When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you?
One day a child born long after the escape from Egypt will ask why the family lives this way. Moses tells the parents what to say, and their answer is not a defence of the rules but the story of a rescue.
The verse assumes the question will come. One writer says parents should stir it up, not just wait for it:
Inquiry should be aroused in the minds of our children. Oh, that we could get them to ask questions about the things of God! Some of them ask very early. Others seem infected with much the same indifference as adults. We have to deal with both kinds of mind.
The child asks about three kinds of command at once. One writer notes that the whole book keeps the word of God in front of the reader like this:
Every page and every paragraph of this book keeps the word of God before the soul! It is the one great subject on the heart and in all the discourses of the revered law-giver. His one aim is to exalt the word of God in all its aspects, whether as testimonies, commandments, statutes or judgements. His aim is also to show the moral importance, yes, the urgent necessity, of whole-hearted, earnest, diligent obedience by the people.
The father's reply does not begin with duty. One writer explains why this part of the book presses obedience by pointing back to redemption:
The fact is that redemption, even in picture form, is a stronger motive to obedience than creation itself... If we have seen that the object of all this part of Deuteronomy is to press obedience, then note that nothing maintains obedience so much as redemption. If that was true when the deliverance was only outward, how much more when it is eternal?
The rescue had a destination, and the answer to the child says so. That is what grounds God's claim on the nation:
What was the meaning of all the commandments of the Lord that set Israel clearly apart from all the nations? The answer would take them back to the days of Israel's slavery in Egypt. It would take them back to God's great intervention, when He brought them out of that slavery with great signs and wonders against Egypt and Pharaoh. God brought them out so that He might bring them in to the land He had promised. So He had a special claim on Israel. He commanded them to keep all His statutes, and to give proper reverential fear to Him who had blessed them so greatly.
The father's reply ends on a condition: keeping these commands would be their righteousness. One writer shows where that left Israel:
If Israel had kept the law perfectly, this would be their righteousness. But they disobeyed badly. For centuries now, despite their disobedience, they have been "ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness"; they "have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:3). Suppose they did submit to God's righteousness by truly confessing their guilt before Him. Then they would find that God credits righteousness to them on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ. That sacrifice is the only place now where anyone can find true righteousness.
Christian parents have the same telling to do. One writer names what the children should be grounded in:
Christians may well tell their children all that God has done. We should ground our little ones in the great truths of God's word. We should plant the facts of redemption, resurrection and ascension in their minds and memories.
Another writer adds where that teaching should lead:
In our own day, let us make sure that we ourselves are under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb. And let us make sure our children are in that same place of God-given safety.
- Expect it. The law itself expects the child's question. Parents should stir that curiosity up, not wait for it.
- Rescue. The reply is not "because these are the rules." It is "we were slaves, and God brought us out." Redemption holds obedience in place better than creation does.
- Purpose. God brought them out so He could bring them in. The promised land at the end of the rescue is what gives Him His claim on their obedience.
- Retell. Any home can do the same. Ground the children in redemption, resurrection and ascension, and see them sheltered by the blood themselves.
- Righteousness. The answer ends by tying righteousness to perfect obedience. Israel broke that standard. Now the sacrifice of Christ is the only place righteousness is found.
then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand;
One day Israel's children would ask why the family lived under so many commands. God tells the parents where to start the answer: not with a rule, but with slavery and the hand that broke it.
The question in the previous verse is about laws, but the answer given here is a piece of history. One writer traces the whole flow of the parent's reply:
They could be sure that in due time their sons would be asking questions. What did all the commandments of the Lord mean — the commands that set Israel clearly apart from all the nations? The answer would take them back to the days of Israel's slavery in Egypt. It would take them back to God's great act in bringing them out of that slavery, with great signs and wonders against Egypt and Pharaoh. God brought them out that He might bring them in to the land He had promised. Therefore, He had a special claim on Israel, and commanded them to keep all His statutes and to give reverent fear to Him who had so greatly blessed them.
The same pattern appears earlier in Israel's story, where a redeemed man asked to justify his whole way of life answers by pointing away from himself:
If he is asked why all this cleansing of himself, why all this devotion, he simply pleads what the Lord had done for him, when he was in Egypt, a slave there in the place of death and judgment.
