Deuteronomy 6:16-25

The Admonition Substantiated

v. 16. Ye shall not tempt the Lord, your God, put either His mercy or His righteousness to a test, as ye tempted Him in Massah, Exodus 17:2-Judges :, in the matter of demanding water to drink in the wilderness.

v. 17. Ye shall diligently keep, literally, "observing ye shall observe," the commandments of the Lord, your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He hath commanded thee. It was and is a sacred duty, a solemn obligation.

v. 18. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,

v. 19. to cast out all thine enemies from before thee, to make room for His own people, as the Lord hath spoken. This was the reward of faithfulness, and its object was to strengthen Israel in its loyalty to Jehovah.

v. 20. And when thy son, any of the children or descendants, 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?

v. 21. then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, forced to perform the work of slaves; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, Exodus 3:19;

v. 22. and the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and sore, namely, the bad plagues, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes, Deuteronomy 4:34;

v. 23. and He brought us out from thence that He might bring us in to give us the land which He sware unto our fathers. Thus the Lord carried out His promise to its full completion.

v. 24. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord, our God, for our good always, for it is always to the believer's own advantage if he walks in the ways of the Lord, that He might preserve us alive as it is at this day.

v. 25. And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord, our God, as He hath commanded us. In this the righteousness of the children of Israel consisted, namely, that they observed and kept the will of the Lord in the love which flows from true faith. Thus the righteousness of faith always precedes the righteousness of life, and the latter serves to indicate the presence of the former. The believers in Christ will not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and thus give evidence of the fact that they are possessors of justification by faith.