| WHO NEEDS LAWS? |
| Love makes the difference in this rulebook. |
| Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God. 12:28 |
| Deuteronomy repeats verbatim many of the laws given in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Yet it is far from a rulebook. A different spirit pervades it: the spirit of love. The rules in Deuteronomy read more like a guide on "How to Have a Successful Family" than, say, an automobile maintenance manual. To keep up a car you need only follow the rules. To maintain a close personal relationship you need more - you need love. What Makes Deuteronomy Different Deuteronomy focuses on motives: why people should obey laws. The preceding three books barely mentioned the love of God for his people,but Deuteronomy again and again refers to it (see 4:37; 7:7-8; 10:15; 23:5). The author portrays God as a father with his children, as a mother who gives them life, as an eagle hovering over its young. In return, God asks for obedience based on love, not a sense of duty. At least 15 times in the book Moses tells the Israelites to love God and cling to him. God wants not just an outward conformity, but an obedience that comes from the heart. (Later, in summing up the Old Testament, Jesus quoted the first and greatest commandment from Deuteronomy: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" [Matthew 22:37; Deuteronomy 6:5]). Restating the Negatives Deuteronomy also hints at why laws are needed in the first place. Moses stated the principle directly, "The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be |
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