Deuteronomy 6:13-19—“13 You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. 16 You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers, 19 to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.” As we saw in Numbers 30, the taking of an oath in the name of YHVH was a serious thing. And we talked at length about that there. We have also seen many times the trouble the people found themselves in when they went after other gods. We will instead look at verse 16. “You shall not tempt the LORD your God” (“You shall not put the LORD your God to the test” [ESV, NASB]. I like these renderings a bit better). Now, you may recognize this verse from when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:12). Satan was also trying God’s patience, by challenging Jesus to throw Himself off the top of the Temple. Matthew 4:5-6—5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" He wasn’t showing Jesus that God would protect His Anointed, but rather he wanted to push God’s buttons and make Him do his (Satan’s) will. (It also shows us that Satan, too, knows Scripture) And Jesus saw through his act, and quoted Scripture back at him. Matthew 4:7—Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"
Moses says this to the people so they do not go chasing after other gods and risk incurring His wrath. We test things to see how far we can go with them before they will break. But it is not something we want to do with God, because even though His patience is infinite, there does come a time when He says “ENOUGH!” (See Numbers 14:22). And Moses was warning the people that they did not want to see how far they could push God until He had enough. And we do not want to do that, either. But many do. They get as close as they can to the line they should not cross, they push God’s patience and they find out, the hard way, that He will only allow them to go so far. John Wesley wrote: “Sinners, especially presumptuous sinners, are said to tempt God, that is, to make a trial of God, whether he be, so wise as to see their sins, so just and true and powerful as to take vengeance on them, concerning which they are very apt to doubt because of the present impunity and prosperity of many such persons.” They will push God to the very limit, and will receive the recompense for their actions.
Deuteronomy 6:20-25—20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?' 21 then you shall say to your son: 'We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.'” This passage is recited by Jews every year during Passover. And they do not change the “we” and “us” to “they”. These are kept intact the way they were written by Moses. For the Jew today is descended from the Jew then. Their history is history, and the Exodus is still just as vivid in the memory of a Jew today as it was so many centuries ago. And it is broken up so that the children ask the questions and the adults answer. And it plays upon the natural curiosity of a child, who will constantly ask “why?” The question Moses tells the people that the children will ask is “why?” “Why all the commandments?” “Why all the statutes and judgments?” “And why do you follow them and keep them?” The answer is simple. “Because God looked favorably upon us when we were slaves in Egypt, and He brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. And because of His love for us, we reciprocate that love by listening to and obeying all that He has asked of us.”
?מה נשתנה הלילה הזה
Ma nishtana halaila hazeh?
Why is this night unlike all others?
.שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין חמץ ומצה
הלילה הזה כולו מצה
Shebechol haleilot, anu ochlin chametz umatzah.
Halaila hazeh, kulo matzah.
On all other nights we eat either leavened or unleavened bread.
On this night, why do we eat only unleavened matzah?
Answer: To remind us of the haste with which our ancestors left Egypt.
.שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין שאר ירקות
הלילה הזה מרור
Shebechol haleilot, anu ochlin she’ar yerakot.
Halaila hazeh, maror.
On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs. On this night, why only bitter herbs?
Answer: To remind us of the bitterness of slavery.
.שבכל הלילות אין אנו מטבילין אפילו פעם אחת
הלילה הזה שתי פעמים
Shebechol haleilot, ein anu matbilin afilu pa’am echat.
Halaila hazeh, shtei fe’amim.
On all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once. On this night, why do we dip them twice?
Answer: Some say to remind us of our coming and going from Egypt.
.שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין בין יושבין ובין מסובין
הלילה הזה כולנו מסובין
Shebechol haleilot, anu ochlin bein yoshvin uvein mesubin.
Halaila hazeh, kulanu mesubin.
On all other nights we eat sometimes sitting and sometimes reclining. On this night, why do we all recline?
Answer: To remind us of how free people relax.
And this should be remembered by even us Christians. We were in bondage to Satan and sin. We were his slaves, and did his bidding. But God sent His Messiah, His Anointed One, as He promised, to deliver us from the chains of sin and that He might usher us into His glorious kingdom. We are saved, not by obeying rules and commandments. But we obey the rules and commandments because we love the LORD our God, and want to please Him and do right by Him. John 14:21—“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.” 1st John 5:2-3—2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. It should be our delight to keep the commandments of God, as He gave us His Son so that we might be reconciled to Him. He watched His Son as He had spikes driven through His wrists and His ankles; He watched as the crowds reviled Him and spit on Him and mocked Him; He laid all the sins of the elect on His Son, as He had to do for those sins to be forgiven; He watched as all this transpired and His Son, with whom He had spent eternity with and loved above all else, was made sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21). This is why we keep His commandments—not because we loved Him first, but because He first loved us. And His Son loved us enough to endure all these things that we might be with Him in eternity! I’ll end with the words of Robert Hawker—
What a most delightful subject seems to be opened to us in these verses. The Jewish children are naturally supposed to enquire into the peculiarities of their fathers’ faith. And the fathers are supposed as naturally to be earnest in gratifying their infant minds in the information of the truth. Oh! That all Christian parents, and masters of families, were but alive to this most interesting business! Reader! Do turn to the gospel, and take a view of the children in the temple, when, under the divine teaching of the HOLY GHOST, they were saluting the blessed Redeemer with Hosannas. This will afford somewhat of an idea of the loveliness of early piety. (See Matthew 21:9; Matthew 21:16; Psalm 8:2). I only detain the Reader, just to observe, what Moses saith of the conduct of Israel, that it shall be their righteousness, (an imputed righteousness implied,) meaning, no doubt, that all their acceptance would be in GOD their Savior, and in his complete righteousness; for the apostle tells us, that CHRIST is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Reader! Do not fail to consult the apostle upon this important subject.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.
