Deuteronomy 6 · The Lantern

The Greatest Commandment

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go to possess it:

That you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

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?

Then in all this plenitude of charity will be fulfilled the commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." For while there remains any remnant of the lust of the flesh, to be kept in check by the rein of continence, God is by no means loved with all one's soul.

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, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart:

And 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 liest down, and when you rise up.

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

And you shall write them upon the posts of your house, and on your gates.

And it shall be, when the LORD your God shall have brought you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you great and fine cities, which you built not,

And houses full of all good things, which you filled not, and wells dug, which you dug not, vineyards and olive trees, which you planted not; when you shall have eaten and be full;

Then beware lest you forget the LORD, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

You shall fear the LORD your God, and serve him, and shall swear by his name.

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.

What is to be said of justice in its relation to God? As the Lord says, "No man can serve two masters," and the apostle rebukes those who serve the creature rather than the Creator, so had it not been said before in the Old Testament: "You shall adore the Lord your God and him only shall you serve"?

You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;

(For the LORD your God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and destroy you from off the face of the earth.

You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him in Massah.

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

And you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to your fathers,

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

Teach Your Children

And when your son asks you in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God has commanded you?

Then you shall say to your son, We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:

And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:

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

And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.

Deuteronomy6

The Greatest Commandment

Teach Your Children