Deuteronomy 6 · The Lantern

The Greatest Commandment

And this is the commandment — the statutes and the judgments — that the LORD your God commanded to teach you, to do in the land into which you are crossing, to possess it,

so that you may fear the LORD your God, keeping all his statutes and his commandments that I am commanding you — you, and your son, and your son’s son — all the days of your life, and so that your days may be long.

And you shall hear, Israel, and keep to do it, so that it may go well for you, and so that you may multiply greatly — as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you — a land flowing with milk and honey.

Hear, Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

"What then?" one may say, "were they wronged, who lived before His coming?" By no means, for men might then be saved, even though they had not confessed Christ. For this was not required of them, but not to worship idols, and to know the true God.

And these things are so certain that the opposite of them cannot be thought by one understanding being itself, and one of them necessarily implies the other. For because it is simply being, therefore it is simply first: because it is simply first, therefore it is not made by another, nor could it have been made by itself, therefore it is eternal.

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

And therefore it is written, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Now he who loves also believes, and in believing each man begins to love. Abraham believed, and so began to love, and he believed not in part, but entirely. For otherwise he would not have perfect charity, for it is written, Charity believeth all things.

See for yourself if those three commands are not prescribed in the law when God says: "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole strength." It seems to me, if no more suitable meaning for this triple distinction comes to mind, that the love of the heart relates to a certain warmth of affection, the love of the soul to energy or judgm…

And these words that I am commanding you today shall be on your heart.

And you shall repeat them to your sons, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

And it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you — great and good cities that you did not build,

and houses full of every good thing that you did not fill, and hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant — and you eat and are satisfied:

take care for yourself, so that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.

The LORD your God you shall fear, and him you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear.

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

Whoever yields assent to the supreme authority of divine Scripture should first examine these words: "The Lord your God shall you adore, and him only shall you serve." In Greek the expression used does not signify the service owed to human masters but that which is offered to God, called latreia.

You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you —

for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God — so that the anger of the LORD your God does not burn against you, and he destroy you from the face of the ground.

You shall not test the LORD your God, as you tested him at Massah.

You shall surely keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes that he has commanded you.

And you shall do what is right and good in the eyes of the LORD, so that it may go well for you, and you may go in and possess the good land that the LORD swore to your fathers,

thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.

Teach Your Children

When your son asks you tomorrow, saying, “What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments that the LORD our God commanded you?” —

then you shall say to your son: “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

And the LORD gave signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt, against Pharaoh and against all his house, before our eyes.

And us he brought out from there, in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he swore to our fathers.

And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good all the days, to keep us alive, as it is this day.

And it shall be righteousness for us, when we keep to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.”

Deuteronomy6

The Greatest Commandment

Teach Your Children