Hear, O Israel, Deut. 6:1-25

P. Dixon    6/20/10

A.  The Great Commandment Summarized, 6:1-3

6:1 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

            1.  The commandment is singular.  It is one, but involves many statutes and rules. 

            2.  The commandment was given by God to Moses to be taught to the people; it involved statutes and rules.  In short, it was one commandment involving specific commandments.

            3.  The purpose of the commandment:  for their good, so they would have long life, things go well with them, that they would multiply greatly, and be blessed.  The commandments of God are grievous for us only if we misunderstand them and see them as binding and restraining so as to make us sad and mopey.  They are not.  They are for our good, because God loves us and wants the best for us.

B.  The Great Commandment Stated and Explained.

            1.  The Great Commandment Stated, 4-5.

The doctrinal truth:  God is one.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Hear, O Israel.  Often called the Shema, from the initial Hebrew word meaning “hear.”  This verse became the great confession of Israel’s monotheistic faith, and is recited morning and evening by Jews.

The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Though the Hebrew may be translated several ways, it is best to understand the verse as affirming both God’s uniqueness and unity or singularity - the only God is one.  As the Old Testament implies and the New Testament explicitly teaches, however, the one God exists as three distinct persons. 

The Implication: Complete love for God alone.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.   There is a cause-effect relationship here.  Because the Lord our God, the Lord is one, therefore, we should love Him with all our heart, soul and might.  It is Him and Him alone we are to love with such total devotion.  Loving any body or anything else like this is idolatry.  This is why the very first of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”   I often thought this was an easy one, because we don’t have other gods we are tempted to worship.  But, if there is anything or anyone I love more than God, than that thing or person becomes a god to me.  This is why even with regard to our immediate family we have to be careful.  There is the temptation for some to love their spouse or children too much or inappropriately.  It is why Jesus says in Lk. 14, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Lk. 14:26).  How does such inappropriate love for family manifest itself?  One way I have seen it is when family comes to visit and people choose to stay home with them during church time, rather than come to church without them, or better, bring them with them.  Or, if we love ourselves too much we might opt to forsake coming to worship in order to go to a Cardinals game or play golf, or even work on the Lord’s Day.   Such inappropriate love for money manifests itself in refusing to give unto the Lord what is rightfully His, that is, the tithe, and keeping it for ourselves.  So, these are just a few ways we put other gods before the one and only true God.  The command expresses totality.  For this reason it is sometimes rendered “mind and strength,“ as in Mark’s gospel.  It is the language of devotion.  God does not demand mere outward obedience, but heartfelt love and commitment of the whole person.  This is the great commandment, the first and foremost commandment.  It is where it all starts and it must be carefully understood and applied, so Moses goes on the explain in great detail.  It is the commandment from which all other commandments spring. 

The lawyer tested Jesus by asking Him, ‘Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law?’  Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  The second one, He added, is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Mt. 22:34ff).  By mentioning the Law and the Prophets here, Jesus was actually referring to all of the Old Testament scriptures, which can be summarized generally by Law and Prophets.  The Ten Commandments themselves illustrate this truth, as the first half of the Ten pertain to our love for God, and the second half our love for others.

If you were to love God like this, what would you do differently?  From the Ten Commandments we would have no other gods before Him, nothing or no one we love more than God.   We would not make images of things we love.  We would not take the name of the Lord in vain.  We would remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.  We would honor our parents.  If we love Him, we would keep His commandments not to bear false witness but to speak the truth; not to covet the things of others; not to commit adultery; not to steal from others; etc.  In short, we would not be controlled by the lust of the flesh, the lust of  the eye or the pride of life.   If we as a church were to love God this way, how would be function differently?

            2.  How the Great Commandment is done, 6-25.

                        a.  By keeping these words on your heart.

