“Some day your child will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which Adonai our God has laid down for you?’ Then you will tell your child, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Adonai brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.‘”-Deuteronomy 6:20-21
Moses makes it clear to the children of Israel there will be divine rewards for their obedience.
What are some of these divine rewards?
In a nutshell, the rewards are that Israel will be successful in driving out their enemies and inheriting the land God has set aside for them.
Moses then goes on to predict something very important.
He warns the people the inevitable day is going to come when your children are going to ask the big WHY questions.
And in most cases, these “why” questions are going to be in comparison to what everyone else is doing.
“Why can’t we drive on Shabbat when all the other kids get to go Disney Land with their parents?”
“Why can’t I eat ham sandwiches when everyone else is eating them?”
“Why do we have to study the Torah when all my non-Jewish friends are all reading about Jesus in the New Testament?”
This kind of reminds me when I was a kid and I had to go to Japanese school on Saturdays.
I felt like it sucked because everyone else got to stay at home and watch Bugs Bunny on TV while I had to sit through a class learning a foreign language that I had no use for in my current environment.
I took to pestering my parents with my own WHY questions like…why in the world did I have to go to Japanese school when I would never use Japanese in America (or so I thought at the time)?
Moses informs the parents in his audience that the obvious differences between them and the surrounding pagans are going to arouse curiosity.
Therefore, when your children ask you why we do things so differently, you are to answer them as follows:
“We do things differently because we were slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh and our God freed us from his grip”.
The point being made is that it is Israel’s unique history which separates them from all the gentile nations on the planet.
Hence, that is why we believers are to walk in the ways of the God who separated us away from all the other peoples of the earth.
In addition, because God has established Israel as a separate and unique people and…
…redeemed them, rescued them from slavery to an evil taskmaster, and set aside a land just for them…
…Israel’s proper response is to observe all of God’s appointed times and festivals.
Finally, Moses sums everything thing up by telling Israel if they obey and do everything they are supposed to, then “it will be to our credit”.
Let’s explore this phrase a bit.
What exactly does “to our credit” mean?
Essentially it means that if Israel obeys…
…then God will bless them and bring about goodness and well being.
Again, understand that these blessings are contingent upon Israel’s obedience.
We’re not talking about salvation by grace here.
We’re talking about the shalom our Father in Heaven gives us because we’ve been obedient.
And of course, the opposite also holds true if we are disobedient.
When we rebel, God’s holiness demands that He discipline us.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER SEVEN
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