The confession opens with a shameful memory. One writer explains why God insists on it:
It is the settled purpose of God that "no human being might boast in the presence of God." God sets aside all human pretension. He will hide pride from man. Israel had to be taught to remember where they came from, and what they really were — "slaves in Egypt," "the fewest of all peoples." There was no room for pride or boasting. They were in no way better than the nations around them. So if anyone asked them to account for their high position and moral greatness, they had only one answer: it all came from the free love of God, and from His faithfulness to His oath.
The second half of the verse names who acted. One writer, commenting on the same words in Exodus, shows that the rescue belonged to God alone:
The Lord would always have His people remember the day of their deliverance. On that day He brought them out of darkness into light. He brought them out from under the judgment due to their sins, into the perfect favour of God in Christ. Second, they were not to forget the source of their deliverance: "For by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place." They owed everything to Him alone. No other arm could have broken their chains or struck down their oppressor. No one else could have protected them from the destroyer and set them free.
The father's answer does not stop at escape. Two verses later it reaches its goal, and one writer warns against preaching only the first half:
Some evangelists only bring the sinner to the cross and leave him there. They preach a very defective gospel. This is not deliverance… The purpose of God was to bring them out, and to bring them in. It is all important to notice this… "And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in and give us the land that He swore to give to our fathers." The same is true of the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, and of the work of the Spirit. The Spirit brings the sinner by repentance and faith to take shelter beneath the precious blood of Christ. All of this prepares the way for those same two things: to bring us out, so that He may bring us in.
Deuteronomy ties its commands back to the rescue from Egypt again and again. One writer explains why that motive is so strong:
The fact is that redemption, even as a picture of something greater, is a stronger motive to obedience than creation itself… If we have seen that the aim of this whole part of Deuteronomy is to press obedience home, then note this: nothing maintains obedience so much as redemption. And if that was true when the deliverance was only outward, how much more when it is eternal?
The order never reverses:
Obedience was not commanded so that they might be redeemed, but because they were redeemed.
The verse assumes a child interested enough to ask. One writer traces that interest back to the parents:
One thing is sure: whatever deeply affects the parents will make an impression upon the children… The story of the great love of our Lord and Saviour must be told from generation to generation. And how it warms the hearts of parents to see the eager way the children listen to it!
- Slaves — the answer starts with what Israel was, not with what they achieved. Their whole standing came from God's free love, so there was no room for boasting.
- Rescued — the mighty hand is God's alone; no other arm could break the chains or hold off the destroyer.
- Brought in — deliverance was never the whole purpose; He brought them out to bring them in.
- Obedient — the commands come after the rescue and rest on it. Nothing holds a people to obedience like redemption.
- Retold — parents hand the story down, and telling it warms their own hearts, until the children start asking for themselves.
and Jehovah shewed signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes;
Moses is telling parents what to say when a child one day asks why the family lives by God's commands. The answer he gives them is not a rule or an argument. It is a memory. God's blows fell on Egypt and its king, and the people Moses speaks to saw it with their own eyes.
The verse belongs to a scene Moses sets up in advance. A child will ask what all these commands are for. Moses tells the parent to answer with the story of slavery and rescue, not with a defence of the rules.
They could be sure that in time their sons would ask questions. What did all the commandments of the Lord mean — the commands that set Israel clearly apart from all the nations (v.20)? The answer would take them back to Israel's days of slavery in Egypt, and to God's great act in bringing them out of that slavery with great signs and wonders against Egypt and Pharaoh (vs.21-22).
The verse calls what fell on Egypt "signs and wonders." The same acts had two faces, depending on who was watching.
For Egypt, God's dealings were plagues. Each one showed the wrath and power of God. Through them God made His Name known throughout all the earth, and overthrew Pharaoh, for all his stubborn, persistent, and useless resistance. Yet Pharaoh's spirit still remained unchanged. But to the people of God these "great judgments" were signs and wonders, for by them God would bring His people out of the enemy's power, out of the house of slaves.
The verse names the targets: Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Behind that list stands a refusal.
