Tuesday, April 9, 2013

These are the commandments


(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 6:1–3, “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.”
The Lord took care to repeat the issues carefully so that Israel would be likely to understand what they were doing. Even today, when people make contracts it is important that they understand what they are doing. The Lord made sure that Moses, His representative, repeated the issues many times so that, later, Israel would have no excuses if they broke the contract. The Lord told Moses the commandments and Moses told the people how they could show their respect and admiration for the Lord. The Lord was then, and is now, perfectly consistent. He gives people choices but He shows absolute integrity when people make a choice. The Lord;s only merciful actions, in relation to choice, occur when He is slow to act and swift to bless (see the hymn, “Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven,... Slow to chide and swift to bless.” based on Psalm 103) He gives us what we choose but He takes His time when we choose to reject Him to give us a chance to think again. The Lord gave Israel the chance to stay out of the Land and suffer or go into the Land and obey. They chose to go into the Land and, so, they chose to obey the Lord and teach their children to obey Him as well.

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