Deuteronomy 6:19

6:17-25 Moses gives charge to keep God's commandments. Negligence will ruin us; but we cannot be saved without diligence. It is our interest, as well as our duty, to be religious. It will be our life. Godliness has the promise of the continuance and comfort of the life that now is, as far as it is for God's glory. It will be our righteousness. It is only through the Mediator we can be righteous before God. The knowledge of the spirituality and excellency of the holy law of God, is suited to show sinful man his need of a Saviour, and to prepare his heart to welcome a free salvation. The gospel honours the law, not only in the perfect obedience of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ; but in that it is a plan for bringing back apostate rebels and enemies, by repentance, faith, forgiveness, and renewing grace, to love God above all things, even in this world; and in the world above, to love him perfectly, even as angels love him.

The command "to swear by His Name" is not inconsistent with the Lord's injunction Matthew 5:34 , "Swear not at all." Moses refers to legal swearing, our Lord to swearing in common conversation. It is not the purpose of Moses to encourage the practice of taking oaths, but to forbid that, when taken, they should be taken in any other name than that of Israel's God. The oath involves an invocation of Deity, and so a solemn recognition of Him whose Name is made use of in it. Hence, it comes especially within the scope of the commandment Moses is enforcing.

CHAPTER 6 De 6:1-25. Moses Exhorts Israel to Hear God and to Keep His Commandments. 1-9. Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them … whither ye go to possess it—The grand design of all the institutions prescribed to Israel was to form a religious people, whose national character should be distinguished by that fear of the Lord their God which would ensure their divine observance of His worship and their steadfast obedience to His will. The basis of their religion was an acknowledgment of the unity of God with the understanding and the love of God in the heart (De 6:4, 5). Compared with the religious creed of all their contemporaries, how sound in principle, how elevated in character, how unlimited in the extent of its moral influence on the heart and habits of the people! Indeed, it is precisely the same basis on which rests the purer and more spiritual form of it which Christianity exhibits (Mt 22:37; Mr 12:30; Lu 10:27). Moreover, to help in keeping a sense of religion in their minds, it was commanded that its great principles should be carried about with them wherever they went, as well as meet their eyes every time they entered their homes. A further provision was made for the earnest inculcation of them on the minds of the young by a system of parental training, which was designed to associate religion with all the most familiar and oft-recurring scenes of domestic life.

It is probable that Moses used the phraseology in De 6:7 merely in a figurative way, to signify assiduous, earnest, and frequent instruction; and perhaps he meant the metaphorical language in De 6:8 to be taken in the same sense also. But as the Israelites interpreted it literally, many writers suppose that a reference was made to a superstitious custom borrowed from the Egyptians, who wore jewels and ornamental trinkets on the forehead and arm, inscribed with certain words and sentences, as amulets to protect them from danger. These, it has been conjectured, Moses intended to supersede by substituting sentences of the law; and so the Hebrews understood him, for they have always considered the wearing of the Tephilim, or frontlets, a permanent obligation. The form was as follows: Four pieces of parchment, inscribed, the first with Ex 13:2-10; the second with Ex 13:11-16; the third with De 6:1-8; and the fourth with De 11:18-21, were enclosed in a square case or box of tough skin, on the side of which was placed the Hebrew letter (shin), and bound round the forehead with a thong or ribbon. When designed for the arms, those four texts were written on one slip of parchment, which, as well as the ink, was carefully prepared for the purpose.

They were rather to observe all His commandments diligently, and do what was right and good in His eyes. The infinitive וגו להדף contains the further development of וגו ייטב למען: "so that He (Jehovah) thrust out all thine enemies before thee, as He hath spoken" (viz., Exodus 23:27 ., Deuteronomy 34:11 ).

[Bible] 6:14. You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that are round about you: 6:15. Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth. 6:16. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation. 6:17. Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee. 6:18. And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers, 6:19. That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken. 6:20. And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us? 6:21. Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 6:22. And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight, 6:23. And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land, concerning which he swore to our fathers. 6:24. And the Lord commanded that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is at this day. 6:25. And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. Deuteronomy Chapter 7 No league nor fellowship to be made with the Chanaanites: God promiseth his people his blessing and assistance, if they keep his commandments.