Pharaoh would not let the people of God go. When God claimed His right that they should serve Him, the world — Pharaoh its prince — would not give way. God then sent signs and plagues to get their attention and to enforce His rights, but Egypt would not listen. Pharaoh was hard, then hardened, and in the end he becomes a monument of judgment, a lesson to everyone.
Notice the order in Moses' answer: first what God did, then what God asks. The danger is forgetting the first half.
So the later part of this chapter gives the people a plain warning. They could so easily forget how the Lord delivered them when they were only slaves in Egypt, and brought them out so that they might serve Him and obey His word.
Why point back to rescue instead of to creation? One writer weighs the two.
The fact is that redemption, even as a picture of something greater, is a stronger motive for obedience than creation itself… If the aim of all this part of Deuteronomy is to press obedience, then nothing keeps obedience alive like redemption. And if that was true when the deliverance was only an outward one, how much more when it is eternal?
The parent answering the child saw it himself. The child did not. One writer finds the same pattern at a later memorial of stones, where children again ask their fathers what God did.
The children would ask their fathers, "What do these stones mean?" and the answer was to be a telling of what the Lord had done… And Christians may well tell their children what God has done. Our little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God's word. The facts of redemption, resurrection, and ascension should be planted in their minds and memories.
- Question. A child will ask why the family obeys God. Moses planned for that question. The answer he gives is Israel's rescue from slavery, not a defence of the rules.
- Signs. The same blows were wrath and plague to Egypt. To Israel they were signs and wonders, because they brought God's people out of the enemy's power.
- Judgment. Pharaoh refused to let God's people go. So God sent the signs to enforce His claim, and Pharaoh's hardness turned him into a warning to everyone.
- Order. Deliverance comes first, commands come second. Nothing keeps obedience alive like redemption — and an eternal redemption far more than an outward one.
- Retelling. The generation that saw it "before our eyes" owed the story to the one that did not. Children today should be grounded the same way, in what God has done.
and he brought us out thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore unto our fathers.
Moses tells parents what to say when a child asks why God's commands matter. The answer is not a rule but a rescue: slaves in Egypt, brought out, then brought in to a land God had promised. The verse holds two movements in one sentence. Commentators find the whole shape of redemption there: God took Israel out with a purpose, and that purpose lay ahead.
This answer sits in a chapter that tells parents to keep God's words in front of their children. One writer applies that duty to us:
Their danger would be forgetfulness, as the following verses show, and the same danger is ours today. That is why verses 7-12 give these instructions. They were to teach God's laws to their children, to talk of them in their houses, and to write them on their posts and gates. Here is a word we need to take home to ourselves. If we do not study our Bibles carefully, and then teach and talk of their contents, we are truly at fault.
The verse does not stop at the exodus. One commentator uses it to test how preachers present the gospel:
But those evangelists preach a very defective gospel who would only bring the sinner to the cross and leave him there. This is not deliverance... The purpose of God was to bring them out, and to bring them in. It is all important to notice this... The judgment on Egypt, the death of the Passover lamb, the blood that shut out the destroyer — all this was preparatory to two things. As Moses says, "He brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers." (Deut. 6:23.) In the same way, the Lord Jesus did His work on the cross. The Spirit brings the sinner by repentance and faith to take shelter beneath the precious blood of Christ. All this is preparatory to these same two things: to bring us out, that He may bring us in. The passage of the Red Sea was the bringing them out; the passage of the Jordan was the bringing them in.
The same writer shows what the second half means for a believer now: not only shelter, but a transfer:
He is indeed sheltered by the blood: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Oh, the depth of mercy! The blood of Jesus shelters my soul from every stroke of deserved wrath. And more, we are not left in Egypt beneath the sprinkled blood, however blessed that blood is; but He "has delivered us from the domain of darkness." (Col. 1:13.) Sheltered and delivered. Read on: "and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son."
