Deuteronomy 14-15: Laws

Deuteronomy 14: Clean and Unclean Foods / Regulations Concerning Tithes
Deuteronomy 15: Laws Concerning the Sabbatical Year / The Firstborn of the Livestock

The end of Leviticus does not mean the end of law giving. In fact, the Israelites have many new laws to consider as they enter the promised land. Some of these are completely new, and others are reiterations of previous commandments. The laws here provide a basis for the orthopraxy of Israelite religion. Daily life is structured to exhibit God's influence over the congregation. God is everywhere, and proper practice (orthoprax) of his commands creates a bond between YHWH and his people that is in fulfillment of their covenant.

Clean and Unclean Foods: Deuteronomy 14.3-21
Yesterday we learned that the Israelites may now eat non-sacrificial meat whenever they wish, provided they drain the blood from it first. Today's reading expands on the eating of animals, reiterating the laws found in Leviticus 11.

Land Animals
The Israelites may eat land animals that have cloven hoofs and chew cud.
Animals that may be eaten include: ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, mountain-sheep.

Inedible land animals either do not have cleft hooves or chew cud. These specifically include: camel, rock badger, and hare (cud* but no hooves), pig (divided hooves but no cud). In addition, the carcasses of these animals must not be touched.

*[hares and badgers are not ruminant animals, but must appear to be because of the motion they make while chewing.]

Fish
Any sea or stream creature with fins and scales may be eaten.

Birds

[Hoopoe (Upupa Epops). Image Courtesy William Kreijkes]

As far as birds are concerned, only the unclean ones are listed. Others, presumably, may be eaten. Take note, penguins are not on the list of abhorrent birds. The list of birds to be avoided are the same as those found in Leviticus, but in a slightly different order. Abominations are specifically listed as: eagle, vulture, osprey, buzzard, kite, raven, ostrich, nighthawk, sea gull, hawk, little owl, great owl, water hen, desert owl (or pelican), carrion vulture, cormorant, stork, heron, hoopoe, bat.

Insects
In contrast to Leviticus, all winged insects are unclean.

Miscellaneous Regulations
Do not eat anything that dies on its own. Israelites may give or sell this meat to resident aliens, but abstention from consumption of this food makes Israel holy.

Also, Israelites may not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

Regulations Concerning Tithes: Deuteronomy 14.22-29
The Israelites are to set aside a tithe of their produce, as well as wine, oil, and the firstlings of their livestock. They are to feast on it in the place of centralized worship that the Lord designates. If this place is too far, these things may be converted to money to be spent on food and drink for the feast at the place of centralized worship.

Of course, the Levites should not be neglected. Therefore, every three years the tithe should be collected in the town and the Levites, resident aliens, orphans, and widows are allowed to eat their fill.

Laws Concerning the Sabbatical Year: Deuteronomy 15.1-18
Debts between members of the community should be remitted every seven years. However, those of foreigners will remain intact.

The author then has Moses say that this law really will not be a problem because the Lord's blessing will ensure no one will be in need. The Israelites will lend to other nations but not borrow, rule over others but not be ruled by others.

The Israelites should help anyone in the community that is in need. In transactions, the seventh year of remission is not to be considered in rendering a decision whether to give or not. Since someone somewhere will always be in need, the Israelites are to always be willing to lend a helping hand.

This is a remarkable message of compassion, which former nun/present scholar Karen Armstrong argues is a commonality for all religions. I personally do not believe this to be true. However, it is remarkable that this appeal for compassion appears in what amounts to be a founding document for a group of people. Compassion is a core principle of Israelite society. It is not just a suggestion here that a law that must be obeyed as any other.

Of course, times were different back then. The next section concerns slave ownership. but even here there is compassion. A slave to work for six years and be set free on the seventh. He or she shall be sent out with bountiful provisions from his or her master. This practice explicitly parallels the Israelite slave narrative, in which the Israelites are redeemed by God [not mentioned is the fact that they left carrying a good deal of the Egyptians' possessions]. If a slave does not wish to leave because he or she loves the household, the owner shall pierce the slave's earlobe with an awl and the slave shall remain with the family forever.

