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DEUTERONOMY 6–8

Week 10, Day 1

It could well be argued that Deuteronomy 6 is the most important chapter of the Old Testament because of the Shema, verse 4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.”

Judaism identifies this sentence as the center of Jewish thought, upon which all other Jewish belief turns. No wonder, then, that the people are commanded to keep this word in their hearts, recite it to their children, talk about it, and make it an emblem on forehead and doorpost (6:7-9). There is a passion in this command that we should make our own.

There’s a toughness about Chapter 7, reminding us that love has demands. But there’s a wonder in love, too, and verses 7 and 8 celebrate it when they say, essentially, “God loves you because he loves you.” Logic can find no further explanation. Here is a precursor (as in other places in the Hebrew Scriptures) of what the New Testament will call grace.

Moses assures the people that victories and blessings await them: prosperity in their work, health of body, and conquest of even their most fearsome enemies. But with all of these favors, there is a peril. In that new land, having “eaten your fill” and when “all that you have is multiplied” (8:12-13), it will be very easy to forget “the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (8:14). How could they be so ungrateful, we wonder, until we look carefully at some of our own experiences with God.

PRAYER: In days of prosperity, let me never forget you. Amen.

What can you think of in the New Testament that might be as crucial to the Christian as Deuteronomy 6:4 (the Shema) is to the Jew?