Years in the wilderness lay between the "out" and the "in". That stretch, one writer insists, was never part of God's purpose:
Notice that the wilderness was no part of God's purpose at all; Canaan was, and the very object of God's purpose was to bring the people into the land of Canaan. Quite true, enemies were there, and that tested the faithfulness of the people when they reached the land. But in the wilderness God tested the faithfulness of the people... In the wilderness we have the ways of God, not His purpose. His purpose was first of all redemption, but this redemption was complete when they had passed the Red Sea.
The land came by an oath made to the fathers long before. One writer, on a similar statement earlier in the book, points to the love behind it:
It is not only that the glory of the Lord is bound up with Israel's future restoration and blessing. The love of His heart is engaged too. This comes out with touching sweetness in the following words: "And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power ... to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day."
The same double movement is read as two truths that need each other:
God "has called us to his own kingdom and glory." Election, choosing, has in view "the pit from which we were dug"; our calling sets our destiny before us. Of us, as of Israel long ago, it is true that "He brought us out … that He might bring us in." (Deut. 6:23.) One precious truth is the complement of the other.
One writer applies both movements to worship:
We have to watch that our worship is not only the remembrance of what God has brought us out of. It should be the enjoyment of what He has brought us into. Here it is all joy, and rest, and blessedness.
- Out — the judgment on Egypt, the Passover blood and God's great power freed slaves. That is where the story starts, not where it ends.
- In — a gospel that leaves the sinner at the cross is defective. God's aim was a land for Israel, and for the believer a transfer into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
- Purpose — the wilderness shows God's ways, but the land was His purpose; the desert was never the goal.
- Oath — God swore the land to the fathers because He loved them. The "in" rests on His love and His word.
- Told — this is the answer a parent hands a child. It is also why worship should dwell on what God has brought us into, not only on what He brought us out of.
And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good continually, that he might preserve us alive, as it is this day.
A child asks why God's laws exist at all. The father answers with the rescue from Egypt before he mentions a single command. Then come three reasons for keeping the laws: to fear God, for lasting good, and to be kept alive. Each one raises the same question: who gains from obedience?
The reply begins with history, not with rules. God's claim on Israel rests on what He had already done for them.
The answer would take them back to the days of Israel's slavery in Egypt and the great intervention of God in bringing them out of this slavery with great signs and wonders against Egypt and Pharaoh. God brought them out that He might bring them in to the land He had promised. Therefore, He had a special claim on Israel, and commanded them to observe all His statutes, giving proper reverential fear to Him who had so greatly blessed them.
Another writer weighs this motive against the one given at creation.
The fact is that redemption, even as a picture of it, is a stronger motive to obedience than creation itself... If the aim of all this part of Deuteronomy is to press obedience, then nothing keeps obedience alive like redemption. And if that was true when the rescue was only an outward one, how much more when it is eternal?
The word could suggest a slave's nervousness before a master. One writer rules that out and names what drives this obedience instead.
These words show us the hidden spring of the life we, as Christians, are called to live day by day — a life of simple, complete and unreserved obedience. Its spring is a heart that fears the Lord — fearing Him not in a slave's spirit, but with all that deep, true, adoring love which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts... A loving heart finds its deepest joy in obeying all God's commandments, and nothing has any value to God except what comes from a loving heart.
The commands were not given to enrich God. A writer commenting on the same promise in Deuteronomy 10 puts it plainly.
Walking in the way of God's commandments was all for their real good, their deep and full blessing. The path of whole-hearted obedience is the only path of true happiness. And thank God, those who love the Lord can always walk it.
The good goes further than benefit. The statutes also showed Israel what God Himself is like.
So these statutes kept alive among them the memory of a love that showed itself for them in everything else. They were statutes that would be righteousness to those who kept them, and for their good always. They were assurances of what the God who gave them was in His own nature: One who loves righteousness, and who commands love because He loves.
Being kept alive meant life in the land. One writer shows that holding the land came with conditions.
Deuteronomy gives the possession of the land as something historical and conditional, with directions for how Israel was to live in it... These were the real, responsible and conditional terms on which they would hold the land, given while they were still outside it. Keeping it depended on their obedience. Their conduct in the desert is brought up as a warning, given just as they had come through the wilderness and were going into the land. It sets out the turning point between blessing and cursing.
The promise of good depended on an obedience Israel never gave. One writer names what that offer was, and what the gospel gives instead.
