Often, it seems, we think of the Old Testament Law as being a thing of works: that the Israelites were to obey all God's commands, the emphasis on obeying, doing or not doing. Salvation was obtained by working for it, obeying, doing or not doing. Did you notice, though, that throughout this passage, just about every time (if not every) Israel is commanded to obey, it is accompanied with the command to love the Lord. Love the Lord and keep His commandments. Do all these things I am telling you, loving the Lord. Circumcise your hearts. Obedience wasn't to be simple blind obedience with no thought or regard, but instead was to be the outpouring of a heart devoted to the Lord, loving Him and therefore doing as He commanded. God did not simply want Israel's obedience; He wanted their love and devotion. What good is obedience if there is no love behind it? I think of my own daughter: of course I want her to obey me. If she obeys me, then I know the commands I give her for her benefit, to keep her from harm, to teach her how to be a good woman, to teach her to love God, she will obey them and benefit from them. But it would be a bittersweet, if not simply bitter, if she obeyed me but did not love me. If she simply did everything I said, but had no regard for me in turn. Especially as I discipline her and command her out of my love for her and my desire to see her good. It would break my heart if she did not love me back. The same is true for God: He is a jealous God, wanting our devotion and our love and not to share it with false deities.
It is true that the covenant established here, before Israel moved in to take possession of the land, was conditional God. Even here in this passage, you see a foreshadowing of Deuteronomy 28-29, the Blessings and the Cursings (which one of my Bible college profs always maintained, and I agreed, was the the hinge upon which the Old Testament rests). God promises them that there are blessings for obedience just as there are curses for disobedience. But we have to take into account all the long history Moses has been reminding the people: that they had been disciplined again and again, experienced things that very well seemed like curses, but it was to discipline them as children of God. The curses would be the same for the later day Israelites, as we'll read in the prophets when we come to them; these things were set in motion in order to bring the Israelites back to faithfulness in God. Sometimes we need to see the consequences of our sin in order to understand the seriousness of sin and to remind us how much we need Him.
Tomorrow's Reading: Deuteronomy 12:1-13:18
(Is it just me, or are we flying through Deuteronomy?)
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