The Firstborn of the Livestock: Deuteronomy 15.19-23
The firstborn males of the herd are consecrated to the Lord; they are not to do work or to be sheared. They are to be eaten in the place of designated worship. Blind or lame firstborn males should not be consecrated and should be eaten in the town. These are not appropriate for sacrifice to the Lord.

Deuteronomy 12-13: Don't be pagan

Deuteronomy 12: Pagan Shrines to Be Destroyed / A Prescribed Place of Worship
Deuteronomy 13: Warning Against Idolatry
Deuteronomy 14: Pagan Practices Forbidden

Today's reading focuses on paganism, specifically in keeping the Israelites from falling to pagan practices. The Israelites are a holy people, a separate people from the pagans that they are to cast out from the promised land with the help of God. Abstention from pagan practices differentiate the Israelites from the pagans, and prove to YHWH their obedience.

The reading today has a variant of envelope structure.

On Envelope Structure
The important part of the message sits between two smaller pieces of text that differentiate it. If it helps, think of it as a pastrami sandwich from a New York deli - the kind of sandwich with a pound of meat between two thin slices of bread. The meat is what's important - it's a pastrami sandwich, after all. But the bread on either side provides something you can hold on to, giving any sandwich its essential sandwichness.

I hereby dub this structure Pastrami Sandwich Structure. Look for it in a bible near you.

However, today's post is not quite pastrami sandwich. In fact, it is more like a Club Sandwich, with three slices of "bread" that hold the good stuff inside.

In a logical progression, the first invokes the ancestral covenant, the second invokes the children of the current generation, and the third invokes the Israelites as a collective group. Let me show you.

It opens like this:

These are the statutes and ordinances that you must diligently observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to occupy all the days that you live on the earth.
(Deut. 12.1)

Continues like this:

Be careful to obey all these words that I command you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
(Deut. 12.28)

And closes like this:

You are the children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead. For you are a people holy to the Lord you God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
(Deut. 14.1-2)

Pagan Shrines to Be Destroyed: Deuteronomy 12.1-12
Israelite worship is to be vastly different than pagan worship, and therefore the Israelites are to completely demolish any place where the pagans would worship their gods. This destruction revolves around a theme of names. The Israelites are to "Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles with fire, and hew down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places" (Deut. 12.3). A name is a symbol of power, so once the names of the pagan gods are blotted out they are powerless. In turn, the Lord's name is to appear as the new power in the area. The place God chooses will be "a dwelling for his name" (Deut. 12.11).

The catch is that the Lord's name and the place of worship is to be in one place only. Prior to this commandment worship of YHWH as well as the pagan gods could take place virtually anywhere. Jacob was particularly proficient in establishing altars to the Lord. Henceforth worship (as well as the sacrifices, tithes, burnt offerings, donations, and gifts of firsts) will be centralized in one place to be designated by God. This commandments logically coincides with the end of the wandering in the desert. It would not make much sense to give this commandment, say, in Exodus, where the Israelites were moving around a great deal.

A Prescribed Place of Worship: Deuteronomy 12.13-28
Again the biblical author cautions the congregation that sacrifices are to be centralized. However, the regulations regarding eating meat are relaxed. [Having settled down, the] Israelites may eat meat any time they want, whether or not they are in a state of ritual purity. The only stipulation is that the blood must be completely drained from the animal; under no circumstance are the Israelites to eat blood. Now the Israelites may eat meat whenever they wish, as long as they follow the correct practice for obtaining and eating it.

Tithes, firstlings, and sacrifices, however, must be presented to the Lord at the place of centralized worship. These are to be eaten in a great company with sons and daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levites of the tribe.

Proper eating procedure ensures the proper relationship between Israel and the Lord. The concern for proper practice is known as orthopraxy, meaning (fittingly) "proper practice." The religion of the Israelites as well as Judaism today is one of adherence to a set of rules - orthopraxy. Orthodoxy, on the other hand, means "proper belief" and is based on doctrinal belief. Though God is very concerned that his people follow him, it is not their doctrinal belief that he seeks - that seems somewhat anachronistic - belief was not as important back then as it is in today's society. Rather, the Israelites express their dedication to God through their actions - proper practice - orthopraxy.

