THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL (DEUTERONOMY 6:1-9)
What is your favorite Bible verse or golden verse? Two verses shaped my life, one led to my conversion and the other to seminary. The first, from Matt 10:32-33, convinced me not to delay accepting Christ: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. “
The second, from Rom 10:14-15, planted the seed of seminary enrolment and full-time ministry in my heart when I was a teenager: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
Before entering the Promised Land, the new generation of Israelites were given the golden verse of golden verses in two short verses, which is also known as “The Shema,” which today is the centerpiece of the twice-daily, morning and evening, Jewish prayer services. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and its recitation as a mitzvah (religious commandment). (Wikipedia “Shema Yisrael”)
What is the purpose of the Shema? Why is its teachings central not to individuals but also to the family and the society? How do the core values apply today?
Guide the Young
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. (Deut 6:1-3)
What is the best gift a parent can bequeath a child? The priority should not be the traditional thinking of leaving “half a bucket of gold” (半桶金),” which is what a couple called an apartment they planned to leave behind their adult son. I am sure you know what the Chinese think the best gift to leave one’s children, which is also the tried and true way for people in old Hong Kong to get out of poverty? The answer is no other but education.
The United States Census Bureau reported that the average annual earnings in 1999 ranged from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates, $45,400 for college graduates and $99,300 for the holders of professional degrees (medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians and lawyers).
The report reveals that over an adult's working life, high school graduates can expect, on average, to earn $1.2 million; those with a bachelor's degree, $2.1 million; and people with a master's degree, $2.5 million. So a bachelor’s degree is worth $900,000 more in lifetime earnings than a high school diploma and a college master's degree is worth $1.3 million more. Persons with doctoral degrees earn an average of $3.4 million during their working life, while those with professional degrees do best at $4.4 million.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/moneymatters/a/edandearnings.htm
Deuteronomy has a unique place and contribution to the Jewish society and understanding of education. For such a common word, the verb “teach” (v 1) surprisingly did not makes its debut in the Old Testament until the book of Deuteronomy, and it occurs 17 times in the book, more than any narrative book in the Old Testament. Teaching is so urgent and unmistakable that the verb commanded is repeated three times (vv 1, 2, 6), other wise translated as “directed” in verse 1 and “give” in verses 2 and 6. The verb “lamad” is so central to Jewish faith and the precursor for the “Talmud,” the rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history.
What were verse 1’s commands (Gen 26:5), decrees (Gen 47:22) and laws (Gen 18:19) that Moses was commanded to teach? The commands are Moses general teachings, the decrees are stipulated ordinances and laws means social justice. However, note that the focus and purpose of teaching is the commands, decrees and laws in print but for them to fear the Lord in person (v 2). Jesus said to those who sought to kill him: “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39-40) It is easy to nitpick on law but neglect the Lawgiver Himself (Isa 33:22), to worship the writings but not the Writer Himself, to enjoy the academics but forget the Author.
The point and purpose of keeping the Torah is not to fear the law but to fear the Lord, the former is about rules, regimen and religion but the later is about God’s revelation, man’s righteousness, and man’s relationship to God. It is not out of fear of the condemnation of the law, but faith in the correction of the Lord. The law is not given to paralyze them, but to prosper the Israelites: “so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey” (v 3). God’s intent is not centered on punishing them but on planting them in the new land.
Grow in Love
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deut 6:4-5)
Whitney Houston had the most blessed voice of her generation, but she almost lost it all on self-love. The greatest love of all is not “learning to love myself,” as advocated by Whitney Houston on her most memorable song “The Greatest Love of All.” Loving God is the greatest love of all, but loving oneself is the greatest lie of all. In the case of Whitney Houston, following the path of self-love leads to the three D’s: drugs, depression and divorce. Fortunately, she escaped the last d – death.
Billy Graham, who is over 90, says in his old age: “I spend more time on the love of God than I used to."
“Pilgrim’s Progress” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14204483/
Loving the Lord is not only the greatest commandment of the law, it is the first commandment in the Law (Matt 22:38). The command to “love the Lord” occurs nine times in Deuteronomy (Deut 6:5, 11:1, 13, 22, 13:3, 19:9, 30:6, 16, 20), more than any book in the Bible and, in fact, more than all the books added together. To love the Lord “with all your heart and soul” is exclusive to Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, occurring thrice in the book (Deut 6:5, 13:3, 30:6)
Loving God means loving Him without reservation, rivalry and regressing. It is the first commandment because love is the motivation for keeping the commandments. True love, like God’s love for us, is lifelong, objective, virtuous and exclusive. It is objective in that it is unselfish, unconditional and yet uncompromising.
Heart is one’s being, soul is one’s life, and “strength” (meod) is abundantly or plenteously. The first two are nouns and the last is adverb. “Strength” is tricky; it is elsewhere translated as “very” 137 times, “greatly/great” 61 times, “sore/so” 23 times, exceeding 18 times. My favorite is “abundantly.” The text clues us to what loving the Lord means with 5 “all”: all his decrees and commands, answers the “what” (v 2), all the days of your life, translated as long life in NIV, answers the “when” (v 2), with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (v 5) – answers the “how.”
Guide Your Heart
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deut 6:6-9)
When my wife started hormone therapy (September first week, 2010), one of her tasks is to take medication every night. In the first week she asked me to remind her to take medication, but one morning she woke up saying she forgot her medication. Then I said, “Why don’t you tape a piece of paper to the wall, like the way you remind yourself not to use my soap. She said that did not work, that was why she wrapped the soap in plastic and banned it from the tub. Then I said, “Why don’t you set an alarm to remind yourself. The next day at 10 p.m. an alarm rang, surprising both of us. We laughed because it was so startling, loud and effective. I was given a good wake-up call even though I was the one that set the alarm.
This week (October 1st week, 2010), a month later, she missed another night’s medication. The reason? My Samsung Anycall phone reminder is automatically programmed for weekdays and not weekends, so I had to reset the alarm.
The word “impress” (v 7) occurs for the first time in the Bible and is translated commonly as “sharpen” (Deut 32:41, Ps 64:3). The word occurs nine times in the Bible and is thrice used both in the context of swords (Deut 32:41, Ps 64:3, Ps 120:4) and arrows (Ps 45:5, Prov 25:18, Isa 5:28) and once for a serpent’s tongue (Ps 140:3). A sword, an arrow and a serpent’s tongue serves to slice, sever or sting. They are ineffective if they lose their form, function or force.
The three verbs - “impress” (v 7), “tie” (v 8) and “write” (v 9) - are parallel and should be translated as “You shall impress them,,,you shall tie them…you shall write them.” The first reminder is to teach the family (肢體), the second to tell oneself, and the last to testify to others. The first concerns the family, which consists of members of a body (身體). The second is your body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). The last, the house, is one’s community (群體).
Conclusion: What God desires most from you is your love for Him, not your labor for Him or living for Him. Is He the King or merely the Keeper of your life? Is the Savior occupying the seat of the throne of your life, or is sin and self occupying it?
