And What They Know For Themselves They Must Explain To Their Children So That Righteousness Might Prevail In The Land (Deuteronomy 6:20-25).
Analysis in the words of Moses:
a When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh our God has commanded you, mean?” (Deuteronomy 6:20).
b Then you shall say to your son, “We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand (Deuteronomy 6:21).
c And Yahweh showed signs and wonders, great and sore, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes (Deuteronomy 6:22 a)
c And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He swore to our fathers (Deuteronomy 6:23).
b And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day (Deuteronomy 6:24).
a And it shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us (Deuteronomy 6:25).
Note that in ‘a' the children question what the statutes and judgments are telling them, and in the parallel they learn that they are telling them of the righteousness that must be theirs if they are to dwell in the land that belongs to their covenant Overlord. In ‘b they are to tell them that they had been Pharaoh's bondmen, and in the parallel that they are now Yahweh's freemen. In ‘c' we have described how Yahweh did His great wonders against Pharaoh and Egypt, and in the parallel how He brought them out from Egypt in order to give them His land which He had promised to their fathers.
‘ When your (thy) son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh our God has commanded you, mean?” '
So when their children in the future asked each of them concerning the testimonies, and the statutes and the ordinances, which ‘Yahweh our God' (their covenant God) had commanded them, and what they meant, they would be able to point to the faithfulness and goodness of the God of the covenant, and stress that they were His commands which he had a right to require of them because He was their overlord and Deliverer.
“Thy” clearly mainly has in mind here each individual to whom he is speaking.
‘ Then you shall say to your son, “We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and Yahweh showed signs and wonders, great and sore, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes, and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day.'
They will then be able to explain to their children that they had been Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, and how they had been bound to him by a kind of covenant, a slave covenant, and had suffered sore. And how Yahweh had delivered them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. How He had freed them from their bondage and from the covenant that bound them. And how He had shown signs and wonders, which had proved great and sore for Egypt, and these had come on Pharaoh and all his house in front of their very eyes, so that he had released them. And God had then brought them out from there so that He might bring them to the land which He had sworn to their fathers. And it was He Who had commanded them to do all these statutes, and to fear Yahweh their covenant God, and it was for their permanent good so that He might preserve them alive to that day and bless them.
Here once again we have repeated the important theological lessons on which the covenant was based. It is a partial covenant in brief.
· Firstly they were bound to Pharaoh, and under his rule and in bondage, enslaved and enchained, and in his kingdom.
· Then they were delivered with a mighty hand, the hand of Yahweh, Who had come against Egypt with signs and wonders and stricken it. Yahweh as their redeemer brought them out of Egypt.
· This was then followed by Him bringing them to the good land promised to their fathers, and establishing them there. Yahweh as their sovereign was constant, faithful and gracious, revealing further His mighty power, and bringing them into the promised land.
· And then finally He established Himself as their Lord so that they might obey His laws. Yahweh became their righteous ruler and sovereign, and they under His kingly rule, free and unchained, were in His kingdom.
This last was always how it was always intended to be.
For us there is an even greater reason for our worship. For we know that we were bound by sin and in bondage to our selfishness, but have been delivered from both by the mighty hand of God through the offering of His Son, Jesus Christ, on our behalf, once for all, revealed through greater wonders than those of Egypt. By this we have therefore come under the Kingly Rule of God, and He has been established as our Lord so that we might obey His will, awaiting our entry into His heavenly kingdom.
And the statutes were always an important part of this, for they alone could ensure that His people in the land remained just, and right, and prosperous. Only by a people obedient to these could the kingdom of God be established, with themselves as priests to the nations and a holy nation (Deuteronomy 7:6; Exodus 19:6). Without them they would simply sink once more to the level of other nations (as in fact they did).
“And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day.” The principle here is that life and death are in His hands. Their fathers had died in the wilderness because, as a result of their disobedience, that had been their sentence. But God did not seek men's deaths, He sought that they might live. Thus all who were now alive at this time could give thanks for life and credit it to the goodness of Yahweh. But continuing to live was based for Israel on fearing God and living according to His will. That was the only guarantee of life. And it was on that that they should set their hearts. It is the nation as a whole that is in view, not the individual, although the individuals make up the nation.
Of course men would die. It was happening constantly, and sometimes the good died young and the wicked lived long. This problem is dealt with elsewhere by looking at God's further purposes (see Psalms 73). But here the principle is being established that on the whole fearing God will result in continuing life, blatantly disobeying God will tend towards death. They had already learned this from what had happened to their fathers. Thus the statutes which encouraged them to fear God are seen as for man's good always.
‘ And it shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.'
For if they observed to do all this commandment before Yahweh their covenant God it would be righteousness for them. By it they would be acceptable to Him and vindicated before Him, because it would reveal that they truly loved Him. The thought was not of what they would earn by it, but that being seen as righteous would be the consequence of their vindication as a result of being delivered and made a righteous people. And it would result in God's continual blessing.
Elsewhere ‘before Yahweh' signifies the court of the tabernacle and its surrounds, but here it possibly refers to the whole country, stressing the holiness of the whole land.
“It shall be righteousness to us.” This may mean it would be counted as righteousness to them so that they would retain possession of the land, or it may mean that it would be a vindication for them with the same result. Compare Deuteronomy 24:13 where ‘it will be righteousness to you' means that a man will be pleasing to God and seen as having done the right. In Genesis 15:6 we are told of Abraham, ‘he believed in Yahweh and He counted it to him for righteousness', that is, He accepted him as fully righteous before Him in spite of his failings. Thus the principle idea is of being acceptable to God as a result of a response of faith to His activity.