Is Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Literal of Figurative

 

By Ivan Labombarbe

 

When reading the Tanakh we are guided by the principle of using peshat (the plain meaning) for interpreting the Mikra (Readings).   For this reason we need to be able to understand what things in the Tanakh are to be taken literally or figuratively.  So for our study today we will examine the Mikra in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:5-9.

 

Lets start by reading Devarim 5.

5Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the laws and rules that I proclaim to you this day! Study them and observe them faithfully!

2The Lord (Yehovah) our God (Elohim) made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3It was not with our fathers that the Lord(Yehovah)  made this covenant, but with us, the living, every one of us who is here today. 4Face to face the Lord(Yehovah)  spoke to you on the mountain out of the fire—5I stood between the Lord(Yehovah)  and you at that time to convey the Lord‘s(Yehovah’s)  words to you, for you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain—saying:

6 I the Lord(Yehovah)  am your God(Elohim) who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: 7You shall have no other gods(elohim) beside Me.

8You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters below the earth. 9You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) am an impassioned God(Elohim), visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, 10but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

11You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord(Yehovah)  your God(Elohim); for the Lord(Yehovah) will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.

12Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) has commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord(Yehovah) your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do. 15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

16Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) has commanded you, that you may long endure, and that you may fare well, in the land that the Lord(Yehovah) your God is assigning to you.

17You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

18You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not crave your neighbor’s house, or his field, or his male or female slave, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

19The Lord(Yehovah) spoke those words—those and no more—to your whole congregation at the mountain, with a mighty voice out of the fire and the dense clouds. He inscribed them on two tablets of stone, which He gave to me. 20When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, you came up to me, all your tribal heads and elders, 21and said, “The Lord(Yehovah) our God(Elohim) has just shown us His majestic Presence, and we have heard His voice out of the fire; we have seen this day that man may live though God(Elohim) has spoken to him. 22Let us not die, then, for this fearsome fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord(Yehovah) our God(Elohim) any longer, we shall die. 23For what mortal ever heard the voice of the living God(Elohim) speak out of the fire, as we did, and lived? 24You go closer and hear all that the Lord(Yehovah) our God(Elohim) says, and then you tell us everything that the Lord(Yehovah) our God(Elohim) tells you, and we will willingly do it.”

25The Lord(Yehovah) heard the plea that you made to me, and the Lord(Yehovah) said to me, “I have heard the plea that this people made to you; they did well to speak thus. 26May they always be of such mind, to revere Me and follow all My commandments, that it may go well with them and with their children forever! 27Go, say to them, ‘Return to your tents.’ 28But you remain here with Me, and I will give you the whole Instruction—the laws and the rules—that you shall impart to them, for them to observe in the land that I am giving them to possess.”

Notice here that the whole instruction was not just the ten commandments but all the other laws and rules that were given to him and included in all the torah. 

29Be careful, then, to do as the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) has commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left: 30follow only the path that the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) has enjoined upon you, so that you may thrive and that it may go well with you, and that you may long endure in the land you are to possess.

This brings us Chapter 6 and to the verse for the study today.

6And this is the Instruction—the laws and the rules—that the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) has commanded [me] to impart to you, to be observed in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2so that you, your children, and your children’s children may revere the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) and follow, as long as you live, all His laws and commandments that I enjoin upon you, to the end that you may long endure. 3Obey, O Israel, willingly and faithfully, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly [in] a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord(Yehovah), the God(Elohim) of your fathers, spoke to you.

4Hear, O Israel! The Lord(Yehovah) is our God(Elohim), the Lord(Yehovah) alone.5You shall love the Lord(Yehovah) your God(Elohim) with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. 7Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; 9inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Lets break down what verses 5-9 are saying:

 

Devarim 6 verse 5: You love Yehovah Elohim with all heart (3824) and all soul (5315) and all might.

va’ahavta et Yehovah eloheiha bahal lavav ha ovhal nefesh ha ovhal mode ha.

When we look at this statement we see that we are to Love Yehovah with all our heart and soul.  We recognize this even in English as a figure of speech.  It has the expressed meaning of total devotion.  Because it is metaphor it is not literal.

Other places where this combination is used:

Devarim (Dueteronomy) 4:29

 

29But if you search there for the Lord your God, you will find Him, if only you seek Him with all your heart and soul

 

Devarim (Dueteronomy) 10:12

 

12And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul,

 

Devarim (Dueteronomy) 11:13

 

13If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving the Lord your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul,

 

Devarim (Dueteronomy) 26:16

 

16The Lord your God commands you this day to observe these laws and rules; observe them faithfully with all your heart and soul.

