When my husband and I visited Israel in 2019 we purchased a small rectangular box called a Mezuzah. Inside is a roll of paper with part of today’s reading, Deuteronomy 6:4-6,

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our god, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I gave you today are to be on your hearts.”

The Mezuzah is designed to hang on the doorpost to our house so that we may touch it and be reminded of God’s Word. As Moses said to Israel,

“Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your forehead. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:7-9

Remember the Lord

People don’t think about God or his Word so much when things are going well. It’s usually a crisis that makes us remember the Lord.

Things were going well for Israel. They were about to enter Canaan where flourishing cities, homes filled with good things, water wells, vineyards, and olive groves were waiting for them to come in and take over. Moses knew there was danger in all of that prosperity.

“When you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” Deuteronomy 6:11-13

People who forget the Lord end up worshiping false gods because it’s in the nature of people to worship something or someone. The only way for Israel to stay on the right spiritual track was to remember the Lord.

Memory Aids

Moses wanted Israel to be so faithful about keeping the Law that each new generation would embrace it for themselves. The Law of God was an aid to remembering.

“In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded?’ Tell him: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand . . . he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors . . . and if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.’” Deuteronomy 6:20-21, 23, 25

Israel has long been known as the People of the Book. The first phrase a Jewish child is taught is,

Torah tziva lanu Moshe, morasha kehilat Yaakov – “The Torah commanded to us by Moses is the inheritance of the entire congregation of Jacob.”

The history, the Law and the commandments are the essence of what it meant to be an Israelite, and what it means to be Jewish today.

God’s Treasured Possession

One of the challenges Israel faced in Canaan was being located in different places throughout their territory. They wouldn’t all live within sight of each other. They would become pilgrims trekking to the tabernacle to observe the festivals of the Lord a few times a year.

On the way through Canaan Israel was going to confront ancient high places where pagan gods were worshiped. They would meet people groups that God commanded them to wipe out, but who wanted to live, and wanted to make treaties with Israel and intermarry with them.

If Israel didn’t cling to who they were, they would become compromised and lose their faith. They had the Law to hold on to, but Moses now reminded them of an even greater identity.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” Deuteronomy 7:6

God Chose Israel

Moses made it clear that it was not because Israel was more outstanding than the other people on earth that God chose them.

 “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery . . .  Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:7-9

God loved all the people on the earth, but not all of them had agreed to be in a covenant of love with him as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had done. He invited Israel to be his bride and when she said “yes” to him he made a home for her. The analogy of a marriage between God and his people stayed with Israel throughout her history.

“For your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.” Isaiah 54:5

When we look at the relationship between Israel and God through the lens of marriage vows, God’s words and actions make sense.

Evidence of Love

God asked his bride to be faithful to him and he promised an exclusive relationship with her.

“If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. He will love you and increase your numbers . . . you will be blessed more than any other people . . .” Deuteronomy 7:12, 14

He promised to protect and provide for Israel. He would confront her enemies and drive them away. He would give Israel a home and children and he would always be faithful to his beloved people.

But Israel . . .

 Sadly, Israel didn’t remain faithful to God.

I’m going to jump ahead to Jeremiah to share how this story turned out because I think it adds emphasis to what God said to Israel in Deuteronomy – when he gave her the land of Canaan – while the relationship was still new and hope was in the air.

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the Lord.

Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel. This is what the Lord says: ‘What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt, and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives? I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me.’” Jeremiah 2:2-8

Covenant Relationship is Serious Business

We have read in the Law that anyone who took a vow had to fulfill it. It was an action that God took extremely seriously. He made vows to Israel and the people made vows to him in return. God never forgot those vows. Throughout the Old Testament God acted according to the agreements he and Israel made together.

As long as Israel was faithful to God they had a joyful, loving union with God and their children grew up and prospered. But when Israel betrayed God with idols and false gods, he withdrew his love. Nevertheless, in the rest of the Old Testament we will see the many ways God tried to save the marriage between himself and his people.

In the New Testament Jesus came and made a new offer from God to people. He paid the price of redeeming the bride who was taken captive by Satan, and he invited, not just Israel, but all the people on earth to come to his wedding banquet. Those who accept Jesus are called the Church, the Bride of Christ.

If you apply the analogy of marriage vows to your own relationship with God, what is the state of your relationship today? Ask the Lord what you can do to make it better.