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<< Deuteronomy 6: Last Words of Moses >>
 THE children of Israel were in the plains of Jordan on the east side of the river, where Balaam saw them "abiding according to their tribes." It was the eleventh month of the fortieth year since the people came out of Egypt. In a few weeks they would cross the Jordan and keep the Passover in the promised land. But before that, Moses would die. He spoke these last earnest words to the people, repeating again the law which the Lord had given them at Sinai, entreating them to keep it faithfully in the land which was about to be their home. See the old man, now a hundred and twenty years old, talking as with his little children.
These are some of the words that the Lord gave him to say to the people.
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers. To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.
And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us. ...
All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God. ---Deuteronomy VI. VIII.
Spiritual Correspondences
Spiritual Meaning
DEUTERONOMY VI
1Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
1. And this is the Divine Law, containing Truths external and internal which the Lord by influx from Himself communicates mediately to the man of the Spiritual Church, in order that he may live according to it, when he comes into the full possession and enjoyment of the heavenly life;
2That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
2. And in order that he may in holy fear, love the state of truth conjoined with good, and obey the truths extrnal and internal which had been revealed to him, and this in every state of his life according to its three degrees to eternity both as to the will and understanding.
3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
3. For obedience both as to the understanding and will is absolutely essential to the spiritual man, so that he may remain in the life of good, and be abundant in truths, according to the Divine Love manifested in Divine Truth, in all previous states of the church, which abundantly receives, by influx from the Lord, all natural truths and all natural delights to eternity.
4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
4. And therefore it is to be known and remembered, that, although Divine Good and Divine Truth may be separated in thought, yet they are essentially one, and thus that the Lord is One in Essence and in Person.
5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
5. And further, let it be known and remembered that love is the essential of all worship of the Lord as to the will, as to the understanding, and as to both embodied in action;
6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
6. Also that the truths of the Divine Law, which are revealed from the Lord, and are perpetually with the man of the church as the Divine Word, are to be inmostly loved,
7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
7. Externally received in the understanding, and embodied in the life; and thus are to be continually remembered in every state of rest in good; in every state of progress by truth; in every state of external repose; and in every state of external activity.
8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
8. And moreover, they are to be conjoined with good in the will and in the understanding internally,
9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
9. And in the will and understanding externally.
10And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
10. Again, when man, by the reception of Divine Good conjoined with Divine Truth, has entered into the heavenly state, given and confirmed to the celestial, spiritual, and natural powers; and when doctrinesboth as to good and truth are taught to him and are acknowledged to be from the Lord.
11And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
11. Also when receptacles of good and receptacles of truth in the Natural are, in like manner, acknowledged to be from the Lord, the spiritual and celestial things themselves; and when goood is fully appropriated;
12Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
12. Even then must the man of the church be established in the truth that his life is not self-derived, but is continually given to him on account of the Lord's work of redemption from the loves of self and the world.
13Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
13. And by this means love and holy fear must be predominant in the heart, truth in the understanding, and both in every word and work.
14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
14. For declension into evil and falsity will then be impossible to the fully regenerated man; and the man of the church in the course of of regeneration is warned against the danger of relapsing into evil in consequence.
15(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
15. And besides this, while good is conjoinded with truth in heavenas to the minutest particulars, evil and falsity are conjoined with the wicked in the hells, and they are strongly averted from the Lord, desiring the destruction of heavenly good and truth which are from Him, and being themselves totally vastated.
16Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
16. Moreover, the good, in heaven, can no longer enter into temptations, which they know that they endured in former states of conflict with evil;
17Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
17. And they are conscious that they are delighted in diligently acting according to all Divine laws inerior, exterior and external, from pure love love.
18And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers.
18. But the man of the church on earth is warned lest he should violate truth and good, the quality of which he perceives from the Lord, so that he, too, may enter into the possession of the heavenly life, which is promised to him by the Lord in all ages,
19To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.
19. Because, at all times, he is endowed with power to resist evil from the Divine Omnipotence, or by means Divine Truth proceeding from Divine Good.
20And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?
20. Further, in the successive states of the man of the Spiritual Church on earth and in heaven, there shall be fully the remembrance of truths in all their variety, and also a desire to investigate them.
21Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:
21. And this desire will be satisfied by information from the Word that all men, as to their first consciousness of life, are merely natural; and that the Lord, by the assumption and glorification of His Human, has delivered the spiritual man from that state.
22And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:
22. And that revelation has been made of an abundance of truths from the Word both in its literal and spiritual sense, by which evil and falsity are overcome, even by the exercise of the rational powers from the Lord.
23And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.