 

Devarim (Dueteronomy) 30:10

 

10since you will be heeding the Lord your God and keeping His commandments and laws that are recorded in this book of the Teaching—once you return to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

 

Other places this combination is found is Deut. 30:2, 6, Josh. 22:5, 23:14, I Kings 2:4, 2 Chron. 6:38, 15:12, 34:31, Jer. 32:37-41

 

When we look at the combined usage of Heart and Soul we find this figure of speech is consistently used as totality, completeness, absolute. 

Back to Devarim 6 verse 6: And shall be the words these which I commanded this day on your heart (3824).

vahayo ha davarim haleh ‘asher ‘anhiy matsava ha yom al lavava ha.

 

Again we are looking at this verse and we see it relates to the previous verse were we are to commit to the teachings Yehovah has given us.  Again it is a figure of speech since we cannot put words literally on our heart.

 

Other places this usage of Heart as a metaphor in the Tanakh.

 

Devarim (Deuteronomy)  10:16

 

16Cut away, therefore, the thickening about your hearts and stiffen your necks no more.

 

Yehoshua (Joshua) 2:11

 

11When we heard about it, we lost heart, and no man had any more spirit left because of you; for the Lord your God is the only God in heaven above and on earth below.

 

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 7:2

 

2Now, when it was reported to the House of David that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, their hearts and the hearts of their people trembled as trees of the forest sway before a wind.

 

Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) 4:4

 

4Open your hearts to the Lord, Remove the thickening about your hearts— O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem— Lest My wrath break forth like fire, And burn, with none to quench it, Because of your wicked acts.

 

As you can see the word used for Heart is used many times in the Tanakh as metaphor for the mind, our attitude, losing faith, etc…  We can then see that in the verse we looked at the word heart can also be used figuratively.

 

Next in Devarim 6 verse 7: You shall sharpen(8150) your sons and speak(1696) of them when you sit in your house when walk in the way when you lie down when you arise.

va shinan tam lavaney ha va dibarata bam bashiv taha bavey teha ov lev taha baderah ov shav baha ov kom ha

 

The word shinan or shanan is very interesting in that their usages in the Tanakh is most often as sharp or sharpen.  Using this instead of impress we can see that we are to sharpen our sons or to teach them.  Let us verify that this word can be used here and supports this understanding.

 

Tehillim (Psalms) 140:4

4They sharpen their tongues like serpents; spiders’ poison is on their lips.

 Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 5:28

28Their arrows are sharpened, And all their bows are drawn. Their horses’ hoofs are like flint, Their chariot wheels like the whirlwind.

Tehillim (Psalms) 45:6

6Your arrows, sharpened, [pierce] the breast of the king’s enemies; peoples fall at your feet.

We see it can be used to reflect the sharpening of some object.  It can also be used metaphorically as in Tehillim (Psalms) 140:4. As we saw previously and also in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:7.

How are we to teach them?  By speaking to them.  When do we speak to them?  When in our home, when outside our home, when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed.  But does this mean we must literally read the whole teaching each time we do these things?  Remember the teachings given to Moshe are more than just the Ten Commandments.  Thus, it would be unrealistic to do anything else in our days if we did this literally.  This would be a metaphor for teaching our children each day as we go about our daily tasks.  It could be showing them an example of something that supports the torah or something that goes against the torah.  The point here would be in order to teach them it must be central in our hearts (minds). 

 

Now in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6 verse 8: Bind(7194) them for a sign(226) on your hand and shall be frontlets(2903) between your eyes.

 

 o kashar tam la ot al yade ha vahayo latotafot beyn eynay ha

In this verse the phrase “Bind them for a sign”  Is this a literal binding.  Are we to take the torah and bind it to our hands or between our eyes?  Is bind used metaphorically in other areas in the Tanakh?

 

Deuteronomy (Devarim) 11:18

 

18Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind (kashar) them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead,

 

Mishlei (Proverbs) 3:3

3Let fidelity and steadfastness not leave you; Bind (kashar) them about your throat, Write them on the tablet of your mind,

Mishlei (Proverbs) 6:21

21Tie them over your heart always; Bind (kashar) them around your throat.

Mishlei (Proverbs) 7:3

3Bind (kashar) them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your mind.

 

You can see that Bind can be used figuratively as well as literally.  So lets now look at the word for Sign (ot).  Can a sign be figurative and if so how is it being used here.

 

Yehoshua (Joshua) 4:6

 

6This shall serve as a symbol(ot) among you: in time to come, when your children ask, ‘What is the meaning of these stones for you?’

 

Bamidbar (Numbers) 17:25

 

25The Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back before the Pact, to be kept as a lesson (ot) to rebels, so that their mutterings against Me may cease, lest they die.”

