Deuteronomy 6: 1 – 25
Three - One
6 “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, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD Is One! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 “So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. 16 “You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers, 19 to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken. 20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’
As believers, we should be clear concerning what we believe. One of the major tenets of the genuine Christian faith is what we believe concerning God. We believe that:
God Is eternally one and this one God Is eternally the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; yet the three, being distinct, are not separate.
The above statement speaks of God being the Triune God. This truth concerning God Is profound.
The Bible reveals that God Is triune. We read in the book of 2 Corinthians 13: 14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”
The Bible is God’s own speaking, and to know God we must rely fully on what the Bible tells us. What the Bible reveals to us is that God Is triune. The word triune literally means “three-one.” Although the word triune is not in the Bible, the fact that God is triune is revealed there through many verses.
Let’s look at some of these verses and discuss what it means to say that God is triune, or three-one.
God Is one yet three. God Is uniquely one. In this universe, only one God exists. The Bible is absolutely clear about this. For example, 1 Corinthians 8:4 says, “There is no God but one.”
1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
The scriptural revelation that God is uniquely one is clear and definite. Yet this one God Is also three—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The Lord Jesus clearly spoke here of three. And yet we see the fact of one God in the Lord’s using the singular word “name,” not the plural “names,” when referring to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The fact that the three of the Trinity have only one name speaks of God being triune, three-one.
We must be clear, however, that though God has the aspect of three, this absolutely does not mean there are three Gods. We must remember verses in the Bible, such as the verses quoted above, that declare God Is one. By putting those verses together with verses like Matthew 28:19, we learn that God Is three yet one, and He Is also one yet three.
How can this be? This is mysterious and beyond our ability to comprehend. We simply cannot explain how God can be three and yet one, but this is what the Bible reveals to us concerning God, and as believers, we are blessed when we accept the divine revelation as it is. We may not know how this can be, but we know that it is, according to God’s own Word.
Furthermore, the Son and the Father dwell in one another, as the Lord Jesus said in John 14:11: “Believe Me that I Am in the Father and the Father Is in Me.” Since they dwell in one another, the Son and the Father cannot be separated. They cannot be divided into two separate and independent persons. Because the Father and the Son dwell in each other, Our Lord Jesus said in John 10:30: “I and the Father are one,” and in John 14:9: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
Yet we read in Matthew 3:16-17 that at our Master Jesus’ baptism, all three of the Triune God was present—the Father speaking from the heavens, the Son being baptized in the water, and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on the Son. How could all three be present in such a way, yet still be one God?
On the one hand, verses like John 14:11 show the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son, and based on these verses, we have to say that the three of the Divine Trinity are inseparable and are one. On the other hand, verses like Matthew 3:16-17 show that the three coexist simultaneously, and based on these verses we must also say that the three of the Divine Trinity are distinct.
Once again we realize something mysterious here with God. The three of the Divine Trinity are inseparable and are one, and yet they are distinct. How this can be is beyond our ability to comprehend. Yet this is the revelation of the Bible, and though we can’t explain it, we are blessed when we receive it just as it is.
By what is revealed in the Bible in these verses and more, we must simply accept that our God Is the Triune God, that He Is one and yet has the aspect of three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all God, coexisting together distinctly and indwelling each other inseparably from eternity to eternity.
When it comes to understanding the truth in the Bible about God being triune, we have to realize that our mind is limited and earthly fixed. God being triune is deep and mysterious, and our mind is simply not able to comprehend, define, or understand this thoroughly.
Just consider other areas where our mind’s ability is limited. For instance, we simply cannot understand some phenomena in the physical universe, though scientists have studied the universe for centuries. As we look at ourselves, we don’t thoroughly understand our own physical life. Even physical life is mysterious. And we can’t fully explain the inner soul of a human being. Though we might understand a little, we have to admit that much more remains that we don’t comprehend and can’t explain. Now consider God being triune. How could our finite mind fully understand the mystery of the infinite Triune God?
