PROLOGUE — Perhaps the Most Famous Confession in All of Scripture
Deuteronomy 6 contains one of the most frequently recited and deeply beloved passages in the entire history of Judaism and Christianity — the confession known as the Shema (Hebrew for “Hear”), which compresses the very foundation of Israel’s faith into just a few sentences.
ACT ONE — The Shema: Love the One and Only God (verses 1–9)
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
With all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. These three expressions — heart, soul, and might — encompass the entirety of human personhood. This was never a partial or conditional love, but a devotion embracing one’s whole being. Jesus Himself directly quoted this verse as the greatest commandment (Mark 12:29–30).
Moses immediately connected this love to concrete, everyday practice.
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 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 thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”
Bind them upon thine hand… frontlets between thine eyes… write them upon the posts. These verses continue to this day in the concrete Jewish traditions of tefillin (phylacteries) and the mezuzah (a scripture case affixed to doorposts). Faith could never remain merely an inward belief — it had to be a practice woven into every moment of life: sitting, walking, lying down, rising.
ACT TWO — Not to Forget Amid Abundance (verses 10–19)
Moses warned of the danger soon to come — the forgetfulness that abundance can bring.
“And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land… and great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not… When thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”
When thou shalt have eaten and be full… beware lest thou forget. This is a core warning repeated throughout Deuteronomy — not scarcity, but abundance; not the wilderness, but settled comfort, could become the most dangerous test of faith.
ACT THREE — When Your Child Asks (verses 20–25)
This chapter closes with a beautiful scene of passing faith between generations.
“And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt… 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 it is at this day.”
When thy son asketh thee in time to come. This verse shows that teaching faith was never meant to be the transmission of abstract doctrine, but the passing on of a living story. The “reason” behind every regulation was always rooted in the history of salvation — where we came from, and who set us free.
REFLECTION — A Whole-Person Love, and a Habit of Not Forgetting
The most powerful calling Deuteronomy 6 gives us is that love for God can never be partial. Heart, soul, might — every dimension of one’s being had to be held within that love. And that love was a daily habit to be renewed, never to be forgotten even amid abundance and security.
Do you love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might — and do you remember Him even in your most abundant moments?
NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW
Deuteronomy Chapter 7 — Israel’s relationship with the Canaanite nations, and the reason God chose Israel, unfold.
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