Text: Dt. 6:17-25.
“You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken. “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’”
Theme: “Obedience And Its Rewards!”
This passage is intended to highlight the blessings that accompany those who keep and obey the commands of the LORD. However, it is certainly not an aberration; nor heretical to point out that the text subtly encourages all that the Lord Jesus Christ stood against. This includes religious exclusivism. It encourages a superiority complex that undermines the dignity of others. The undertones of discrimination and segregation are also evident within the text.
The text may be relevant in a religion that does not seek to be universal, but it stands in contradiction to the core tenets of the gospel of Christ’s unbridled love, universality, and all-inclusiveness.
In the context of Christ’s unlimited universal love, we can not continue to teach our children about the evil Pharaoh and the Egyptians pepertuated on the Jews. We can not also continue to teach our children how the LORD brought us out, to bring us in, to give us the land he swore to our fathers as their possession. How can those people embrace the faith of a God who wants to disinherit them just to favour the people he loves more than others!
The author was surely not speaking the mind of a loving God.
That notwithstanding, the bottom line is that those who diligently keep the commandments, testimonies, and statutes of the LORD will receive bounteous blessings from him. Our generations after us will continue to share in those blessings if we teach them the way of the LORD.
May we, therefore, be careful to observe all the commands before the LORD, and it will become our righteousness.
Sunday prayer: Holy Spirit, guide us on the path of obedience to the LORD. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
27/07/2025.