“The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you...” (Deut 7:6-8)
Moses exhorts the Israelites by reminding them of their unique place in God’s redemptive plan. The Lord had set his love on them and as a result had chosen them to be his. Why did he love them? Was it because they were skilled in some way? Powerful? Affluent? Domineering? Not at all. Nothing about them attracted God’s love. This is totally opposite from the way we operate isn’t it? Our love for something or someone is usually based on a characteristic rooted in that particular thing or person. Not so with God. Moses said, “The Lord set his love on you...because the Lord loves you.” Moses is not committing the fallacy of circular reasoning here! He is simply stating the truth that the source of God’s love is God! The reason God loves has everything to do with God and nothing to do with Israel!
It is the same for all of us who are in Christ today! God has set his love on us. God has chosen us. Why? What did we do to deserve it? Nothing! In fact, we have done everything to NOT deserve it! He loves us because he loves us! His love is rooted in his will, in his nature, in his glory. God’s love is of a kind we have never experienced anywhere else. He bathes us daily in a pure and perfect love that is totally free from any condition or requirement! His love for us is the deepest, richest love that could be known!
I read something in the ESV notes that was new to me, and I didn't understand the reasoning behind it. The note for Deut. 5:2 states,
ReplyDelete"Each of the two tablets of stone probably contained the full Ten Commandments, following ancient Near Eastern treaty practice. Both copies were later placed inside the ark of the covenant. The remainder of Israel's law was written by Moses in a book and kept beside the ark. (31:24-26)"
Why would there be a need for two tablets with the Ten Commandments written on each? AND
Why would the law be written in a book and placed by the ark instead of having a copy out where it could be studied by Moses and the judges of Israel? Did they make another copy, do you suppose? There is way too much Law to be able to remember it all after just one or two times hearing it, surely! AND, did Moses go into the Holy of Holies once the priesthood was set up? Is he the one exception to the "once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest only" rules?
Deuteronomy 6:7 will always be a very special command for me, since it framed the foundation for our family's choice to teach our children at home. "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."
Even before homeschooling, when Linz was a toddler sitting in her carseat, one of our fun traveling activities started with, "I'm thinking of a Bible story I'd like to tell you..." What a blessing to look back on those teaching moments, "formal" and informal, every possible chance we could get! It is joy to see how God blessed the obedience to His commands, even when they were small "obediences".