23. And that thus the spiritual man is delivered from things merely natural, in order that he may enjoy the heavenly life, which is promised to him and confirmed to him by the Lord in all ages.
24And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
24. And it further follows that man has received all truths internal and external from the Lord; and is enabled to love good conjoined with truth continually, and thus continually to enjoy the higher life.
25And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
25. And it is the true righteousness of the spiritual man that he is able, as from himself, but really from the Lord, to understand and practise all Divine Truths according to the laws of Divine Order.
DEUTERONOMY VIII
1All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
1. For the man of the Spiritual Church must be obedient to the laws of Divine Order, which are Divine Truths perpetual, that he may receive spiritual life or love and charity, and also an abundance of truths, and thus enter into the heavenly state, which is confirmed, to those who are in good, from eternity.
2And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
2. And he must also remember all the operations of the Divine Providence for his regeneration and salvation through a full course of temptations in a state of obscurity, so that he might acknowledge that in himself there is no good, might acquire a strong desire for truth, and might be established in love, himself clearly discerning the quality of his own life in a state of spiritual freedom.
3And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
3. For by temptations a state of humility had been induced; an earnest longing for good had been felt; he had desired to receive the good of truth according to his state, although the process by which this was accomplished was beyond his knowledge, and indeed beyond the knowledge of the preceding churches; so that he might learn that not merely outward delights and external good can satisfy the soul, and that spiritual life is from the Lord alone by the Word.
4Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
4. The spiritual man remembers also, that in alll his past experience, truths had never failed for him; and that although he had been tempted, the natural man had not gained the dominion.
5Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
5. And therefore he is admonished, and now perceives from a state of charity, that all his temptations had been by the Lord's leading, a means for the reception of good through the discipline of the truth.
6Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
6. And therefore also that he must now obey the Divine commandments, which proceed from the conjunction of good with truth, from the heart, with the understanding, and by a holy life.
7For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
7. For it is by Divine Good united with Divine Truth, that he will inherit the heavenly kingdom, which is a genuine life of good, and thence an abundance of truths natural, spiritual, and celestial, resulting from states of good external as well as internal.
8A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
8. Which is also a state, therefore, of interior good, exterior good, interior truths, of exterior truths, of scientifics of good, and of celestial and natural delight harmoniously combined.
9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
9. A state in which good shall be supplied in abundance according to every need; where there will no scarcity; and, in short, a state in which sensusal truths contain a truly natural quality, and the holy principle of charity becomes fully embodied in natural good.
10When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
10. Moreover the regenerated spiritual man shall appropriate all good in fulness; shall enjoy full conjunction with the Lord by a reciprical state of love; and shall acknowledge from the heart that all his delights in good are from the Lord alone.
11Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
11. And yet he must be on his guard, lest he should violate any of the laws of order, which are truths internal, interior, and external, of which he is continually receptive.
12Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
12. for even he has appropriated good in fulness internally and externally, during regeneration;
13And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
13. And the natural and spiritual affections are developed, the knowledges of truth and good are increased, and, in short, when the whole man is renewed;
14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
14. Even then the spiritual man is free, and may become proud from selfish love, and ignorant of the Lord, through ascribing his life to himself; and may forget that all his salvation is from the Lord by the work of redemption.
15Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
15. Also that the Divine Providence had been contiually operating for his elevation, through temptations as to evil and as to falsity, arising from the lusts of the sensual man, and the direful errors thence derived; and that, in consequence, truths had appeared to be entirely wanting, until the temptation was past and an abundance of such truths had been supplied from the word in its literal sense.
16Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
16. And it is possible also for the man of the Spiritual Church, to forget how he had been provided by the Lord with the good of truth in every state of his life, the origin and quality of which he could not discern, in order that he might acknowledge the Lord in humility, become fully conscious of his own sinfulness, and at length realize good from the Lord.
17And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
17. For selfish love is such that it claims all life as its own, both as to the will and as to the understanding.
18But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
18. Let the spiritual man, therefore, remember continually, that the Lord by Divine Good and Truth conjoined imparts to him all power to acquire, as from himself, the knowledge of what is true and the love of of what is good; and that he has benn regenerated, and thus conjoined with the Lord, by love, from the Divine Mercy, and by truth operative and confirmed in all ages; and that he will continue to be a recipient of the Divine Life unto eternity.
19And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
19. But that, nevertheless, if he shalll turn away from the Lord and live according to falsities, devoting himself to them in heart and understanding, he will surely separate himself from the heavenly life, and be vastated as to all good.
20As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.
20. For then he will become one with the infernal powers, and thus reject all good and truth, because he has deliberately chosen the life of evil.
Author: Rev. HENRY MACLAGAN (1911)
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