Decalogue, part 1 (Deuteronomy 6-11)

Scripture: Deuteronomy 11 (especially verses 13-17, and also chapters 6-10)

If you've been reading through Deuteronomy with me, you'll notice something's different. As the title suggests, we're changing up the structure of working through the book. This simply reflects the change in the text itself; we're transitioning from Moses' introductory exhortations to his recapitulation of God's law. 

One fascinating observation, made by Walton and Hill in their textbook Old Testament Today, is that Moses' entire presentation, covering chapters 6 to 26, is a detailed exposition of the Ten Commandments (also called the Decalogue)! That all of the law really serves to further these ten core instructions.


And so, we'll cover the heart of Deuteronomy in ten posts, each looking at the portion of Moses' teaching that fleshes out the corresponding Commandment. The sections even go in order! And so we begin in chapter 11 with a fuller explanation of the very brief first commandment:

You shall have no other gods before me.

To see how this chapter adds depth and breadth to this commandment, I marked each verse that has a specific instruction. Then I listed out summaries of each:

• Love God (v. 1, 13)
• Obey his commandments (v. 1, 8, 32)
• Do not worship other gods in your hearts (v. 16)
• Make God's word central in your lives (v. 18-20)

Indeed, these instructions do give clarity as to what it means to have one God and no others. If you want to do some prayerful introspection, these might be four good areas to consider: where are you in terms of your love for God, obedience to God, singular focus of your worship, and response to God's word?