How does Moses tell Israel to keep the Lord’s words present in daily life and remember him after receiving the land?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

They must love the Lord with their whole heart, soul, and strength, keep his words in their hearts, tell them to their children, and remember them at home, on journeys, when sleeping, and when rising. Signs on the hand and between the eyes, and writing at the house’s entry and doors, also mark these words. When they receive cities and provisions they did not make, they must take care not to forget the Lord who brought them out of Egypt.

Chapter breakdown

Moses gives the commands, ceremonies, and judgments the Lord told him to teach Israel and that they must do in the land they are crossing into to possess. They, their sons, and grandsons must fear the Lord and keep all his commands throughout life, so their days may be prolonged. Israel must hear and do what the Lord commands, so it may go well with them and they may greatly multiply, as the God of their fathers promised a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses declares, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” He commands, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.” These words, commanded that day, must be in their hearts.

They must tell these words to their children and think upon them while sitting in the house, walking on a journey, sleeping, and rising. They must bind them as a sign on the hand; they shall be and move between the eyes. They must write them at the entry and on the doors of the house. The passage gives these actions without describing an actual household carrying them out.

The Lord will bring them into the land he swore to their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He will give them great and good cities they did not build, houses full of riches they did not set up, cisterns they did not dig, and vineyards and oliveyards they did not plant. When they have eaten and are full, they must take great care not to forget the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, the house of bondage. They must fear him, serve him alone, and swear by his name. They must not follow the strange gods of the nations around them. The Lord is a jealous God in their midst; Moses warns lest his anger be kindled against them and remove them from the face of the earth.

They must not tempt the Lord as they tempted him in the place of temptation. They must keep his commands, testimonies, and ceremonies and do what is pleasing and good in his sight. The stated purposes are that it may go well with them and they may enter and possess the good land sworn to their fathers. The Lord had said he would destroy all their enemies before them. The chapter uses the name “the place of temptation” without telling the earlier event here.

Moses tells them how to answer when a son asks tomorrow what the testimonies, ceremonies, and judgments commanded by the Lord mean. They must say they were Pharao’s bondmen in Egypt, and the Lord brought them out with a strong hand. Before their eyes he worked great and very grievous signs and wonders in Egypt against Pharao and all his house. He brought them out to bring them in and give them the land he swore to their fathers. He commanded them to do all these ordinances and fear him so it might go well with them all their lives, as it does that day. He will be merciful to them if they keep and do all his commands before him, as he commanded. This is an answer Moses tells parents to give in a future exchange; the chapter does not report a son asking or a father giving it.

The story inside

Moses gives two ways of keeping the law before the next generation: teaching the words in ordinary daily settings and answering a son’s question about what they mean. The answer he supplies begins with slavery under Pharao and the Lord’s strong-handed rescue, including signs and wonders against Pharao and his house. It connects coming out of Egypt with entering the sworn land and connects the ordinances with fear of the Lord and lifelong welfare. Between these instructions Moses warns about receiving cities, houses, water supplies, and plantings Israel did not make. After eating and becoming full, they must not forget their deliverer. These are prescribed words and actions. The chapter does not stage a family that has already settled or tell how a particular child responds.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Love and memory have named forms here. Whole heart, soul, and strength are followed by words in the heart, teaching children, daily reflection, signs, and writing at the house.
2
Receiving the land calls for care against forgetting. Moses lists gifts Israel did not build, dig, or plant, then warns them after they have eaten and are full to remember the Lord who rescued them.
3
The prescribed answer explains commands through the rescue and promise. A parent is to recall slavery, signs and wonders, the strong hand, the promised land, and the Lord’s purpose of lifelong welfare.

Test your recall

What rescue must Israel remember when it has eaten and become full in the land, and why does Moses tell it to take care at that point?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 19270–19293
Deuteronomy Chapter 6 An exhortation to the love of God, and obedience to his law. 6:1. These are the precepts, and ceremonies, and judgments, which the Lord your God commanded that I should teach you, and that you should do them in the land into which you pass over to possess it: 6:2. That thou mayst fear the Lord thy God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged. 6:3. Hear, O Israel, and observe to do the things which the Lord hath commanded thee, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst be greatly multiplied, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey. 6:4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 6:5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. 6:6. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart:
Lines 19295–19303
6:7. And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising. 6:8. And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes. 6:9. And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house.
Lines 19305–19325
6:10. And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, for which he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and shall have given thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build, 6:11. Houses full of riches, which thou didst not set up, cisterns which thou didst not dig, vineyards and oliveyards, which thou didst not plant, 6:12. And thou shalt have eaten and be full: 6:13. Take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name. 6:14. You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that are round about you: 6:15. Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth.
Lines 19327–19338
6:16. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation. 6:17. Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee. 6:18. And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers, 6:19. That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.
Lines 19340–19360
6:20. And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us? 6:21. Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 6:22. And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight, 6:23. And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land, concerning which he swore to our fathers. 6:24. And the Lord commanded that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is at this day. 6:25. And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.