The revelation of the Triune God is not in the Bible for us to explain and define fully, since that is impossible. Not only so, the Triune God is not an “it”—a subject simply to be studied and dissected for the sake of knowledge. The Triune God revealed in the Bible Is a wonderful, living Person who wants us to enjoy and experience Him as our life. And the moment we believed in Christ Jesus God’s Anointed Holy One and was born again, this mysterious Triune God came to live in our spirit.
Now we can actually enjoy our mysterious and wonderful Triune God day by day. Because God is triune, He Is able to impart Himself into our being to become everything to us for our enjoyment.
How marvelous it is that each of us can personally and experientially know the love, grace, and fellowship of the Triune God! While we cannot mentally grasp the depths of the mystery of God’s being triune, daily we can enjoy the eternal love of God the Father, the precious grace of Christ the Son, and the intimate fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This is God’s desire for us. What a wonderful Triune God we have!
Today we are going to study what our God says is the greatest Commandment. Our Holy Adoni Yahweh was asked this question. He greatly gives the answer as the apostle Matthew records in chapter 22:36-40 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Having reminded them of the awesome experience of the giving of the covenant, and of what it basically contained, Moses now seeks to urge on the people the need for total response and obedience to it. But note that he does it, not in terms of their listing the rules and keeping them, but in terms of a personal response of love, a love that responds to what Yahweh has already done for them. The covenant is not one of bargain, but of grace. Yahweh had graciously delivered them from the sufferings of Egypt, from slavery and bondage. Now He calls on them to respond to Him in love, trust and obedience. There could be no enjoyment of blessing without that.
This opening introduction to Yahweh’s Covenant requirements describes (1) what he is bringing them, Yahweh’s commandment with its statutes and ordinances, (2) what he hopes they will do for them, make them have a reverential fear of Him, and (3) the final aim behind them, the keeping of those statutes and commandments resulting in long life. They are then exhorted (4) to listen well and observe to do them so that it might be well with them and so that they might become numerous, as Yahweh had promised, in the land flowing with milk and honey.
6 “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, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
The statutes and the ordinances were mentioned five times in chapter 4 where they were a summary of the covenant stipulations. In 5.33 ‘the commandments, and the statutes and the judgments’ were urged on Israel by Moses as something to be obeyed. Now Moses will declare them. This is so that they might do them in the land that they are going over to possess. God had given these statutes and judgments (ordinances) so that they and their sons and son’s sons might fear Him and keep them. They were not just to be known but to be observed. They laid out the manner of life that was expected of them as His redeemed people.
3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.
Moses goes on and urges them as one nation, and as individual people, to hear and observe Yahweh’s commandment through these statutes and ordinances, so that it might be well with all of them, and so that they may grow and expand, (as Yahweh had promised to their fathers, and to them), in the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey, the good land, where all was God’s provision and good to partake of. That is what they had promised in 5.27. Now he calls on them to do it.
The lesson for us is that there is no land to enter. But we have a better land, the Jerusalem that is above and all that goes with it (Galatians 4.26). For the land offered by God through Moses was an earthly ‘Kingdom of God’, which was why it failed, but what He was more importantly really offering was life under God’s Kingdom. And having come under His rule by responding to Christ the King we are to fully keep all His commandments, and especially this commandment, that we love one another. For in this is the essence of the covenant, that they might recognize Yahweh as their one God and their one Lord, their only one, so that their worshipping love might be centered totally on Him, and on no one else.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD Is One!
Yahweh Is our God and by His mercy and grace through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ we can actually call Him Father. He Is the One Whose covenant this is. It designates Yahweh in His uniqueness and distinctiveness, the God Who has a special relationship with Israel, the One to Whom they look, the God to Whom they have a special responsibility.
He is different from all others. For one thing He Is the only real God. There aren’t any other that exist. He Rules over the Heavens and the earth and all that is in it.
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
As our Holy God Yahweh Is one so they are to be one in their love for Him. And in that oneness they are to respond totally to Him, so being one with Him in the covenant. They are to love Him with their whole being, and respond by keeping His commandments.
