, before Him that will be credited as our righteousness...He is our Father, and we are His children...
The Hebrew people are as a group, as physically and mentally close to God, at this time (when Moses is speaking to them) as any group of people in our history...No other group ever gets this close to Him, since then...And even though God is so close to His people, at this time, they have to be continually reminded about Him (as do we)...We drift from the LORD, and we forget Him...We forget Him when we are satisfied...When we have things and look around and see things going great, and we didn't even plant or dig the vineyards and the olive trees...We can have many material things that we have bought, but did not produce, a big yard, and a big house and drift from Him...It seems when we no longer depend on Him for our basic needs we drift from Him...Wealth can make us drift from Him...The people of Israel had depended on God for water, manna, and quail and He provided in the desert...When our basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter are met we then search for material things, for more things...These material things may make us more competitive with others (with our neighbors)...This is not love, this is competition...Moses warns us of these dangers of wealth...God is our creator...He created us and wealth...God wants us to be humble, faithful, and not forget Him...If He is impressed in our hearts and we are talking about Him, in our minds, in our houses, out of our houses, when we walk along the road, and to our children we will not forget Him...Our goal should be to be spiritually wealthy instead of material wealthy...This leads us to humbleness, love, and generosity...If we follow God's ways, that will be our righteousness...