Warning Against Idolatry: Deuteronomy 12.29-13.18
The author, writing Moses' speech, warns against imitating the nations that they are about to drive out. The Israelites are not even to wonder how the pagans' gods were worshiped. But this is apparently for a good reason: pagans have done everything that is abhorrent to the Lord in the name of religion. They have even burned their sons and daughters. [As opposed to the Lord, who only uses this to test allegiance.]

Prophets will appear among the Israelites, but if they advocate following other gods they should not be heeded and in fact should be killed. This is a test from the Lord to see if his people love him indeed.

Pagan gods are not the gods of the ancestors and therefore not the God of Israel. Even family members that advocate following these gods should be stoned to death. If an entire town is found to be following other gods, they shall be blotted out entirely, along with their children and livestock. The spoil shall be set in the public square and burned along with the rest of the city. The town should never be rebuilt. This entire town is unholy, and no one should take anything from it.

Pagan Practices Forbidden: Deuteronomy 14.1-2
See above in the sandwich structure portion for these mere two verses!

Deuteronomy 11: The Last Command for Obedience

Deuteronomy 11: Rewards for Obedience

I am beginning to grow tired of this whole "keep the charge of the Lord thing," having blogged on it every day for the past week. The problem might be that the chunks I am analyzing are too small. However, the repetitiveness is intentional. The biblical author wants his reader to understand exactly what is going on, so he writes on and one about it for 11 chapters (a necessary anachronism: chapters are a much later addition). The biblical author is highly effective at conveying his message. All that writing ensures that the reader understands the dialectical tensions. We have read again and again how the Israelites disobeyed the Lord and the Lord was about to kill them and the Lord will kill them if they do not obey the Lord. That's what this is all about: getting the audience to understand that all that matters is obedience to God. Without this, the Israelites will never survive.

Rewards for Obedience: Deuteronomy 11
Moses continues his speech to the Israelites:

The Israelites are to love the Lord and keep his charge, as well as pass down their love of the Lord and obedience to his commandments to their children. The Israelites are to remember their escape from Egypt, how God delivered them and crashed the Red Sea on the Egyptian army. They are to remember their time in the wilderness, particularly how the the Lord caused the Earth to swallow up Dathan and Abiram for their disobedience, along with all their possessions.

Remembering this - in addition to all the Lord's commandments - will give the Israelites the strength to occupy the land promised to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Here appears some new information - some useful knowledge concerning the promised land the Israelites will soon enter:
The promised land is not like the irrigated land of Egypt. Rather it is a land of hills and valleys. The Israelites will depend on rain to grow crops. [Unlike in Egypt, where the Nile allows for the fixed watering method of irrigation.] The Lord will bring rain only if the people follow all his commands. No obedience, no fruit for the people and grass for the livestock.

The Lord continuously looks after this land, so not only is he able to control the climate, but he is also able to determine when the people loose faith in him.

To combat belief atrophy, God's commands should be kept in the heart and soul, bout to the hand and forehead, taught to children, discussed at home and away in the morning and evening. They should be written on doorposts of houses and on gates, so that the ancient covenantal promise of land and progeny may be fulfilled.

Again Moses states that observance of the Lord's commandments will cause the Lord to drive out the other nations of the land. The Israelites will be feared by all in the area. The Israelites will drive out great nations to occupy an area that extends from the wilderness to the Lebanon and form the Euphrates to the Mediterranean sea. [This just so happens to be about the dimensions of Israel during the Davidic monarchy. Not that it was necessarily written then, just that the synchronized proportions give us an understanding of when the biblical author might have written and what references he used.]

Moses then sets a blessing and a curse before the people, which concludes this section of Dueteronomy. The Israelites will be blessed if they adhere to the Lord's commandments. They will be cursed if they do not. The Israelites are to remember the blessing and the curse by writing them down. The blessing shall appear on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

This is the second example in this chapter of the literal writing of God's commandments. The biblical author was very concerned with establishing a written record of God's commandments. The most famous of these is the two stone tablets comprising the ten commandments. But the Israelites are also to keep the commandments and blessings in their minds and written on their entryways. The word of God, in a religious sense, is to completely engulf Israelite society. The Lord is literally never to be far from a person. God establishes many precautions to ensure that his chosen people follow him.