Their response to Him must be total. They must love Him in the covenant relationship with their whole being, and no other. They must love Him with heart, and with soul and with might, both in inward thought and life and will, and in outward action. As far as the ultimate in life was concerned He must be their all. There was and must be no room for any other.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
If they loved Him each of them was to take His words to their hearts in such a way that they would also teach them diligently to their children.
The need to pass His words on to their children is a constant Biblical theme. In other words His words were to pervade every part of their lives. In a day when books were not freely available, this was the only way in which such teaching could be passed on. What was remembered from the reading aloud of God’s instruction at the feasts was to be conveyed at the breakfast table, and at every opportunity (Malachi 3.16), and used as a direction in their lives, until all knew it by heart and understood it and lived by it.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
It is questionable whether this was intended to be taken literally although it was later so taken by the Pharisees and many others. They would wear small pouches containing Scripture on their persons during the time of Morning Prayer and fasten them to their doors. Such pouches containing small scrolls have been discovered in the Dead Sea area. That was good when it meant something genuine, but the danger came when it became a formality, a show, producing self-righteousness and vanity.
The verses are really simply emphasizing that God’s instruction was to be kept available in their minds and constantly thought of, and was to control the use of the hand, being considered when they entered and left their tents and later their houses, and when they entered and left their tent-encampments and cities. It was not to be left behind and forgotten. It was always to be in mind. However, no doubt many did leave signs and notes around, and even carry them or fasten them to their tents, and later their houses, which would remind them of their covenant responsibilities, as we might leave notes today or carry portions of His word. And while that was their true purpose it could only be encouraged.
10 “So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Even greater reminders of God’s goodness to them would be the cities which they would capture (and had already captured in Transjordan) which they did not have to build, and the houses full of spoils for them to enjoy, and the cisterns which were already there and full of water, and the vineyards and olive trees which they would take over, and the fruit that came from it which they would eat. They would enjoy the good things of the land for which they had not labored.
Let them not then be lulled into forgetting that it was Yahweh Who had brought them into this land of freedom and plenty in accordance with the promise sworn to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that it was He Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, a land for them of non-freedom and non-plenty, and out of the house of bondage, and had brought them under His watchful care so that they could be free and live under His Lordship.
For us too it is important that we do not forget the Lord’s mercies. Then we will not forget Him. And we have so much to give thanks for, especially for His unspeakable gift of our Lord Jesus Christ.
13 You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name.
Thus they must each be sure that they reverentially fear Yahweh their God, and serve Him and swear by His name. Men swore by the name of those who ruled over them and whom they feared, by the name of those who were most important to them as in authority over them. This was the place that Yahweh should take in each of their lives, but in their case not with a slavish fear of what He might decide to do on a whim, but with a godly fear of One whom they knew would deal justly. It was in itself a kind of reverential love. The reference to ‘swear by His name’ may be to an oath of allegiance.
14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you
Thus none of them were to go after other gods which are like those of the peoples round about them. This would always be the temptation and the danger, especially when they were assured (by the Canaanites who should not have been there) that it was the only way to ensure rain and the fruitfulness of the land. In times of testing the words of such people would be traps and snares. It would be so easy to take their eyes off Yahweh. But this would be the opposite of loving Yahweh. It would be to forsake and despise Him. Thus the exhortation to love is followed by the warning of other lovers who will clamor for their attention.
15 (for the LORD your God Is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.
An explicit point of truth was that none of them were to yield to aliens and their false gods because Yahweh Is their God, the One who had delivered them and brought them to the land, and Who owned it, was there among them, and He Is a jealous God, that Is a God Who could not allow unworthy ‘rivals’, not so much for His sake as for theirs. (It would destroy their recognition of His uniqueness). Otherwise His anger would be kindled against them like a flame, and He would destroy them off the face of the earth.
16 “You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah.
