Page 110 - Pentateuch

Chapter 15: Pentateuch VI:
Treaty Stipulations: Deuteronomy 6-26

Connect…

We can't work through this entire section of Deuteronomy. The material is lengthy and specific. The
foundation is the call to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength (6:5). This is the core of the commandment. YHWH is one (6:4). “The word used for ‘one’ in this
passage does not mean ‘singleness’ but ‘unity.’ The same word is used in Genesis 2:24, where the husband
and wife in marriage are said to be ‘one flesh.’” 131 He has no inner conflicts. He is not many gods vying for
power and worship. He does not change with the seasons or the situation. Because he is such a God, they
are to be earnest about teaching their children about him and all he has done. The next generation will not
have witnessed the miracles performed in Egypt and on the road to the Promised Land. Parents must teach
them. If parents love God, they must love his word. If they love God, they must not neglect to pass on his
word to children whom they also love (6:6-9, 20). Having one God leaves few options. He must come first.
His “firstness” must be obvious even to children.

The Lesson ...

Treaty Stipulations

The first commandment (6:1-11:32) centers on the love of God and leads the Israelites to protect
themselves, especially the next generation, from the nations possessing the land. Without a clear
distinction, including dispossessing those nations, Israel would gradually lose its distinctness through
intermarriage. They would accept other gods and the laws of other gods. Such an acceptance would go
against the love YHWH had for them and the promises he had made to their ancestors. (7:7, 8, 9, 10, 12,
13). Israel should reject the nations, and Israel should not be afraid of the nations, even though they are all
stronger and are entrenched in the land. God would help them. He would drive those nations out little by
little. Israel was instructed to destroy them, including their silver and gold. Even these items could be a
temptation to them. “Do not bring a detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for
destruction (7:26).”

Their experience of entering and possessing the land would be an ongoing test similar to their forty years in
the wilderness. God’s purpose all along was, and is, to humble his people and to teach them to rely on him,
even “on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD (8:3, cf. Matt. 4:4).” His method is always to
treat them “as a man disciplines his son (8:5).” This would never change. The lessons would continue day
after day, year after year, generation after generation. The unique, one God’s goal would never vary. After
giving them his blessings, he did not want them to become proud and say, “My power and the strength of
my hands have produced this wealth for me (8:17). The root and beginning of sin is this failure to thank God
(Rom. 1:21), inevitably leading to death and destruction.

Now Moses reminds them of the golden calf incident. He is not moving on to the second commandment
yet. He has called them to remember God over and over (8:2, 14, 18, 19). Part of their remembering

131 Sailhammer, Pentateuch, 439.
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