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.   This tells us first and foremost how our love for the Lord will be manifest.  His words will be very precious to us, more precious than much fine gold and sweeter than the drippings of the honeycomb. Young couples in love but separated from each other experience this sensation.  They long for and cherish receiving a letter from the loved one.  They may even read it over and over again.  That is the way it is between those who love their Lord.  They long for and cherish His Words, as they are meat and drink to their souls.  According to Psalm 1 the man who is truly blessed of God delights in the law of the Lord and meditates upon it day and night.  He memorizes the Word, thinks about it, recites it, even sings it. So, there is this close connection between love for the Lord and love for His word.  Ask God to give you that love for Him and His word.  He will because He has promised to give us whatever we ask, if it be according to His will.

                        b.  By teaching it to you household.                 

7 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 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

If we love God like this, then we will teach these words to our children.  The language used here depicts it being done continually and in every setting:  when we sit, walk, lie down, rise up.  It is what we think about, meditate upon, and communicate to our children.  Parents, this is the singular most important thing we can do for our children.  Later in Jewish history, this phrase (hand … frontlets between your eyes) was taken literally and the people tied phylacteries (boxes containing these verses) to their hands and foreheads with thongs of leather.  Some may have thought that by doing this they were obeying this verse, perhaps not unlike some parents who think they have done their duty by sending their children to Sunday School, VBS, or even Christian schools.  While these things may be good, it is not what is in mind here.

                        c.  By not forgetting the grace of God in your life.

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 that you did not build, 11 and 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 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

How quick we are to forget the good things God has done for us, and to think we are what we are by our own efforts.  When that happens then we cease to fear the Lord and we live in self-complacency.  Notice the explicit things God had done for them that they are to remember:  1]  that God had brought them into the land He had promised to the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 2] He had given them great and good cities, houses full of good things, cisterns, vineyards, olive trees - all of which they had not done, but God had, 3] He had brought them out of Egypt and the house of slavery.  All these things they should not forget, but remember so as to fear God, walk in His precepts, and glorify Him.

God knows how prone we are to forget His grace and mercies, so He has given us things to help us remember.  Very often in the Old Testament, as they crossed the Jordan or conquered cities they would build a memorial of stones to remind them and so when their children would ask, they would tell them what they symbolized.

That is why we take the bread and cup regularly as vivid reminders of God’s grace in our lives, so we would fear Him, praise Him, and walk in His precepts.  It is also why we have certain days in the year we observe and celebrate as reminders of God’s grace:  Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, Reformation Day, etc. 

                        d.  By fearing the Lord your God.

13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear.   Love, devotion, and obedience come from a holy fear of God. Such fear involves a high regard for issuing in worship and praise, and a healthy dread of incurring God’s wrath.  In Eph. 6:4 Paul commands fathers to teach the fear of God to their children by instructing and disciplining them.  When they fail to do so, they train them to become angry and rebellious.  Left to themselves this is how they will end up, but it must be driven from them by the fathers.

                        e.  By serving Him.

Him you shall serve  It is God, and no other that we serve.  Yes, we do serve one another, but by doing so, we are really serving God.  Paul says wives should submit to the own husbands in all things, as unto the Lord.

                        f.  By swearing (take a solemn oath) by His name, by no other.

and by his name you shall swear.

Swearing in His name is taking an oath.  An oath was a solemn pledge to affirm something said as absolutely true.  The invoking of the Lord’s name in the oath meant that one was under obligation before God to fulfill that word.  We are to take oaths by no other name, marriage vows, membership vows, elder-flock vows, etc.

                        g.  By having no other gods before you.

14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

We find it remarkable that the Jews so quickly were seduced by the pagan gods and turned to them repeatedly.  It was for that very reason that God was giving the land to His people.  The people who dwelt there previous to Israel were deeply engrossed in the worship of false gods and practiced abominable deeds: witchcraft, causing their children to pass through fire, gross sexual perversions, etc.  God wanted them completely removed from the land, lest they corrupt His people.  Israel failed to carry out that mission and their exposure to the pagan gods resulted in their longing to do the same.  They cycle they followed repeatedly was that of spiritual lethargy followed by a turning away from God to foreign gods, God bringing judgment upon them by raising up an outside oppressor until the cried out to God for deliverance and He would hear their cry and in His loving kindness and mercies come to deliver them.

