Catholic Commentary on Deuteronomy 6

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

The Shema

Deuteronomy 6 gives the Shema, the foundational prayer of Israel, recited morning and evening by observant Jews to this day. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments are to be upon the hearts of the people, taught diligently to their children, talked about at home and on the road, in the morning and at night. They are to be tied on the hand and worn between the eyes; written on the doorframes of houses and gates. The Catechism calls the Shema the summary of all the Law and the Prophets, the commandment that Jesus names as the greatest when he is asked (CCC 2083). The love commanded is total, engaging every faculty of the human person: heart, soul, and strength.

Moses warns against the prosperity that will come when they enter the land: be careful that you do not forget the LORD who brought you out of Egypt. When you eat and are satisfied and build fine houses and your flocks and herds grow large and your silver and gold increase, do not become proud and forget the LORD. Do not follow other gods. Do not test the LORD as you tested him at Massah. Observe the LORD's commands and do what is right and good in his sight, so that it may go well with you. When your children ask: why do these laws apply to us? say: we were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt and the LORD brought us out. He commanded us to observe all these decrees so that we might prosper and be kept alive.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul and strength. Jesus calls this the greatest commandment. Not the most important of many equally important things, but the greatest, the one on which everything else hangs. Total love of God is not the ceiling of religious achievement; it is the foundation of ordinary Christian life. Begin here. Return here every day.

Prayer

Hear, O Lord: we are yours. We love you with all our heart and all our soul and all our strength. Tie these commandments on our hearts, teach them to our children, write them on the doorposts of our homes. Do not let prosperity make us forget who brought us out. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

6
The Greatest Commandment
(Matthew 22:34–40; Mark 12:28–34)
1 These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess, 2 so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
 
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.* 6:4 Or The LORD our God is One LORD or The LORD is our God, the LORD is One or The LORD is our God, the LORD alone; cited in Mark 12:29 5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.† 6:5 Cited in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27
 
6 These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
 
10 And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build, 11 with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
 
13 Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name.‡ 6:13 Or serve Him, and take your oaths only in His name; cited in Matthew 4:10 and Luke 4:8 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you. 15 For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
 
16 Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.§ 6:16 Massah means testing; see Exodus 17:7; cited in Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:12. 17 You are to diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the testimonies and statutes He has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may be well with you and that you may enter and possess the good land that the LORD your God swore to give your fathers, 19 driving out all your enemies before you, as the LORD has said.
Teach Your Children
 
20 In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?” 21 then you are to tell him, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household. 23 But He brought us out from there to lead us in and give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.
 
24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, that we may always be prosperous and preserved, as we are to this day. 25 And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness.”

*6:4 6:4 Or The LORD our God is One LORD or The LORD is our God, the LORD is One or The LORD is our God, the LORD alone; cited in Mark 12:29

†6:5 6:5 Cited in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27

‡6:13 6:13 Or serve Him, and take your oaths only in His name; cited in Matthew 4:10 and Luke 4:8

§6:16 6:16 Massah means testing; see Exodus 17:7; cited in Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:12.

Public Domain