To cast out all thine enemies from before thee ,.... This the Lord promised, and as it seems with an oath, that he would do for them; drive out their enemies, and make way for the settlement of them in their country: as the Lord hath spoken ; see Genesis 15:18 . read more
The Israelites were at the point of quitting a normal, life for a fixed and settled abode in the midst of other nations; they were exchanging a condition of comparative poverty for great and goodly cities, houses and vineyards. There was therefore before them a double danger;(1) a God-forgetting worldliness, and(2) a false tolerance of the idolatries practiced by those about to become their neighbors.The former error Moses strives to guard against in the verses before us; the latter in... read more
The power of love (6:1-25)No matter how strong their determination to do right, the people would be unable to keep God’s law unless they first had a strong and genuine love for God himself. Love for him would give them the inner power to walk in his ways (6:1-5). As well as keeping God’s commandments themselves, they had to teach their children to do likewise. Their family life was to be guided by the knowledge of God’s law. Their house was to be known as a place where people loved God’s law... read more
Ver. 16-19. Ye shall not tempt the Lord, &c.— He had warned them, ver. 12 against the sin of ingratitude, and forgetfulness of God, to which they might be tempted by prosperity: here he cautions them against the vice that they were liable to from the other extreme, adversity; namely, distrust of Providence, and murmuring against God, which is justly termed a tempting of God; for it is calling his goodness and veracity in question. In the first words of the eighteenth verse, we have the true... read more
Exhortation to give Yahweh exclusive recognition, worship, and obedience 6:10-19"The constant corollary of the demand for loyalty in ancient suzerainty treaties was the prohibition of allegiance to any and all other lords." [Note: Kline, "Deuteronomy," p. 164.] Prosperity (Deuteronomy 6:10-15) and adversity (Deuteronomy 6:16-19) would test the Israelites’ devotion to Yahweh. The Israelites were not to destroy many towns but only to kill their inhabitants, a rare policy in the history of... read more
Practical ExhortationsTo the repetition of the Decalogue Moses adds in the following chapters a practical exhortation to obedience founded on the special relation of Jehovah to Israel as their Redeemer (6-11). Deuteronomy 6 particularly insists upon the remembrance of God’s statutes and the training of the children in them.4, 5. Our Lord calls these words ’the first and great commandment.’ They express the highest truth and duty revealed to the Hebrew nation: the truth of God’s unity and... read more
The Message of the Book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 6:4 The book which lies before us is, in many ways, the most interesting and impressive of the Pentateuch. The message that this book brings us, coming as it does after the book of Numbers, is a most essential one. Numbers told us of the arrest in the deliverance of the nation; of the thirty-seven years of wandering sent as the punishment of unbelief. But it told us also how the people were brought back to obedience, and were made ready to go... read more
EDUCATION-MOSAIC VIEWDeuteronomy 6:6-25THOSE great verses, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, form the central truth of the book. Everything else in it proceeds from and is informed by them, and they are dwelt upon and enforced with a clear perception of their radical importance. There is something of the joy of discovery in the way in which the unity of Yahweh and exclusive love to Him are insisted upon, not only in Deuteronomy 6:6-25 of this chapter, but in Deuteronomy 11:13-20. The same strongly worded... read more
2. The First Commandment and What It Involves CHAPTER 6 1. Hear, therefore, O Israel! (Deuteronomy 6:1-3 ) 2. The first commandment (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ) 3. The remembrance of these words and practical obedience (Deuteronomy 6:6-25 ) “Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God is one LORD.” Much has been made of this verse by orthodox Jews, who reverence it greatly. They call it the “Shema” after the first word “Hear.” It is often used by Jews and Unitarians to deny the three persons of the... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 6:17-25
Here, I. Moses charges them to keep God's commandments themselves: You shall diligently keep God's commandments, Deut. 6:17-19. Note, It requires a great deal of care and pains to keep up religion in the power of it in our hearts and lives. Negligence will ruin us; but we cannot be saved without diligence. To induce them to this, he here shows them, 1. That this would be very acceptable to God: it is right and good in the sight of the Lord; and that is right and good indeed that is, so in... read more