Reflections from Deuteronomy 申命记的反思

Deuteronomy 6:4–94 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Original Meaning 6:4 By uttering the Shema, the Israelites were declaring their devotion to Yahweh. This is a cry of allegiance, an affirmation of covenant commitment.

6:5 Moses calls on the people to back up the verbal commitment expressed in v. 4 with wholehearted and full-bodied love.

6:6–9 The commitment must be a family matter (v. 7) and a public matter.

Application

Moses taught his people—and he teaches us and Christians everywhere—that true spirituality arises from the heart and extends to all of life. True love for God is rooted in the heart, but it is demonstrated in life, specifically a passion to speak of one’s faith in the context of the family and to declare one’s allegiance publicly to the world.

申命记 6:4-94 以色列啊，你要听！耶和华我们神是独一的主。5 你要尽心、尽性、尽力爱耶和华你的神。6 我今日吩咐你的这些诫命，都要记在你们心上。7 也要将这些诫命教训你们的儿女。无论你坐在家里，行在路上，躺下，起来，都要谈论。8 也要系在你们手上为记号，戴在你们的额上。9 也要写在你们房屋的门框上，并你们的城门上。

原义6:4以色列人藉着诵念“舍玛”宣告他们对耶和华的忠诚。这是效忠的呼声，是对盟约承诺的肯定。

6:5摩西呼吁百姓以全心全意、满腔的爱来支持第4节中表达的口头承诺。

6:6-9承诺必须是家庭事务（第7节）和公共事务。

应用

摩西教导他的子民——也教导我们以及世界各地的基督徒——真正的灵性源于内心，并延伸至生活的方方面面。对上帝的真爱根植于内心，但也体现在生活中，尤其是在家庭中宣扬信仰，并向世人公开宣告忠诚的热情。