NOTES for Deu 6:1-25

The Book of Deuteronomy calls every believing Jew to remember the words of the Torah, to study them himself and teach them to his children, to bind them on the hand and on the forehead, to fasten them to the doorpost. It should be noted that Orthodox Jews still observe all these prescriptions quite literally today. At the time when they were given, they contained a special meaning. In those days various kinds of amulets, sacred images, and statuettes were very widespread in the pagan world. Such amulets were worn on the hand or on the forehead (usually as a band), fastened to the doorpost, and sometimes placed on the roof of a house, more precisely on the ridge. Of course, simply replacing one pagan amulet with another, Yahwist one, could turn into an empty formality that obligated no one to anything; but if people cannot manage without amulets, then it is better for them to be reminded of the Torah and the God of Israel than of pagan gods and spirits.

The main thing, however, was the call to study the Torah and to teach the Torah. Here the matter concerns commandments and laws: things connected, but at the same time fundamentally different. A commandment remains a commandment for all times; it does not change; it is given once and for all. For a commandment to be fully understood, it must be received by a person as an inner spiritual and moral imperative, as God's intention addressed to the human being. Only in this case does the commandment open itself as such, in the fullness in which it has been given to us by God.

Law is another matter. As the text of the Pentateuch shows us, laws can change over time, and some laws in the Book of Exodus, for example, differ from the laws in the Book of Deuteronomy even when the same crimes are in question. Obviously, both kinds of laws are based on the commandments of the Decalogue, but the commandments are interpreted differently depending on concrete circumstances, which can change over time, just as the motivation of the legislator can change when he proposes one or another way to carry out one or another commandment in life. Unlike the unchanging commandments, laws are variable and changeable according to place and time. According to place and time, the motivation of the legislator can also change when he proposes one or another way of observing a commandment, as well as one or another measure as a sanction for its violation. Thus, thanks to changing laws and unchanging commandments, the Torah receives the possibility of existing in history, changing according to the age and at the same time remaining itself in what matters most.