Charles Spurgeon Commentary Deuteronomy 6

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go to possess it:

God's commandments are to be taught, but they are also to be practiced: which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them. And it is this doing of them that is the hard part of the work. It is not easy always to teach them; a man needs the Spirit of God if he is to teach them rightly, but practice is harder than preaching. May God grant us grace, whenever we hear his Word, to do it!

That you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.

The fear of God must always be a practical power in our lives: that you might fear the Lord your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments. And that practical fear should lead us into obedience in detail; we ought to study God’s Word so that we endeavor to keep all his statutes and his commandments. A slipshod obedience is disobedience. We must be careful and watchful to know the divine will, and in all respects to carry it out.

You who are his children, dwelling in such a household, and with such a Father, it is fitting for you to be obedient children. Indeed, it is not only for us to obey the command of the Lord our God, but we should pray until the rest of the verse also comes true: you, and your son, and your son’s son, our children and our children’s children. I am sure that, if we love God, we will long that our children and our children’s children may love him, too.

If your trade has supported you and provided you with a comfortable living, you will naturally wish to train your son in it. But, on a far higher platform, if God has been a good God to you, your deepest desire will be that your son and your son’s son should serve the same Divine Master through all the days of their life.

That your days may be prolonged. God does not give long life to all his people; yet obedience to God is the most probable way of securing long life. There are also many of God’s saints who are spared in times of pestilence, or who are delivered by an act of faith out of great dangers.

That ancient declaration of God often comes true in these later times: As the days of a tree are the days of my people, and my elect will long enjoy the work of their hands.

At any rate, you who love the Lord will live out your days, whereas the wicked will not live out half their days. You will complete the circle of life, whether it be a great circle or a little one; with long life God will satisfy you, and show you his salvation.

The passage which now follows is highly esteemed by the Jewish people even down to this day. They repeat it frequently, for it forms part of their morning and evening services.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

There is but one God. This is the very basis of our faith; we know nothing of "gods many and lords many." Yet it is the Triune God whom we worship; we are not less Unitarians in the highest meaning of that word because we are Trinitarians. We are not less believers in the one living and true God because we worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go to possess it: That you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.

Obedience to God should arise from the fear of him, or from a holy awe of God felt in the heart, for all true religion must be heart work. It is not the bare action alone at which God looks, but at the motive—at the spirit which dictates it. Hence it is always stated, That you might fear the Lord your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments. Neither are we to be content with keeping commands ourselves.

It is the duty of parents to seek the good of their children—to seek that their son and their son's son should walk in the ways of God all their lives. May God grant us never to be partakers of the spirit of those who think that they have no need to look after the religion of their children—who seem as if they left it to a blind fate. May we care for them with this specific care—that our son and our son's son should walk before the Lord all the days of their life.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey.

It seems, according to the old covenant, that temporal prosperity was appended as a blessing to the keeping of God's commandments.

It has been sometimes said that while prosperity was the blessing of the old covenant, adversity is the blessing of the new. There is some truth in that statement, for whom the Lord loves he chastens.

And yet, it is true that the best thing for a man is that he should walk in the commands of God.

There is a sense in which we do make the best of both worlds when we seek the love of God.

When we seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, other things are added to us; so that it is not without meaning to us that the Lord here promises temporal blessings to his people.