And yet for some reason they don't.

And that is the biblical story.

Deuteronomy 9-10:

Deuteronomy 9: The Consequences of Rebelling Against God
Deuteronomy 10: The Second Pair of Tablets / The Essence of the Law

In yesterday's reading we covered Moses' warning (from God) that God will destroy the Israelites if they do not follow God. According to the biblical author, the most dire way of disobeying God is to worship other gods or make idols that represent them. YHWH is the only God of Israel. In fact, YHWH is the only God. YHWH could have chosen other people to support, but he chose the Israelites because of a covenant made with their ancestors long ago. Therefore a failure to follow God's commandments can result in dire consequences. Today we will explore those consequences.

The Consequences of Rebelling Against God: Deuteronomy 9
Moses continues his speech to the congregation of Israel:

"Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross the Jordan today, to go in and dispossess nations larger and mightier than you, great cities fortified to the heavens, a strong and tall people..."
(Deut. 9.1-2)

Moses then warns them not to get cocky, because it is the Lord that will cross over before the Israelites and subdue and defeat the foreign people. Moses warns that it would be wrong for the Israelites to assume that they enter the promised land because they are righteous. In fact, the promised land is not given to them on their merit, but rather due to the wickedness of the inhabitants. And the land is granted in fulfillment of a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To sum up, the two reasons the Israelites are allowed to enter the promised land are:

1. The current inhabitants are wicked.
2. YHWH made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs.

It seems that from the author's point of view, Israel is given the promised land as a gift. It is something they were promised, though not as something they necessarily deserved. It is an inheritance, almost, from their dead parents who complained in the desert, as well as Abraham and Isaac, who had few progeny of their own and died (as did Jacob) without seeing the promised land.

The Israelites, after all, are a "stubborn people" (Deut 9.6). Moses recounts the places they have provoked the Lord: Horeb, Taberah, Massah, Kibroth-hattaavah, Kadesh-barnea. Each time the Lord must plead with the Lord to not destroy his people.

The Horeb account of the golden calf is described in detail: Moses remains on the mountain forty days and forty nights without food or water, and receives two stone tablets from God on which is written the covenant. The Lord then tells Moses to go to the Israelites, who have built a golden statue of a calf. Then the Lord changes his mind, deciding instead to blot them out (as he has done before). Moses rushes down the mountain, which is ablaze with God's fury. Moses sees the calf and smashes the tablets. Then he bargains with the Lord for forty days and forty nights to spare the lives of Aaron and the Israelites. Moses then burns the calf, crushes it into powder, and throws the dust into a stream.

At Kadesh-barnea Moses pleads with the Lord to remember the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, rather than focusing on the wickedness of the people. This seems to be the tact God takes regarding the Israelites and their "promised land."

The Second Pair of Tablets: Deuteronomy 10.1-11
Moses recounts how the Lord commanded him to create a second set of tablets on which God would again write the ten commandments. Moses is also to make an ark of acacia wood to hold them. Moses again spends forty days and forty nights on the mountain.

The Essence of the Law: Deuteronomy 10.12-22
Because there is so much going on in this passage, here is an analysis, breaking down this section into verse chunks:

So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.

Translation: Follow me and everything will be okay.

Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today.

It is the ancestors that made this covenant possible. Without them, God would have little reason to usher this ragtag group of people who frequently doubt him into the promised land.

Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.

What an interesting metaphor! Just as the Israelites circumcise their sons in a physical reminder that the Israelites are different and special to God, the Israelites must also make a change in their hearts in order to be considered different and special in the eyes of God.

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Israelites are not explicitly commanded to not take bribes or execute justice for the orphan and widow. The biblical author is extremely laconic, but is also as specific as possible. The stranger metaphor is a common one employed by the author to describe Israel's deliverance from Egypt. However, the metaphors of widows or orphans are uncommon, if they appear at all. Only the duty to the stranger, which makes use of the metaphor, crosses the divine/human threshold.

