“Now these are the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments that I am giving you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey. Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up. You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm and fasten them as symbols on your forehead. Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates.”
— Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Deuteronomy is the covenant proper between YHWH and Israel, and when we compare other suzerain-vassal treaties with Deuteronomy, the parallels are obvious. The structure of Deuteronomy follow the treaty very closely. The opening chapters are prologue, establishing the relationship between the two parties, and chapter 6 begins the stipulations/commands.
So again, we can remember from Exodus 20, that yes, we can gain insights from passages like this, but this is not to us (unless we have the land flowing with milk and honey, and we want the blessings and curses at the end of the book. We can’t pick and choose from the book the parts that “apply”.)
The author…and I’m not getting into that debate here…I can assume for now that Moses at least gave the law a second time to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land—how many times this book was edited before its final form, too many thoughts for discussion right now.
So the author/speaker exhorts Israel to teach these commands to their children/grandchildren. We would want to say because they love YHWH, and they are raising good little followers of the one God, and this is how a godly nation is formed. It could be that they are terrified of being kicked out of the land. They know the cost of disobedience. So there are multiple motivations for teaching the commandments.
The number one command is to love God…and the NET properly notes that this is not emotional. It is covenantal. It is loyalty. It’s more of a choice. With all the mind. Soul = whole being to ancient Jew.
Results are even introduced here. It will go well for Israel. They prosper, grow in number, gain/keep the land.
Why should they put the commands all over the place? In front of their eyelids? The doorposts? On their clothes? Seems excessive. I know humans are forgetful, but my soul. These very tangible expressions of putting the Torah everywhere could symbolize memorizing it, and making it second nature in the community. These commands were to be their life and breath. (Because by these commands Israel would live or die…be in the land or in exile).
Jesus obviously quotes this passage with the young ruler. I am no expert in Jesus and John the Baptist being “between covenants,” but we do need to be cautious about assuming Jesus is automatically in the new covenant. Before resurrection, he is still operating (and more importantly, talking to a nation under) the old covenant.
But in spite of all that, I would agree (as if my opinion matters), that the most important command is to love God. Perhaps Jesus alters that meaning of love. We would need to study the use of that verse throughout time and how it was understood in NT times. Did Jesus remove it from its covenantal context? Use of OT in NT study.
But that doesn’t mean that I am bound to the rest of Deuteronomy. Or that I need to post verses from Exodus and Deuteronomy on my door or on my clothes. Is it a good idea to have verses around the house? Perhaps. I see many good ones and some out of context. It more matters that families know the meaning of why they have the verses and the truth they represent.
Is it a good idea to teach children and grandchildren? Sure. But not so that it “goes well for us, and the land prospers, and we don’t go into exile.” We can’t carry Old Covenant language into New Covenant practice. It’s simply discipleship at its core.
And the goal is to love God and worship Him, not to fill up a nation of Christian families or win a culture war or preserve a tradition or even obey a command. The goal is to share God’s love with those around us, and it begins at home. And the message may still be rejected, and we have to do a better job at accepting that and bridging gaps that have broken down.
This is an example of what can make OT teaching difficult.
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