Looking for a biblical chapter with a reflection and explanation of the 10 Commandments? You should know that Moses himself wrote it and this corresponds to Deuteronomy 6 and here we are going to show it to you. Welcome to a new article!
Deuteronomy chapter 6
All Christians have known directly or indirectly at some time or another the 10 Commandments of the Bible, which were given by God to Moses on top of Mount Sinai during the Jews’ flight from Egypt.
What not all Christians know is that Moses did not show the Ten Commandments to his people as a law that came from heaven and was never to be remembered again, but that Moses helped his fellow citizens to understand the Ten Commandments and to understand them and to make them see their importance.
At Deuteronomy 6 we find one of these reflections, centered on the commandment to love God above all things; known by many, including Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the most important of them all.
There is nothing better to start with than listening to Deuteronomy 6 in its entirety with this relaxing video below. Feel the Word of God in your body and especially in your heart.
If you don’t get all the information from the chapter, don’t worry! This introduction is just to know the general sense of the text and to start this nice moment of prayer with the Lord, we will explain everything to you later.
Deuteronomy 6 in English and large print
After this first listening, it is time to read Deuteronomy 6 if you think it is necessary. This will help you to focus on the details and keep the verses that you consider most important. This version is extracted from Bible kjv the most accurate version of the Bible.
The great commandment
1 These then are the commandments, statutes and judgments which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you should do them in the land into which you are going over to take it;
2 That thou mayest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged.
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do them, that it may go well with you in the land flowing with milk and honey, and that you may multiply, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you.
4 Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God, Jehovah is one.
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart;
7 And thou shalt teach them to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes;
9 And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house, and upon thy gates.
Exhortations to obedience
10 When the LORD your God has brought you into the land which he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, into great and goodly cities which you did not build,
11 and houses full of all good things, which thou hast not filled, and cisterns dug, which thou hast not dug, vineyards and oliveyards, which thou hast not planted, and then to eat and be satisfied,
12 Beware lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
13 The LORD thy God shalt thou fear, and him only shalt thou serve, and by his name shalt thou swear.
14 You shall not go after other gods, after the gods of the peoples who are around you;
15 For the jealous God, the LORD your God, is in the midst of you, lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the earth.
16 You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him at Massah.
17 Keep carefully the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes which he has commanded you.
18 And 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;
19 that he may drive out your enemies from before you, as the LORD has said.
20 Tomorrow when thy son shall ask thee, saying, What mean the testimonies and statutes and judgments which the LORD our God commanded you?
21 Then you shall say to your son, We were Pharaoh’s servants in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
22 The LORD did great and terrible signs and wonders in Egypt, over Pharaoh and over all his house, before our eyes;
23 And he brought us out from thence, to bring us in, and to give us the land which he swore to our fathers.
24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, and to fear the LORD our God, that it might go well with us all our days, and that he might preserve our lives, as it is this day.
25 And we shall have righteousness, when we shall observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
Explanation and reflection on Deuteronomy 6
In this article we will make an overall analysis of the chapter, although we must highlight four that we will analyze separately, since they are the most important and give meaning to everything else. These are as follows:
Deuteronomy 6:4
“Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God, Jehovah is one.”
A clear and concise sentence: There is only one God and all other beliefs are false and based on the cult of materialism and worldly pleasures. With this phrase, Moses wanted to eliminate paganism among the population and unify the worship of the whole world to the true God.
This verse has been used many times by detractors of Christianity to criticize the Holy Trinity. This would be three deities instead of one. However, you need not fear anything, since this is not in contradiction with our beliefs.
The Holy Trinity does not correspond to three gods, but to one God represented in three distinct persons: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. At no time is there more than one God, and this verse is still valid for most Christians.
Deuteronomy 6:5
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
The fifth verse of the chapter repeats the first commandment of all, reformulated to better understand it. God’s love for us is infinite, and we can never reciprocate it in the same way, the only thing we can do is to return that love as much as we can.
This implies, as the commandment says, to love God above all things, to do it with all our strength as our standard in life. If we love God in this way, all the other commandments are fulfilled on their own by an act of love for the Lord.
Jesus had already indicated that this commandment was the most important of all in Matthew 22:37-38, establishing that the one that followed was to love one’s neighbor as oneself. He himself said that everything else followed from these two great laws.
Deuteronomy 6:6
“And these words which I command thee this day shall be upon thine heart;”
Reading and listening to these words we have just discussed is not difficult, but the tricky part begins when we have to apply them to our lives and reflect on what they really mean.
Moses establishes that this commandment must go straight to the heart, becoming a central axis of our lives and laying the foundations of our faith. If this fails, we will not be living a life according to the Lord and we will hardly find the lasting and deep happiness that his love provokes.
Yet, fear not, the Lord is gracious and cognizant of our limitations in human beings that make us err, for He Himself has created us. The goal is to put the Lord in as many facets of life as we can and, if we fail to do so, to acknowledge our mistakes humbly through confession.
Deuteronomy 6:7
“And thou shalt teach them again unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
The last verse of this main block is the consequence of the previous verse, in which we put love for the Lord as our main motive in our days, when we get up, when we go to sleep and at any other time.
This is the banner that we carry for being Christians, and with joy we should show it to the rest of the world, as the verse says when it speaks of the children. Everyone should know the benefits of being a follower of Christ, to keep it for ourselves is a bit selfish.
The rest of Deuteronomy 6, outside the above verses, is devoted to making the community understand the importance of knowing, accepting and obeying God’s commandments, being an exhortation, that is, a text that incites the reader to abide by these laws through reasoning and pleading.
The main argument is that these laws must be observed in order to live in happiness and away from misfortunes, being a safeguard that protects us from any adversity.
At the time, Moses used the argument that the Lord brought them out of the slavery of Egypt by bringing them to the promised land; so keeping those commandments was the least they could do as a sign of gratitude.
Deuteronomy 6 Prayer
To conclude today’s article on Deuteronomy 6, we suggest you listen to the following video in which you will find a precious prayer about the fifth verse of the chapter, the one that speaks of loving God with all our strength.
This will help you to better internalize the meaning of Deuteronomy 6 and culminate this beautiful time with a prayer to God of unparalleled strength and spirit. We hope you like it!
Context of Deuteronomy 6
Not everything that is said in the sacred texts can be easily understood without knowing the context in which they were written and, obviously, most Christians are not experts in biblical history.
Deuteronomy 6 belongs to a book in the Old Testament known as Deuteronomy and is one of a group of books in this part of the Bible traditionally attributed to Moses. These are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy itself.
You should know that today Bible scholars consider that Moses did not write these books in their entirety, but he did write a good part of them. It did so in different moments of his life, being Deuteronomy, the one he wrote in his last days on Earth.
In it, Moses wants to prolong and reflect on the tablets of the law given to him by the Lord in the Exodus, which is what gives the book its title, meaning something like the second law.
The main point of the book is that, if the people of Israel followed these laws well, prosperity and happiness awaited them in their lives. On the contrary, misfortunes would befall, and they would all lose a lot.
In fact, this was the case, giving rise to all the later biblical narratives that you can find in the Old Testament, most of them originating after the breaking of this covenant with God.
The theme of this particular chapter is Moses’ reminder to the people of the commandments and how they should live by them. This is also very useful in our days when we see that the commandments are being broken every day, and we can do nothing about it.
With this we say goodbye to you for today, we hope that Deuteronomy 6 has made its place in your list of favorite chapters of the Bible, as it certainly deserves it.
So, thank you for reading us and see you next time!