1 And these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye may do them in the land whereunto ye pass over to possess it,
2 that thou mayest fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3 And thou shalt hear, Israel, and take heed to do [them]; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase greatly, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers hath said unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 Hear, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
5 and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart;
7 and thou shalt impress them on thy sons, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign on thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.
10 And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee: great and good cities which thou buildedst not,
11 and houses full of everything good which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards and oliveyards which thou plantedst not, and thou shalt have eaten and shalt be full;
12 [then] beware lest thou forget Jehovah who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
13 Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you;
15 for Jehovah thy God is a jealous ùGod in thy midst; lest the anger of Jehovah thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from the face of the earth.
16 Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
18 And thou shalt do what is right and good in the sight of Jehovah, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest enter in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers,
19 thrusting out all thine enemies from before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken.
20 When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you?
21 then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand;
22 and Jehovah shewed signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes;
23 and he brought us out thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore unto our fathers.
24 And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good continually, that he might preserve us alive, as it is this day.
25 And it shall be our righteousness if we take heed to do all these commandments before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Deuteronomy 6
Commentary on Deuteronomy 6 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 6
De 6:1-25. Moses Exhorts Israel to Hear God and to Keep His Commandments.
1-9. Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them … whither ye go to possess it—The grand design of all the institutions prescribed to Israel was to form a religious people, whose national character should be distinguished by that fear of the Lord their God which would ensure their divine observance of His worship and their steadfast obedience to His will. The basis of their religion was an acknowledgment of the unity of God with the understanding and the love of God in the heart (De 6:4, 5). Compared with the religious creed of all their contemporaries, how sound in principle, how elevated in character, how unlimited in the extent of its moral influence on the heart and habits of the people! Indeed, it is precisely the same basis on which rests the purer and more spiritual form of it which Christianity exhibits (Mt 22:37; Mr 12:30; Lu 10:27). Moreover, to help in keeping a sense of religion in their minds, it was commanded that its great principles should be carried about with them wherever they went, as well as meet their eyes every time they entered their homes. A further provision was made for the earnest inculcation of them on the minds of the young by a system of parental training, which was designed to associate religion with all the most familiar and oft-recurring scenes of domestic life. It is probable that Moses used the phraseology in De 6:7 merely in a figurative way, to signify assiduous, earnest, and frequent instruction; and perhaps he meant the metaphorical language in De 6:8 to be taken in the same sense also. But as the Israelites interpreted it literally, many writers suppose that a reference was made to a superstitious custom borrowed from the Egyptians, who wore jewels and ornamental trinkets on the forehead and arm, inscribed with certain words and sentences, as amulets to protect them from danger. These, it has been conjectured, Moses intended to supersede by substituting sentences of the law; and so the Hebrews understood him, for they have always considered the wearing of the Tephilim, or frontlets, a permanent obligation. The form was as follows: Four pieces of parchment, inscribed, the first with Ex 13:2-10; the second with Ex 13:11-16; the third with De 6:1-8; and the fourth with De 11:18-21, were enclosed in a square case or box of tough skin, on the side of which was placed the Hebrew letter (shin), and bound round the forehead with a thong or ribbon. When designed for the arms, those four texts were written on one slip of parchment, which, as well as the ink, was carefully prepared for the purpose. With regard to the other usage supposed to be alluded to, the ancient Egyptians had the lintels and imposts of their doors and gates inscribed with sentences indicative of a favorable omen [Wilkinson]; and this is still the case, for in Egypt and other Mohammedan countries, the front doors of houses (in Cairo, for instance) are painted red, white, and green, bearing conspicuously inscribed upon them such sentences from the Koran, as "God is the Creator," "God is one, and Mohammed is his prophet." Moses designed to turn this ancient and favorite custom to a better account and ordered that, instead of the former superstitious inscriptions, there should be written the words of God, persuading and enjoining the people to hold the laws in perpetual remembrance.
20-25. when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying—The directions given for the instruction of their children form only an extension of the preceding counsels.