You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.

The promise of progeny has been fulfilled. Now it's time to get going on the "land" part. Thank your ancestors and obey God.

Deuteronomy 8: The history of the future

Deuteronomy 8: A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity

Writers right for an audience, right? Literature of any kind - prose, poetry, journalism, instruction manuals - serves a purpose, whether this is to entertain, inform, instruct, etc.  Without an audience to read and interpret, literature is simply words on a page (or screen, as is increasingly the case). It would be safe to say that the biblical author in Deuteronomy is trying to tell his audience something about its relationship with God. In fact, that has been the theme of the first seven chapters, and the message continues into and beyond today's reading.

Deuteronomy so far:
History 1 and 2
Obedience
The Ten Commandments
More Obedience
A Chosen People

These readings are all concerned with Israel's relationship with God. There are many warnings that link disobeying God with God abandoning or actively working against Israel. The messages are prophetic, but not in the sense that we usually think of prophecy. One misconception about biblical prophecy is that it is making predictions about events that will happen long into the future. This is not the case. Biblical prophecy is not like Nostradamus predicting the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Rather, the biblical prophet takes a look at the world around him and warns that something bad will happen, usually because it will: you will be invaded, you will be destroyed, etc. Educated guesses are made based on the political circumstances of the time. What distinguishes the prophet's writing is that this political upheaval is linked to God's will. This is why dialectical tensions are so important in the bible. Dialectical tensions create a framework to which prophecy may be applied. The prophet attaches religious meaning to political events. Instead of simply saying, "the enemy will soon be at your gates because your enemy has been conquering everyone in sight," prophecy says, "the enemy will soon be at your gates because you disobeyed the Lord.

If a prophet warns that disobedience results in tragedy, whenever tragedy occurs it is reckoned that the cause is disobedience. These things are easy to prove in hindsight. And that is what we are working through right now. This section, and the prophetic sections ahead, reveal the history of the future. That is, it is a story of the past created by contemporary writers to explain the current situation in terms of fulfillment of the covenant.

Here are the words of the Lord, as delivered by Moses to the people of Israel as they wait to enter the promised land.

A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity: Deuteronomy 8
Remember learning about similes and metaphors in elementary school? The biblical author uses a number of these in an attempt to describe the relationship between God and his chosen people.

The Lord claims that the reason the people wandered forty years in the wilderness was so that he could humble them to test whether they trusted in the Lord: "Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your god disciplines you" (Deut. 8.5). He made them hungry before giving them manna - a food never before eaten by the Israelites and their ancestors. The manna has a metaphorical quality for the Lord, given to the Israelites "in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of the Lord" (Deut. 8.3). In other words, obedience to the Lord's commandments is as important as (if not more than) physical food. It was with God's protection that they survived the journey through the wilderness.

The Lord promises a land of bountiful food sources, with precious metals and abundant water sources. The people will bless the Lord for what they have ben given.

But the people must not grow complacent. They must always recognize the God that has chosen them as his people. They must remember that the power and wealth they have has only been attained with the blessing of God. If the Israelites abandon YHWH for other gods, they will perish like the people they are about to drive out of the promised land.

So What?
The promised land was set aside by God for the Israelites as far back as the time of Abraham. The biblical author asserts that it is rightfully theirs, but only if they worship YHWH exclusively. Therefore, if the people are ever expelled from the promised land, which will happen by the time this text was written, it is because they did not keep God's commandments. This is the history of the future at work.]

Deuteronomy 7: A chosen people

Deuteronomy 7: A Chosen People / Blessings for Obedience

Yesterday we learned that the greatest commandment the Israelites have to follow is that YHWH alone should be worshiped as God. The Israelites are to live their lives as a constant reminder that YHWH is their God. The Israelites are a holy (that is, separate) people. Below Moses' recitation of the word of God is analyzed.

