Chapter 6

2025 - It is almost as if Moses is talking to his own children.  He is afraid that when he is no longer there to look after them they will go the wrong way, they will slack off, they will experiment with prohibited things.  Moses loves these people too, despite all the trouble they've caused him, despite the fact that because of them, he himself cannot go into this new land even after leading them for 40 plus years.  He is worried sick about them and so he repeats over and over and over that they need to obey, because he won't be there to intercede for them, to pray them through it, to stop the plagues. 

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. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 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. [Deu 6:4-7 ESV]

Vss 10-15 are an expansion of the first commandment, reminding the people of all that God has done for them, and reminding them that the covenant obligates them to worship only Him.  These verses:

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. [Deu 6:14-15 ESV]

2023 - This year I noticed this one:  13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. [Deu 6:13 ESV].  In the NT, Jesus says not to swear this way...I think.  I need to come back and look more deeply at this...but cannot right now.

Next, we get this:

16 "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. [Deu 6:16 ESV]

This seems to be the beginning of the next point, but I don't see how it ties to the second commandment, nor to the first.  At Massah, the people complained because there was no water for them.  They accuse Moses of being the cause of their situation.  They are almost ready to stone Moses.  They were looking to him for deliverance, and not to God.  Is this the test?  The people were in full rebellion.  Perhaps the people tested God with the attitude that if God did not give them the water they wanted, they would rebel, walk away, go back to Egypt.  Perhaps they thought they could give God an ultimatum, and get their own way instead of His way.  When Satan tempted Jesus to throw himself down, because the angels would save him, this was the same attitude.  It seeks to take advantage of one's designation as "special" to God, or "holy" to God, or "set apart" by God as a lever to extort favors from God.  This is a huge mistake.  This might be what happens when we pray "Do this for me, Lord, or I will leave you forever".  It is truly a bad idea to try and blackmail God, to exact specific performance from God, in this way.

Possible FB post...though this would be the second on this same point I believe.

But still...why is this statement in this particular spot.  How does it tie to the first commandment?  Or the second? Or the third?  No help from the MSB notes.  Hmm...if you go all the way back to 5:29, where God's desire is that the attitude of fear and reverence be characteristic of His people from then on - and Moses uses a lot of verses recounting that time - and contrast it with their arrogance toward God at Mara, then that might be the reason it is stated here instead of elsewhere.

Moses spoke these words as he was reminding the people of God's statutes and commandments and judgements.

2026 - This verse:

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. [Deu 6:24 ESV].

How important is that phrase "for our good always".  If we just remember that the prohibited things we like are prohibited not to keep us from fun or joy or happiness, but to preserve those things for us because the prohibited things will steal them from us, we might do a better job of both submission and the consequent obedience.  It is about what we value, it is about where the treasure is.

2026 - Here is the thing...sometimes, giving up a thing is not the problem.  Is the next level out that is so difficult for us to give up.  Alcohol is a good example.  Giving up alcohol is an easy thing compared to giving up the friends, the lifestyle, the places, the times that are associated with that alcohol.   It's not just one thing, it is a whole allocated daily block of our lives with which we have grown so comfortable and expectant about that it feels like a huge giant loss.  It is often and for most people just too much to ask.