Monday, January 17, 2011
Love – the Power to Obey
(Deuteronomy 6:1-7:11)
After giving the Ten Commandments and exhorting Israel to observe them diligently, we find the essence of the law being summed up in calling them to love God with all they are. Ultimately it is an undivided heart of love for God that is sought by God. The commandments are simply the outward working of what love will produce. God in relationship to His people is above all else love. It is His love that makes His infinite holiness and perfections so much more glorious. God seeks from us what He first gave to us – love. To worship no other gods is easy when love is supreme for God. To not murder, steal, or become sexually immoral can be possible when the code of love is implanted in the heart for God and the people He loves.
The power of love to naturally live pleasing to God was made clear by Jesus when He taught His disciples that their love for Him would be revealed in their efforts to obey Him. Paul the Apostle declared that life lived by true love is the fulfillment of all the requirements of the law. Love's supremacy goes back to the very purpose of our creation. God created humanity uniquely in His own image for the purpose of intimacy, for love. God's people are described as a special treasure above all others on the Earth (7:6-8). The value we have in God's eyes is not rooted in our own greatness but in His great love for us. There is ultimately nothing we can offer God but love. But love is the one thing in all creation that can't be forced or produced by human "robots." It must be an act of the will and heart. This love becomes the natural resource that seeks to please God. We always seek to please the one we love.
Consider courtship. Love naturally seeks to take the one you love to the restaurant he or she would enjoy. When getting dressed, you seek to wear what he or she would like, etc. In countless little and big ways love seeks to please the one we love. That is at the root of why the fall of Adam and Eve has been so devastating to us all. We have inherited disloyal hearts. We worship ourselves, we worship creation or false images of God or manmade religion, but we do not love God. This struggle is cured when we are given new hearts at conversion, hearts that are free to love God.
Here at the beginning of this recounting of the Law of Moses, we are given the only real hope to please and obey God. It is with the power of love for Him that encompasses all that we are. Love has the power to take our weakest efforts and make them beautiful and acceptable in God's eyes. Imperfection is unseen when a heart is pure. A child may prepare a "meal" for her father and mother that may not taste very good. But the love in the daughter's eyes when she presents it will make it the most wonderful meal her parents ever have experienced.
Know God and you will love Him. Love Him and you will find yourself drawn to please Him.
NKJV Bible Text
Deuteronomy 6:1-7:11
1 "Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—'a land flowing with milk and honey.'
4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 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.
Caution Against Disobedience
10 "So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.
16 "You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, 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, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers, 19 to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.
20 "When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?' 21 then you shall say to your son: 'We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.'
Deuteronomy 7
A Chosen People
1 "When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 "Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.
| The Greatest Commandment v. 1 now this is the commandment – Deuteronomy 6 is a continuation of the address that Moses began in chapter 5, exhorting the children of Israel to honor the covenant that they had made with God at Mount Sinai. The emphasis of the rest of the book is a reaffirmation of the commands of the Law, and the importance of keeping it if Israel is to prosper and live long in the Promised Land. Chapter 6 contains important exhortations that were not contained in the earlier books of the Law, and even the foreshadowings of doctrines that are foundational for us in the New Testament. v. 3 a land flowing with milk and honey – This ancient term describes a land's richness. Milk implies a land that is conducive to raising cattle, and honey implies that the land is good for agriculture. v. 4 hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one – A very important and foundational description of the nature of God, this verse has become known as "the Shema" ("to hear"). It is a phrase that has been recited as part of Jewish prayers for more than 1,000 years. The verse was important for the people of Israel because it reminded them that there is only one true God, a truth that set them apart from every other nation around them, all of which were polytheistic. However, a closer look into the Hebrew grammar is essential to fully understand this verse. If the key words were translated from the Hebrew, the verse would read, "Hear O Israel, Jehovah our Elohim are echad," or "Hear O Israel, the Lord our Gods are One made up of several." The word translated "God" is Elohim, which is a common descriptive title used throughout the Old Testament beginning in Genesis 1:1. Elohim is an intensely communicative word, as it is the plural form of the word "God," denoting that there are really two or more Persons in the Godhead. The last word, the word translated "one," is echad. It is the most powerful word in the verse. Echad is a Hebrew word meaning "united" or "one made out of unity." It was used to describe a unit that was one, but one made up of several. In Genesis 2:24, a man and his wife are described as "one flesh," using the word echad to describe their oneness, which comes from a unity of the two. In Numbers 13:23, the word echad is used to describe a cluster of grapes, which was one made up of many. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to use the word echad to describe God, He was intending to communicate to us that the Lord our God is One, but One made up of several. Therefore, this is one of the important foundational Old Testament Scriptures which reinforces our doctrine of the Trinity: God is three in One — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. | v. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart – The other important part of the "Shema" is this command to love God with everything in us, from the center of our being. It is noteworthy that this exhortation to love God is placed in the center of Moses' review of the Law, demonstrating that at the center of all that God wants from His people is their love. All through the rest of the Old Testament, as Israel constantly backslides away from Him, God is portrayed as a heartbroken lover Who mourns over the loss of a love relationship. In Matthew 22:37, when Jesus is asked to reveal the greatest, most important command in the Law, He quotes this verse, indicating again that the most important aspect of a walk with God is love, and that God desires a love relationship with us. v. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children – Throughout the Law, God expresses His desire to see His people passing the knowledge of Him down to their children. He says that this should be done by constantly talking with them all throughout the day about the words contained in the Law. v. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand – This should most likely be understood as an exhortation to allow the Word of God to guide His people in all that we put our hands to. His Law was to be the basis for everything that was done in Israel, and it should always be on their minds and in their mouths. However, the Israelites later began to apply this in a literal way, writing parts of the Law on small pieces of paper and placing them in leather cubes called "phylacteries" and strapping them to their left hands and foreheads. In response to verse 9, they also placed these Scriptures in small metal cases and fixed them to their doorposts. |
