(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 6:4–16, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently 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. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.”
The foundation of Israel’s relationship with their God was the fact that there is only one God. The Egyptians had many gods, the Canaanites and the Syrians had many gods as well. However, Israel knew that there was only room for one God in all creation. God is always the best and the most powerful but a nation with more than one god is troubled with great cosmic confusion, which God shall we trust when things get too hard for us? The part of the Ten Commandments that relate to the Lord God have been summarised in one statement, “thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and will all thy might.” The first thing to notice about this is that it is in the singular, a nation cannot worship the Lord God wholeheartedly if each individual does not worship the Lord God wholeheartedly. This is the beginning of everything that Israel agreed to do when they made the contract with the Lord God. If the commandments were not uppermost in the Israelis minds then they wouldn’t think about the Lord God and His requirements when they first encountered any situation. There are many people today who say that they are too busy to do this or to do that but everybody does the things that are important to them. Who, for example, goes to work in their pyjamas? This is because getting dressed for work is important. Everybody does the important things in their lives. The Lord God asked that Israel make obeying the Lord important and then they would keep their contract obligations. If the commandments were always in the front of their minds and they could see them often then they would be sure to obey them as a matter of course. The Lord God is jealous for His people because He loves us and longs for us to enjoy the best of all that He had for us to enjoy.
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