We tend to think that was just the Old Testament pattern of God’s people, but it is with us today.  The pattern historically is for a church or denomination to start out committed to the Lord, then over time because of an increasing exposure and tolerance to the ways of the world, and simultaneously a waning of one’s love and zeal for the Lord and His Word, the church inevitably grows weak and secular.  It takes something drastic to waken us out of a stupor and for us to return to our first love, as Christ exhorts the Ephesian church in Rev. 2.  There warning there is that if they do not return to their first love, then the Lord will remove the lamp stand of the church.  We would like to think there are other reasons for a church closing its doors, but frankly, I don’t see it.  The promise of God’s Word is if our love for Him grows stronger and not weaker, then we will grow in obedience to Him and He will bless us, just like He promised to do for Israel in the promised land.

                        h.  By not putting the Lord to the test.

16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.

The incident at Massah is recorded in Exod. 17:1-7.  The people had left the wilderness of Sin and come to Rephidim to camp.  There was no water there, so the people thirsted, then complained against Moses and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”  They then tempted the Lord was asking, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Have you ever asked that question?  Is the Lord among us or not?  It really is a question showing doubt, and a lack of faith, which is sin.  Paul says, whatsoever is not of faith is sin.  Israel did this more than once and it was serious.  When Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments, the people down below asked the same question, murmured and complained, then made a golden calf to worship as the one who brought them out of Egypt.  When they acted like this God was tempted to zap them, and was going to do that, but for the intervention of Moses.  Well, they did this 10 times in the wilderness, grumbling and complaining all the way.  God finally had had enough and said that generation would perish in the wilderness and not enter the promised land.

So, the warning here is, Do not put the Lord to the test, as you did at Massah.  We are forbidden to test the Lord, except for one time.  In MalachI the Lord actually tells us to test Him to see if He will not bless us if we bring the whole tithe into the house of the Lord.  You see, Israel had stopped giving the tithe and was suffering for it.

                        i.  By diligence (in keeping the commandments of the Lord).

17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord,           

(skip verses 18b-19 and come back to them)

                        j.  By reminding your children of God’s grace in your lives and of God’s promise to bless, if we love Him and keep His commandments.

20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And 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 we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

C.  The Great Promise:  promised success in taking the land and blessings thereafter, if done, 6:18b-19.

that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

The promises of God are great motivators.  This one is especially important and significant, not only for Israel, but as a precious truth for all-time for the children of God.  It simply is the promise to Israel that if she loved God with all her heart, soul and might, if the Word of God was that precious to her, so that she delighted in it, mediated upon it, taught it to their children, and practiced it, then God would bless her, and things would go well with her, she would go into the land and take it successfully and God would pour out His blessings upon her.  What a promise.   But, Israel failed dismally to do so, and God continually brought hardships, chastisements and punishment for it.

The great promise applies individually, as well.  Psalm 1 tells us the man is truly blessed who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates upon it day and night.  In whatever he does, he is prosperous, v. 3.  But, the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the winds blows away.

Brother and sisters, this promise holds for a church, as well.  The Lord addresses the seven churches of Asia in Rev. 2-3.  In those addresses He commends them wherever He can, and rebukes them for faithlessness where that exists, exhorts repentance, and promises blessings for those who do repent and overcome.  What would the Lord say to Hope Presbyterian this morning?  Have we left our first love, like the church at Ephesus had?  None of us has arrived in our love and devotion to the Lord.  Perhaps we have left our first love and love other things or other persons more than God.  Only you can know that for sure.

If you were to love God with all your heart, soul and might, what would you do differently?  This is the question each of us needs to answer this morning.  And, whatever the answer is, let us make it a commitment to do so.  Confess sorrow for not doing it and ask God to help us to repent and to do what we know is right.  Ask God to give us a hunger and thirst, and true delight for His Word, that we might read it, meditate upon it, and teach it to our families.  Ask Him to help us to love Him more. He will hear and answer prayers like this, because they are according to His will.  Let us pray.