Context No. 2618 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 5:28-33: in context

28The LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me; and the LORD said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken. 29Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! 30“Go tell them, ‘Return to your tents.’ 31But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.” 32You shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn away to the right hand or to the left. 33You shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

After the terrifying scene at Sinai, the people beg Moses to be their go-between, and God approves. They have said well, he tells Moses. Then comes a line that opens a window into the heart of God: oh, that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me and keep my commandments always, that it might be well with them and their children forever.

Listen to the longing in it. God is not a distant lawgiver rattling off demands; he is a Father wishing his children had a heart to obey, and notice why he wishes it, that it might be well with them and their children forever. His commands are not for his benefit but for theirs. The obedience he longs for is the path to their flourishing, and his sigh over their hard hearts is the sigh of one who wants good for people who keep choosing harm. This reframes the whole law. Behind the commandments is a Father saying, if only you would, because he knows it would go well with us.

Do I hear God's commands as the demands of a taskmaster, or as the longing of a Father who wants it to go well with me?

Sources

Deuteronomy 5:29: Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
Deuteronomy 5:33: You shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you.
Luke 13:34: how often I wanted to gather your children together, even as a hen gathers her own brood... and you didn't want it!