Moses continues his declaration to the Israelites:
What does the Lord, your God, ask of you but to fear the Lord, your God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul.
Throughout this passage, and so far throughout Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people again and again that this means (i) worshipping God and God alone, and eschewing false idols, and (ii) obeying God's commandments, statutes, and decrees. The repetition of these themes gives me some sympathy for the Pharisees from the New Testament. Dare I say it!?!
But woven into these themes here is another current--love, the greatest commandment of all. Moses expresses this when he tells the Israelites to "circumcise your hearts." That instruction gave me pause. My version of the Bible has a note explaining that the uncircumcised heart "is closed and unreceptive to divine grace and guidance." Interesting metaphor. But Moses seems to be teaching us that there is something fundamentally important beyond simple obedience at issue here.
Moses goes on to direct the Israelites to "take these words of mine into your heart . . . teach them to your children, speaking of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest."
God is our God, the only God, the loving and merciful God who is always with us. Every person, every land, every moment. My life cannot be complete or truly fulfilled until I engage in responding to and living His love and mercy.
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