The Law · Chapter 6 of 34

Deuteronomy 6

Moses gives the great confession of Israel's faith, the Shema: Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD, and you shall love him with all your heart, soul, and might. These words are to fill the home, be taught to children, and marked on hand, brow, doorpost, and gate. Moses warns that in the coming abundance Israel must not forget the God who redeemed them from Egypt or test him as at Massah.

What happens in Deuteronomy 6

Moses sets out the commandments Israel is to keep in the land, that they may fear the LORD and their days be prolonged. He speaks the words that would become Israel's daily confession: Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD, and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and might. These words are to be in the heart, taught diligently to children, spoken at home and on the way, bound on the hand and between the eyes, and written on doorposts and gates.

Moses warns that when God brings them into a land of cities they did not build and wells they did not dig, they must beware of forgetting the LORD who brought them out of slavery. They must not go after other gods, nor tempt God as at Massah. When children ask the meaning of these commands, parents are to tell the story of redemption from Egypt.

Deuteronomy 6 in context

This chapter contains the Shema, from the Hebrew word hear, Israel's central declaration of faith and love for the one God, recited daily by devout Jews to this day. Delivered as Israel prepares to enter a prosperous land, it addresses the peculiar danger of comfort: that abundance not built by their own hands would tempt them to forget the God who gave it.

Jesus draws directly on this chapter.

Main themes of Deuteronomy 6

Deuteronomy 6 (KJV)

1Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. 4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 10And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 11And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 12Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. 14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; 15(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. 16Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. 17Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. 18And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, 19To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken. 20And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? 21Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: 22And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: 23And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. 24And 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 at this day. 25And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

Verses to carry from Deuteronomy 6

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”Deuteronomy 6:4

“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”Deuteronomy 6:5

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.”Deuteronomy 6:13

Reflection

Ask whether your love for God engages your whole self or only a corner of your life. And notice where comfort has quietly dulled your gratitude. Let the Shema realign you, and remember the God who gave you everything you did not build. Teach it to those who come after you.

A prayer from Deuteronomy 6