Deuteronomy 6
by Pastor David Groendyk

We are right at the beginning of a very large section in Deuteronomy where Moses reiterates the laws, commandments, and stipulations that the people must follow in order to keep the covenant (chs. 5–26). The famous Ten Commandments appeared in chapter 5, and some scholars have noticed that the rest of this section of laws appears to be arranged like a commentary on those Ten Commandments (i.e., chs. 6–11 describe the first commandment, ch. 12 describes the second commandment, chs. 13–14 describe the third, and so on). If that is the intention behind Deuteronomy, it gives us a helpful lens to interpret all the minutiae of these laws. Chapter 6 is a commentary on the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Deut. 5:7), and in it we see two ways to keep the commandment and two ways to break it.

Two ways to keep the first commandment are 1) to worship God exclusively, and 2) to love God supremely. You may have heard verse 4 before: “Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This was the central confession of the Israelites in the Old Testament. The wording is a little tricky, but the idea is clear. Our God is the only God, and there is no other. Therefore, God alone must be worshiped. Additionally, we must love him with our whole hearts, souls, and powers. I’m certain you’ve heard verse 5 before. It’s what Jesus quotes as being the first and great commandment. No one and nothing else ought to be the object of our affection like God. The Lord must be first in our hearts, and second place must be a distant second place. Notice how both worship and love work together. Love fuels worship, and worship informs our love. Without love, our worship will turn cold and legalistic. Without true worship, our love will become misguided and erroneous. Together these two show us how to devote ourselves totally to God.

There are also two ways to break this command, namely, 1) to forget God, and 2) to test God. Notice the imperatives in verses 6–9. They all center around continuing to remember and call to mind the great wonders and the great commandments that God has given them. To be sure, God’s people never really “forget” God’s commands, but what we do forget is that God’s commands are “for our good always, that he might preserve us alive” (v. 24). We forget that God’s commands alone lead to our good and our blessing, and we choose to go our own way to find good and blessing. Additionally, we break the first command by testing him (v. 16). Testing God was a constant pattern of sin for Israel (see Ex. 17:7 and Num. 14:22). Why is testing God so wholly condemned? Because testing God means you doubt something he’s told you. You doubt that he’s with you, that he’s all-powerful, that he’s good, or that what he’s promised is true. What a terrible sin to commit, and yet how easily we doubt our God and think we know better. Our God is a jealous God and will not stand his own being besmirched by dishonor and disobedience (vv. 14–15).

One writer sums up this chapter by saying, “We need continual God-consciousness.” Do you continually bring God to mind throughout the day? Is he on the forefront of your mind and the continual object of your speech? What other loves and devotions crowd out God during the day? In what ways are you prone to doubt God, test him, or go your own way?