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Deuteronomy 6:4-12

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This lesson’s passage is an extract from an address that Moses gave to the children of Israel during which he stresses the importance of always remembering the law of God and the blessings of Canaan that they are about to receive from the LORD. To that end, Moses commands them to always place the LORD and His law in the forefront of their minds and lives so that they will always remember to obey Him.

Verses 1-3: In chapter 5 Moses calls all the children of Israel to himself so that he can recite to them all the statutes and commandments that the LORD has given for them to obey. He begins with the ten commandments and reminds them of the covenant that they made with the LORD to obey the law of God. Then in the first three verses of chapter 6, Moses prepares to continue reading the remainder of the statutes and commandments of the LORD that they are to obey when they take possession of the land. He reminds them that they and their descendants are to fear and reverence the LORD by obeying His commandments so that He may bless them.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

“Hear, O Israel” – Moses wants Israel to pay attention to the truth he is about to state so that they will always remember it. In our modern vernacular he might have said “Listen up, Israel!”

“The LORD our God is one LORD” – The word “one” indicates the singleness of the LORD’s nature: He alone is God and all other gods are false. Israel’s God is also to be served exclusively. They are not to serve Him as well as other gods. The word “one” does not preclude the Trinity, for the Trinity is one in unity. It speaks of the fact that He is not One among many gods but that He is alone and that no other gods can be compared to Him.

5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Israel’s devotion is not to be split between the LORD and other gods, nor between the LORD and anything else. He is to be supreme in their affections. They are to love Him with all their heart, soul and might (strength), indicating that they are to love the LORD with everything that is within them. This verse is the one that Jesus quoted when He was asked what was the great commandment (Matt. 22:37).

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And 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.

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart” – Moses will be reading the law of the LORD – the statutes and commandments that the LORD has given. The people are not to just listen, only to forget them the next day like the man that James speaks of in James 1:22-24: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” Instead, God’s statutes and commandments were to become ingrained in their heart so that obedience became a way of life. The next lines describe how they are to remember them.

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children” – They are to teach God’s law to the next generation. The word “diligently” implies that they were to continuously teach their children all their lives so that it becames a way of life after they became adults. Then they would be able to teach their own 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” – The context seems to be the teaching of the children. No matter what is being done, obedience to the law of God should always be the governing principal and a frequent topic of conversation. By doing so, the children will grow up following the parents’ example of obedience.

8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

“And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes” – Moses appears to be instructing them to place passages from the law in conspicuous places to be constant reminders to be obedient to the law of God. Here he speaks of binding passages to their hand (the Hebrew idiom designated anything from the elbow down the fingertips as “the hand”). Jewish tradition says that the scripture was tied to the forearm. The “frontlets” were leather pouches with the scriptures written on parchment tied to the forehead. These evolved into the “phylacteries” that Jesus criticized the Pharisees for broadening to appear more religious than others: Matt. 23:5 “But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments.” The Pharisees changed this practice from being a constant reminder to obey scripture to it being a means of boasting one’s spirituality in front of others.

“And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates” – Similar to posting verses of scripture around your house or place of employment, this practice served as constant reminders of God’s statutes and commandments.

10 And 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,

Moses now points to the upcoming fulfillment of the promises that the LORD had made to give the land of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The children of Israel would be able to enjoy living in large (“great”) and well-built (“goodly”) cities that they did not have to build or pay to have built.

11 And 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;

“And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not” – The houses will be well stocked with goods and they will not have had to stock them.

“and wells digged, which thou diggedst not” – They will be able to get their water from wells that they did not have to dig.

“vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not” – They will possess vineyards and fields of olive trees that they did not have to plant.

“when thou shalt have eaten and be full” – Moses wants them to remember something at that time when they have enjoyed all these benefits that the LORD will have provided and have had their every need satisfied.

12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

“Then beware [to watch; be on guard] lest thou forget the LORD” – Our natural sinful tendency is to become focused on the blessings and to forget the Source of the blessings. We see this sin expressed in the prosperity gospel where the focus is more on riches than it is on serving and thanking God. Moses is warning them that once they have begun enjoying the blessings of being in the land of Canaan, they should be careful that they do not forget that it is the LORD Who has given them these blessings and it is to Him that they owe their obedience.

“which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” – Not only is the LORD the One giving them the blessings that they will soon enjoy, but He is also the One Who has already been blessing them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt and freeing them from the bondage that they were under while there.

Verses 13-25: Moses continues to stress the importance of not worshiping any other gods beside the LORD and their continual obedience to Him. He also emphasizes the importance of teaching to their children the history of what the LORD has done for them as well as the meaning of the statutes and commandments of the LORD so that they will understand.