 

Shemot (Exodus) 13:9,16

 

9“And this shall serve you as a sign (ot) on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead--in order that the Teaching of the Lord may be in your mouth—that with a mighty hand the Lord freed you from Egypt.

 

16“And so it shall be as a sign (ot) upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty hand the Lord freed us from Egypt.”

 

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 19:20

 

20They shall serve as a symbol (ot) and reminder of the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt, so that when [the Egyptians] cry out to the Lord against oppressors, He will send them a savior and champion to deliver them.

 

We can see that ot or Sign can be used figuratively.  It also appears to be a sign in the sense of a reminder or memorial.  Frontlets or totafoth between your eyes, which is the other phrase, used to describe another way of remembrance of Yehovah’s laws.  We find this also used in other places of the Tanakh.

 

Shemot (Exodus) 13:9-10, 15-16

 

9“And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead (totafoth) in order that the Teaching of the Lord may be in your mouth—that with a mighty hand the Lord freed you from Egypt.

 

10You shall keep this institution at its set time from year to year. (Hag HaMatzot)

15When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord slew every first-born in the land of Egypt, the first-born of both man and beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord every first male issue of the womb, but redeem every first-born among my sons.’

16“And so it shall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead (totafoth) that with a mighty hand the Lord freed us from Egypt.”

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:18-21

18Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead (totafoth),

 

19and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; 20and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates—21to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.

Used with the phrase “as a sign” the Frontlet between your eyes is another metaphor for remembering Yehovah’s laws.  Frontlets are also referred to as Phylacteries or Tefillin.  There are two very good articles that go more in depth on this at http://www.karaite-korner.org/tefillin.shtml and  http://www.karaite-korner.org/rekhavi/phylacteries.shtml .  These articles look at additional materials we won’t cover today.

 

Now lets look at Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6 verse 9: Write (3789) them on doorposts your house and on your gates. 

 

O hatav tam al mazozot bayteha ovi shaarey ha.

 

 Is this also figurative and embracing the same figure of speech as in the previous verses?  Are we to literally, write the Torah on our doorpost and gates to our dwellings or are we being that our following his Torah is so evident in what we do it is like we announce it at the entrances of our home.  You are now entering a torah observant home.  Can the word write or Hatav be used in a figurative sense.

 

Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) 31:33

 

33But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Lord(YEHOVAH): I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe (Hatav) it upon their hearts.

 

Mishlei (Proverbs) 3:3

 

3Let fidelity and steadfastness not leave you; Bind them about your throat, Write (hatav) them on the tablet of your mind,

 

We see from these that it is possible to interpret Hatav in this verse are being figurative.  Can you physically write down the Torah on your gates for all to read.  But is that the intent here.  Which would Yehovah want us to write or inscribe the teachings so all to see it or that we be so devoted to his teachings that when people see us and our actions they can tell that we are keeping his laws.

 

So lets review.  We have seen that Devarim 6:5-9 can be interpreted as being figure of speech or metaphor for the focus we need to have on keeping those things we are taught in the Torah.  Lets read Chapter 6 again keeping this in mind what we just covered.

6And this is the Instruction—the laws and the rules—that the Lord your God has commanded [me] to impart to you, to be observed in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2so that you, your children, and your children’s children may revere the Lord your God and follow, as long as you live, all His laws and commandments that I enjoin upon you, to the end that you may long endure. 3Obey, O Israel, willingly and faithfully, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly [in] a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, spoke to you.

4Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. 7Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; 9inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10When the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to assign to you—great and flourishing cities that you did not build, 11houses full of all good things that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and you eat your fill, 12take heed that you do not forget the Lord who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. 13Revere only the Lord your God and worship Him alone, and swear only by His name. 14Do not follow other gods, any gods of the peoples about you 15—for the Lord your God in your midst is an impassioned God—lest the anger of the Lord your God blaze forth against you and He wipe you off the face of the earth.

16Do not try the Lord your God, as you did at Massah. 17Be sure to keep the commandments, decrees, and laws that the Lord your God has enjoined upon you. 18Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you and that you may be able to possess the good land that the Lord your God promised on oath to your fathers, 19and that all your enemies may be driven out before you, as the Lord has spoken.

20When, in time to come, your children ask you, “What mean the decrees, laws, and rules that the Lord our God has enjoined upon you?” 21you shall say to your children, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22The Lord wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household; 23and us He freed from there, that He might take us and give us the land that He had promised on oath to our fathers. 24Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere the Lord our God, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case. 25It will be therefore to our merit before the Lord our God to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as He has commanded us.

Which is also emphasized again in Devarim 11:18-21

18Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead,19and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; 20and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates—21to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.

 

All that we have read was to impress upon us the importance to keep and teach to our children to keep the Torah or whole instruction, which was given to us by Yehovah through Moshe.