Deuteronomy — Chapter 6

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Lapide: The mystery of the Trinity and the Incarnation is intimated in the Hebrew text: 'Shema Israel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad.' For the threefold divine name signifies three Persons, even as the Seraphim cry thrice 'Holy' (Is. 6:3); while 'our' placed in the second position signifies that the Word assumed our flesh. This is confirmed by the oracle of Serapis cited by Suidas: 'First God, then the Word, and the Spirit with them.' And old Rabbis (cited by Galatinus) explained the triple 'Holy' as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. Lapide: This is the most eminent precept of the most eminent of virtues, namely charity. As gold excels among metals, fire among elements, the empyrean heaven among the skies, the sun among planets, the Seraphim among angels—so charity excels and surpasses all virtues. Charity is: (1) queen of virtues; (2) mother that nourishes all virtues; (3) makes us friends and sons of God; (4) divides sheep from goats; (5) form and soul of merit; (6) bond of perfection; (7) unconquerable fire.

Thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising. Moses commands continuous meditation on God's law—morning and evening, at home and abroad. Lapide notes the Therapeutae and Essenes prayed twice daily at sunrise and sunset; early Christians met before dawn to sing hymns to Christ (Pliny to Trajan).

And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes. Lapide explains 'phylacteries' (totaphot): better taken metaphorically as signifying continuous remembrance of God's law, as if it were inscribed before the eyes. For God Himself says to Sion: 'I have engraved thee in my hands' (Is. 49:16).

Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name. Lapide: The three acts of divine latria are enumerated: fear (interior reverence and awe before God's majesty), service (external worship and sacrifice), and the oath (swearing by God's name, which is the highest acknowledgment of His omniscience and sovereign authority). These three summarize the whole of religion.