A Chosen People: Deuteronomy 7.1-11
Being the chosen people means a complete separation from the rest of the world, but it also means that God is on your side. The Lord will drive out seven nations that inhabit the promised land: Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites. But the way God drives out the inhabitants is by having the Israelites defeat them. The Israelites may make no covenant with them, not intermarry, and show them no mercy in battle (which won't be a problem if in fact these populations are completely destroyed).

The Israelites must destroy all the altars and objects of worship of the foreign peoples. This is seemingly so that there is no temptation to worship foreign Gods - just as the law against intermarriage prevents the children from worshiping foreign gods.

The Lord did not choose the Israelites because they were numerous and strong. It was in fulfillment of the covenant to the ancestors. The Lord's loyalty to the covenant therefore must be matched by the Israelites' obedience to him.

Blessings for Obedience: Deuteronomy 7.12-26
Loyalty to the covenant is rewarded with progeny, bountiful harvests, and no barrenness among the people or livestock. The people will not become ill and will be able to devour the people of the promised land - showing them no mercy.

The Lord tells the Israelites that they should not fear the great nations that inhabit the promised land. They will be saved as they were from Egypt. The Lord will send pestilence against them and destroy them little by little - destroying them to quickly would result in wild animals taking over the promised land in the absence of the Israelites before they make it to the cities and fields and vineyards.

The Lord will deliver Israel's enemies into their hands. The Israelites should in turn destroy all the idols they find and not be tempted to take their precious metals or other possessions. If the Israelites take these into their house, the Lord will destroy them. Such is the importance of separation between the Israelites and other peoples. The Israelites are a people apart.

Deuteronomy 6: Obedience

Deuteronomy 6: The Great Commandment / Caution Against Disobedience

From a religious as well as a literary perspective, this portion of the bible is one of the most meaningful. Here we get at the crux of Israelite faith - and the biblical story.

The Great Commandment: Deuteronomy 6.1-9
Moses, speaking the words of God, begins to deliver the commandments of God to the Israelites. Obedience by the Israelites (or "fear of God) will result in longevity of the people for generations. This promise invokes the ancestral covenant of land and progeny; if the Israelites follow this newly established covenant, "it may go well with you," and the Israelites will "multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey" as the Lord has promised.

The great commandment (after, of course, the ten big ones): The Lord alone is your God. The great corollary: Your entire life should acknowledge this fact. The commandment is dogma, the guiding principle of Israelite life. The corollary is praxis, the actual practice of the religion:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
(Deut. 6.4-9)

Dogma may guide the religion, but for this biblical author it is proper practice that ensures God's blessing. It is no wonder, therefore, that dialectical tensions feature so much in the bible - it is a story of God versus Israel, and Israel does not always wish to obey God. But if Israel obeys God, it will be blessed and kept by the Lord. Is it any wonder so much of the early books of the bible focuses on law? The author is very concerned with the fact that the Israelites, and later on the Hebrews, obeyed these laws in order to please God.

As the next section will demonstrate, disobedience is

Caution Against Disobedience: Deuteronomy 6.10-25
Moses, speaking the word of God, commands obedience by putting the Israelites' situation into perspective. A covenant was established with these peoples' ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, before it was ever established with the Israelites. [Therefore obedience honors the past, in addition to protecting the future.] Furthermore, Israel is to receive the promised land filled with ammenities that they did no work for [except wandering in the desert, though really that was for the congregation's mistrust of the Lord]. The promised land comes complete with "large cities that you did not build, houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant" (Deut 6.10-11). The Lord gives Israel a new home after years of enslavement in Egypt and wandering in the desert.

The people must not forget the Lord - and fear him and swear by him only. The Lord is a jealous God and as he has demonstrated is capable of blotting any human from the earth. Obedience will be rewarded and is in fact a requisite for thrusting Israel's enemies from the promised land.

The story and the requisite obedience are to be passed down for generations. The story of the Exodus is to survive through an oral tradition of parent to offspring. When children ask about the Lord's statutes, parents are to answer that the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt with a mighty hand that did great signs and wonders against Pharaoh and his household. The Lord then brought the Israelites into the promised land in fulfillment of the ancient covenant. Through proper practice the Israelites ensure their survival in the world:

"If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, we will be in the right.”
(Deut. 6.25)