Readers Guide: “The Word for Today” Monday, October 15, 2012 Read – Deuteronomy 6 & 7 You may have noticed that I am suggesting skipping Deuteronomy 5. That chapter is simply the repeating of the 10 Commandments which we have read earlier. There are minor differences between the listings which make for some interesting thoughts about why that is so. Once again these things lead us to a fuller and more complex understanding of the nature of the Bible as the Word of God. They point to the presence of human hands in the story – something that is not a hindrance but a help to how we think about the Bible. As I mentioned earlier, chapter 5 begins a second start within the story. Chapter 6 is one of the most important chapters in the book. Chapter 6 begins with what is often thought of as the Hebrew Confession of Faith – something like our Apostles’ Creed. God is one. God is the only one worthy of worship and love. Our whole being is called to love God. When Jesus was pressed to tell his questioners what the most important commandment in the law is this is where Jesus turned. In doing that Jesus placed himself squarely in the center of Judaism. Paul also summed up the law with this commandment. So what we read in chapter 6 is primary material. Both Jesus and Paul join this commandment to love God with heart, soul, and might with a commandment from Leviticus to love our neighbor as we love our self. That combination was not first suggested by Jesus or Paul – it was firmly embedded in Judaism. Its origin is here.