They were told that if they feared the Lord and obeyed His statutes, it would be "for our good always," and that such obedience would be "our righteousness." That would have been legal righteousness, but they never had it. The Gospel does not offer us this. It gives instead a righteousness which is from God.
- Rescue first. The father answers the child's question with a story of slavery and rescue. God commands people He has already redeemed.
- Rescue is the motive. Nothing keeps obedience alive like redemption. If a rescue from Egypt could do that, an eternal one does far more.
- Rescue shapes the fear. The fear asked for is not a slave's dread but a loving heart, and a loving heart finds its deepest joy in obeying.
- Rescue is for our good. The statutes help the one who obeys, not the God who gave them. They also show His nature: He commands love because He loves.
- Rescue outgrows the offer. Israel never gave the obedience that would have been their righteousness. The gospel brings instead a righteousness that is from God.
And it shall be our righteousness if we take heed to do all these commandments before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.
Deuteronomy 6 ends with a promise tied to a condition. Keep every commandment, and it counts as righteousness. Everything depends on the small word "if" — and on whether anyone ever met it.
The verse sets a standard for being right before God. But notice whose righteousness it would be.
The law demanded righteousness from those under it: "And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment" (Deuteronomy 6:25). Of course, it would only have been man's righteousness. But righteousness never came by the law, and there was "none righteous." So it became only a ministry of death and condemnation to man.
The offer was real. God asked for the whole commandment, kept in His presence, just as He had given it.
The promise held only if the obedience was complete. Israel's history answers whether it was.
Verse 25 is especially interesting: "And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment." If Israel had kept the law perfectly, this would be their righteousness. But they disobeyed badly. And for centuries since, despite that disobedience, they have been "ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own," and "did not submit to God's righteousness" (Romans 10:3). If they would submit to God's righteousness and confess their guilt honestly before Him, they could find that God credits righteousness to them on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ. That is the only place anyone can now find true righteousness.
The people had a problem before they ever accepted these terms. That problem decided the outcome.
Under the law given through Moses, the promise of life was not to faith but to works: "The person who does the commandments shall live by them" (see Romans 10:5). So we read in Deuteronomy, "it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment." But the Jew was already a sinner when he accepted obedience to the law as the condition of blessing... The apostle draws this conclusion: "by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight" (Romans 3:20). So the law was finished as the way of justification. Or, as he says in another chapter, Christ is the end — the termination — of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4).
The verse does not stand alone. It closes a paragraph where a child asks what all these commands mean. The father answers with a story of slavery and rescue.
The answer would take them back to the days of Israel's slavery in Egypt. God stepped in and brought them out of that slavery with great signs and wonders against Egypt and Pharaoh. He brought them out so that He might bring them in to the land He had promised. So He had a special claim on Israel. He commanded them to keep all His statutes, and to give proper reverence to Him who had blessed them so greatly.
So which came first: the obedience or the rescue?
The ways of God are very precious; God must be true to Himself. God did not command obedience so that they might be redeemed, but because He had redeemed them.
No one ever produced this righteousness. Yet the standard did not disappear. One writer traces where it finally found its answer.
Deuteronomy 6:25 gave the rule of man's righteousness. But man being what he is, it became a means of convicting him of sin, for "through the law comes knowledge of sin." It became a ministry of condemnation and death. Yet not the smallest letter or stroke of it would pass away until it found what answered to it in the Person of Christ... He gave it wonderful glory by submitting to its obedience. He magnified it and made it honourable... Even in Christianity the full sum of the law's requirement is fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit. But for that we first had to be set free from under it.
- Offered. The verse holds out a righteousness. But it is a human one, earned by doing all that God commanded, with nothing left out.
- Unattained. Perfect obedience would have counted as Israel's righteousness. They disobeyed, and no one has ever gained righteousness this way.
- Exposed. The people were sinners before they ever accepted these terms. So the law that promised righteousness brought the knowledge of sin instead.
- Replaced. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. God credits righteousness on the basis of His sacrifice.
- Ordered. Redemption came first. God brought them out to bring them in. Obedience was never the price of rescue, only the response to it.