Moses reminds this new generation about the greatest commandment. In Jewish custom, this is called the Shema, coming from the root word “hear”. The Shema is specifically verses 4-5, and it is an active command for the Israelites to hear, love, and obey the Lord. Jesus repeats the Shema in Mark 12.28-34 as the greatest commandment given to men:

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” When we think about commands, we don’t often think about love. But here it is: the command is to love the Lord.

The first part of the Shema sets up the exclusivity of our allegiance and the unified nature of the God we worship. God is the only God, the only Creator and Sustainer, and the only One truly deserving of our allegiance. As the New Testament unfolds we see that Jesus and the Father and the Spirit are one. Jesus’ prayer in John 17.11 makes it clear that the Trinity is one unified God. The word for “one” in Deuteronomy is the same word in Genesis 2.24 when Adam and Eve become one flesh. Not only is God the only God, but there is only one way to access Him, only through Jesus can we receive reconciliation.

The other thing the Shema sets up is that the purpose of our lives is to love God with all that we are and all that we have. Loving God wholly leads to obeying Him. Our obedience does not flow out of a remote sense of obligation but out of love and the recognition that He alone is worthy.

Finally, the Shema is given for our flourishing. “That it may go well with you” is repeated over and over again in Deuteronomy. God reveals His design for our flourishing in the boundaries that He establishes for our lives. We are not made for full autonomy, but for full surrender to the King of the Universe, who desires for our lives to be abundant. And they are abundant when we are found fully loving and obeying Him.

[Deuteronomy 6.1-25]

1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 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 lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And 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—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised.

20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 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. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 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 we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?

+ Who are these commandments for? What is the promise for obedience? [vv. 1-3]

+ What are the ways in which we can love the Lord? [vv. 4-5]

+ What are the Israelites who receive this law supposed to do with it? [vv. 6-9]

+ What is the danger that Moses warns against once they enter the Promised Land? [vv. 10-19]

+ What explanation can an Israelite give to his children for the reason they obey the Lord’s commands? [vv. 20-25]

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?

+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?

+ Is my life fully oriented around loving the Lord with all that I have? What needs to change?

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?

+ What is my next step?