Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
Matthew 5:17-19
Moses said to the people; Now, Israel, take notice of the laws and customs that I teach you today, and observe them, that you may have life and may enter and take possession of the land that the Lord God of your Fathers is giving you.
Scripture scholar, Walter Brueggemann, sees the whole of salvation history through the lens of ‘land’. His book -The Land: Place as Gift, Promise and Challenge in Biblical Faith- has given me some useful insights. As landless Israel wanders in the wilderness it is the promise of land which keeps them going. Our text from Deuteronomy today more than hints at the fact that with land comes responsibility. For the writers of Deuteronomy faithfulness to God and God’s commands is everything. Entering and being able to stay in the land both depend on this faithfulness.
For the Israelites the experience of the Exodus and the giving of the Law were concrete experiences on which they could draw when the way ahead seemed hard. Just as Israel will learn to cultivate and guard the land they have been given, so too they will learn to cultivate and guard their hearts. The Law is a safeguard of love and guarantee of God’s presence.
How do you safeguard love in your life?