| Caution Against Disobedience v. 10 large and beautiful cities which you did not build – In verses 10 and 11, God reminds the children of Israel that He was going to lead them into a good land which they did not deserve, nor could they have occupied on their own. Part of the blessing they were about to inherit were beautiful cities and houses already provided without their having to labor to build them, wells already dug for them, vineyards already thriving so that they did not need to cultivate or wait the necessary seasons in order to harvest fruit. All of this would be handed over to the children of Israel as an unmerited gift of grace from God without having to earn or secure it for themselves. | v. 12 then beware, lest you forget the Lord – God issues a strong warning here to Israel against what was bound to happen once they began to experience the rest and prosperity of the Promised Land. The greatest danger Israel faced in taking and living in the Land was not the giants, the battles, or any of the trials they had endured on the way. The Lord had fought and won all of those battles for them and made sure that they were victorious. The greatest danger facing Israel was the fact that their battles would soon cease and their bellies would become full. They would begin to experience everything they could ever want –and forget the Lord Who gave it all to them. This is one of the main themes of the book of Deuteronomy: the warning against complacency and the need to always press in to faithfulness and obedience to, and a passionate love relationship with, the Lord their God. This is as powerful a warning for God's people today as it was for the Israelites. The worst thing that can happen to the people of God is that they grow lukewarm and drift away from the Lord (Heb. 2:1-4). |
| v. 16 tempt the Lord your God – The word translated "tempt" is better understood as "test." At Massah (Ex. 17:1-7), the children of Israel attempted to test God by demanding that He provide drinking water for them miraculously, thus proving that He was among them in a way that deserved their loyalty to Him. Satan came to Jesus with a similar temptation in the wilderness (Matt. 4:5-7), and Jesus responded by quoting this very verse from Deuteronomy. Paul also warns us against sinning this way against God in 1 Corinthians 10:9. | v. 20 what is the meaning of the testimonies – God is again very concerned that Israel pass down to their children the knowledge and understanding of Who He is and what His will is for their lives. Therefore, many of the statues in the law are meant to be testimonies, or witnesses of the acts and desires of God. A strong example of this is the description of the Passover feast found in Exodus 12. Each element in the feast is symbolic as a testimony to something the Lord had done and would do in the future for His people Israel. In that chapter, God informs them that as they perform the various aspects of the feast, their children will inquire about the meaning of the elements. Thus the parents will have an opportunity to testify of God's faithfulness. |
| Chapter 7 A Chosen People v. 1 brings you into the land – Chapter seven is a reminder to Israel that the Lord was going to be faithful to bring them into the Promised Land and deliver it to them. However, Moses also begins to warn Israel prophetically about what will happen when their hearts later turn away from the Lord and serve the idols of the pagans around them. v. 2 utterly destroy them – This exhortation is repeated again and again throughout the law. It is meant to protect Israel against the consequences of allowing some of their enemies to remain in the Promised Land with them. Although it is difficult for us to understand, their history proves that because they did not carry out this instruction, their hearts were indeed turned away from their covenant relationship with the Lord, and they began to pursue other gods. v. 3 make marriages – Because they were God's own chosen people, the children of Israel were expressly forbidden to intermarry with the pagans around them because of the extremely dangerous spiritual conditions that would inevitably result (v. 4). Israel, however, ignored this instruction. The life of Solomon is a strong example of the outcome (1 Kings 11:1-13). This exhortation is repeated for us in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. v. 5 destroy their altars – The altars were places where the pagans made sacrifices to their gods, sometimes involving human and even child sacrifices. The pillars were images of idols made of either stones or trees with their tops lopped off. The pagans planted them on hilltops and around their temples. Wooden images were carved statues of pagan idols, which they worshipped. All of these, as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 10:20, had demonic forces behind them, enslaving the people and keeping their eyes blinded to the truth of the living God. Therefore, God tells the Israelites through Moses not to tolerate any of them or to leave any of them standing in the Promised Land, lest they take their hearts captive as they did those of the heathens. | v. 6 for you are a holy people – The word "holy" means "sacred, set apart, entirely devoted." It was often used to describe the sacredness of the implements used in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. They were created for only one purpose, and that was the worship of God. Even the Tabernacle and Temple were called "holy." Here, God uses the same word to describe the sacredness of Israel as a people. They were created to be separate unto God alone and were to view their lives as having one purpose — to live for, serve, and worship God. This exhortation is repeated for us in 1 Peter 2:9-12 as well as in other New Testament Scriptures. v. 7 any other people – God emphasizes that His choosing of Israel was based on divine choice alone, which is a mystery to man. He did not set His heart upon them because they were so great a nation. They never were a great nation until they became His people and He blessed and multiplied them. They were far fewer in number than the Egyptians from whom they were delivered. And they were far fewer in number than the Canaanites, over whom God would give them victory. Thus, their blessedness was not a result of anything they could ever earn or merit. Their blessedness was only the undeserved favor of God. |
