12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Moses is instructing the people in the commands of their LORD. Moses starts off this section by stating that the people are to love the Lord their God with all their hearts and with all their souls. But then Moses gives a great turn. "Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them." It is nothing in these people that makes them great, but it is God who chose them just like he chose their fathers before them.
Moses reminds the people that they are chosen by God. Since they are chosen by God, therefore they need to follow his commands. Here Moses points them to the covenant promise of circumcision. But then he turns right back into talking about what God does. God is Lord of lords and God of gods. God is the one who exercises pure justice and looks after the fatherless and the widow.
Moses does not command people to do things because God said so, but because of what God has done for you. He tells the people to love the sojourners because God loved them while they were sojourners. Likewise, Jesus will tell us to love all our neighbors. It does not matter whether they are Jew or Gentile, Jesus Christ died for all of them. Don't love them blindly, but love them because God first loved you. Since Christ has died for the forgiveness of all your sins, you should obey his commands.
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