Deuteronomy 6:4-5 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (5) And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."
"Hear, O Israel." Though it may not be with the same vocal
impact, these words are akin to the words of Jesus when He would say,
"Verily, Verily," or "Truly, Truly." They were meant
to draw the attention of the people to what was about to be said. Moses
was meek, but these words were so important to the people that he began with
words that would be of strong force. It would be as our parents probably said
to us at some time or other, "Listen to me. Let me have your full
attention."
What was of such importance that Moses required them to stop whatever they were
doing in order to hear the words that would follow? "The LORD our
God is one LORD." We might tend to think this would have already
been fully understood by the people. But Moses knew the tendencies of the
nature of these people. He knew they quickly had given in to the forming of the
golden calf. They had quickly said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which
have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." (Exodus 32:8). They
even spoke of the calf made of gold as though it was a plurality of gods.
It was very difficult to remove the influence of Egypt from the people.
But not only did they have to contend with the influence of Egypt from which
they had fled, they would soon have to contend with the influence of the people
of Canaan. Each nation in that land had their own individual gods to which they
bowed. The Lord knew what was about to take place when they entered the land.
The only way for the people to succeed in this new land was for them to give
their full attention and devotion unto the ONLY True and Living God.
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD."
This was only one part of the statement of impact which Moses made to the
people. The second half of the statement included their action which they were
to devote unto the Lord. He 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." When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, He
spoke this very same commandment and then added, "And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matthew 22:39)
The Lord was impressing upon the people before they ever entered Canaan,
"You must maintain your devotion and trust in me and you must love one
another."
Is that not still the two most important things in our lives today? We
saw in our study of Hebrews, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today
and for ever." If this was most important in the days of Moses and
it was still most important in the days of Christ, does it not stand to reason
that it still is the most important in our day? Yes, it does! We
are to maintain our devotion and trust in the Lord God Almighty and we are to
love one another even as we love ourselves.... that it might be well with us in
the land.