Let them remember the lesson of Massah (‘place of testing’). There as a group they had tested out Yahweh when there was a shortage of water and they had been ready to kill Moses because of their deep anger, for they had blamed him for their predicament. But then Yahweh had provided them with water from a rock (Exodus 17.1-7). Thus should they recognize that He can and will always provide water, and indeed, anything that they really need, if they but trust Him and obey Him. They must therefore look to Him in faith and not test Him out. They do not need to turn to anyone else for their sustenance.
These words were utilized by our Great God Jesus Christ when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. They speak to us all. ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’. To do that is to lack true faith.
17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers,
What they must each and all of them rather do is diligently keep Yahweh’s covenant stipulations, the commandments of Yahweh their God, and His testimonies and statutes which He has commanded each of them (or has commanded Israel as a nation), and do what is right and good in His sight. Then it will be well with them, and then they will be able to go in and possess the good land that Yahweh swore to their fathers. Such possession of the land constantly demanded righteousness, because the land belonged to the Righteous One. Indeed Yahweh had promised it to their fathers so that He might establish a righteous land.
19 to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.
And one of the ways in which they would do this was by thrusting out all their enemies from before them, as Yahweh has commanded. In order that the land may be righteous it was essential that the evil inhabitants were driven out. Otherwise they would only test out Israel and cause them harm and would continue to defile the land with their idolatries and perversions, and would in the end make them test Yahweh. If the kingdom of Yahweh was ever to be set up the land must be cleared of those who would do evil and would not respond to the covenant. In the same way can none enter Heaven who has not been prepared for it by our Majestic God. ‘
The lesson for us of this constant repetition of the need to clear the land of Canaanites is that we too must clear our lives of all that could lead us astray. Whatever might lead us to lessen our devotion and dedication to Jesus Christ must be thrust from us. We must show it no mercy. We must not put the Lord to the test. We should also take heed that our hearts are set, not on the land, but on the Kingdom of God. We have a greater land on which to set our hearts.
20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’
When their children in the future asked each of them concerning the testimonies, and the statutes and the ordinances, which ‘Yahweh our God’ (their covenant God) had commanded them, and what they meant, they would be able to point to the faithfulness and goodness of the God of the covenant, and stress that they were His commands which he had a right to require of them because He was their overlord and Deliverer.
21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.
They will then be able to explain to their children that they had been Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt, and how they had been bound to him by a kind of covenant, a slave covenant, and had suffered sore and then explain how Yahweh the only true God had delivered them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. How He had freed them from their bondage and from the covenant that bound them. And how He had shown signs and wonders, which had proved great and sore for Egypt, and these had come on Pharaoh and his entire house in front of their very eyes, so that he had released them. And God had then brought them out from there so that He might bring them to the land which He had sworn to their fathers. And it was He Who had commanded them to do all these statutes, and to fear Yahweh their covenant God, and it was for their permanent good so that He might preserve them alive to that day and bless them.
For us there is an even greater reason for our worship. For we know that we were bound by sin and in bondage to our selfishness, but have been delivered from both by the mighty hand of God through the offering of His Son, Jesus Christ, on our behalf, once for all, revealed through greater wonders than those of Egypt. By this we have therefore come under the Kingly Rule of God, and He has been established as our Lord so that we might obey His will, awaiting our entry into His heavenly kingdom.
The statutes were always an important part of this, for they alone could ensure that His people in the land remained just, and right, and prosperous. Only by a people obedient to these could the kingdom of God be established, with themselves as priests to the nations and a holy nation. Without them they would simply sink once more to the level of other nations (as in fact they did).
The principle here is that life and death are in His hands. Their fathers had died in the wilderness because, as a result of their disobedience, that had been their sentence. But God did not seek men’s deaths; He sought that they might live. Thus all who were now alive at this time could give thanks for life and credit it to the goodness of Yahweh. But continuing to live was based for Israel on fearing God and living according to His will. That was the only guarantee of life. And it was on that that they should set their hearts.
25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’
For if they observed to do all the commandments before Yahweh their covenant God it would be righteousness for them. By it they would be acceptable to Him and vindicated before Him, because it would reveal that they truly loved Him. What did our Holy Lord and Savior Jesus Christ say about this? In the Gospel of John His words are recorded, “15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
