Read Deuteronomy 7 and 8 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions for today’s chapters are:
Deu 7:1-11 {p} YHVH has set His love upon Israel
Deu 7:12-16 {s} Obedience to YHVH’s commandments = life and blessing for Israel
Deu 7:17-26 {p} Disobedience to YHVH = death and destruction for the nations
Deu 8:1-18 {p} Remember YHVH, obey Him, and live
Deu 8:19-20 {p} Forget YHVH, disobey Him, and die
The strong themes so far in Deuteronomy:
Deu 1:1-3:29 {sx5+p} Unbelief cannot possess the land but Yeshua shall cause Israel to inherit it
Deu 4:1-49 {px3} Remember the covenant + commandments for YHVH alone is our God and refuge
Deu 5:1-6:3 {sx11+p} The commandments that Israel heard, Moses is to teach, that Israel may pay careful heed and observe them
Deu 6:4-7:11 {sx4+p} YHVH desires obedience to His commandments because He loves Israel
Deu 7:12-26 {s+p} Obedience means life and blessing; disobedience means death and destruction
Deu 8:1-20 {p+p} Remember YHVH, obey Him, and live; Forget YHVH, disobey Him, and die
We saw that the Torah is summarized by the Ten Commandments, that the Ten are summarized by the Two Great Commandments, and that the Two are summarized by the one verb, Love. We saw that the Torah, the Law of God, is the Law of Love. We saw that the majority of the book of Deuteronomy explains what keeping the Ten looks like (as the purpose of the book is to “explain this Torah”, Deu 1:5).
The Ten Commandments are given in Deu 5. The First Commandment, Have no other gods before YHVH, is explained in Deu 6:1-11:32. I say this, because immediately upon the recounting of the whole of the Ten, Moses begins to explain them, one by one.
“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,” Deu 6:1
“These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.” Deu 12:1
Notice that Deu 12:1 is a near repeat of Deu 6:1. The difference being, that in Deu 6:1, Moses will explain THE commandment, the statutes, and the judgments. In Deu 12:1, Moses will explain the statutes and judgments. What happened to THE commandment? He explained THE commandment, from Deu 6:1-11:32. It is the First Commandment, the Great Commandment, to have no other gods before God, for YHVH alone is God, and to love Him only. What we read yesterday and today, and will read for a few days, is How to Worship YHVH Alone, and How to Love Him Fervently.
Now the chapters leading up to Deu 5 recounts the history of Israel since leaving Egypt, and in it we find an amazing truth: Israel by faith put the blood of the Passover Lamb on their doorposts and were saved from the Angel of Death by it, and were miraculously delivered from Egypt in the power of the Spirit – and even went through the Red Sea in a type of baptism – and yet of that entire generation, not one of them save Caleb and Joshua entered the Promise. The saved generation who were in covenant with YHVH, feared the giants rather than YHVH – and did not enter in because of unbelief (Heb 3:16-19) – and that unbelief is the same as idolatry!
When we believe not YHVH or His Word, we have set other gods before Him! In fact, He thundered His Word and His commandments from the midst of the fire on Mount Sinai, so that Israel would know that YHVH is God and there is no other.
That YHVH alone is God, and beside Him there is no other, is THE Commandment, the First Commandment. First and foremost, obedience to the First Commandment springs from the root of belief in the truth of the Words of YHVH. (Parents, if it is your fervent hope that your children will continue in the faith, of keeping YHVH alone as God and of serving Him only, then Torah is giving you your key. Teach them the Word of God, and that it is the true and trustworthy Word.) This is why the enemy has marshaled so much fire power against the truth of God’s Word, especially the foundation of God’s Word, Genesis and Torah, so strongly in these past 200 years. If he can destroy the foundation of belief, he can cause massive defection from worshiping YHVH alone as God.
Secondly, obedience to the First Commandment must come from the circumcised heart which loves YHVH. This love comes from the understanding with awe, that YHVH has indeed first set His love upon us, who of all others, are unlovely! In fact He does not desire observance to religious duty, but He desires a relationship born out of that love! Thus the covenant keeping on both sides is from a heart of consuming love for the other party.
YHVH needs no help in keeping His love for us alive, but that we can help ourselves to keep our love for Him alive (and thus our obedience to The Commandment, the First Commandment) by some simple principles.
Keep His Word first in our hearts, and ever before our eyes (listen to it, pay heed to it, observe it, and teach it), and
Do not mix or dilute His Word or His worship with worldly practices.
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