Deuteronomy 6:4

frskniam — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:32:32 CST

4"Hear, O Israel:(E) The LORD our God, the LORD is one.[b] 5You(F) shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And(G) these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7(H) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8(I) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9(J) You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
10"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities(K) that you did not build, 11and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12(L) then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13It is(M) the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and(N) by his name you shall swear. 14You shall not(O) go after other gods,(P) the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15for(Q) the LORD your God in your midst(R) is a jealous God—(S) lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

One of the most widely known passages to Jewish people and commonly recited during services in synagogues. In Hebrew the first verse is “Shema Israel: Yahweh Elohenui, Yahweh Echad.” Which when translated fully means “Hear intently with obedience Israel: Our Lord in his fullness, Our Lord is One.

There are many different points I can focus on here, but the main point is obedience to God, and what we will be focusing on. Now in our culture and the way we look at the world, we see this verse and don't think much of it, okay yes there is one God and we should obey him, great... boring... whats your point.

But if you look at it from the perspective of a Israelite, just coming out of Egypt, it means so very much more. Egypt was a society that had many Gods, many ideas, and you had to balance them all, too much focus on one God would make the others jealous, and the whole system, even for someone who grew up in it was confusing. So when Moses tells these people to listen, that these words would be there guide, Your Lord, your God, in the fullness that is in control of you, this master is one. There are not several, there is one. This is an amazing statement, and very bold. Everything that there is to worship, all the authority, everything is completely this God and there is no other. By saying this Moses is saying that every idol of their neighbors is false, the religion of their previous captors is invalid, that they serve the one and only God.

And verse 5, clears it up even further if there was any doubt about what to do with this information. You shall, you will, love the Lord your God with everything, everything. Not just some things, not on Sundays or Saturdays or when you feel like it, but with everything. With every emotion, feeling and desire. With all of your personality. With your thoughts and intellect, in your studies. In sports and activities, in what you do, all these things you are to do honoring and obeying God.

Continuing on: And these words, all these things which are being commanded today will be on your heart. The core of your being is to be inscribed with them.

You will teach them to your children. They have to be passed on, this isn't something to forget, but something for all generations. These commandments are to be spoken of while you sit in your home, as you are going about your business during the day you should be speaking about these commandments, when you go to bed it should be the last thing on your lips, and also when you get up in the morning, it should be the first thing out of your mouth. So that every part of your day, you should be speaking about these things which the Lord has done after he brought you out of bondage. These instructions are the way to live to be free. Everything apart from them leads to death.

I verse 8 we get the text that holds a lot of weight in Jewish tradition: You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. The Jews take things like this very litterally. It's called tephillian, and it's little boxes, that contain these commandments, with select other passages, with a long leather strap on it, it is then fassened to the left hand and tightly wrapped up the arm 7 times. In most cases when its does, they bind it so tightly that it leaves deep impressions on the arm. Another box with another leather strap is bound to the forhead tightly. The reason for these boxes and the binding is to remember that your hand and everything you do with it is bound by the laws of God, and in the same way your eyes and everything you look at is bound by God's laws. For the Israelites and still in the Jewish religion today it is all outward, it's a physical expression. I don't think it would serve you well to do this religious custom, but if you can keep in your mind that your hands and eyes are for God's glory, and are meant to be used to bless him, it will serve you well and will be fulfilling the spiritual intention of the command, which is our true calling.

Another interesting custom comes from verse 9: You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Jewish people make little boxes, most are very ornate, called Mezuzahs. They take the same parchment that they put in their tephillin and attach them to every door post in their house, and to their gates. A common tradition is to kiss your hand and touch the Mezuzah as you walk through the door post. It's not some strange spell or anything, but simply a reminder that after entering through the doorpost, the commandments apply and you must follow them. So there is a constant reminder to follow the commandments of God. Again I would ask you to consider thinking about this as you leave today. As you walk through the door, remember that as you walk outside, you are responsible to keep the commandments of God.

So here is the commandment, now Moses lays out the blessing and a hard warning:

"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities(K) that you did not build, 11and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant"

This is a lot. Applied to us we can really say that God gives us much more abundantly than that which we have sown. We will be blessed with things we do not earn. Now well this directly applies to Israel and a promise given to them for inhabiting the land of Israel, this also shows us the heart of God and the way he rules us. If we are obedient to him, blessings and favor will be given to us. There is a warning though"

And when you eat and are full, 12(L) then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13It is(M) the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and(N) by his name you shall swear. 14You shall not(O) go after other gods,(P) the gods of the peoples who are around you—

This is a warning we should take with full attention. After all, how easy is it to hold onto God when everything is wrong? When you are tired, hungry, when you really need your grades to be better than they are, when you need a miracal, when it's these times sure it's easy to turn to God, you really have no other choice.

How about when everything is good though. How many of you are like me, and when I'm satisfied and content, when I don't feel bound to anything and theres just a bright world around me, that it's harder to even remember God, let alone worship him like I did in those hard times? This is the key, we are to remember that it is God who has bought our freedom, he brought us out of slavery, and everything that is a blessing to us we experiance because he is so good.

Now I believe that our God is merciful and full of kindness, but we need to really think about the end of this passage and it's warning:

15for(Q) the LORD your God in your midst(R) is a jealous God—(S) lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

Now even though Israel completely disobeyed God in every way, he never wiped them from the Earth, but we should remember it is in his power to do so. That he can take and give as he pleases so it is best not to arouse him to jealously.

I want to close with this, and hope you remember these three things:

1) God is the fullness of everything we should worship, and him alone.

2) Everything you touch and look at should be for his Glory

3) Everywhere you go, whether coming or leaving, that God's commandments are to be your centeral focus.

Lets pray.

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frskniam — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:31:42 CST

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Deuteronomy 6:4

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