"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." —Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Last week we focused on the imperative in Deuteronomy 6:4—Israel was required to “hear” God, and that God, the only God, is Yahweh. They are required to love Yahweh with every fabric of their being (v. 5). So what does it mean to love Yahweh?
Moses is the one calling Israel to love God with their whole being (Deuteronomy 5:1). In fact, the people of Israel were unwilling to hear directly from God and wanted Moses to be their intercessor who would relay to them God’s Word. Yahweh allows Moses to act as His voice to the peoples, and charges Moses to teach them His commandments (Deuteronomy 5:31). This is important as Israel’s hearing and obeying the word from Yahweh is a condition for successful entry and existence in the land (Deuteronomy 6:1–3). Moses’ words are the very words of God to Israel, by God’s sovereign design.
This is important for understanding verse 6, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” First, Moses is not simply stating something that will happen in the future. This is actually a continuation of the imperatives that come before it in verses 4 and 5 (“hear” and “love”). God is commanding that Israel treasure and keep God’s word.
Treasuring God’s word—this is the very way in which Israel will love God. Loving God is seen by a love for His word. To put it another way, the Israelites cannot love God if 1) they will not hear God (v. 4) and 2) they will not treasure God’s word (v. 6).
The gravity of God’s word is demonstrated by Moses’ instructions for how they will keep it. God’s word is to be taught diligently to the next generation. When? Where? The answer is: all the time, everywhere. “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (v. 7).
The daily fabric of the life of God’s people is to be governed by the teaching, hearing, understanding, and meditating on God’s word.
For Reflection
How is reading the Bible “hearing God”?
What is another way that you could bring God’s Word to have more prominence in your day?