Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 (NRSV)
Read Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 4So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Verse 2You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you. Verse 6You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!" Verse 7For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? Verse 8And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today? Verse 9But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children-
Devotion
“You who are on the road must have a code that you can live by!” (Graham Nash)
Most scholars put the writing of Deuteronomy during the time of King Josiah’s reform in the 7th century BCE. Assyria’s power was waning, the book of the law was discovered, and Josiah called Judah to return to the nation’s religious foundations, to center their lives on the Ten Commandments not as just a bunch of rules but as a clarion call to return to God’s Road and Code of fear, love, and trust and concern for the neighbor. It was a call to take care and watch so as neither to forget the things that their eyes had seen nor to let them slip from their mind all the days of their life as they made God’s ways known to their children and their children’s children. As we walk on God’s road of life, what is the code that we will remember to live by?
Prayer
Holy Triune God, in our Baptism you have called us, named us, and sent us into your world. Lead us in your paths and guide us with your statutes. Amen.
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