Deuteronomy 4:1-9 (NRSV)
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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 3You have seen for yourselves what the Lord did with regard to the Baal of Peor-how the Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, Verse 4while those of you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. Verse 5See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. 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
God had just rescued the children of Israel from servitude in Egypt. How can they express their gratitude? In today’s scripture, Moses introduces a long list of commandments about relationships, diet, holy days, etc. As he begins, Moses instructs the people to remember the commandments he is teaching. “Give heed to the commandments,” he says. Keep them. Observe them diligently. Neither forget the commandments nor let them slip from your mind; make them known to your children and your children’s children.
Indeed, we must remember. What good will the commandments be if they are not remembered, not heeded, not observed? Over and over God’s people have reminded one another to keep God’s commands. Moses, Joshua, Hezekiah, Josiah, the prophets, Jesus, Paul – all reminded one another to do what God commanded. Who reminds you? Whom are you called to remind to heed God’s commands?
Prayer
Holy God, Sovereign of those who have gone before us, help us to remember, to heed and to observe your commands and to make them known to one another, that together we may live and teach your commands to those who come after us. Amen.