Why is Deuteronomy 10:12-13 for Us?
Deuteronomy 10:12-13, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?”
INTRODUCTION
Set Apart as God’s People
Moses plainly writes that Israel – the chosen nation, who is the people of God based on God’s decree – is to live in four distinct ways. These four ways will not only set them apart from others that they live near and from the rest of the world but it will give them a more robust understanding of God, which will then work to transform them into the people of God. The four distinct ways in which Israel (or the people of God) is to live are as follows: they will 1) fear the LORD their God, 2) walk in all his ways, 3) love God, and 4) serve the LORD their God with all their heart and all their soul.
This instruction from God given to Moses and then from Moses given directly to the nation of Israel (and indirectly to us) is both wonderfully clear and wonderfully complex at the same time.[1] The requirements on how to live are clear in that there are four of them, not four hundred; four succinct requirements are given to the people in order that they might develop a more God-honoring, life-giving, and complete relationship with the LORD our God.
Foundational Requirements
Not only are the four requirements clear and succinct, but they also are given in a way that shows their necessity to the other requirements given in the group. To remove one of the four foundational requirements from the nation of Israel is to have the entire structure of communion with God crumble to the ground in a heap. We must have them all or have none of them. I base this statement on the fact that it is impossible to walk in the ways of God if we first have no beginning fear of God. Likewise, in order to serve God with all our heart and all our soul there first has to be the foundation of loving God existing in order to rouse the service of God.
Complexity of the Four Requirements
As was mentioned earlier, even though these requirements seem simple at first, their complexity increases the more we seek to know and understand this God who gave them and how we are to respond to the requirements. We are called not only to follow through with the requirements but also to firmly understand what is meant by each requirement. What does it mean to fear God? What are God’s ways and how do I walk in them? How can I love God? Why does God want me to serve him? And, even before moving into working through these questions we must come to terms with the fact that Moses is writing of requirements that God has for his people. Does this mean that God is dependent upon our actions and follow through?
Why Devote Six Essays to Examining Old Testament Requirements?
The short answer is Jesus, but there is more that must be said. The reality is that the four requirements given to Moses for the nation of Israel were directly for them and not for us today. It is the result of irresponsible biblical exposition that directly applies every part of the Bible to our present time and situation without first noting the obvious elements that come along with the Old Testament text. We must make clear the fact that these requirements were given during a specific time in history to a specific group of people in order to fulfill a goal that does carry over to us today. However, the danger remains in slipping into a world that we are not a part of – one that existed before the revelation of Jesus Christ – and thus, denying the work of Jesus in our lives. This is a danger that I aim to steer us clear of at every turn by consistently and relentlessly pointing to Christ as the final manifestation of Deuteronomy 10:12-13. Jesus is our key to interpreting the Old Testament and he will be our focus throughout this entire series because, after all, it is the will of God that we would be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).
My Prayer for You
It is and will be my prayer, throughout this series, that you would come to know God in a way you have not known him before and, because of that new knowledge, you would come to love Jesus more.
Look for next month’s installment dealing with the “problem” of God having requirements.
[1] From this point on within the Introduction and throughout the entire series I will be using the titles nation of Israel or Israel and the children of God or us/we interchangeably unless I wish to explicitly refer to either the Old Testament nation of Israel or the New Covenant people of God.